St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-07
Green B. Raum Gives the
Pension Commissioner a
Great Send-OR.
He Is Netting Out Equal JUS
tice to Half a Million
Pensioners.
Regarding the Completed
Files System He Says It
Is Successful.
New MeXicans Want Their
Land Titles Confirmed
for All Time.


port of the commissioner of pensions
for the fiscal year ended June So last,
and including the first quarter of the
current fiscal year, of the operations of
his bureau, was submitted to the secre-
tary OF the interior to-day. 1t shows
that at the end of the fiscal year there
were 537,9 pensioners borne upon the
rolls. There were 66,337 more than
were allowed in 1888. the amount of
the first payment of these claims aggre-
gated 2,47S,S 81, being S11, ,036, 1872
more than in the previous fiscal
year and $10.179,225 more than
the first fd'st payments of the fiscal
year 1888. The average annual value of
each pension at the close of the year
was Sl33.94. Commissioner Raum says
that upon assuming charge of the pen
sion office last October he discovered
that a number Of important changes
were necessary to secure satisfactory
results. which were brought to the at
tention of the secretary of the interior.
There were no satisfactory specified
duties provided for the deputy commits
sioners or the chief clerk of the bureau.
Several thousand letters were daily re-
celved from claimants and attorneys
making complaints, to which no reply
was made; the medical division was
divided into sections for consideration
of classified diseases; the
Power of ReOpening Claims
was exercised by heads of divisions and
examiners without submitting them to
the commissioners; claims were drawn
from the files. from day to day, for adj
Judication, at the direction of the file
clerks, claimants having no power to
cause the settlement of their claims
when complete; Is per cent of the Off
cial forces assigned to duty in the field
for the special examination of cases,
when there were 1885 cases in the
special examination division; division
had been created, called the board of
re-review, composed of about forty
persons, for the re-eXamination of cases
passed upon by the board of review,
and matters relating to the appoint
ment and promotion of the official
force OF the pension Office and of boards
of medical examiners were under
the direction of two divisions.
The report contains all the Or
ders in. regard to these defects
in administration, and the manner in
which they were remedied. The COM
missioner devotes considerable space to
discussing and explaining the present
system of drawing cases from the files
for adjudication, and says that under
the system of completed files," organ
lied by him, the claimant has
right, upon proper certification that
his claim is complete, to have it imme-
diately placed upon the completed
tiles'' and taken up in its order for ad-
completed files" are taken up within
a week for action, and if found COM
plete, are Immediately allowed. If
proofs are lacking, call is Immediately
made upon the CLAIMANT to supply the
deficiency, and upon the receipt of the
required evidence, the claim is again
taken up for consideration. The SOL
dier who is
Entitled TO a Pension
and promptly furnishes the required
evidence to establish his claim should
have his case disposed of without de-
lay. He should have the right to
notify the Office that he is ready for
trial, and not be compelled to await
the action of a file clerk III declining his
claim; for however dilignnt the file
clerks may be, it is impossible for them,
when there are a million claims pend
ing, as now, to have such knowledge
of their condition as to enable them
daily to select the cases which should
have precedence in adjudication because
of their priority of completion. When
Commissioner Raum took charge of the
bureau last October, he says, the work
of adjudicating claims and issuing GER
tificates had. during the period from
July 1, 1889. fallen far behind the same
period for the previous fiscal year; while
from Oct. 20, 1889, to June 80. 1890. there
was an increase in the adjudication Of
claims and the issuing of certificates.
greatly in excess of the same period of
the preceding fiscal year. 10 illustrate
the great amount of business transacted.
compared with previous Work of the
bureau, the report furnishes statement
showing that since the disability act
was passed, the bureau received in July,
August and September past 1,276, ,729
letters relating to disability claims, and
sent out during the same period 4S5, ,462
replies. The commissioner thinks that
probably 100000 of these claims can be
allowed. He speaks of the disability
act as the first in the history of the
world which grants pensions for disa-
bilities not proven in the line of duty;
and as law which recognizes a higher
obligation Oh the part of the people to
disabled veterans then was ever before
formulated. Nothing, he says. shall be
left undone by the bureau to give effect
to this latest expression of the graft
tude of the people to the "Soldiers who
saved the republic"