Mohave County miner., 1889-01-26
WASHINGTON S.ETTER.
srRoM QUE REGuLaa CORRESPONDENT.
WAsnsoTos. Jan. I4th, 1889.

WAsnIsgTos, Jan. 1sth, 1889.
In the top OF the great Pension building
and entered from balcony overlooking
the magnificent court wherefhe inaugural
ball will be held, are the admitted files"
OF the Pension Bureau. The shelves
reach TO the ceiling, and sre built out In
wings as In crowded library. On this
shelving, properly jacketed, belong the
papers In nearly three-quarters Of q mil.
lion pension claims, those that have been
admitted to the Pension Office as just
claims and the claimants pensioned.
What bewildering array. Tons on tons
OF paper from heavy calendered War De-
partment paper, covered with official re.
ports, to the cheap note paper on which
the soldier wrote home. from the front
Ink now faded and yellow with age, and
ink that was faded before IL touched the
paper an ocean Of ink.
Think of the almost innumerable words
that are written upon the papers packed
away in this attic. II Adam and Eve had
been condemned when driven out OF the
garden OF Eden TO copy number of
words equal TO those here collected, and
had been expert copyists and had worked
at the job ever since every day, they
would not be through yet. II school
boy were set TO work 10 merely count the
separate documents and lived and toiled
to three score and ten, death would End
| his work unfinished.
These rooms contain, however, but a
portion Of the official records OF the PEN
sion Bureau, though quite enough to be
food for speculation. There are records
| OF gallant service and records OF cowardly
desertion. There are cheerful letters from
brave soldiers, written as they lay man
gled in hospitals, and whining letters
from cheap scamps whose sole aim was
TO be in the hospital. Then there are the
millions OF afIidayits containing the testi-
timony by which these cases were estab-
| lisled.
That some Of this testimony is absolute
and unqualified perjury goes without say
ing; that larger proportion of il is not
unalloyed truth is quite as certain.
Aud this i5 to be said no more Of the
cases recently allowed than OF those ad-
mitted years ago, as hundreds OF ex-sol-
diers have filed claims for serious gun
shot wounds during the last five years,
and an examination OF War Department
files has uncarthed the positive record OF
the wound in battle. These be honorable
scars, The class Of claims where perjury
is most rife is in the claims Of widows on
account Of the death Of husbands who
| died since the war.
The law entities the widow OF last war
soldier to q pension only when the sol
dier died Of a cause originating in service.
In the more remote and poorer districts
OF the country many an ex-soldier is
scarcely cold in death before the widow
has made application for pension. No
matter what he may have died Of, a tree
may have fallen on him, he may have
been drowned, death is in any event at
tributed 10 service. Sometime the family
doctor is most obliging with testimony,
hoping that pension may secure his
fee. Of course, / speak Of exceptional
cases. Twelve dollars per month for life is a
dream Of riches TO the lone widow on
some bleak hillside. II will keep the
cupboard full, repair the house, silence
tho dread Of the poorhouse and make
everything pleasant to the end of life.
With her own efforts at little gardening
| she can even be woman OF station
''Drat tine woman" l heard ono house
wife say Of another, "there ia no peace
with her since she drawed that pension !;
she thinks Of nothing but fashion,"
| Amongth many commendable features
OF Our pension system nothing is more
creditable to our common humanity than
the liberal allowance made TO soldiers
who become blind or lose both legs or
both arms in service. The sum of $72
per month is, Of coarse, poor compen-
sation for total blindness, but it will re-
specially support man. In this respect
We do better than some other people.
1 saw a sightless Frenchman on the streets
OF Chicago once, hat in hand, begging
He was miserably clad, and his long hair
was thin and white. A French army
medal swung idly on his breast. l learned
that his eyes had been injured in the
service OF France, and that he had been
pensioned at few francs per month,
about enough to keep him In tobacco, and
now the sight was totally extinguished
contrasted his condition with that of a
blind ex-soldier Of our own country, going
down to peaceful old age, warmly clad,
well housed, his cheerful old wife by his
side, honored by and honoring a grateful
country. This is the bright side Of PEN
sioning.
Then there Is the dark side. Every in
habitant Of any country village knows the
chronic pension claimant. II his claim
for pension on account OF rheumatism