New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1889-10-23
NOBLE OBJ |. E TO TANNER.
Letter From the Secretary Of the
Interior to the Commissioner.of
Pensions.
His Method of Rerating Pensions
Shown to Be Disregard Of
the Law.

Shown to Be a Disregard Of
the Law.
WASHINGTON, >Special-The following is
the substance of;Secresary Mobiles first letter
to Commissioner Tanner upon the subject of
re-rating of pensions, dated July a.:
have heretofore acknowledged yours Of the
!7tn inst marked unofficial" but which, owing
go 'the very Important matters therein dis
cussed. I could not receive as such and
naeaa III acknowledged it a. an official
highest sense of the term raising question
OF authority as between the commissioner and
the secretary and asserting that OF the commits
s1oner to be superior to the matter discussed.
duie sims to @aas 0' ss
now give you my reply in FULL Yourposition,
In your own language, is that while the secre-
Gary OF the interior has the power to reverse the
decision of the commissioner Of pensions onaap-
peal by a claimant, against whom the commits
sloner has decided, on theeother hand, it, for any
reason. it be held that the claimant has been
grant ted too much pension the commissioner
himself Is the only person who has the power to
call a halt and reduce the pension" This is your
own statement. You base this conclusion. on
section 3, act Of June d. 1879. which reads as
follows: ..... ... .r..
That sections 4, III, 4,zz2 and 4,773:of the
Revised Statutes of the United States, providing
Tor biennial examinations Of pensioners, are
hereby repealed: Provided: That the commits
sioner of pensions shall have the same power as
heretofore to order special examina tions when--
ever, IN his Judgment, the same may be neces-
sary, and to increase or reduce pensions accord
ing to right and Justice; but in no case shall a
pension be Withdrawn or reduced except upon
notice TO the ,pensioner and a hearing upon
sworn testimony, exceptas to the certificate OF
the examining surgeons
WHO'S RESP oNs1BLEf
The power granted the commissioner. OF PEN
sions by this section is expressly no greater
hoy hnro tnfn md 10 tn ionv or f1Trn
pensions according TO right and Justice. IL
would be- you express it, "a manifest lncon-
grulty" If the secretary. who is responsible TOR
your bureau had NO power to correct obvious
abuses, even call a halt. and that II his 1nfe-
r1or officer did not act nothing could be done
You remark yourself, this incOngruity should
be remedied at the next session OF congress-.
The commissioner is aboring under great mis-
apprehension as to his relations to the secretary
In this business. congress has not committed
this incongruity, and it will not be necessary
for 1t to remedy anything that now exists: The
secretary has the control to correct any abuses
in the bureau OF pensions or any other bureau In
the department. u might assert my conclusions
on so plain and well settled question. and SO
leave it, but due consideration for your office
leads me TO explain the ground OIL which this
long established rule rests.
The secretary, in support of his position,
quotes sections 437 161, 40 ard AL, OF
the Revised Statutes, and declares that the
commissioner ofspensiOns has no more power
in the sectionsGuoted in Commissioner Tan
ners letter than he had previously under the
direction Of the secretary of the interior, who
is charged by law with the supervision OF
public business relating to pensions
THE sEoRETARY's RIGHTS
It will not do to say, he remarks, that the Sec
rotary may not interfere and stop by his own
power the execution of any orders obviously
Illegal and arbitrary. II it were attempted by q
commissioner OF pensions in other than cases of
permanent specific disabilities, to increase pen
sions and to allow the accumulated increase of
to ha RI af oTo6
In gross sumtt0 the applicant, 1t would not do
to say that the secretary could only refer this
back to the commissioner with word OF advice
and call his attention to the law, and take no
steps eitherTto1recover the money thus 1mprop-
ery paid out or correct the evil thus attempted
to be done, that he could not even call halt.
The secretary is responsible for the conduct OF
the commissioner: is bound to see that the law
is enforced: that the public treasury is not I'M
lawfully invaded, and that one citizen entitled
to right. whether of pension or land or any
thing. else, is NOT unduly preferred, either In
time OF hearing or allowance Of money.
The secretary lays down the proposition
that heaas the same jurisdiction over the
commissioner of pensions over other
bureaus of his department. argues at some
length in support of it, and says that the SUI
Hpreme court decisions sustain him. The Sec
rotary then takes up the "re-rating" cases,
which, he says, seem to be largely mere in
creases OF pensions allowed for long periods
prior to the date of the examining surgeons
certificate establishing the same under the
pending claim for increase; in fact, he says,
the commissioner himself acknowledged
them to be cases of
INCREASE OF PENSIONS
These referred to were ten in number.
an each one OF these the claimant was en-
ploye clerk or other in the pension bureau. re-
vceivng salary sufficient for his comfortable sub
sistence and at his work daily. They were as
.sociated together: most OF them had been in
their places under the former administration.
fhair ole
them after the advent of The present ad-
ninistration- There was no reason under the
existing rules that their should be made
special or rushed through in advance of all 9TH
ers. On the contrary, there then and had
been for some years printed rule in full force
that no cases should be made special except in
cases Of restitution or when the applicant was
at the point Of death The cases were
while hundreds of thousands of other pension
ers were awaiting throughout the land the al
lowance for the first time of the bounty the
government has promised them These other
pension claimants were. many of them, sup
ported by no such salaries as these particular
men were receiving, and the association to-
gether OF these men. whereby this preference in
time seemed to have been secured and the sub
sequent allowances obtained is In itself fact
that their purpose was to impose npon the COM
missioner. The further fact in each case is that
the increase was allowed prior to the surgeons
certificate in the pending claim, and that the
regard TO such cases these that you have
thought The commissioner alone can call halt
and in regard 10 which
THE SECRETARY THINKS OTHERWISE.
and proposes to call a halt long enough at least
for inspection. do not repel the expression on
your part that you would accept my construc-
ton Of the statute quoted by you as Loyalty as
YOU would the Official opinion Of the attorney
general. But neither you nor can afford to act
upon personal considerations in matters OF this
magnitude. We are each bound by law in al
things, great and small. and it is our duty t.
take the law as we find it: to fully exercise that
power given to either Of US and abstain from
the abuse of it to any degree whatever. Oul
Loyalty is due alone to the government Of The
United States and the people who support it.
Lest the commissioner may deem the sec.
rotary is influenced by desire to magnify
his office, Mr.. Noble says that he has brought
to his assistance the services Of others in the
department, and that the opinion Of the as
sistant attorney general Of the department,
agrees in the conclusions reached by the sec
Tho thnr, ~ hort hon.r