Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-04-20
OUR DISABLED HEROES.
Stupendous Work of The Pension Bureau
big Pensions Granted.

A Washington despatch says The |
newest public building in Washington is |
The pension office. 1t IS a great red brick
located in judiciary square,
Just north of the di trct building. In
its material aud architecture it is marked
departure from the style heretofore pre-
vailing. On)y in the matter of cost can
it be considered an improvement, it hav-
ing been completed for $l0 O,OO0 Out
wardly the bulldog il very ugly, and sets
at defiance all laws OF architecture. II j.
400 by 300 feet. and is l5l feet high II
took l55OJ, 900 of bricks for its walls, and
the floor space in 1SS, ,25S square feet. The
eight enormous columns which support
the roof, each Il small Bunker HUI mouu-
ment, are he largest III existence, ana
each contains 10000 bricks. The tile
space in TINS room is $1,000 square feet.
There is a fountain in the centre of the
court, and npon gala occasions its rim j..
surrounded by palms and other trODicq
plants, while the galleries are hung with
toe flags OF all nations.
No government that ever existed has
had SO many pensioners upon its rolls, or
diebursed 50 many millions of dollars for
the sick, poor aud disabled. More money
l. taken from the treasury to be pHld out
through the pension bureau han Is re-
iured by any other branch o. the govern
lhCUl. ne IiSI OF DellSlBDtIS NUMBERS
12O 90, aud there l. net gam OF 10000 "a
Year. The annual charge ~ the govern
Gtnt for these j. $50 ),OOD Guu ii has
Iua as nigh as $1,000, 900. Last year 5000
pensioners died. There has been an lu-
crease Of q per cent in the death list To
look after this army ofpeusiOner- requires
force Of l1VO clerks III Washington.
while the total number of employees IL
the country, including surpeOnS and
~p clu examiners, Is not far from 400.
The largest pension ever allowed by the
government Was granted few weeks ago
To d mau ftum tine village tt WlNt Cheer,
NeOkuk county, la. His name Is CyDhert
u. Gillette Huu ne based his clam on the
fact that ne Is totally blind from the effects
VI his service IN the army. He received
$iG,lSO III arrears auQ his allowance here
alter lS TO be ~ month Up TO this time
me largest pension allowed was to man
named Patterson from Elmir8, y. Y, who
was allowed :l3332 rs arrears and $40 a
month. In this ctse, however, after the
matter had gone through the department
il was discovered that the claim was Il
fraudulent one and the money was with
held. The government has been very lib
eral to q few other veterans lately. Jacob
Dugman of Iowa. who claims to have
| lost his Sipht III the army, received SIP ,49l
as arrears and W. >. Stevens OF Ohio, for
Il like cause, has been paid Sl2,346, Fred
erick Goslin OF Vermont, Sll, ,2l2 as back
/ pay because ne is Iald up with lnuamIna
! tory rheumatism, and there are a dozen OF
| others whose names are now on the rolls
and whose claims aggregate nearly as
| high sums as those mentioned. During
tn past week this list of big pensions ha.
been increased by the allowance OF the
claim of John Vice of Owingsvlle, Ky.
for pension on account of total blind
LESS. The pension, dating back to the
beginning OF Vices application in th'
tlrst year of the war of the rebellion, now
toots up something over $4,000. The ben
eficiaIy was Hojectly poor, WILn a helples
family, and thus large sum is something
beyond his widest dreams.