The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1892-05-11
of Interest 10 o. soIdIers.
DEFAETxExr OF TIE lsrEsloR.
L.. 80. y y IL % u.

A.
HaIiiaqtoa, D. e. 4pra 10. Isss-
u ~ oosiailsioaer ef Psssioas-
Sir
1 have received your letter calling
my attention to the vast amount Of work
imposed upon your Bureau in connection
with the correspondence Of members OF both
Hoases Of Congress co1oernine pension
claims, and stating that the handlirg Of
these Congressional csli slips in their pro-
gress thro sgh the various divisions Of The
Burezu OocaPies the time Of many clerks
and requires The drawing Of mDre than a
thousand eases dsy ihat to answer al the
Gals made would virtually stop the adjuds-
eaton Of claims ths; only about twenty
five per cent. Of them are answered: and
that the courtesy extended 70 Members Of
/ Congress has been ABUSED BY certain persons
acting as private secreiariss-the informs-
ton obtained upon the examination Of pen
sion ciSims called down upon Congressional
slips having been furnished to attorneys and
70 claimants for consideration. To show
to what sxtentth correspondence in respect
70 pension claims Is carried, you state that
yoa have before you one case in which the
claimant has addressed more than thirty
letters to members Of the Senate and House
1 OF Representatives, ali Of which have been
! forwarded 10 your Bureau f1r immediate re-
ply, the claimant having been twice exam
insd BY competent medical Boards and no
disability discovered. In another case al
! though the claimant has been notified OF the
| evidence required to establish h.s claim, but
hss not undertaken to furnish any oft, you
state that thirty-eight letters have been re-
osiTed from different prominent persons, all
I ef which have been fled with the claim.
/ You state that what is now needed in the
/ interest Of claimants. and for the orderly sd-
I ministrstion Of the laws, is for he satiTe
force Of he Bssreau 10 dev9te its energies % the
a9irdioaiion efl.e dams nor complete, aad 10
TIE making Of oails ul,9a The Var Department
J FOR ne Dalitary aRd kosPi,al records Of claim
aiiis-oafiiag lpoa The ol1inlaafs for erideroe %
cJmpists tasir oGses. and ordering Hledioal era-
iiafions tcith The minimum G,aoaslt of oorrs-
sgoadeies IN respocf 70 pending clGims You
completed files which are being drawn for
( adjudication in the orIer Of the date Of their
completion that from 1 so to 2O0O claims
per day are being added to these files as they
are completed sad that from 2s 900 TO
5000 certificates per month sre being is
sued upon claims allowed.
To correct the evils here described your
Bureau should correspond direct with either
the elaiman; or his attorney and thereby re-
Iieve members Of Congress from the enor-
nous correspondence which has caused the
sane information to be many tines dupli-
Gated and required the services Of a large
corps of clerks VINO should be occupied with
more legitimate duties. As there are now
/ pending in your Bureau $4,000 claims, and
additional claims are being filed every day,
two and One-haIf or three years will be re-
! quired to adjudicate them. 1t must be evi-
| dent TO both claimants and attorneys that
much patience is required-that all these
claims cannot be a3iadicaied at once.
Claims are being considered IS rapidly as
pos.ible-not in the order in which they are
filed, for that would be impraciicable, but in
the order in which they are completed
Now, in view Of the great magnitude Of
the work pending before your Bureau, and
to insure an impartial enforcement OF the
rules Of the Department concerning the ex-
animation Of papers, I direct that hereafter
either claimants OF their sttOrneys shall be
advised Of the status Of their claims, direct,
50 far as the forceo your Bureau will per-
NIT, and that such information shall be Civ
en- direct to claimants on Congressional call
slips, thereby obviating the necessity Of fur
nishirg the same information many times.
I further direct that you cause all claims
pending in your Bureau, not on the COM
ple,ed files, 70 be examined as rapidly as
possible, taking them up in the order in
which they were fled: and, whenever q
claim Is found complete, II shall be placed
on the completed files and claimant notified
as to when bis case viii probably be reach
ed. Where cases are not complete, claim
ants shall BE- notified what further evidence
is necessary 10 complete the same Claim
ants viii not b. satisfied 10 be told that their
claims will Be adjudicated when reached in
their order, but viii wait patiently If told
that their claims are on the completed files
and viii be reached in six or sixteen months,
and If assured that claims completed prior
to theirs are awaiting action. recognize
the fact that your Bureau IS thoroughly and
efficiently orga nized to sdjudicaie all claims
pending before II.
In view Of the great number of claims now
pending If must be evident TO all that your
Bureau cannot take mp claims for increase,
recently filed, without manifest injustice to
those whose claims were filed prior to theirs.
The magnitude Of the work pending before
your Bureau, caused in part BY the act Of
June p, 1880, and that which is being ac-
comPiishedin the granting Of % 600 to 30
900 claims each month, can be better under
stood when it is remembered that, during
the last fiscal year Of Commissioner Blacks
administration Of the Pension Office, only
Il3,l75 claims were aliowed-and of that
number 81, SIC were original claims.
Very respectfully,
JoHs W. NOsLE,
Secretary
I