Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-27
Claims in the Pension Office.

4" 10 see the various stages through
whicha pension claim passes from the
moment of its reception in the office
until its cOnsunmation is reached.
would astonish the claimants and ran
der them less clamorous,. and would
also be surprise TO the general public
II Is briefly this: When a claim is filed
Its receipt at the Office is acknowl4
edged TO the claimant, and the claim.
before starting on its rounds, is stamped
and jacketted and the jacket briefed in
the Mall Divisions; after leaving the
Mail Division it goes to the Record
Division, where it is numbered and for
warded to the Adjudicating Division to
which it belongs, this point being deter
mined by the geographical location in
which claimant originally enlisted.
thus: All cases coming from the New
England States 90 to the Eastern Div
isiUn; from the Southern States. 10 the
Southern Division, etc. .1and it is DURING
rs progress through the AdiudicafinG
Division to which it has been sent that
the merits or dement's of the claim are
tested. When the evidence in a case IS
completed it is briefed and submitted
by the Exanliner, either for admission
or rejection and goes thence to TIE
Board of Review, wherethe work of the
Examiner is reviewed; and fris-recon-
incubation reversed or concurred iu-as
the case may be- If the claim proves
to have been improperly submitted II is
returned for adjudication; otherwise il
s'rated at n certain sum per month,
according to the disability found TO
exist, and then goes ftO the Division of
Certificates and Accounts, and the GER
tticate of payment is there issued, and
the claimant notified of the result. 1t
only requires thenth the signature of
the Commissioner Of Pensions. followed
by that of the Assistant Secretary of the
Interior be affixed thereto to make it a
valid document, and place the claimant
on the rolls as pensioner of the United
States. If it appears during the progress
of claim through the Adiudicatipo
Divisionlio which it has been senttbaf
the testimony therein is of a doubtful
or conflicting character, or that there is
probable cause for suspecting fraud or
an attempt to impose upon the1office.
the claim is at once sent to the Division
of Special Examinations, with a brief
statement of the reasons for sending il
there, and from thence it is forwarded
60 such enploye of that division as may
be located in the vicinity of the claimant
in the case LIZ , "A
Under the former practice of the of
fee, examinations of this character
were made almost entirely in secret and
wholly eX-parte; and the special Exam
ners, or Agents as they were then called.
apear to have been imbued with the
idea that claimants had no rights in the
matter. and that it was the. Agents
special duty TO hunt up testimony
against the claim, and pay little or no
attention o.any that might be in its
favor. Commissioner Dudley has
changed all this, and under the rules
and regulations prescribed by him it is
the first and imperative duty of the Ex-
anliner TO notify the claimant. in writ
ing, that an examination as to the
merits or dement's of his claim is be
had at certain time and place con-