Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-10-25

mandatory cause 70 compel him 70 pay them
| No dorht the payment Of these widows unde
| this compulsory process will be claimed as a re
| suit of the 'Iiberality' Of the Commissioner
and his party
| Inmany cases filed in the Pension Office claim
ants have been unable TO find evidence TO com
| plete their cases. and wearied with the Ions
waiting and destitute and suffering, have ap
pealed to Congress to relieve them by specia
acts. Section 4 715 OF the Revised Statutes pro
vides that any pensioner who shall SO elect
may surrender his certificate and receive II
lieu thereof a certificate TO any other pen
sion TO which he may have been entitled had
not the surrendered certificate been issued;'
but General Black rules that person receiving
pension by special act shall not be allowed to
prove up his case under the general law when
ne finds his witnesses. and then surrender his
certificate and receive the pension TO which he
would have been entitled had he not been re-
cipient of the favor from Congress; and this
boosted liberality'' needs mandatory act OF
Congress to compel HIM 10 obey this law.
CASES OF 'LIBERALITY."
Another decision Of characteristic ']fberality''
is found In ruling No. 135 OF September 4, 1885,
in which General Black says: THE Commls-
sioner holds that a man against whom the
charge of desertion remains can not receive q
pension"
Henry KIussman, company K, Tenth regi-
ment, Ohio, was pensioned in 1863 and died.
His widow applied for pension, and her ap
plication was rejected on the ground that the
record showed the soldier to have been at one
time deserter, and the Acknowledgement re-
fused to amend this record under the act OF
May II, 1885. After the charge of desertion
was entered upon the companys rolls the sol
der returned to his command, completed his
term of service, and was honorably discharged.
This woman afterwards received her pension
but the ruling still remains. This ruling is in
disregard of the official action OF the Depart
ment Of War. That department having hon
orably discharged the soldier it is none of the
Commissioners business what military offenses
he may have previously committed 1t is in
disregard Of the decision Of the Supreme Court
of the United States.
That court in the case of the United States
VS.. Kelly, Is Wallace, page 81, says: That the
honorable discharge OF the deserter was form
al final judgment passed by the Government
upon the entire military record of the soldier,
and an authoritative declaration by it that he
had left the service in a status Of honor"
Hence the court says: 'Such soldier does
not need any correction of his service by the
Adjutant-General because his discharge
amounted of itself to the removal Of any charge
or impeachment in the way of his receiving
bounty" and this ruling reverses the practice
Of his predecessors, who were accustomed to
obey the above decisions. But the present
Commissioner is wiser than the Supreme Court,
more powerful than the Secretary of War, and
more Liberal" than all his predecessors.
Another liberal decision was made in de-
fance of law and common sense in the case of
Thomas Ferguson, company B, Niuety-first reg
iment, Indiana volunteers. special act of
Congress, approved May 6, 1873, directed the
Pension Bureau to restore to the pension roll
the name Of this soldier.
May %, 1873, Secretary Delano decided: "Pen-
sioners under special acts are entitled to res
toration from date of suspension OF original
pension" and the uniform practice of the Of
fee was in accordance with this decision be-
cause the word restore" could have no other
sense; but in this case the Commissioner re-
stores him from the date Of the approval Of the
act and still withholds seven years pension to
which the soldier is entitled.
CHANGES BY DEMOCRATIC LIBERALITY.
The National cemeteries, the numerous battle
fields OF war, and various unknown resting
places, hold remains of dead soldiers whose
names are inscribed only on fames eternal roll
They sleep in unmarked graves, their resting
place unknown to loving friends. In many
cases it is impossible to prove the date or cause
of the death of the soldier. They were simply
as missing. Perhaps the last known
of them they were going into battle with their
comrades, or they were languishing on hospital
BEDS Or they were immured In rebel prisons, or
they were lost sight of in the hurried retreat.
1t was the pra"tice under the Republican ad-
and the Pension ONCE, that when
the presumptIons of law as to the death of q
soldier were fairly met the date of death should
be fixed at the date of the disappearance as
nearly as possible. Thus the common-law rule
that absence for seven years without ever being
heart of was accepted as prima facie evidence
of death, and the last date at which the soldier
was seen or heard of was accepted as that from
which the widow or dependent mother was en-
titled to receive her pension but Democratic
''Iiberality' changes this rule.
In tbs case OF Mary A. Brannan, widow of
Common Brannan. Company I, Nineteenth Hill
noIs. Commissioner Black ordered that her pen
sion should begin seven years after the disap-
pearance of her husband
In another case, Of dependent mother, whose
son was engaged i'll the battle OF Cold Harbor,
and at the end OF that engagement was missing
and has never since been heard of, the Commits
sioner ordered that the pension should COM
mence on the 4th of June, 1871, seven years from
the date OF the battle, and only changed this
ruling upon q direct order from the Secretary OF
the Interior.
A SPECIAL CASE OF IIBERALITY.
But at last we do come to genuine specimen
Of General Blacks 'liberality." Section ALA
of the Revised Statutes provides that declara-
tions of pension claims shall be made before
court Of record, etc. Section of the Mexican
Pension act provides that the pension laws now
in force, which are not inconsistent or in con-
iict with this act are hereby made part of this
act so far as they may be made applicable there
TO; but, disregarding these plain provisions of
law General Black is issuing pension certificates
under the Mexican Service act without any ap-
plication whatever from the beneficiary. Hon.
William Morrison, of Illinois, who was a
gallant soldier IN the Mexican and also in the
late war, had pension certificate issued to him,
which he refused to accept, because he had
never made any application for pension. did
not want 1t and would not receive 1t. Cap
tain George A. Boss, of Cincinnati, o.. also
received certificate OF pension under the
Mexican Pension act without ever making an
application for it. The same Is true of the
widow OF Lieutenant William Demmett. How
many other cases there are like these can only
be told by the records OF the Pension Office.
Were it not that the Commissioner Of Pen
sions is noted for his fairness to political oppo
nents, and his comparative freedom from any
thing like partisanship one might reasonably
conclude that this excessive hberality towards
the veterans of the Mexican war was due to the
fact that they are largely from the SOUTH, and
good Democrats.
Vetoing Pension Bills.
During the first session of the Forty-ninth
Congress President Cleveland vetoed more pen
sion bills than had all his predecessors since the
organization OF the Government. This fact
alone stamps the unfriendly character Of this
administration and the party it represents. But
to break the force Of this fact two defenses are
alleged: % That Mr. Cleveland also signed
more pension bills than any one of his prede-
cessors, and 2l that this exercise of his consti-
tutional right shows an independence of iudg-
ment, courage to accept the responsibilities
Of his Office, and desire to arrest fraudulent
and unworthy claims, which should commend