The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1884-06-12
many still survive, like Mother Bickerdyke,
aged and enfeebled, who need and should
no longer be denied, the pension to which
their noble services entitle them.
Sound Enough to be Shot AT.

The reason officially given by the Pension
Office for its delay in the adjustment of
claims is the failure of claimants to furnish
the evidence necessary to establish their
right to pension. The truth of this state
ment, however, as we have frequently
pointed out, depends upon the construction
which is placed upon the word necessary
Ii by necessary the Pension Office means
evidence which will satisfy its own technical
requirements, that is one thing; if it means
simply the due proof required by the pen
slon laws, that is quite another. If the
former, its statement is doubtless to some
extent true; if the latter, it is altogether
false and misleading. To ascertain which is
the rule of action pursued by the Pension
Office it is only necessary to refer to the
record of its own adjudications. Here, for
instance is the case of NJ. " B. Winkler,
who enlisted in company K, AID Indiana
volunteers, October %, 1861, and was dis
charged November 2, 1862, for disability.
His surgeons certificate says:
l have carefully examined the said Martin V. B.
| Nlnkier, of Captain j. Il. calendars company,
and find him incapable of performing the duties of
soldier, because of tuberculosis; disease existing
| before enlistment, but aggravated by exposure
while on duty at Calhoun, KY, during the month
of January, 1862.
Winkler applied for pension and showed
by credible testimony that he was sound at
date of enlistment; that the surgeon who
signed the preceding certificate had never
seen him until after enlistment, and that
! his disease was contracted while standing
guard in some wet rife-pits at Riddles
Point, Mo-, but the Pension Office neverthe-
less rejected his claim on the mere ipse dirt
| of the surgeon, who had no personal knowl-
edge of the fact alleged that the soldiers
disease had existed before enlistment.
Now contrast the action of the Pension
Office on this claim with that of the Invalid
Pensions Committee! On the Doth ult Mr
Morrill,, Of Kansas, reported from that COM
mittee to the House as follows:
This soldier was accepted and mustered into
service. He was sound enough to stand up to be
shot at; sound enough to stand between the rebel
bullet and that Government which he loved so
well that he offered his life in its defense sound
enough to do guard duty on a cold night in early
/ spring in damp iiae-pit; sound enough to endure
i long and weary marches. and to sleep on the
ground when the duties of the day were over but
when he returned to his home broken down in
health and spirits, q physical wreck never again
to enjoy day of health on earth he wasn't sound
! enough to draw pension.
The simple declaration of the regimenta sur
! geon, disease existing before enlistment" is in
faLlble; it cannot be contr0certed! The thirty
/ neghbors who had known this man intimately
| before eniistng and who cbeerfully bore test-
mony that he was sound and well when he went
into service, are all peIjuFers, for the nfaIlbity
/ Of the surgeon must not be questioned
Against this ruling your committee enter their
most solemn protest. and most earnestly recon-
i mend the passage OF this bill.
Is il any WONDER when the Pension Office
| gives greater weight to the testimony of
one man-and he not in position to be
cognizant of the facts against soldier,
than to that of thirty credible witnesses in
his favor, that the 10000 applicants whose
claims are pending should be unable to fur
nish the evidence necessary" to establish
their right to pension? What fair chance
do any of them stand to secure the
allowance of their claims when such ru-
lings, based upon such disregard for the
spirit and intent Of the pension laws, are
enforced against them?