New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1889-10-23
NOBLE @ 3 I. E TO TANNER.
Letter From the Secretary Of the
Interior to the Commissionerof
Pensions.
his Method of Rerating Pensions
Shown to Be Disregard. Of
the Law.

>SAooAa@ VI poAslOus, u<dGco u1J
Ihave heretofore acknowledged yours Of the
18th inst marked unofficial" but which, owing
90 the very important matters therein dis
o shssef could not receive as such and and
paper. The paper was official in The
highest sense,of the term, raising question
the secretary and asserting that OF the commits
sloner to be superior as to the matter discussed
due fdnod annie to cn mang other tss
question raised by your letter, and will
no" give you my reply in full. Your position
In your own language, is THAT while the secre-
tary of the interior has the power to reverse the
decision of the commissioner OF pensions onap-
peal by claimant, against whom the. commits
sloner has decided, on theother hand, II, tor any
reason. it be held that the claimant has been
granted too much pension the commissioner
himself is the only person who has the power to
call halt and reduce the pension" This is your
own statement. You base this conclusion. on
SECTION 3, act of June q. 1879. which readsas
follows:
That sections q, III, 4,7z2 and 4,773: of the
Revised Statutes Of the United States. providing
for biennial examinations Of pensioners, are
hereby repealed: .Provided: That the commits
sloner of pensions shall have the same power as
heretofore to order special examinations When
ever, IN his Judgment, the same may be neces-,
sary, and to increase or reduce pensions Accord
Ing to right and Justice; but in no case shall
pension be withdrawn reduced except upon
notice TO the ,pensioner and hearing upon
sworn testimony, exceptas to the certificate OF
WHO'S RESP oNs1BLE?
The power granted the commissioner OF PEN
sions by this section is expressly greater
than heretofore. and it is to increase reduce
pensions according TO right and Justice. 1t
would be, as you express 1t, a manifest neon
gruity" if the secretary. who is responsible for
your bureau, had no power to correct obvious
abuses. or even call halt, and that if his infe-
rior officer did not act nothing could be done.
You remark yourself, this incongrulty should
be remedied at the next session OF congress-
The commissioner is aboring under great mis-
apprehension to his relations to the secretary
in this business. congress has not committed
this incongruity, and it will not be necessary
for 1t to remedy anything that now exists. The
secretary has the control to correct any abuses
In the bureau OF pensions or any other bureau IN
the department.. II might assert my conclusions
on plain and well settled question. and so
leave it, but due consideration for your once
leads me to explain the ground OH which. this
long established rule rests.
The secretary, in support of his position,
quotes sections 437, 161, 40 ard AL, Of
the Revised Statutes, and declares that the
commissioner DIMENSIONS has no more power
in the sectonsG uoted in Commissioner Tan
ner's letter than Re had previously under the
direction of the secretary of the interior, who
is charged by law with the supervision Of
public business relating to pensions.
THE "SEoRETARY'S RIGHTS
It will not do to saw he remarks, that the Sec
rotary may not interfere and stop by MS own
illegal and arbitrary. II it were attempted by q
commissioner OF pensions In other than cases OF
sions and to allow the accumulated increase Of
ten or fifteen years to be paid over at once and
In a gross sumtto the applicant, it would not DO
to say that the secretary could only refer this
back to the commissioner with word Of advice,
and call his attention to the law. and take no
steps eithe1Gtorrecover the money thus improp-
ery paid out or correct the evil thus attempted
to be done, that he could not even call a halt.
The secretary is responsible for the conduct OF
the commissioner; is bound to see that the law
is enforced: that the public treasury is not I'M
lawfully invaded, and that one citizen entitled
to right, whether of pension or land or any
thing. ese is not unduly preferred, either In
time OF hearing or allowance of money.
The secretary lays down the proposition
that hehas the same Jurisdiction over the
commissioner of pensions as over other
bureaus of his department., argues at some
length in support Of it, and says that the SUI
Hpreme court decisions sustain him. The Sec
rotary then takes up the "re-rating" cases,
which, he says, seem to be largely mere in
creases OF pensions allowed for long periods
prior to the date Of the examining surgeons
certificate establishing the same under the
pending claim for increase; in fact, he says,
the commissioner himself acknowledged
them to be cases of
INCREASE OF PENSIONS.
These cases referred to were ten in number.
I'm each one OF these the claimant was an en-
ploye. clerk or other, in the pension bureau. re-
ceiving salary sufficient for his comfortable sub
sistence, and at his work daily. They were as
their places under the former administration.
But they did not prefer their claims: they made
them soon after the advent of The present ad-
ADMINISTRATION. There was no under the
existing rules that their cases should be made
special or rushed through in advance Of all 9TH
.ers On the contrary. there was then and had
been for printed rule in full force
that no cases should be made special except in
cases Of destitution or when the the applicant was
all hurried through by your order,
while hundreds Of thousands Of other pension,
ers were awaiting throughout the land the al
lowance for the first time Of the bounty the
government has promised them. These other
pension claimants were. many of them, sup
ported by no such salaries as these particular
men were receiving, and the association to-
gether OF these men. whereby this preference in
time seemed to have been secured and the SUBJ
sequent allowances obtained, is In itself fact
that their purpose was to impose npon the COM
missioner. The further fact in each case is that
the increase was allowed prior to the surgeons
sums allowed aggregate over SIG. 900. It is in
regard TO such cases as these that you have
thought The commissioner alone can call halt
and in regard TO which
THE SECRETARY THINKS OTHERWISE
and proposes to call a halt long enough at least
for INSPECTION. do not repel the expression on
your part that you would accept nv cons truc-
tion OF the statute quoted by you as Loyalty as
you would the Official opinion Of the attorney
general But neither you nor can afford to act
upon personal considerations in matters of this
MAGNITUDE. We each bound by law in all
things, great and small and it is our duty to
power given to either of us and abstain from
the abuse of it to any degree whatever Our
Loyalty is due alone to the government Of The
United States and the people who support it.
Lest the commissioner may deem the sec
rotary is Influenced by desire to magnify
his office, Mr. Noble says that he has brought
to his assistance the services Of others in the
department, and that the opinion OF the as.
sistant attorney general of the department,
ngrees in the conclusions reached by the sec.
rotary. The secretary then says that there
is board OF review in the department
which assists him in the decisions of pension
cases taken up On appeal. These decisions
are the law Of the department. until reversed
or annulled by some authority higher thar
the secretary, and no one has ever main.
tanned to the contrary.
ADJUDICATION OF CLAIMS sss
In these decisions 1t has been announced
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