The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1893-01-26
WHERE 1T WENT.

WHERE IL WENT.
The Detroit Free Press one of the most
obdurate of the pension-haters, says edi-
torially;
During the 10 years from 1873 to 1883 the Pen
sion department rsid more than e2oOO,ooO
of the face value of the pensions For the
fiscal year 1889 90 it paid out 100000 more than
was called for 10y the face of the papers held by
the pensioners Where did this money go TO?
who got it? The pensioners did not. Who did ?
These are some of the queries which present them
selves TO Congress and press for answer.
The Free Press could have answered its
own question very readily, if it had not
| been anxious TO make a lie out of half
out of the report of the Commissioner of Pen
sions, from which it took the above figures,
it would have shown that the excess over
the annual value Of the pension roll comes
from the payment of the long-stsnding
arrears in cases which have been banging IN
the Office for years, awaiting settlement and
allowance.
For example the report of the Commits
soner of Pensions for 1892 shows that the
total payments for the year ended June 30,
1892 were S139,G35, 6126s. The total an
nual value of the pension roll for the year
was only S116,879, 1924. This makes a diff
ference of so, 1885, 1853. The report shows
that the first item in this difference were
the payments to 1854 pensioners whose
claims had been allowed the previous year,
but who had not received their money. They
received S4,5S3, 242G4. On page 81 of the
report we find that there were Il, 425 army in
valid claims allowed during the year, ofwhich
207 had been fled that year, 1904 had been
filed in 1891, 1922 had been filed in 1890,
1855 in 1899, 1926 in 1888, and so on back 10
1862, when five of the allowed claims were
fled As all these cases carried arrears
back to the date of fling, it required con-
siderable sums to pay the long accumula-
tons. That is, there were two full years
pensions due on the 5,232 claims filed in
1890; three years on the 2,555 filed in 1889;
four years on the ,626 filed in 1883, and so
on back to 80 years arrears due on the five
cases filed in 1862 OF the IL, 425 of this
class of cases allowed, 6,007, or more than
one-third, had been pending from five to 80
years. The average value of the first pay
ments in this class was s441.14, where the
average yearly value of all the pensions on
the roll was but S133.14. There were 235,-
OBS claims allowed under the act of June
q, $780, most of which had been pendingin
the neighborhood of one year, and the first
payments averaged S12719, where the aver
age annual value of the pensions under that
act is but s1162O.
This answers the Free Press's lying innu-
endo very completely.
There is this further to be said: The best
way to reduce the volume of pension ex-
penditures is to 90 on as we have been do
ing, disposing of the vast accumulation of
long-standing claims, and paying off the
arrears which have been piling up in the
years that the claimants have been kept
out of their money. Make all the claims
which are in the Pension Bureau special,
and settle them in the shortest possible
time that force of clerks can possibly do
it. Then the pension expenditures will
every year fall by tens of millions of dollars,
as age and disease do their sad work upon
the veterans and their relatives.
The present Administration should receive
high credit for the energetic way in which
it has carried on the work of clearing off
the docket and settling these long-standing
cases. Prior to it's coming in it took an
average Of over five years to get a pension
claim through. We have in past years
given figures showing that more than half
the claims allowed in year had been pend
ing foE from five TO q years, that it took
Aioh AAuSA iOhBCi W Sce hio SioiAh aiAoNCN
than it did to put down the rebellion, and
that 80 per cent. of the total sum expended
went for arrears that should have been paid
years before.
President Harrison announced his policy
at the outset to be to end this scandalous
delay, and dispose with business-like prompt
ness Of the bulk of accumulated claims.
Secretaries Noble and Bussey, and Commits
sioner Rsum have worked hard to carry out
this intention of the President, and they
have made splendid progress toward doing
go From the figures we have given it will
be seen that whereas formerly more than
half the allowed cases under the general
law had been pending five years and over,
now only about one-third were Of such
long-standiug. If the rate Of progress they
have made is maintained tue whole business
of the Pension Bureau viii be brought up to
date inside oftwo years, and then cases will be
disposed Of within few weeks after filing.
To do this work-which is demanded by
justice and mercy TO the claimants as we'll as