The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-09-11
Questions Answered,

T. T. F., WATERBURY.-The deci-
sion of the secretary of the interior that
a dishonorable discharge from the serv-
ice does not bar a soldier from receiv-
ing pension is only restoring the old
practice that existed prior to the days
of the Cleveland administration.
i. T., BURLINGToN.-Th delay in
increase pension claims is largely due
to the inability of the commissioner of
pensions to handle the business of his
office. In one week recently over
fourteen hundred applications for in
crease of pension were received at the
pension office, and during the same
week only about fifty increase pensions
were granted. The number of claims
pending in the pension Office of all
classes is said to be about 100000.
J. H. p, HANOVER, N. H.-After
an appeal has been taken in a rejected
pension claim it is unusual to file ad-
ditional testimony before decision is
rendered. The secretary of the interior
will not consider testimony in pension
case until it has been first considered
by the commissioner of pensions. If
the rejection is affirmed by the secre-
tary, you can then file additional testi-
mony and the case will be considered
in connection with the new testimony,
and if the claim is again rejected you
can again appeal to the secretary of the
interior.
A. c., RICHMoND.-The salary of
the commissioner of pensions is $1,000.
The salary of the assistant secretary of
the interior, who considers the appeals
taken from the decisions of the COM
missioner, is $4,000 a year. 1t looks
like appealing down HILL" to be sure.
The cases appealed from the pension
Office were regarded of sufficient i'm
portance to be considered by the secre-
tary of the interior himself prior to
1885, when the cases were first turned
over to an assistant, and the Harrison
administration has not yet reformed
this practice.
r. j. c., BENNINGTON.-The Sol
diers' Home would not be entitled, I'M
der existing laws, to the accrued pen
sion of pensioner who died while an
inmate of the Home leaving by will
5000 or $500 for the benefit of the
Home. If pensioner dies leaving no
widow or children under sixteen years
of age, the pension due him at the time
of his death cannot be drawn, except
where the pensioner did not leave suffi-
cient means to pay the expenses of his
last sickness and burial, and then only
sufficient to defray such expenses.
Congress passed an act March 2, 1889,
that gives the secretary of the interior
power to pay arrears of accrued pen
sions in certain cases, which is not the
case stated by you.
G.. H., MORETowN.-The order of
the commissioner of pensions, that the
testimony of the claimant himself and
one enlisted man should be sufficient to
show origin of disability in the serv-
ice, was probably intended only for the
newspapers. The commissioner is not
the head of the department and is not
the official to make the rules governing
the adjudicating of pensions. Tanner
is reported as saying that when he
learned it was not statute law requir-
ing the testimony of two enlisted men
to establish the origin of disability in
the service, he issued his order that the
testimony of one comrade should be
sufficient. If Tanner had followed the
practice in such cases, he would have
recommended to the secretary of the
interior that such an order be made,
and the secretary, who has the author
ity by law to make such rules, would
have issued the order undoubtedly.
Such assumption of power on the part
of the commissioner of pensions is, of
course, disgusting and open to criticism.
We might add that his said order is not
respected in the pension office. The
calls for testimony since the order are
the same as before 1.-TWO enlisted
men being still required.