Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-09-10

fore giving you an idea Of the actual workings
OF that office, as propose to do, l want to tell
you something Of considerable political siguif-
canoe.
"You know that Commissioner Raum and
the republican managers are now claiming
grea. credit for efficiency and the unusual
amount OF work done, and they point with
pride to the fact that pension certificate is
issued every twenty-five seconds in every work
ing hour of every working day in the year. 1t
is matter of fact that the work Of the Office is
being done at this rapid rate and in my judg-
meHt the commissioner. il not the party 10
which he belongs. should have the credit for
the efficiency of the Office. l may express my
political idea very well in the story told by
celebrated lawyer in the trial Of an important
case He said: 1T Is q matter of fact that Jones
killed Smith. 1t is a matter Of fac. that Jones
has been convicted of murder and the day set
for him TO be hanged. 1t is also conceded to be
true that he hos been sincerely and truly con-
verted and il now a Christian and ready to die
the death of a Christian il necessary. This
plea for committing his sentence. however, does
not meet with my approval. l do not see what
the conversion OF Jones has done for smith,
who is dead and was sent "a his long home
without an opportunity to prepare his soul for
the great future
WHAT THE OLD SOLDIERS ARE INTERESTED IN.
Now, then, the story will illustrate what
have to say. There u great many old SOL
diers throughout this country who are inter-
ested not only in the fact that pension certifi.
cate is being issued every twenty-five seconds
in every working day of the year, but they are
a great deal more interested in the fact that no
pension has yet come to them. They know
very well and all OF their neighbors know very
well that Ottentimes pension is granted to
some man who was in the army three or six
month"; and never raw a battle, but who is
nevertheless afflicted with some disease. They
know that quite number of their comrades
who were in many battles and are battle-scarred
have not vet received their pensions and they
do not understand it. They place all the blame
upon Commissioner Raum and say that he il
not treating them, individually, right As a
matter Of fact, however, Commissioner Raum
does not see one case out of 10000 which
passes through his great bureau, and he Is prob
ably Etsle better informed concerning the
workings Of his bureau than a great many of
the veterans around the country. This will,
no doubt, be very surprising to you
and if yon print what l say il
will be surprising to all of your
readers. and the FIRST impulse will be to say that
Commissioner Raum is incompetent. You will
be further inclined to say tina. he is not attend
ing to his duties properly and that he is not a
good commissioner. As matter of fact how
ever. the commissioner knows bu. very little of
the workings OF his bureau, and it would be i'm
possible for him to learn all the details of his
office and at the same time attend to business
as he should attend to it. He is executive
officer, and his principal duty is TO see that the
Office is administered properly by the various
chiefs Of divisions. and il he were to undertake
to examine pension cases, and the old soldiers
were obliged TO wait until they heard from the
commissioner himself it would be several hun
dred Years hence before all the applications for
pensions could be considered. In fact. all of
the old soldiers would be dead before enough
pensions were issued to grant their Just dues to
single brigade Of the Grand Armies of the
Republic.
THOUGHT THE COMMISSIONER WROTE HIM.
"a brother of mine, who now resides in
Pennsylvania, enlisted as private early in the
war and continued in the service Of his rcgi-
ment until the war ended. He was mustered
ont as Northumberland Of his regiment He
never applied for a pension and would not con-
slider even the idea of making the application
until four years ago, when he did SO upon my
earnest solicitation. As soon however, rs he
made the application he became very much in
terested in the workings Of the pension office
and in common with the old veterans through
out the country he became impatient with the
delay which seemed to him unnecessary in
answering his letter of application and acting
upon the proofs which he had furnished
Finally, after his application had been upon file
for about six months, happened to be in hi,
neighborhood on work for the pension office and
his front door he said: Il have heard from old
Raum at last / replied, You have not heard
from Raum and he has not written line to
you Upon this he became somewhat wroth
and said he had letter from Raum and would
show it to me. As he went to his desk to get
the letter / said: You have no letter from
Raum there and Raum never heard Of you and
he never wrote you letter and
he never will write you a letter and
he never will hear of your case When had
concluded this statement he came back from
his desk and showed me a type-written letter
signed Green b. Raum,' requiring him TO fur
nish certain further evidence in his case. He
said: There is the letter and it is from Green
b. Raum on pension office paper and signed by
Green b. RAum commissioner OF pensions.
told you that had a letter from Raum.
THROWING SOME LIGHT on THE SUBJECT.
II responded, You have no letter from Raum
and Raum did not write that letter. and he
never saw that letter, and he never signed it,
and he never will write a letter to YOU and he
never will hear Of your case. and you are very
foolish to expect anything Of the kind. Up
there in the left-hand corner you see the
initials j. W. A. don't you? He nodded as
sent and said, That is the name or rather
those are the initials Of the examiner in the
patent Office who has charge of your case. He
wrote you that letter. and it was signed by a
chief Of division, and it signed with the
name OF Green y. Raum because Gen. Raum is
commissioner and everything which goes out of
the pension office must be signed by the COM
missioner. either himself or by proxy. As n
matter of fact he has enough to do TO sign the
letters which he dictates from day to day to
members Of Congress and officials Of the ex-
ecutive departments. AL Of these general let
tiers, and there are hundreds OF thousands Of
them, written by the clerks who called
examiners and who are In charge Of the various
cases. This man, ]. W. A., is the only man in
Washington who knows anything about your
case or is likely to know anything about it. And
l want to tell you right now that he is as much
interested in securing correct evidence which
will enable him to report your case favorably
as you can possibly be to get that pension. 1t
may be surprising to you but it is n matter Of
fact. II an examiner Of pensions rejects cases
he gets no credit for 1t at all. He may write a
thousand letters In one pension case and fail to
get sufficient evidence to pass 1t and award .
pension to the applicant, but he gets no credit
for all Of the work done.
WHERE TIE CREDIT COMES IN.
"But, on the contrary, il he succeeds in get
ting pension awarded by writing twenty five
or fifty letters and getting sufficient evidence
to pass the case on until certificate is issued
he gets great big mark to his credit. He is
not interested in you and he is not interested
in making great record for the pension Office
or for the commissioner, but he 10 interested in
hat ,nvG 10 h NJ