Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-08-08
To Senator Charles f. MandersOn,
From the Philadelphia Times.

FROM the fnllaQeipnla Times.
SIR: Philadelphia, the city of your
birth, has felt pride in your gaIlantry
as soldier and i'm your election aud
reelection to the United States Senate
by the Legislature of Nebraska, your
adopted State. Her pride was justly
inspired by such record written by
one of her High School boys; but her
pride has been changed into humilia-
ton by your reported acceptance OF an
unsolicited and obviously fraudulent
re-rating of your pension, in defiance
of repeated medical examinations and
| reports, including large amount for
| alleged pension arrears, wrongfully
drawn from the public trearury
The official record in this case is SO
clear that none can misunderstood it.
You were granted pension of SIS per
| month on the I'd of Nove,nbe 1865, to
date from September 2, 1864, when you
were wounded in the military service.
You were re-examined at Omaha on
the 7th OF October, 1878, and again
| rated at SIS per month; again examin-
ed on the 18th of September, 1875, and
| again rated as before; again examined
on the 7th of September, 1877, and
again rated at the original pension.
Since then you have never been ex-
amined for rating as a pensioner, and
never applied, either directly or indi-
| rectly so far as the record shows, for
any increase.
On the Sd of June, 1889, one George
B. Squires, the confidential clerk of
Pension Commissioner Tanner, with
out application or suggestion from you
as the record appears issued a 'slip
call" for the papers in your case, and
on the 9th of the same month, at 11:45
A. NJ, as his report states, Acting
Medical Referee J. E. Carpenter re-
ported in favor Of increasing your pen
sion to $50 per month, with over 81 900
of arrearages, and the certificate was
issued on the Sth of June, just five
days after the papers were ordered
for re-exanlination. The check was
promptly issued to you for over s., 900
arrearages, and thus far there has been
no public indication of your purpose
to resent this affront to your honor as
soldier and this open assault upon
your integrity as Senator.
The men who invented this fraud
upon the government and have sought
to make you guilty participant in it.
have been disgraced aud dismissed
from the high trusts they dishonored,
and your apparently unsolicited in
crease of pension, with the large pay
ment to you for arrears, was one of the
most f1agrant of the lawless acts for
which they were publicly execrated. |
Is there any theory by which you can
reconcile your acceptance of the fruits |
of this fraud with your honor as a
soldier. your duty as Senator or your
integrity as citizen?
You have been a Senator of the |
United States for over six years; you |
have actively participated in all the
pension legislation of that period; you
know that you have been examined
four times at different periods by med
ical officials ard the original rating OF |
your pension always maintained; you |
have not sought or had an examine
ton since 1877; you made no applica-
ton for increase of your pension, you |
know that the re-rating and increase,
with large arrears, lately given you,
was without any application from
yourself and without any examination |
to even suggest it; you know that your !
physical condition is better now, and |
has been for six years past, than the |
medical reports made it in 1877, and |
you know that the officials WHO, with
out application or lawful authority, in
creased your pension with large ar
rears. have been disgraced and dis
missed from office. In the face of
these facts, do not common honesty |
and common jnstice, alike to yourself |
and to the nation whose highest rep
resentative trust you fill, demand that |
you promptly return the arrears mon-
ey fraudulently obtained from the gov
ernment for your use, aud resent the |
indignity offerd you as soldier, Senator
and citizen by rejecting the lawless re-
rating of corrupt and dishonored Off |
cials?
The people of Philadelphia, the city
of your birth, as well as the people of
Nebraska, the state of your adoption,
will wait with solicitude for your ac-
ton in this crucial test of your public |
and private integrity. What is your |
answer? Your sclf-acquttal of this
grave imputation upon your personal
and official honor will be gratefully re-
ceived and acknowledged by, as ever,
your friend, THE TIMES.