The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-12-08

lneSe COnulUlOnS lully JuSJl1y appllcatlOn
to congress and special enactments. But
resort to congress for special pension
act to override the deliberate and careful
determination of the pension bureau on the
merits, or to secure favorable action when it
could not be expected under the most lib
eral execution of general laws, it must be
admitted opens the door to the allowance of
questionable claims, and presents to the
legislative and executive branches of the
government applications concededly not
within the law and plainly devoid of merit,
but so surrounded by sentiment and patri-
otto feeling that they are hard to resist. y
1t will be seen from the report Of the
commissioner that there are now paid by
the government 131 different rates of pen
sion. He estimates, from the best informa-
ton he can obtain, that 5000 of those who
have served in the army aud navy of the
United States are now supported, in whole
or in part, from public funds or by organ
lied charities, exclusive of those in the
Soldiers Home, under the direction and
per cent of these are pensioners, while of
the entire number of men furnished for the
late war something like twenty per cent in
Guiding their widows and relatives have
been, or are now, in the receipt of pensions.
Every pension that is granted under
our present plan upon any other grounds
than actual service, and injury or disease in
Cured in such service, and every instance
of the many in which pensions are increased
on other grounds than the merits of the
claim, work an injustice to the brave and
crippled, but poor and friendess, soldier,
who is entirely neglected, or who must be
content with the smallest sum allowed I'M
der general laws. We are all tempted
by the contemplation of such a condition to
supply relief, and are often impatient of the
limitations of public duty, Yielding to no
one in the desire to indulge this feeling of
consideration, | cannot rid myself of the
conviction that if these eX-solders are to be
relieved they and their cause are entitled
to the benefit of an enactment under which
such relief should be granted under the
sanction of law, not in evasion of it.
The number of applications for pat
ents during the last fiscal year, includ-
ing reissued designs, trademarks and
labels, equals 40,67S, which is consider
ably in excess of the number received
during any preceding year. The re-
ceipts of the patent office during the
year aggregate 81 ,205, 167,S0, enabling
the Office to turn into the treasury a
surplus revenue over and above all ex-
penditures of about S163, 710.3O. The
number of patents granted during the
last fiscal year, including reissues,
trademarks, designs and labels, was
1868, number also quite largely in
excess of that of any preceding year.
Next the President suggests legislation
for exacting payment of their obliga-
tons by the subsidized railroads to the
government and to regulate interstate
commerce. Then he discusses the re-
lations of capital and labor, and sug-
gests an enlargement of the present
labor bureau-adding to its present
functions the power of arbitration. He
speaks favorably of the operations of
the department of agriculture, and en-
dorses the recommendation of the
commissioner in regard to experiment
stations, forestry, etc. In regard to
civil service reform and the present
system, the President says
The meaning of such restraint and pro-
lection is not appreciated by those who
want places under the government, regard
less of merit and efficiency, nor by those
who insist that the selection for such places
should rest upon "A proper credential show
ing active partisan work They mean to
public officers, if not their official lives, the
only opportunity afforded them to attend
to public business, and they mean to the
good people of the country the better per-
Torrance of the work of the government.
1t is exceedingly strange that the scope and
nature of this reform are so little under
stood, and that so many things not included
within its plan are called by its name.
When cavil yields more fully to examina-
ton the system will have large additions to
the number of its friends. Our civil service
reform may be imperfect in some of its de-
tails it may be misunderstood and opposed
it may not always be faithfully applied; its
designs may sometimes miscarry, through
mistake or wilful intents--may sometimes
tremble under the assaults of its enemies or
languish under the misguided zeal of i'm
practicable friends-bu if the people of this
country ever submit to the Punishment of
its underlying principle from the operation
of their government they will abandon the
surest guarantee of the safety and success
of American institutions, | invoke for this
reform the cheerful and ungrudging support
of the congress.
Perhaps comment on the foregoing is
unnecessary; at any rate, we shall
forego comment at this time.
In conclusion, the message refers
briefly to the affairs of the freedmen's
savings bank and of the District of
Columbia, which contain nothing of
much interest to the general public.
The Irish Troubles.