The National tribune., 1884-04-03
Are There Three commissioners ?

mitteee on Pensions, Bounties and Back
Pay, he has now in the neighborhood of 240
clerks detailed as special examiners de-
tailed to go into the field to visit claimants
at their homes, take the testimony that they
offer, and cross-examine the witnesses in
their presence" These special examiners
are under the immediate control of super
vising inspectors-one for each district
who are charged with the direction of their
movements. The inspector of the Cleveland
district is Mr.. Leonard Martin, and he has
recently given utterance to statements of so
remarkable character that we cannot re-
frain from bringing them to the notice of
our readers. As in the case of Chief Mack,
whose attempt to cast suspicion on the char
acter of our ex-soldiers we had occasion to
criticise, the other day, they are so widely at
variance with the well-known sentiments of
the Commissioner as to justify the belief
that they have escaped his attention. The
statements to which we have reference are
embraced in report which we find in the
Cleveland Leader of an interview which one
of its reporters appears to have had with Mr..
Martin in regard to the conduct of his Office,
and their tenor may be inferred from his
preliminary declaration that :" we 1.-THE spec
ial examinersl have to follow up the claims
of persons for pensions through many derious
ways" Whether by devious" Mr.. Martin
merely means ways that are "out of the
common track" which is Webster's first
definition Of the word, or "erring," which
is one of its secondary meanings, is, perhaps,
an open question, but taken in connection
with his subsequent remarks the inference
is unavoidable that this supervisor is in
clined to look upon all pension claims with
suspicion. He refers for example, to the
case Of a soldier who applied for pension on
the ground that be was injured while at
tempting 10 board a moving train In pur-
suance of orders from his superior, and is
careful to point out that if it can be
shown that the soldier was not in the
direct line Of duty when he sustained his
injuries, his claim viii be worthless Mr.
Martin does not say in so many words that
he hopes 10 obtain the necessary evidence to
reject the claim on this ground, but he
manages to convey the impression that it
@ould give him great pleasure 10 do so. AS
further illustration Of the devious ways .
through which claims of persons for pensions
are followed up by special examiners, he
cites the case Of soldier who was discharged
from the service on account of rheumatism
and partial paralysis of both legs, and he
throws cut the pleasant suggestion that
whether the applicant is allowed pension
or not VIII depend on his ability TO prove
that his disability was not contracted prior
to his entering the army-as if the record
Of the medical examination which he was
compelled TO pass at the hands Of the Gov
eFnment's own surgeons were not conclu-
sive as to his physical condition at date Of
enlistment.
One would hardly suspect, from the readi-
ness with which Inspector Martin points
out the devious ways" through which a
pension claim may be followed until Its
rejection has been insured on some techni-
1 cality, that the business Of special examiners
is to facilitate the allowance of claims, and
that the only reason why they are moi
allowed more rapidly is that there are only
240 special examiners employed in this
work instead Of the two or three thousand
that it requires On the contrary, one
would be disposed to infer from the tenor o.
his remarks that the special business o.
these examiners was to discover some
ground, not apparent from mere examina.
lion of the papers, for rejecting claims that
otherwise must be allowed.
And equally surprising is the pictur.
which Mr.. Martin draws of the reception o
these examiners In the neighborhoods wher.
their examinations are conducted. Say,
Supervising Inspector Martin:
One Of these gentlemen recently reached a SINAI
Ohio town in which he was totally unaoquainted
Re bad not mentioned anything 20 anybody abou
his e1pected visit. yet when he reached the viIlag
hotel there was gathered there 10 meet him a
motley collection of superannuated and aIlege,
veterans the eyes OF mortal man ever fell upon
There were men with right legs in sings and lnel
with le legs similarly cared for there we're mel
with 40 legs. and men with bur single pedal ap
pepdage. There were armless men, and men wit
stray remnants Of arms; men with unique an
/ even grotesque designations and men Who's
: honorable wounds were concealed by their cloth
ing. The men wore crutcles and canes and wer
Damaged snd boistered until the eye scarcely per
eeved anything bat the dead sea OF lint and linen
They besieged the agent. and all spoke at once
Each seemed TO fear the other would get chane
TO reach the agents ear first. and the result wa
nothing but the most inconceivable iargon q
claims and counter claims The agent WAS in dan
ger Of being torn asuneer by the enthusiastic vet
GRAMS but finally escaped with such portions of hi
ciogiing as did not yield readily. Then he sen
them word that lie had no power 10 grant al.
claims but that they must make their application
regularly 10 the proper authorities, when the
would receive attention. 70 say that tl.c would-b
pensioners were Indignant bat very mildly ex