, 1889-10-19
MOBILES FIRST LETTER
To Tanner on the Subject of
Rerating.
The Secretary Expresses Him.
self in Plain Terms.
Some Facts Over Which the
Corporal May Ponder.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1S.-Secretary No
ble's first letter to Commissioner Tanner
on the subject of r~erating of pensions is
made public to night. 1t is dated July
%. The secretary acknowledges the re-
ceipt of Tanners letter of July IL marked
unofficial" but which he could not re-
ceive as ANYTHING but an official paper.
raising as it did the question of authority
between the commissioner and the secre.
tary and asserting that of the commissioner
to be superior as to the matter discussed.
Your position in YOU W language"
says the secretary lis that while the sec
rotary of the interior has power to reverse
a decision of the commissioner of pensions
if appealed by a claimant against whom
the commissioner has decided, on the
other hand if for any reason it be held
that the claimant has been grated too
much pension the commissioner is the
only person who has power to call a halt
and reduce a pension The commits
sioner is laboring under a misapprehen-
sion. The secretary has control to correct
any abuses in the bureau of pensions or
any other bureau In his department.
The secretary in support of his posi-
ton quotes from the revised statues and
says it will not do to say that the secretary
may not interfere and stop by his W
power the execution OF any orders obyi-
ously illegal and arbitrary. The secre-
tary il responsible for the conduct of the
commissioner and the commissioner is
bound to see that the law is enforced that
the public treasury is not unlawfullY in
vaded n that one citizen entitled to a
right whether OF a pension or land or by
anything else is not undulY preferred.
The secretary continues: The cases
referred to were ten in number. In each
one of these the claimant was an EN- plOye
in the pension bureau, receiving a salary
sufficient for his comfortable subsistence,
and at his work daily. Most of them had
been in their places under a former ad-
ministration, but they did not then prefer
their claim. They made them soon after
the advent OF this administration. There
was no reason under the existing rules
that their cases should be made special or
rushed through in advance of all others.
On the contrary, there was then and had
been for some years a printed rule in full
force, that no cases should be made special
except in cases of restitution or when the
applicant was at the point of death. Yet
these cases were all hurried through by
your order, while hundreds of thousands
of other pensioners were awaiting through
out the land an allowance for the first
time of a bounty the government had
promised them.
These other pension claimants were
many ofthem supported by no such salar-
les as these particular mep were receiving,
and the association together OF these men
whereby this preference seemed to have
been secured and the subsequent allow
ances obtained is IN itself a fact that their
purpose was to impose upOn the govern
ment.
Secretary Noble then reviews at con-
siderable length the cases of three of the
pension office employees whose pensions
were rerated, and concludes that ~rerating
was illegal and unwarranted. He adds:
Il will not go into the other cases; they
are before you. l have said enough, l
think, to show that the secretary may
well call a halt until these cases can be
more carefully examined.
1T may be that this government is
strong and great and has.at its
a surplus that no other nation ever had,
but If sums of money may be granted
without any further consideration of fact
or law than seems to have been given in
these cases, 1t will not depend solely upon
a single officer Observation-Disclosures the re-
sources of that government shall be sufi-
cient for its maintenance or not.
There are more than enough of these
applications already in the field and in
creasing daily to exhaust the surplus of
which 50 much has been said IN connec-
ton with this matter and | am informed
that applications for r~erating are i~ncreas-
ing n now reach an amount trom-from
1000 to 5000 a week"
The secretary further says that he in
tends to have these cases re-examined and
has ordered an investigation of the PEN
sion office. Pending the report of the in
vestigating board he will issue no further
orders, but expresses his belief to control
his department by any means he deems
legal and expedient.
Thirty-siN Bodies Recovered.
InNnnN Ma 10 III. Ill