The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-06-10
UNCLE SANS PENSIONS.
TIE $4,000 600 A YEAR PAID FOR
PENSIONS.
How Pensions Are Granted and Who Get
Them-GosSip About the Presidents
Marriage-Cupid Among the Statesmen.
Especial Correspondencc.l

SPECIAL Correspondence.l
WASHINGTON, May 25-The presidents
veto of a large number of p 'nSion bills passed
by congress, has called attention to the i'm
mense sums which the United States has leen
paying out in pensions. o. the 5000 bills
introduced into the house this session.
abb ut onc-third are bills granting private
pen>icnS AMI it has becom. possible
for any soldier, whether he has seen hard
service or not, to get peus.oa, provide he
has friend or two in the house or sen tie.
Soldiers whose cl inns have Keen rcjec' ed by
the pension office make their ao,licat on to
congress and they are granted Bills for
pensioning different classes OF soldiers no,
now on the rolls are passed with little dis
cu-sion, 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, 00J.0O0 Sup
pc ing the population of the United States to
be 80 o 0,0C0 tn would hav bee. an addi-
tiona AK of s. upon every MAI, woman
and cHi d in thu country. Count,nr five to
the ami.y, it would have bee' S25 extra
taxes tor every family N the Ur ltel States,
and considt ring that the tax il an indirect
one, t won d have been event distributed,
with lit regard 10 wealth.
NJ county in the wo III compares with
the United States il her liberality TO her
wounded soldiers. For years naSt cur pen
son have NV RACED beswee 4 80, 0l000 ard
| $C6,0lO,0GO a year, and IN 1881 the total
amount p id out from the beginning of the
COVE m mt was more thar S12i, 600 00O At
the same rate it must be more than $500
O0l,0J0 at the present tmA. This makes the
rens on eXpend lures of the governmen.
more than one-twel.th of all its ex enseS,
not including interest, since it. organiZati II.
We have paid out in pensions about one
sixth as much as we have raj for wars, and
W seem o be increasing in our outlay each
year In 1888 the pension Payments
amounted to $G6, 600, COO or about Sc for
every family in the co ntry In 100 the
| pension tax was on a rough estimate less
than twenty five cents a family, an in
| 1SJ3, w3en larger amount was paid fer
pensions than in any one year up to 1868 the
aver age was less than 81 80 family. Ia
| e. eat bulk of our papsion expenditure has
| b"n 20 the soldiers of the lale ar. In the
first ten years of our e verlment there wer
only four in which oar PENSION expenses ran
over 100000 year, an for the next fifteen
years, or until the pens ons OF the war of
1872 b.gan to come in, they were less than
this yearly. They never amounted 10 mere
than s. 600 0G0 year until 1865 when hey
jumped to $4,000, 600 Since thin they have
been 80 increasing that they now make about
one-third 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 the presidents now receive $1,000
a year EACH Mrs. Polk is yet alive, aud is
living at Nashville. John Tyler's second
wife has $1,000 sent yearly to her home in
Richmond, and Mrs James A. Garfield has
the same amount sent % her at Cleveland
Zach Tay daughter gets $50 a month on
account of her fathers services in the NJ XII
can war, and the widow Of Admiral Farragut
receives $1,000 a year by special act of con-
gress. Among the widows OF noted generals
who draw pensions from The government are
those of Z B. Baker Robert Anderson, the
hero of Fort Sumter; George H. Custer, the
Indian fighter; Daniel Nc Cook, of the fight
ing McCooks; John A Rlwlins, Frank p.
Blair, Surgeon General Woods and James b.
Mcpherson There are about eigh y revo.
lutionary widows st II on the pension rolls,
and the majority of these come from the
southern states.
There were about 2, 600, 900 soldiers in the
late war. OF these 200, 600 left no personal
relatives and about 100000 have not
a .ked for pensions From 1861 to 1884
500, COO claims were filed for pensions, and at
that time 49, 600 of these had been allowed
These pensions ranged from 81 to $72 a
month, and the average pension received by
the soldiers at present is about $i07 a year
There are now between 800 go and 4O0, 900
pensioners. and the ma jority of these are the
soldiers themselves, while the remainder is
made up of widows, minor children and de-
pendent parentI
1t is easy TO see that the business of grant
ing these pen ions must be immense. The
pension department here at Washington has
over 15O0 clerks and it keeps them very
busy indeed. The letters alone of the de-
partment run into the hundred thousands
every month, and during year it receives
nearly 10O 600 letters from congress alone
1t writes out and sends out by mail more
than 1,OO5, 600 letters year, and its average
for months at a time is as high as 5000 let
tiers day. 1t is against the law for the de-
| paltment to accept postage stamps sent for
ref lies in asking for information, and one
clerk is kept busy constantly returning such
stamps. Every stamp is returned in 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 room. Hun
drt ds OF clerks work in eacn room, each at Il
desk with great stack Of papers beside him,
and all, both men and women working like
nailers
There is lite chance for fraud in the
granting CT 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 his disability.
The clerks of the department, and even the
commissioner, have nothing to do with hand
| ling the money. and it must all he sent out
through the treasury. LIT us look at the
granting of pension claim. 1t must first
be submitted with the appropriate evidence,
and this is compared with the muster
rolls and the records in the war department
1t goes through number of different hands,
and if it is found to be all right the COM
missioner signs a requisition on the treas
ury for its payment. This requisition has
to 60 through thirteen bureaus before it can
be paid, and in the first place there must be
fund in the treasury appropriated by con,