Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-11-09
THE PENSION VULTUREs.
Attorney General Brewster's COrrespon
dence on the Justice of the Crusade.

Attorney General Brewster's Correspon-
dence on the Justice of the Crusade.
WASHINGTON, Nov. S.-The following
letter from the Attorney General explains
itself, under previous instructions from
him:
Col. COrkhill, the United States Dis
trict Attorney at this point, has nearly
completed a number of cases of frauds
upon pension claimants for the action of
the grand jury. He has received a large
number of fraudulent circulars and let
ters explaining the use made of them. He
is desirOuS that soldiers or their friends
haylng copies of such circulars or knowl-
edge of such attempted frauds
will at once send him full information.
and be particular to send the number by
which the claim in each case is known at
the Pension Office.
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,
WASHINGTON, Nov. Z, 1885,
To the Secretary Of the Interior.
Referring to your letter of the I'd inst.
respecting the appointment by the Com
missioner of Pensions of a person to aid
the United States District Attorney for
this district in investigating all claims
for pensions and bounties in connection
with which charges are made
against attorneys, and to examine
such cases as said District Attorney
shall desire to present to the grand jury,
l agree with you that such an appoint
ment cannot be made to examine cases
where the Otfenses charged are not Offenses
against the United States. But the District
Attorney in his letter to you of the 23d
ult. includes cases where these pension
agents make formal applications to the
Pension Office, well knowing that sthe
claims they present are fraudulent. This
is an Offense against the United States.
So far as the District Attorney makes
charges of crimes against the United
States he should be aided
in the examination Of such cases
by an officer of the. Pension
Bureau specially detailed for that pur-
pose by the Commissioner. The evil set
forth by the District Attorney is grow
ing one, and all means that can legally be
employed to suppress it ought, in my
opinion, be put in motion for that end.
Permit me, with this, to send you advance
proof sheets of the Second Auditors re-
port, which disclOses frightful condition
of organized fraud against the poor and
helpless who have either served their
country themselves and live manned
and broken down in health,
or who have left in destitution
widows and children, all of whom are
now the victims of these designing. bad
men, who rob them of their little savings
and earnings under the color of gains
they are never to have, and overload the
public departments with work that him
ders the necessary progress of their proper
business. If this can be put an end to by
the Intervention of the officers of the
United States, and if this can be punished,
it ought to be. Very respectfully,
BENZ. HARRIS BREW STER
Attorney General.
The Auditors language is: ''The great
increase in the number of applications for
arrears of pay and bounty is something
anomalous, and when it is stated that not
one in ten in the applications now being
filed possess any merit, the inquiry is
naturally suggested, why, at this late pc
riod - nearly twenty years after the
war = so many claims are filed
and the number is increasing?" As an
answer to the suggested inquiry, the
Auditor states that not one in twenty of
the 16,57S claims received in his office
during the fiscal year was filed upon the
suggestion or by the voluntary action of a
claimant, a great majority of the cases
having been drummed up by claim agents,
who collected fees in advance, filed the
claim, and abandoned them to the official
routine, well knowing their lack of merit
and hOpelessness. Although known to be
worthless, they served 10 swell the statis-
tics in the official reports.