The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1886-06-02

HOW ESnSIOtlS AEb UHAHAGu anu oAO wv
Them-Gossip About the Presidents
Marriaee-Cupid Among the Statesmen.
Stanley Matthews and Governor Long.
Especial CorresDondence.l
WASHINGTON, May "a Tho presidents
veto of a large number of pension bills passed
by congress. has called attention to the i'm
mense sums which the United States has been
paying out in pensions. OF the 5000 bills
introduced into the house this session,
about one-third are bills granting private
pensions, and it has become possible
for any soldier, whether he has seen hard
service or not, to get pension, provided he
has friend or two in the house or senate.
Soldiers whose clqims have been rejected by
the pension office make their application to
congress and they are granted. Bills for
pensioning different classes of soldiers not
now on the rolls are passed with little dis
cussion, and during the last congress we
came within an ace OF the extension OF the
arrears act, which would have involved an
additional expenditure of $3.50, ,O00, 600 Sup
posing the population Of the United States to
be $1,000, coo, this would have been an addi-
tional tax of s. upon every man. woman
and child in the country Counting five to
the family, it would have been s25 extra
taxes for every family in the United States,
and considering that the tax is an indirect
one, it would have been evenly distributed,
with little regard to wealth
No country IN the world compares with
the United States in her liberality TO her
wounded soldiers. For years past our pen
sions have averaged between $50, 000,0 600 and
$4,000, 600 a year, and in 1885 the total
amount paid out from the beginning of the
government was more than S724, 000, 600 At
the same rate it must be more than $780,
600, 900 at the present time. This makes the
pension expenditures of the government
more than one-twelfth of all it's expenses,
not including interest, since its organization
We have paid out in pensions about one
sixth as much as we have paid for wars, and
we seem to be increasing In our outlay each
year In 1888 the pension payments
amounted to SEC, 900 600, or about SO for
every family in the country In 1870 the
pension tax was on a rough estimate less
than twenty five cents family, and in
1888, WHEN a larger amount was paid for
pensions than IN any one year up to 1863 the
average was less than 81 50 family The
great bulk of our pension expenditure has
been to the soldiers Of the lata war. In the
first ten years of our government there were
only four in which our pension expenses ran
over $4,000 year, and for the next fifteen
years, or until the pensions of the war of
1879 began to come in, they were less than
this yearly. They never amounted to more
than s., 900, 900 a year until 1865 when they
jumped to SIG, 600, COO Since then they have
been so increasing that they now make about
onethird of our yearly expenses, and it costs
each family in the United States from S. to
IS year to pay the bills.
The civil pension list has increased con
siderably within the last three years, and the
widows of tho presidents now receive s., 900
a year each. Mrs Polk is yet alive, aud is
living at Nashville John Tyler's second
wife has 5000 sent yearly to her home in
Richmond, and Mrs. James A. Garfield has
the same amount sent 10 her at Cleveland
Zach Tay,ol's daughter gets $50 a month on
account of her fathers services in tho Mexi-
can war, and the widow Of Admiral Farragut
receives $4,000 year by a special act of con-
gress. Among the widows of noted generals
who draw pensions from the government are
those of E. B. Baker, Robert Anderson, the
hero of Fort Sumter; GEORGE IL Custer, the
Indian fighter; Daniel Nc Cook, Of the fight
ing McCooks; John A. Rawlins, Frank P
Blair, Surgeon General Woods and james B.
Mcpherson. There are about eighty revo-
lutionaIy widows still on tho pension rolls,
and the majority of these come from the
southern states.
There were about z. .O00, 600 soldiers in tbs
late war; OF these 200, 900 left no persona
relatives and about 600, ,090 have nos
asked for pensions From 1861 to 1884
$4,000 claims were fled for pensions, and at.
that time 4s7, 900 Of these had heen allowed
These pensions ranged from 81 to $T2
month, and the average pension received by
the soldiers at present is about S107 q year.
There are now between 500, ,030 and 100000
pensioners, and the ma Jority of these are the
soldiers themselves, while the remainder ID
made up Of widows, minor children and de-
pendent parents
1t is easy to see that the business of grant.
ing these pensions must be immense. The
pension department here at Washington has
over 1500 clerks and it keeps them very
busy indeed. The letters alone of the de-
partmsnt run into tho hundred thousands
every month, and during 9 year it receives
nearly 100000 letters from congress alone.
It writes out and sends out by mail more
than LOCO, COO letters year, and its average
for months at time is as high as 5000 let
ters day. II is against the law for the de-
partment to accept postage stamps sent for
replies in asking for information, and one
clerk is kept busy constantly returning such
stamps. Every stamp is returned in a sep
arate envelope to the person who sent it. and
these postage stamps so returned are more
than 1000 a month. A number of clerks
are kept constantly busy in signing the COM
missioner's name, and many clerks IN the de-
partment have been there for years
Going into the pension department is like
going into an immense counting roou Hun
dreds Of clerks work in each room, each at
desk with great stack of papers beside him,
and all, both men and women working like
nailers
There is lit e chance for fraud in the
granting of pensions The claims must be
filed and proved according to law. The sol
dier must show a case which corresponds
with the records in the war department., and
the doctors must testify to bis disability.
The clerks Of the depart tment, AMI even tho
commissioner, have nothing to do with hand
ling the money AM it must all be sent out
through the treasury. Let us look at the
granting of a pension claim. 1t must first
be submitted with the appropriate evidence,
and this IS compared with the muster
I01lS anu llt1 fSCOfus IL lHe VII ue eiJdIDlieuA
It goes through number of different Lands.
and If it IS found to be all right the COM
missioner signs q requisition on the treas
ury for its payment This requisition has
to go through thirteen bureaus before 1t can
be paid, and in the first place there must be
a fund IN the treasury appropriated hy con-
gress for the payment Of the class to which
it belongs The commissioner sends it
to tile secretary Of the Interior He
signs it and sends it to the comptroller Of
the treasury. The second comptroller signs
it and sends it to the third auditor The
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