The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1886-04-22

the use Of the Pension Office as a political
machine. 1t will be further remembered
that upon two such occasions the Senate
Committee insisted upon the production of
cases, and would have nothing else but
cases, and that it was broadly intimated that
the Commissioner had no such cases, and it
was not until the third meeting of the Com
mittee that the cases were produced, and the
individuals figuring in those cases brought
to the public attention. 1t had been the
intention of the Commissioner that all RENE
dial acts, so far as the individual claimants
or pensioners were concerned, should be
quietly applied in the usual Office methods
and not made public parade Of But the
Committee determined otherwise and in
sisted upon cases, and number were pro-
duced at the third meeting and placed under
the control of the Committee. The investi-
ton of these cases has since that time been
the matter and business of the Committee.
Among these was that of Mr.. Fifer.
That the Commissioner is not unfriendly
to pensioners may be gathered from the
record that he has made during the year of
his incumbency The amount of work done
by the Office in that year is the greatest for
the same length of time in its history. In
the month of March alone, just passed, 1896
pensions were granted. Here is the reply of
the Commissioner to the Post at Blooming
ton:
WASHINGTON. d. G., April 10, 1855.
c. w. ATKINSON, Esq, Adjutant Post 1i6, GAR,
Bloomington, Ill.
I'm the Case Of Joseph ". FYfr)
SIR AND CoMRApE: On the 10Th of April, I re-
ceived copy of certain resolutions Of censure
adopted by your Post on the oath Of March, and by
their direction published at large In the news
papers.
Under ordinary circumstances the fact might be
worth comment that the evidence which pre-
sented in regard to the case of Mr. Fifer did not
come TO the Senate Committee until the day after
your resolutions of censure were adopted. but that
is not important. 1t is very important, however
that no misapprehensions should arise as to the
attitude of the Commissioner of Pensions toward
this or any other case which receives his official
consideration.
The first outburst Of sympathetic indignation has
passed by. and II Is time now to apply deliberate
reason to its consideration. The Commissioner of
Pensions is an officer sworn not sympathetically to
give the public money to whom he shall choose,
but to administer his Office so that the public money
will reach those who, under existing laws,
titled thereto Keep this seadfastly In view as an
aii-controlling factor in determining the right or
wrong of his action In bringing this case before the
Senate Committee.
In 1866 Joseph w. Fifer applied for pension on
account of gunshot wound received by him at the
battle of Jackson, Miss. He was examined by the
then Examining Surgeon Of the Pension Office at
Bloomington. ILL.,, and was raied at one-third of
total sec (Ss being the total for soldier of his
rank-privnte), and this pension was thereupon
paid him.
On Feb. 26, 1867, Mr.. Fifsr was again examined
by the Examining Surgeon Of the Pension Office at
Bloomington, H., and rated at third of total
or $1,000 On the 9th of September 1873 he was
again examined, and this time by full board of
Surgeons, consisting of Drs. Crothers, Cole and
Langheim, and rated at one-third Of total or
S2653a. On the 4th of December, 1875 he was again
examined at Bloomington, by board composed
of Drs. Langheim. Cole and Penney and again
rated at onethird of total, S26635 per month On
the 18th Of September the same board again exam
ined Mr.. Fifer, and again rated him at one-third
of total, or 81. 662s per MONTH On the 9Th of No
vember, 1879, the Bloomington board composed of
Drs. Elder, Luce and Cole examined Mr.. Fifer and
this time recommendation increase to 81 per month
About March, 1884, Mr. Ffer fled affidavit for
increase. In this affidavit he describes himself as
having been for eight years Prosecuting Attorney
of Mclean County, ILL.,. and that he then was a
State Senator. I'm the Senatorial convention of the
preceding year he had voted for Cullom, and was
Of his most active friends.)
On the 18th of March, 1884. the evidence of the
following named friends and neighbors was filed
in the George T. Rox, former Surgeon of the
SD ILL.,. Gen. Ira j. Bloomfield, of the Blooming
ton bar; Capt Edward J. Lewis, formerly of the
33d Ill., DIR. Harvey Parkhurst, Judge Thomas r.
Upton. Judge Owen T. Reeves, Judge Franklin
Blades, DR. John II. Rauch former Surgeon of u.
s. Vols aud former Medical Director; Dr. Conrad
Secrest of Iroquos County; DIR. John L. White of
Bloomington Ill.,, and Mr.. Isaac n. Philips all Of
whom substantially declared that Fifer to their
personal knowledge, was totally incapacated for
the performance of manual iaber and who testified
to other circumstances in his distressing in
themselves Thereupon an order WAS issued for
the Bloomington board to make further examina-
ton. This order issued on the 10Th Of March
and returned and filed in the Office on the 3lst of
March, Acting under this order the board ut
Bloomington H., on the Goth OF March, 1884 made
another examination, in which they gave Mr.. Fifer
rating of twelve eighteentls, or Sl2 month and
this is the highest rating given In the case by
those officers designated by the Government for
the purpose of determining the rates Of pensions to
and the condition OF claimants. They ali acted
under the sanction of oath. They were all men
of experience; they were all neghbors of Fifer;
they were all Republicans; they all have passed |
upon the claims of scores and hundreds of the SOL
ders of Mclean County; they personally and crisi,
calIy examined him seven times.
On the 10th OF April, 1884. Senator s. NJ Cuilom |
filed in Mr.. Fifer's case the following: " / am very
anxious to have this mans pension increased to S2i
per month He is of the truest and best men |
God ever made; was shot just about as President
Garfield was / know him well. A little work |
breaks him down, and lie is sick for "a time Please |
give this attention soon.-Ycurs, s. NJ CULLoa"
On the same day that Senator Cullom fled this |
slip Dr. T. b. Hood the then Medical Referee of |
the office acting under the solemnity of his oath
and having before him tho records of the case |
which contained all of the evidence that had ever
been filed in the case neighbors judges comrades
examining surgeons and Others made the follow. |
ing Endorsement:
"This man is entitled to the total rate-that |
Is SO to March 3, 1873, and to twclve-eight- |
eenths thereafter How 1t has been that so grave |
wound has been moderated / cannot saw.
Thcfecouery ,oas remarkable and the degree Of disa-
biiiy rery much less than IL tooud hare been In most
a. ots.,. 80