St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-10-10
CORRECTING A TANNERIsM.
Tanners "Order" AbOlishing So
Ratings Rescinded,

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9.-Assistant Sec
retary Bussey to-day rendered deeis-
ion in the pension appeal case of Lunde-
vile, late private in the Vermont vol
unteers service. which he reviews and
rescinds the ''Order" issued by Commits
sioner Tanner on the 25th of last April
abolishing the rating of 81 per month,
and establishing in its stead the sum of
81 per month in all cases dating from
March 27, 1889. The assistant secretary
in his review of this order says:
'Tt appears that, pending the report on
this appeal, the chief of the law division of
your office referred the case TO the medical
referee for an opinion as to whether. under
the present practice of the bureau Of pen
sions, the claimant is entitled to any ad-
vance of the site (S2) for chronic diarrhna.
In response to this request, the medical ref
erree in a slip dated May &. 1889, says: In
accordance with an order from the honor
able commissioner, he is entitled TO S41S
to a communication, dated the I'd inst. and
addressed by the acting commissioner to the
secretary of the interior that the order re-
ferred TO in the aforesaid slip is as follows:
april %. lSS9-Order--In all cases where
q penslOnable disability is found. the rate
allowed shall not be less than 81 per month,
to date from and including March 27 1889
JAMES TANNER, Commissioner
The foregoing order OF The commissioner
seems to be the only ground upon which the
proposed increase of claimants rating (S2
for chronic diarrhRa) is To be based, but the
question raised: Is the order itself consist
ent with the established precedents of the
department, or in conformity with the meth
DDS whereby a pensionabIe rating, having
been conferred upon claimant may there
after be legitimately modified by increasing
or otherwise changing the same? A careful
examination of this inquiry impels me to
ssr-1
ings that are expressly fixed by congressional
legislation for specific disabilities, for pen
siOns based upon military rank and for serv-
ice pensions, the ratings made by the bureau
of pensions ere determined by degrees of
disability. as the same may be Gscertained by
medical examinations of claimants. In con-
forInity with the authority bestowed upon the
bureau Of pensions, the ultimate rates of
pension for non-specifc disabilities are so
divided and SubGiYided as to constitute a
schedule Of ratings predicated upon degrees
of disability ascertainable by medical exam
nations. 1t was in pursuance of such a
schedule that the rating (S2 per month or
One-fourth totaD was allowed this claimant
for alleged chronic diarrh9a, and the theory
of this practice requires that similar rating
for similar disability shall be given to all
equally deserving claimants. 1t is upon this
principle alone that system can be enforced
in accordance with justice to all who may
seek Its benefits, and one Of the essential
features of this system is that an increase Of
pension must be determined by an increase
of disability as the same may be found by
medical examination. In view of this fact,
it is obvious that if il were admissible that
rates of pension for non-specific disabilities
might be increased by mere order of the
commissioner of pensions, uninformed by or
regardless OF medical evidence as to the
degree of said disabilities, the whole schedule
of ratings for such disabilities might be oblit-
Grated or revoluIioniZed by similar order.
and as consequence the grossest inequsli-
ties, not TO say the most fagrant injustice
might be established in the practice of the
pension Office. And ii may be properly added
here that II such an order might by legiti-
mately enforced by the commissioner in one
case, he might by a stroke Of the pen in
crease and reTate all pensioners for non
specific disabilities without any restraint ex-
cepling his own discretion. The error of the
above mentioned order issued April %,
1889, by the late commissioner Of pensions,
is manifest and the resembling of it neces-
sarily follows. 1t has neither the color of
law nor the authority Of precedent, how
ever, if it appears to you in the light of a
medical examination that the pensiouer is
entitled 10 an increased rating for an increase
of disability from chronic diarrhoea you will
proceed to adjudicate his claim accordingly.
Prince Bismarck left Friedrichsruhe yes