St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-16

presumption that 1.-THE board" is all
light. Sage conclusions and acceptable
to the bOard-aS well conducive to the
success of applicants for pension.
The next we hear OF Our hero, the
Bum PensiOner, from whose dash-bOord
brow the laurels droop as if quite
ashamed of their roofing, is when he
presents his certificate, No. "a, 1922. and
asks tnat his voucher be executed for
pension Of $50 or $72, Or any other
amount.
:. To those who have never studied the
lives and personality of the pensioner
of this section the diseases enumerated
above seem absurd-facetious perhaps.
Be convinced there is nothing funny
about it at all. When the deputy CLERK
of the courts is called upon by pugilists,
drunkards, vagabonds and other rub
Dish with scarce the Semblance of re-
spectacle humanity, and is perforce of
their pension grants-the acquisition of
which none dare question compelled
to feel the guilt Of the robbery of great
public's treasures, it is then that
DEEP SENSE OF CONTEMPT
is born in the mind and heart of those
who have seen and heard and know
whereof they speak. BY the very side
of aged Wldowhood comes the son of
then and there the imprint of his
viclousness. He gets a pension, with
six or seven brothers or sisters, because
of their several ages at the time of the
soldiers decease. The mother derives
q pension as the widow, and is allowed
an additional amount for every child
under certain age at the demise of
her husband. Here they come! All
able to work-all of them enjoying a
liberal competence from the service of
their hands, and still drawing pen
sion.
Actually, if the public eye could Just
for one week gaze down upon the un-
folded pension voucher as it lies spread
upon the desk of the county clerk. and
read the definitions of the ailments and
the attendant symptoms of the bum
pensloner, sO-called, it would forever eS-
tablish just suspicion of that class.
1t was in December that my leisure
moments from the uDrelenting whirl of
reporters daily push were devoted to
the detection of the bum pensioner. 1t
was not until observed repeated in
stances of drunken men applying with
certificates that fed my contempt for
the particular species of government
drug that l was after. Men would come
up to the window who seemed so vicious
UhN PAofCu uo w IGlltlCl
eyes OF reason, utterly unfit for the care
Of families and wholly unworthy of re-
spect. Old wretches. who. as soon
as they got their clutches upon
. the ill-g0tten lucre, HE'D themselves to
the grog-shOp. The tobacco habit, in
its worst and filthiest forms. is always
with the zeal bum pensioner. You can
tell him long way off. His breath
would rot an oak log in two weeks, and
his countenance is that of the imbecile.
But, most culpable of all, is the younger
bum pensioner-he who still basks on
the sunny side of forty, and oftentimes,
thirty: How these men secure PEN
sions is only to be conjectured by those
who know the thousands of Appian
ways which lead to that end, manipu-
lated as they are by a legion of quacks
and sharperS.
There is, for instance, Capt. Blank,
OF this city, who knows more about Sc
curing an undeserved pension than the
books of heaven will ever give him
credit for. 1t takes an old stager to be
successful in the matters of pension
fraud; for the essential features of
the machines successful work lies in
influence among Uncle Sans lieuten-
ants.
1t would appall you. if you cared but
a 1OL liIC ways DOllCN,
TO note the sang froid with which these
old war rats make capital out of a disa-
bled veteran by successfully pushing
''claim for additional pension
1t is an erroneous idea to suppose that
under the tranquil routine of pension
matters in this state, there is not cor
ruption knee deep-profitable corrup-
ton too. upon which
THE MERCENARY HAWKS
live and thrive in fair communities.
But the young plug who draws his pen
sion. He is the individual who, when
cognate to the bum pensioner, is the
most unconscionable of them all.
1t was but during this last quarter
that young man, apparently twenty
nine or thirty, six feet high, with shout
ders like a roundhouSe and the bearing
of genuine scrapper, stepped into the
clerks Office and presented his certifi-
cate and secured his voucher-fOr $50.
He represented that he was au inmate
of one Of our hospitals here. He failed
to state, however, what for and why he
was an inmate. 1t seemed beyond the
belief of a rational being that that great
burly fellow was an inmate of anything
but the dome of q guilty conscience. He
smoked and chewed tobacco, was bois-
ferrous in his manner and looked per-
fectly we'll, strong and even dangerous.
He got his voucher, Of course. A short
time thereafter he again called at the
Office and presented for execution
"ciaim for additional pension This
was enough TO rasp the loyalty of any
American citizen. To see that civilized
bovine steal that portion of a great and
sacred fund for the relief of the worthy
and distressed was a just prOmpter for
the indignance OF any Americana re-
porter at that.
waded in, determined to ascertain
what there was in the physical or men
tai weakness of this monstrous fellow
which demanded government support.
A ha! sir, see you are applying for
an Increase i'll your pension," said l.