Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-10-07
THE PENSION BUREAUS ANNUAL
Gen. Raum Gives Some Information Re-
garding Work in His ONCE.

Gen. Raum Gives Some Information g.
garding Work in His ONCE.
WASHINGTON CRY, Oct. THE annua al
report of the commissioner of pensions for
the fiscal year ended June 80 last. and n
Guiding the first quarter of the cure nt
fiscal year, of the operations of his b1-
reau, was submitted to the secretary Of
the interior yesterday. 1t shows that at
the end of the fiscal year there were So,
944 pensioners borne upon the rolls There
were &c, 331 original claims allowed during
the year, being IA, I'D more than were "a
lowed in 1889 The average annual value
of each pension at tine clio Sc of the yeat
was Sl33.94. Commissioner Raum says
that upon assuming charge of the pension
office last October he discovered that G.
number of important changes were neces
sary to secure satisfactory results, and
that with the consent of the secretary OF
the interior he made the changes. one of
which was the adoption of the completed
files" plan.
Explanation of the System.
The commissioner devotes considerable
space to discussing and explaining the
present system of drawing cases from the
files for adjudication. aud says that I'M
der the system of the completed lies the
claimant has right, upon proper GER
LITIGATION that his claim is complete, TO
have it Immediately placed upon the
completed files. and taken up in its or
der for adjudication. Claims placed upon
the completed files" are taken UP within
week for action, and if found complete
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 considera-
ton
Reasons for Its Adoption.
The soldier who is entitled to Il pension
and promptly furnishes the required evil
dence to establish his claim shout have
his case disposed of without delay He
should have the right to notify the Office
that he is ready for trial, and not to be
compelled to await the action of file
clerk in drawing his claim; Tor however
diligent the file clerks may be, it is i'm
possible for them, when there are a mil
lion claims pending as is now the case, TO
have such knowledge of their condition
| as to enable them daily to seec- the cases
which should have precedence in adjudi-
cation because of their priority OF com
pletion. The result of the adoption of the
new system, he says. has Eeen that the
adjudication of claims has gone on much
more rapidly than ever before
The Disability Act.
The report furnishes a statement show
ing that since the disability act was
passed the bureau received in July, At
gust and September past l,276 T29 letters
relating TO disability claims. and sent out
| during the same period 4S5 ACE replies.
The commissioner thinks that probably
one hundred thousand of these claims can
be allowed. He speaks of the disability
act rs the first in the history of the world
which grants pensions for disabilities not
proven in the line of duty and law
which recognizes Il higher obligation on
| the part OF the people TO disabled veter-
ans than was ever before formulated