The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1889-10-25
NOBLE TO TANNER.
Letter From the Secretary Of the
Interior to the Commissioner of
Pensions.
His Method Of Rerating Pensions
Shown to Be a Disregard Of
the Law.

the Law.
WASHINGTON, Specialize following is
the substance of Secretary Mobiles first letter
to Commissioner Tanner upon the subject of
re-rating of pensions, dated July "a:
I have heretofore acknowledged yours Of the
18th inst. marked unofficial" but which. owing
to the very important matters there. ah as nd
therefore acknowledged it as an official
paper The paper was official In me
highest sense of the term raising question
the secretary and asserting that Of the commits
sloner to be superior as to the matter discussed.
dnt have since since , md consider tse
question raised by your letter. and will
now 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 on ap-
peal bv claimant. against whom the commits
sioner has decided on Inc other nano, H. LOT h any
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 81. 1879. which reads as
follows
That sections 4,77l, 4.772 and 4,773 Of the
Revised Statutes Of the United States. providing
for biennial examinations OF pensioners. are
hereby repealed: Provided: That the commits
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 snail
pension be withdrawn or reduced except upon
notice to the pensioner and a hearing upon
sworn testimony, except as to the certlhcate OF
the examining surgeons.
WHO IS RESP ONSIBLE?
The power granted the commissioner OF pen
sions by this section is expressly no greater
than heretofore. and it is to increase or reduce
pensions according TO right and justice. 1t
would be, you express it, "a manifest neon
gritty" If the secretary. who is responsible 1or
your bureau, had power to correct obvious
abuses, even call a halt. and that II MS !n1e-
rior officer did not act nothing could be done
You remark yourself, this incOngru1ty should
be remedied at the next session OF CONGRESS
The commissioner is labor1ng 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 it 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. might assert my conclusions
on plain and well settled question and 80
leave it, but due consideration for your Office
leads me to explain the ground on 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 of pensions has no more power
in the section quoted in Commissioner Tan
ner's letter than he 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 sECRETARY's RIGHTS.
It will not do to say. he remarks, that the Sec
= rotary may not interfere and stop by his own
power the execution Of any orders obviously
Illegal and arbitrary. II 1t were attempted by a
opmmiseioner 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 gross sum to the applicant. it would not do
back to the commissioner with > word of advice.
and call his attention to the law, and take no
steps either to recover the money thus 1mprop-
efly paid out or correct the evil thus attempted
to be done, that he could not even call halt.
The secretary is responsible Tor the conduct OF
the commissioner; is bound to see that the law
is enforced: that the public treasury is not un-
Niawfuiiy ilreaCtd, and that one citizen cntis.ed
to a right. whether of pension or land or any
thing else, is not unduly preferred, either IN
time of hearing or allowance of money.
The secretary lays down the proposition
that he nas 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 su-
preme 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.
In each one of these the claimant an en-
ploye clerk or other, in the pension bureau. re-
ceiving salary sufficient for his comfortable SUBJ
sistence and at his work daily They were as
ISOLATED together: most of them had been in
their places under the former administration.
But they did not prefer their claims: they made
them soon after the advent of The present ad-
ministration. There was no reason 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 some wears printed rule in full force
that no cases should be made special except in
at the point OF death The cases were
all hurried through by your order.
while hundreds of thousands Of other pension
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
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
certificate in the pending claim. and that the
sums allowed aggregate over $4,000. 1t is in
regard to such cases as these that you have
thought The commissioner alone can call halt:
and in regard which
THE SECRETARY THINKS OTHERWISE.
and proposes to call a halt long enough at least
for inspection. do not repel the expires sion on
your part that you would accept my construc-
tion of the statute quoted bv you as loyalty as
you would the official opinion of the attorney
general. But neither you nor I can afford to act
upon personal considerations in matters OF this
magnitude. We are each bound by law in all
things, great and small, and it is our duty to
take the law as we find it: to fully exercise that
power given to either Of 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 ty q desire to magnify
his Office, Mr. Noble says that he has brought
to his assistance the services of others in the
6opo, tp,oDt oo6 th.t he ovipiou ~ no