Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-10-21
RERATED PENSION CASES.
Ex.Commissioner Tanner Gives Sew
eral Documents Out for Publication.

THE REPORT OF THE INVESTIGATING CONFESSION
MORE SCRAPS or NoBLE-rANNER coRRK-
sPoNpESoE-A STATEMENT YLATLY CONTRA
prcrxD By GEN. POWELL.
Ex-Commissioner Tanner made public last
night copy Of the report Of the special COM
mittee appointed by Secretary Noble to inves-
tigate the pension Office 1t presents tabu-
lated statement showing the total number of
pension cases rerated from and including De-
cember, 1888, to July, 1889. There was q sub
stantial increase, the report says, from month
to month, indicative of what il apparently an
established policy Of the bureau, and the result
OF which, II continued, will be to readjudicats
and rerate large percentage Of the cases fled.
IL becomes apparent" the report says
tnat 80 far az any rule Of action prevailed.
difference between the principles which gov
erned reratings in December, 1883, and those
which governed in May, 1882"
The report reviews at length the action Of
the ONCE In the rerating cases and thus sum-
marizes
THE CONCLUSIONS THEY REACH:
"While the rule purports to be that which
calls for the correction of pslpable error by
reason Of which manifest injustice has been
followed in any proper sense or use Of the term
'paipabie error or manifest injustice the
actual practice being the rerating Of pensions
on the judgment Of today against that Of years
ago, when the claims were deliberately and on
ciaily ajudicated.
"The practice Of rerating pensions in cases
the papers in which do not disclose an error in
the original or former adjudication which is
patent, manifest and palpable, thus leaving as
the real basis for the rerating mere opinion
Oh the weight OF the evidence as now viewed,
and allowing that opinion to annul and change
former adjudication based on the same evil
dence, is violative Of the spirit il not the
letter OF the law as contained in section 469S1f
OF the Revised Statutes: and, even if this were
not so, Is inconsistent with good practice
dence.
THE practice of taking cases ont of their
order and making them forty-eight hour cases
that is, directing that they be finally adjudi-
Gated within forty-eight hours-is especially
mischievous in that it is apt to be construed
as the equivalent of an order to allow. and be-
cause it may, for want of sufficient time, pre-
vent the deliberate and proper consideration
which the case to which it applies should have.
The decisions Of the department are not
always followed BY the pension, office, as they
rule OF practice furnished by a departmental
decision should be recognized and followed by
the pension Office 50 long as it is not overruied
or modified by the authority which made it,
and construction or Interpretation Of law by
the department should be accepted by the pen
sion ofiice as binding and as applicable, not
only in the case in which it is made but in all
cases involving the same legal question.
As result OF the investigation the board
makes number of recommendations with a
view TO the correction of errors which have
crept into the practice through lax methods
Office"
Corporal Tanner also makes public the letter
to Secretary Noble to which the Secretary's
letter OF July "a, published in part Saturday,
was reply, together with another letter and
the case.
The first letter relates to the
QUESTION OF AUTHORITY FOR RERArrNa CASES.
1t Is sharp in tone and explains the vigor of
MIR. Mobiles reply. In it Commissioner Tanner
said that he did mot propose to have an hon.
orable lifetime smirohed in the slightest de-
gree at this period of my existence, and
where may find we'll founded reasons for be-
neSing that have been imposed upon and
mlsled shall be quick to recommend the con-
domination merited by the parties concerned"
SAID ne had made comparison between the
ACTON OF his predecessor and his own in rerat-
ing cases and finds it entirely favorable to
this administration" Further he says: ut is
proper that should state that when I took Of
fice as commissioner found that on the aues-
tion OF reratipg the Office was and had been
since March %, 1886, rerating in accordance
With decision rendered on that date by the
Hon: George A. jerks, then assistant secretary
OF the Interior, who. in the case Of Charles A.
Watson, In broad terms declared that IT, in
any case adjudiested under the act Of
March %, 1879, the arrears of pension
were not graded as according to the pension
ers disability. neither section 1885, nor
any other provision Of the law prohibits
read)uoicatlon OF the case.
TANNER AND TILE INVESTIGATION COMMISSION.
In statement Mr.. Tanner then relates the
circumstances preceding the appointment of
the committee to investigate the rerated
cases, and which led up to it, and says:
ION the 2sth of July came notice to me of
the fact that the committee of investigation
had been constituted. When they appeared a
day or two after l instructed the chief clerk to
place tie Office and all it contained at their
disposal If they desired it. That terminated
my association with the committee of inyesti-
CATION right at the commencement of its ex-
lstence. had no word from them; was not
asked to explain anything; was not offered
the slightest opportunity to defend any action
had taken. 1t was a star chamber proceeding
formation had about the result Of their oper-
atoms was when the honorable Secretary
himself, one day when l was in his Office.
asked me If l knew what the commission
SAID about operations OF the pension
bureau. told him 1 had not been
favored in that respect in the slightest degree.
he replied that they said had granted more
pensions and paid out more money in the same
time than my distinguished predecessor did. I
replied that ! hoped to God that charge was
true on the record, for ! had plastered Indiana
with promises last fall, that that should be the
fact if Gen. Harrison came into power az
President never saw the report of the COM
mittee of investigation until the afternoon of
the day resigned, when found il on the table
in the White House, and was there told INV the
President and Secretary that the report con-
tanned nothing which in the slightest degree
reflected upon my integrity or impeached the
honesty OF my action as commissioner"
THE POWELL CASE.
He also refers to the Powell case, rerated he.
fore he took Office, and asserts that Secretary
Noble in this case set example for all the rest
TANNER TO TIE SECRETARY,
In personal" letter, dated August & Mr.
Tanner says to the Secretary: II believe that
you and are fully sctuated by motives which
are imbedded only in a desire for the honest
and successful administration of those official
duties which are confided to our care. Some
how or other We have drifted apart, deeply to
my regret, and, / believe, to yours. 1 believe
the trouble has been too little personal com
desire to say-am irresistibly
compelled to say-this morning that whether
our official relations cover days. or month";. or
years, sincerely desire them to be relations of
thorough understanding, confidence and CO. |