The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-04-18

That is, of the 35,O89 cases finally allow
ed, 28,882-or four out of fve-had been
held in the Office for two years or longer;
1883 had been there for five years or more;
10.262-or nearly one-third-had been there
nine years or more. And after all this pre-
posterous delay, two out of three of the
pensioners get only 263 cents day or less.
Can it be maintained for an instant, Mr..
Secretary. that such work as this is in any
sense a compliance with the law? Does it
show any approach to proper efficiency? We
are sure of your answer. We have cited the
report for 1888 merely because it is the
latest. It is not notably better or worse
than its predecessors, but merely fair
average.
The report also shows that on the 30th of
June, 1888. there were heaped up in the Bu
reau and technically under examination the
enormous number of 414,4 48 unadjudicated
cases, 1904 more than at the corresponding
period of 1887; 107,47T more than there was
two years before, and 133, 982 more than in
1885. Unless the methods of the Pension
Bureau are radically improved, can anyone
tell when, in the dim, distant future, these
cases will be disposed of, and the provisions
of the law fulfilled? Is there any moral
difference between an absolute violation Of
the law by positively refusing to obey its
directions and in delaying to carry it out
beyond the lifetime of a generation, until
its benefciaries are dead and beyond its
reach?
3. On page 3 of the Commissioner of Pen
sions' report for 1893, you viii find his state
ment that the cost of running his Bureau for
that year was $3,262, 52467. You will be
startled by The reelection that this was sufi-
Gent to put 1884 men on the rolls at So a
month, or very nearly as many as were put
on after all these long years of examination
and delay, at rates ranging from 81 a month
upwards. Every name put on the roll that
year at these inadequate rates cost the Gov
eminent an average of S93, while pension of
So month would have amounted to but $50.
There was an average of 1857 employees in
the Pension Bureau, without counting the
Examining Surgeons outside, which would
make the average allowance of original
invalid claims for each employe %, or less
than one eSery two weeks.
It is true that there was total of 10Y 99G
certificates issued, but 45,7i6 of these were
simple increase cases and 1880 Mexican
service claims, all of which involved but
little labor in preparing. OF widows and
others there were 13,S4Ol
The conclusion viii doubtless strike yor
with irresistible force that it viii be better Il
run some risk of getting an occasional IN
deserving man upon the roll, than to expen(
SO much time, energy and money with tn,
main result of keeping so many deservin,
men off,
AS we said in the beginning; Mr.. Secre
rotary, we diyest this matter of all senti
mental and patriotic considerations, AM
present it TO you in purely business light
We respectfully ask your consideration of
merely as an executant-that you approac
it in the same judicial way that you woul
the management of bank or railway. An
business enterprise conducted with sue
disregard of its fundamental functions as til
Pension Bureau has been since the beginnin
of the war, would have been forced out {
existence within three years Had til
Treasury, the Postofice, or in fact any otht
Department exhibited one-tenth the il
ability to fulfill the requirements of its pos
ton that has characterized the operation
of the pension system, there would ha,
been such stormy demand for reform til,
no Administration could have resisted it.