The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-06-07
FACTS AS TO PENSIONS |
Interview With Commissioner Dudley
on the Work Of His Office.


met Commissioner Dudley ON Memorial Day
on board steamer bound for Mt. Vernon.
The responsibilities of your position" said
THE TRIBUNE man, ''seens to sit easily upon
you. Perhaps you find compensation for the
hard work involved in adjudicating pension
cases IN the pleasure you are able to impart TO
vast number Of anxious claimants"
Yes" said the commissioner, we paid out
about 10000 900 last month, and, of course, we
believe chat every dollar went where it prop
erly belonged"
WHAT amount of money is now being paid
out annually?p
Said Commissioner Dudley: "To state the
matter of payments of pensions in peTspicuous
and clearly Ineligible manner, it must be borne
iii mind that each years payments embrace
First. The payment OF the annual stipend,
or pension, due to each and all of the persons
on the roll. This is called the annual value OF
the pension-roll, and has been slowly inereas-
ing. The annual value of the roll July 1,
1850, was $25 OF ,906; July 1, 1851, SIS $50 967
July /, 1882, SO. ;541 101. and it will be, July l.
1853, (about} SIS, 900 009-increasiug just as
fast as the new pensions granted during each
year exceed those dropped from the roll from
death or other causes.
Second. OF arrears: Each claim which is
adjudicated, if filed prior to July 1, 1850,
carries with it, in addition TO the annual
value for the current year, upon the first pay
ment, THAI amount found due for each year
back TO the discharge of the invalid pensi0ner,
or death OF soldier il a widows claim. Thus,
1t happens that pension granted to-day at s.
per month, and at - per month since discharge,
viii carry $50 for 1852 sos for 1851 SOC for
1889, aud SO ON, back to 1865 or date of dis
charge, making first payment of about 81 100,
no part OF which belongs to the annual value
of the pension-roll, which, next year viii be
increased by $50 by reason Of this new adiudi-
cation. So it comes that the annual payment
for pensions consists of the regular annual roll
and the first payments of arrears and accounts
for the fact that, while the annual value of the
roll OF 1880, 1851, 1882 and 1858 is as above
stated, the annual payment for pensions FOR
1850 was So, 046 i65; for ISL, was S49 723 III,
and for 1852, was S53 92i, 5G5, and Will probably
be for 1883 about $33, 500, 900, and in 1851 viii
probably reach Sle1,000,0GG, while the annual
value OF the roll VIII perhaps reach So, 100000
the remainder in each of the above years
after deducting the annual value of roll repre-
sentIng the first payment OF newly adjudieated
claims, involving arrears"
When viii these large annual payments
cease q"
Not until the claims entitled to arrears are
settled. then the business will shrink to its
normal condition; hence the necessity for their
speedy adjudication and the justification for the
employment of the present large force or even
q IoICC Ol CAdLJIuSTS anu CleEkS LQdl
now employed. The annual value Of the roll
viii increase until its maximum is reached
about $50, COO, 000-but while this is increasing
the annual payments viii be decreasing as the
adjudication of the arrears cases fails of so
that after 1854 the annual paymeats may be
prosnosticated about as follows: For 1885,
So5,000, 600; for 1856, $70,0UG,000; for 1851,
S60,000,000; for 1SoS, $50, O00009, and so on
alter the highest point of annual value is
reached, after which droppings from all causes
will exceed additions from new pensions, and
the roll gradually but surely diminish"
To what extent have the predictions made
In the Presidents message been borne out?"
In December, 1851, the Presidents message
contained an estimate OF the number of cases
involving arrears, with the probable amount
involved IL the payment of such rs would be
admitted in all probability. The aggregate
was stated at S235, 100000. Since that time
and up to the close of the present fiscal year
there Will have been paid out Of this sum about
SSe,eoD,o GOO; next year, SIS, 600 coo; the next
S4o.0o0,o0o, the next about $50, coo 600, and SO
on until all arc paid off, OF course all prog
nosticati0ns on this subject are to large ex-
tent gnesseS as to how much or how many
judicial judgments certain number of men,
net all trained in the law OF acquainted with
the rules OF evidence, can render; how many
claimants viii either be able or willing to fur
niSh the proofs required-all matters of great
uncertainty and involved in doubt. 1t is also
important TO be borne in mind that the claims
now fled and unsettled are largely of the class
requiring much proof, and that of peculiarly
difficult character to be found after so many
years"
Then, are most of the cases easily proven
already settled?o
The easy record eases of Injuries and
wounds have been almost entirely settled,
leaving those eases for which pension is asked
for disability arising from obscure diseases. the
origin of which in the service and line OF DUTY
and continuance Of which since discharge up to
the present, are hard to prove by competent
and sufficient evidence, and generally pensions
are granted in such cases only after long and
patient waiting and much laboring with claim
ants, and much expense and time spent in find
ing the necessary proofs, and after several
medical examinations to harmonic conflicting
opinions as TO character and extent OF dis
abilities
Really the hard part of the pension work
has just begun, and on the one hand there is
more call for careful, scrutinizing work on the
part OF the Pension Office and on the other
more cheerful and patient compliance on the
part of the claimants than there ever was.p
= suppose there are many eases which you
are pretty well convinced are honest claims,
that are lacking in the element of such evil
denee as would authorize you in settling the
claim are there not?'
Yes; / came across one few days since A
soldier claims to have been captured at Ander-
sons Cross Roads while on his way, IN company
with train guard, to join his regiment at Chat
tanooga, in October, 1868. The train was cap
tured and burned by Wheeler's cavalry. The
Twenty-hrst Kentucky infantry and MeCook's
cavalry brigade came up soon after, and sharp
fight ensued, and several of the prisoners taken
from the train guard were reeaptured. There
seems to be no clue to the organization to which
the train-guard belonged. The record of events
on the return of the cavalry brigade and the
Kentucky regiment both refer to the action at
Anderson's Cross-R Roads, but neither of them
mention the fight made by the command in
charge of the train before they came up. The
claimant claims to have been wounded during
the first action, but being stranger to the
command, having only Joined it temporarily at
Bridgeport few days before, is unable TO re-
call the name of the commander or the regi-
ment to which the guard belonged"
viii mention the case in THE TRIBUNE,
General, and perhaps some of our readers viii
recall the circumstance and be able to furnish
the missing link in the chain of evidence