The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1890-11-29
STARTLING PENSION FIGURES.
Enormous Appropriations and Still
Large Sum Needed.
From the Philadelphia Record.

From the Philadelphia Record.
In his annual report Pension Commissioner
Raum estimates that the sum of S4O,OO0,0 900
will be required in addition to the regular an
nual appropriation in order to meet pension
payments that will become due before the
close of the fiscal year on June 30next The
sum appropriated for pensions this year was,
roundly stated, Sl01, 200, 600. So that, ac-
cording to Commissioner Raum's estimate,
the annual pension payments will foot up to
the magnificent total of Sal 100000. Or
this sum, as Mr.. Raum is careful to state,
not more than $4,000. 600 will be due to the
operation of the Dependent Pension act of
June % last. If that act had not become 4
law there would, nevertheless, have been
nearly half a million unsettled claims before
the Pension Bureau. With vastly increased
force, and under the rapid methods introduc-
ed by the present Pension Commissioner,
cases are put through the Bureau with re-
markable celebrity. Leaving the Dependent
Pension bill entirely out of account, the pen
sion roll is growing at the portentous rate OF
from S25, 900, 900 to 30,000,000 Il year. 1t
is quite evident that the estimated limit of
annual expenditure under the old Pension
laws-Sl50, 90 OO0-has been placed too low.
1t will reach l70,000,000, and probably
$50, OOO, 900.
This is no careless guess nor wild surmise,
but careful deduction by experts, both off
cia and non official, from the records of the
Pension Bureau as they stand today. Well,
then, what more? Why, this: that with the
$40 OOO, 900 or $50, 000, 900 which will event
ually be disbursed annually to applicants I'M
der the Dependent Pension act, the country
will have to pay each year not less than S25O,-
DOC, 900 for pensions of one sort or another.
The time is not far off, either. AT the pres
ent rate Of activity in the Pension Bureau the
Federal Administration which will come into
power in March, 1898, will have to provide
Tor this enormous burden oftaXation in addi-
ton to the ordinary expenses OF the Govern
ment.
From the New York Times
The monstrosity of the last addition to our
extravagant pension legislation does not lie
in the cost so much as in the outrageous lack
of principle which it involves Men are pen
stoned, not because they were put at dlsad-
vantage with their fellow citizens in the race
of life by injuries incurred in the service of
the country. The benefciaries who seem to
be destined to receive one-third Of the bounty
of the government, and may ultimately re-
ceive one half and even more, are at no dis
advantage whatever on account of the service
which they are presumed to have performed
from motives of patriotism, IT. indeed, they
performed any at all. They came out I'M
scathed and in good health, many Of them
without having been in battle or incurred
the least hardship. They have been favored
on all hands because they were veterans.
They are disabled only as other men are dis
abled by the casualties of ordinary life, and
they need not even be in poverty in order to
draw largess from the pockets Of their iel-
| low citizens, a large proportion of whom are
worse off than themselves. The whole policy
is a monstrous wrong, and it has been adopted
! from no worthy motive. As its burden bears
upon the people, it ought to be denounced rs
part of the scheme of eXtortiOn embodied in
| the outrageous system of taxation for which
in part it is made the excuse. 1t was adopted
partly as the result of the efforts and the
campaign contributions of the grasping pen
sion agents at Washington, partly as system
of bribery for the votes of the soldiers and
partly to afford an excuse for keeping up an
outrageous system oftaxation for the profit Of
capitalists, who in turn pay out their money
20 keep in power the party responsible fol
this policy. 1t is time for the public senti.
ment of the country to declare itself on this
pension extravaganza rs plainly as If has been
declared upon the exiortions of the tariff
policy, of which it is the offspring.
From the New York warls
President Hasssirsuf5y< III Secre..ry Window
NAV well be alarmed at the startling pension
fer. 5. They portend financial difficulties OF
the gravest import. Unless an effective rem.
edy is promptly applied, only the most OPP
pressive taxation of the people can save the
national Treasury from depletion This is
the result of the most reckless and ubiquitous
pension legislation knowR % history No one
ever -2enhteG6~ that this extravaganza would
cost the country millions of dollars more than
the highest estimates made at the time the bill
was put through. But the reality has far
surpassed the widest predictions then ven
| tured. No administration, no party, can
stand by such legislation with IMMUNITY. The
Republicans must undo the mischief they have
done or meet the consequences.
From the Baltimore Herald.
The annual report of the Commissioner of
| Pensions, lately made public, is of special in
| tereSt. The pension rolls contained on June
30 the names of537, 944 pensioners. Ofthese
1872, 800 were soldiers in the late war, l04, 45G
were widows, minor children and dependent
relatives of such soldiers, 5,274 were marines
who served in the last war, and 2,400 were
widows, minor children or dependent rela-
| tives of such marines. Survivors of the War
of 1872 numbered Alb, while the widows of
such soldiers were S,610. The Mexican War
was represented by II, 1853, and the widows of
soldiers who served in that war were 6,764.
For the fiscal year the amount required to
pay all these claims was $72, 052, l43.49, or
Sl33.94 per pension for the year.