, 1892-02-29
ANOTHER WILD SCHEME.

The late Senator Beck of Kentucky once
went wild on the subject of pensions, and
in 1882 offered a resolution to print the
names Of all the pensioners in the country
in orderto unearth frauds. There were
then 900 pensioners. There are 5000
now. Senator Beck's printed information
made several Volumes, and is said to have
cost over 10000, and so far as heard from,
not one fraudulent pension was detected as
a result, and so far as saving money is. con
cerned, it is safe to say that by furnishing
the army Of pension claim agents with this
valuable Ito them) data, enabled them to
hunt up and get allowed millions of dol
lars in claims which would never have been
heard of if it had not been for this infor-
nation. Now comes congressman BY
the name of Fitch who wants the govern
ment to commit the same blunder on
larger scale. His resolution provides that
the commissioner of pensions, as soon
as practicable, shall furnish to the
house list containing the
names, postoffice addresses, certificate
numbers, service, rate of pension per an
mum, and disability for which pensioned,
of all pensioners on the rolls, &c. There
is another part to the resolution which pro-
vides that the commissioner shall furnish
statement showing the number of claims
pending in the pension office of all classes
and kinds; but the resolution states that
in the meantime, not waiting for this lat
ter information, which could be furnished,
doubtless, in a few days, the commissioner
shall furnish the first information above
referred to. Mr.. Fitch states IN an inter
view that he would print this first data
for the general information of the country,
and would put copy in the hands of each
county clerk in the United States, and,
presumably, to make the information gem
eral, would furnish each newspaper office
in the country with one also. 1t would
take over fifty clerks about forty days to
copy the information from the books Of
the various pension agencies of the coun-
try, and to print and deliver them to the
newspapers of the country would take
months Of work and cost altogether not
less than quarter of million dollars. "A
writer in the Washington Post says Of this
wild scheme:
II will venture the assertion that / can
find q pension attorney in Washington, D.
G., who would be willing to paw the ex-
pense Of the tTanscribing Of these names If
he can have the exclusive right to use the
manuscript. But Mr.. Fitch proposes to
copy and print and put in the hands of
each of the $4,000 pension claim agents in
the country, or give them free access to
this information, free of charge. This
would enable them to make millions of
dollars for themselves in fees, and would
cost the government untold other millions
in additional claims for increase Of pen
sions, and all for what2 In the hope chat
honest soldiers, as Mr.. Fitch puts it, may
expose and hunt down and have stricken
from the rolls the names of dishonest pen
sioners. 1t was tried in 1882, and utterly
tailed to accomplish the purpose intended
u any such evil as alleged really extsted),
but rather the contrary, and, in 1887, the
senate committee and Senator Beck, after
advising with Gen. Black, then commits
sioner of pensions, decided to refrain from
printing the names again, and that, too, in
the interest Of economy and good policy.'