Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1893-05-15

allowed, and so far 166 have been found
and forwarded to the examiners at Norfolk
No computation of the amounts paid on
these claims have been made, but as all of
them were filed under the Act of June 81,
1890, which allows $12 per month as the
maximum rate, it is probable that the
average will fall below 5000 each. Mr.
Drewry is now serving q one-year term in
Jail for fraudulent transactions in pension
cases.
The new commissioner, eX-Judge Loeb
rem has begun work in earnest. He took
his time getting here, but now that he is
here he expects to make up for lost time.
1t is thought that in the new commissioner
President Cleveland has picked out man
whose ideas in regard to pension matters
are in accord with his own and that for
four years pension business will be con-
Quoted along somewhat different lines than
heretofore Mr.. Lochren having been for
some in the Judging business it is thought,
also, that he is we'll fitted to decide with
fairness the claims that will come before
him. Commissioner Lochren has begun his
work by revoking an important and cele-
brated orders of ex-Commissioner Raum,
called the Completed Files" the first of
which was made in 1880. The language
used by the commissioner in revoking
these orders is as follows:
Hereafter all pending claims in each
class will be taken up for consideration in
the order in which the unconsidered evil
dence is filed, the object aimed at being
a practical return to the method in vogue
prior to 1889
whenever any evidence shall be re-
ceived in any case, such evidence will be
strapped to the case, and the file card will
be at once placed at the top of the file box
of the examiner in whose charge the case
may be.
whenever an examiner shall have dis
posed of all the cases on his desk, addi-
tional cases represented by the file cards
Mt the bottom of such examiners file box
al be placed on his desk for considera-
and action, and the proper calls for
evidence shall be made or pending or in
quiries answered, or the case, if found to
be complete, shall at once be submitted to
the Board of Review for final adjudica-
ton"
The Commissioners reasons for his Or
der of revocation are given as follows:
The completed files system is OBJ
jectionable, i'll that it entails extra work
upon the bureau force without attendant
compensating benefits; that it works in
justice to other claimants by taking up
claims out of their regular ORDER that
claims certified by attorneys as complete,
are usually found, upon examination, not
to be complete, and the subsequent notice
to claimants that their claims have been
placed upon the completed files" raises
delusive hopes and expectations as to the
speedy allowance of their claims, which
hopes and expectations are in many in
stances never realized, and, hence, they
naturally feel that they have been i'm
posed upon by the bureau and their rea-
sonable expectations betrayed. '
Again, nnder this system, claims are
placed on completed files" on the state
ment of interested parties, before proper
examination of the papers can be had by
an expert in such matters, which is mani
testify improper. Again, there is no pro-
vision in this system covering the great
number of rejected original claims, which
works most unjust delays touching these
| claims and unfairly discriminates against
this class of claims.
''In view of these facts and others which
might be instanced, and in the interest of
| a more just and systematic adjudication of
claims, the abrogation of the completed
| files" system and practical return to that
which prevailed prior to its adoption is
| deemed advisable"