The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-07-04
TANNER SHOULD GO.

Pension Commissioner TANNER should
be called in and retired. 1t has been init
mated in the reports from Washington
that the President and members of the
cabinet were becoming exceedingly weary
of TANNER, whose recklessness and whose
mania for distributing the peoples money
among the ex-soldiers are bringing the ad-
ministration into disrepute; and there have
also come rumors to the effect that the cor
poral was soon to be retired. The sooner
these rumors are verified the better it will
be for the government and the tax payers.
TANNER has been in office three months.
andl three weeks ago the pension
appropriation for the year ending June
30, was exhausted. 1t is also apparent that
the sum for the current year will be paid
out long before the end of the year. Con-
gress will be asked to provide for an enor
nous deficiency created by the systematic
extravaganza of the commissioner who is
hunting for pretexts on which to get rid of
the money. The fact that he is playing
havoc with the appropriations and bringing
4 saster upon the bureau, does unot deter
TANNER from going ahead in his mad career.
The entire revenue of the nation would
be insufficient to satisfy him.
II he can swamp the treasury he will do it,
hence the necessity for getting rid of the
fellow before he gets too deep in the wreck
ing business. If he were wise he would
see the trouble ahead, and call halt on
himself. The experience of the past three
weeks should also have taught him the
necessity of exercising caution, but it did
not for he is going along trying to make
matters worse.
The Washington correspondent of the
New York Sun has just had an interview
with the commissioner and in letter to
his paper says:
The commissioner says he has directed all
pension agents to supply him with list of all
pensioners getting less than 81 per month. after
these lists have been received the commissioner
proposes TO order all of those named on the lists
before medical board for examination, and he
(the commissioner says he will be greatly sur
prised if the board rated any old soldier that
was entitled to be on the pension list at any
thing less than 81.
Il donot propose, :" said the commissioner, ''by
my own arbitrary act to increase these pensions
to a, but il 1 did should be clearly within the
law. The authority OF the commissioner is enOr-
nous. presume that I could by my own act
increase every pension that's less than IS TO
that sum, and could increase q good many pen
sions that are OF larger amounts. There is a
comparatively small number of specific injuries
the rate OF pension for which is fixed by Con-
gress but much the larger number Of the rates
OF pensions are fixed within certain limits by
the commissioner, and may be changed by him
at will.
It is somewhat surprising that the com
missioner has deemed it proper to send the
little pension ers before the medical boards
when he could have ordered the increase at
once. and seen to it that nobody received
less than IS per month. This is conces-
sion to decency which was hardly expected
from the head of the bureau.
For the protection of the people, and in
Justice to the self-respect of the worthy ex-
soldiers who would all be made to pose as
mendicants if the commissioner could have
his way, Tanner should be retired and a
man placed in charge who had some regard
for the decencies and the proprieties.