The National tribune., 1885-12-10
FEES TO PENSION ATTORNEYS.

Occasionally some one scenting an oppor-
tunity for blackmail, or q cheap correspond
ent of cheap newspaper tries to get up a
sensation on the pension attorney fee bill,
but the thing invariable falls very fiat.
There have been few regulations of the PEN
sion Bureau which have given better satis-
faction than the law passed in June, 1884,
and which changed the old arrangement of
a fee of $40, paid in advance, to one of $25,
conditional upon success, and only paid when
the pension is secured. The old plan worked
very badly, indeed. Irresponsible and in
competent men all over the country set
themselves up as pension attorneys, got
whatever claims they could into their hands
and collected the fees It did not make any
difference to them whether the claimant had
any chance of getting pension or not. His
$40 was what they were after, and when
they got that they might push his claim on
to completion, or they might not, as they felt
disposed. Very many did not take the least
trouble with the claim after they received
their fee in advance. Many others were
grossly incompetent, and could not prosecute
the claim successfully, though they honestly
wished to do so. The fee was not large
enough to be much of an inducement for
honest, competent men to take hold of
claim and worry it through the years that
usually elapse before its allowance.
The $25 conditional fee made wholesome
change. As it is not paid until the pension
is allowed, the attorney has every induce
ment for hurrying the case through. He
takes nothing but what has some show of
rightfulness in it, and the longer it is in his
hands the greater expense he has been to
in regard to it, and the more reason he has
for urging it through, so that he can get his
money out of it. The pensioner has every
thing to gain by the arrangement. He gets
skilful men to take hold of his claim; he is
insured that his attorney will push his claim
through with all possible expedition; he
does not have to scrape up money in ad-
vance-when it is hardest for him to raise
money-but pays his fee out of his first in
stallment of pension money, and only when
the service has been properly performed.
The Pension Bureau gains immensely in
not being clogged up with an enormous
number of claims, which are hopeless in
themselves or from not being properly pre-
pared, and which are utterly neglected after
the so-called attorneys have rushed them in
and obtained their fees.
The fee of $25 is ridiculously small when
compared with the customary fees of reput-
able attorneys all over the country in cases
involving much less labor and professional
skill than pension claims. All soldiers know
this from the difficulty they experience in
getting genuinely able lawyers at their
homes to take hold of their cases for the fee
the law allows. 1t is only charity, comrade-
ship or political considerations that will
induce any local lawyer of good practice to
take claim that he knows from experience |
will involve tedious investigation and
extending over months and |
years, and only return to him $25 if the |
claim is finally allowed. Every interest of
the soldier is involved in maintaining the |
fee bill as it is A return to the old $40 fee |
would be to put him again at the mercy of |
The sharks, shysters and incompetents, from
whose clutches he was only rescued with |
the utmost difficulty.