The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-07-18
The Banner.
BENNINGTON. VERMONT
Thursday Afternoon, July Is, 1889
CORPORAL TANNER.

The policy of the Commissioner of
Pensions subjects Corporal Tanner to
more abuse than any other one of the
officials of the present Administration.
The change from the injustice and hate
of the Cleveland regime to liberal and
Just treatment of the Union veterans is
so marked that it is impossible to escape
notice, and yet there are a few things
connected Herewith which must be can
didly considered. On this point the
New York Press remarks
Tanner" said President Harrison,
run your bureau on business principles,
keep with the limits of the law and be
as liberal to the boys as possible" When
he comes to reflect upon these remarks,
Mr.. Cleveland will probably wish that
Ben Harrison had been somewhere in
the vicinity of the White House when
he was there, to give him he same ad-
vice, "Be liberal to the boys !" That's
the talk that gets under the waistcoat of
every woman who sent boy to fight for
the Stars and Stripes. And when it gets
there it can't get away.
webb" in the Boston Journal, cor
respondent and paper, both of which are
friendly to the veterans, and that
cudgelled the Cleveland folks without
mercy for cheese-paring on the question
of pensions, says:
There is unquestionably very decided
difference of opinion between the Secre-
tary of the Interior and the Commits
sioner of Pensions as to the policy which
Commissioner Tanner has adopted in the
payment of pensions. A gentleman very
prominent in public life who has taken
pains to ascertain what the actual effects
are, saws alt is fact that the policy
which ommissionerTanner has adopted
is giving the President, Secretary of the
Interior and Assistant Secretary Bussey
much concern. The situation is this {:
Under the arrears of Pensions law there
have been great many applications for
increases of pensions, and large numbers
of increases have been granted. These
increases have been granted for various
reasons. One of the most frequent
causes is that the Pension Office decides
that the pension as originally granted
was inadequate, and that it should have
been for total disability instead of one
half or two-thlrds disability. The differ
ence in a given case may be $40 or $50
lowed, this extra allowance dates from
the time the certificate of allowance is
issued, and grants an increase only in
the future. While these increases
amount in the aggregate to very large
sum, they are not what are giving the
Administration the greatest concern.
AT this point the effort is made not only
to secure an increase from the date of
allowance, but to have what is techni-
cally called in the Pension Office a re-
rating. That is, in plain language, a
declaration that the original award was
wrong in every case in which the rerat-
ing is ordered, that the judgment which
has been acted upon for nearly % years
shall be reopened that total disability
shall be allowed from the beginning in
stead of one-half or one-third disability,
and that the applicant is entitled to an
increase and to arrears for the entire
period of the life of the pension. 1t is
this system of rerating that is giving the
Secretary of the Interior and the Presi-
dent 80 much concern. The amount of
arrears given by the Pension Office in
these cases range from $4,000 to $4,000 in
each case. The Pension Bureau seems
to have definitely adopted this policy of
reratinpn Il
For example 1t appears that a con-
siderable number of the practicng Off
cials of the Pension Bureau who are SOL
ders and who have been drawing pen
sions have taken advantage of the situa-
ton and had their cases readjudicated
and rerated in like manner. l am ad-
vised that some of the clerks in the Pen
sion Bureau have received from $1,000 to
$4,000 under the rerating The old pen
sioners understand the situation. The
claim agent has not left them ignorant
of the fact. All of these agents have
lists of the pensioners. While the law
is very strict as to the amount of fees
which may be received by a claim agent
in each case there is little doubt but that
in come ways the law is evaded, and
that very much larger sum has been
paid in great many cases, 1t probably
would be impossible to furnish legal
proof, however, that there had been an
excessive fee received in any individual
case.
This is the situation, and it is a very
serious one. The adoption of this policy
the position of being compelled to choose
DcIWetu IWO COuIeeS' IL IuO pOliO1
adopted by Commissioner Tanner shall
be followed, there will not be much
longer a question of a surplus in the
Treasury. The granting of arrears in
the cases of the applications made and
to be made would exhaust the surplus
and endanger the entire pension system.
On the contrary, if the policy shall be
discontinued there will be cause for
complaints of favoritism as TO the cases
of arrears already adjudicated, and there
will be dissatisfaction among the soldier
element which does not so much regard
the surplus that it will willingly re-
nounce a supposed right to rerating.
This is a state of facts which is giving
the Administration a great deal of con-
Germ. This was the subject of the long
conferences recently between the Secre-
tary of the Interior and the CommIs-
sioner of Pensions.