The Huntington argus. [volume] (Huntington, W. Va.) 1872-1905, 1884-08-14
Washington Letter.
From orr recnlar correspondent.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 8, 1884.

Is tlldI pIOCttdluS 4AOln UHO OOl1A III -
siouer of Education. The volume
embraces eleven hundred pages, and
exhausts the subject of education in
America so far as the statistics are
concerned. With a school population
of sixteen million in the country,
there are six million whoattend school
out Of the ten million enrolled. There
are two hundred and ninety-three
thousand teachers, to whom was paid
last year niuety-oue millions Of dol
lars. Upwards Of one-halt Of the
number Of teachers were women,
whose salaries are gradually getting
to a figure near to the just proportion
of that of the male teachers. Why
q man should receive one hundred
dollars per month tor the duty that a
woman is required to per orm for
forty or fifty dollars, is not compre-
hended by the ordinary mind. While
the colored population send eight
hundred aud three thousand Of its
children to school in the South, the
whites in the Southern States with
double the number of school popula-
ton send ouly half as many more to
scheoll There are eight thousand
colored pupils in normal schools, six
thousand six hundred in academies,
and two thousand three hundred in
colleges. There are halt a million Of
students pursuing studies above and
beyond the elementary schools, that
is, the higher branches of education,
and upward ct twenty-three thousand
ministers, doctors, lawyers, and scien-
tfc men emerge from the colleges
every year, with the doctors decided
.y in the ascendency.
Congress saw fit at its last session
to increase the fee Of pension claim
agents to S25, conditional that it
should be paid upon the allowance of
the claim, under an agreement exc
cuted in duplicate between the claim
ant and his attorney, which should
also be approved by the Commissioner
of Pensions. The identical provisions
of this law are embodied in a report
made by Commissioner Dudley in
December, 1888, in which he strong
ly urged Congress to adopt some
measure looking to the relief of the
Pension Office from the petty annoy
ances proceeding from the army of
$40 attorneys, whe were resorting to
all kinds of legal and illegal legerde-
main to get a larger fee for their
work than the law provided. Now
that Mr.. Dudley has got his law
passed, strange as it may appear, he
is doing everything in his power to
nullify it, and to perpetuate the very
a2noyances that he had been so loud
ly complaining OF. Who that has
had any experience in the prosecution
of claims before Mr.. Dudley's bureau,
knows that for every dollar he re-
ceives be earns two. That an ordi-
nary pension claim that should be ex-
amined, investigated and allowed in
four months, should take as many
years, is a scandal and a disgrace to
the Government, and a trayeSty upon
Justice to the soldier. With hundreds
of clerks at his beck and call, and
with every facility afforded for pro-
tectiug the Goverumentagainstfraud,
it is found that Notwithstanding the
inexcusable delay in examining and
allowing these pension claims, from
so to 20 per cent of them get the
best of Mr.. Dudley and his bureau
every year!
The period embraced between the
years 1864 and 1875, saw no less
than 1876, 100000 acres of the public
domain distributed as subsidies to
railway corporations. This area al
most EQUALS ten States of the size of