The Washington critic., 1888-03-17
SENATORS AND "sHARKs.n

In the Senate on Thursday Mr..
Plumb presented, for reference to the
Committee on Pensions, letter
which he said had been sent to him
by an ex.soldier in Kansas, who had
received it from a firm OF. claim
agents in this city. The Senator did
not give the names of the agents, but
the letter'w read as follows:
WASHINGTON ID. c., Feb 1s, 1888.
SIR Some time ago we wrote you advising
you 20 allow us TO take your claim TO Con-
sress. Why do we not hear from you? We
are thoroughly conversant with your claim
and have no hesitation in stating IL to be our
belief that II the matter is properly presented
Congress will not refuse TO grant you PEN
sion by special act" Our fee is s25. Ten
dollars we ask In advance the balance, SIS,
when you receive the first payment Of the
pension. You will be to no other expense in
the matter, as all the afidavits, etc. on file
at the Pension Bureau will be submitted TO
the Congressional committees for examlna-
tion. During the last Congress S63 special.
act" pensions were granted. and II is expect
ed that the number granted by tho present
Congress will be greatly in excess Of that
number Now is the best possible time to
present cases for Congressional action. tits
the eve of a Presidential and Congressional
election, and parties and individuals are on
their mettle to make record. Should you
engage our services you may depend upon It
that we shall do all in our power TO secure
success. Bet tus hear from You at once, please.
Upon the reading of this letter quite
little discussion ensued, of which
the burden was that the pension
sharks" having no access to the PEN
sion Committee, and not being recog-
nized as attorneys in special pension
cases, had no influence in procuring
the passage Of bills, and were, there
fore, obtaining money under false
pretenses in taking fees for services
which they could not render 1t was
also agreed that these ''sharks'' ought
to be looked after and some means
taken TO protect claimants against
their misrepresentation.
1t was admitted, furthermore, by
Mr.. Hale and others that this sort of
thing had been going on for some
time, and that Senators were almost
every day receiving letters or copies
of letters of the above import. How
it happens that nothing was ever done
about it before, or that Mr.. Plumb
should have all of sudden been
prompted TO make the matter. public
and subject of inquiry, does not ap-
pear.
tits entirely proper, of course, that
pension claimants should be sur
rounded with safeguards against i'm
position and that the methods of
pension agents should be inquired
into. if there is reason to believe that.
they are fraudulent or unlawful, but
twill be seen that the writers OF the
letter do not assume to have any
influence" as that term is usually
understood; and as Senators stoutly
assert that such a thing as Influence"
from such direction is wholly impos-
sible and out Of the question, we can.
not see the necessity for this sudden
outburst Of Indignation and vehement
call for investigation.
The letter does intimate, however,
that at this political junctufe both
parties in Congress or members of both
parties are not only willing, but
anxious, to make all the capital they
canout OF the soldier vote. and that
this s'''the best possible time to pre-
sent cases for Congressional action"
is this true or is 1t not true? would
therefore seem to be one Of the points
10 be investigated. Let these swim
ding pension "sharks' be pursued to
the wall; at the same time let it be
ascertained whether they are war
ranted in saying that owing to certain
political considerations the present
session of Congress offers peculiar fa-
cilities and inducements TO the prose-
cution Of claims.
Possibly Mr.. Plumb had this in
mind when he broached the matter
to find out where they get their au-
thority for such statement, and
whether 1t is founded on fact or fiction.
1t seems to THE CRIr1c that the
writers of the offensive letter are sim
ply taking advantage of condition
of things that there is too much reason
TO believe does exist. The investiga-
tion should make this clear 1t must
vindicate Congress as well as bar out
the intrusive Sharks who hover in
the vicinity.
ITMAY NoT RE that m ,nnetal falaoral,h