The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-08-04
LOCHREN WRITES
An Answer to Seme of Tho Criticisms
Upon the Cantari or the Pension
Barren.
Pensions sr~p~nied Only Whore They
Have Deem Allowed Contrary to
Law,


WARRINGTON, Aug. 4-CCmm1nsaonex
Lochren has addressed . long letter 10
the editor OF The National Tribune In
regard 10 pensions, The lsttsr Il In
answer to y requsst from ths editor Of
that journal that the commissiensr
should cause q list 20 b made 10 show
the number Of fraudulsat pensions BY
having 1000 cases drawn from the nd
mittsd files and examined. The COM
missioner proceeds TO give the reasons
for his failure to do 20. In the course Of
which hs says In substance that frandu-
lent cases cannot b discovsred that way.
Fraudulent pensions must ordinarily
have been obtsined on false or forged
testimony. On the face Of the papers
such . case would probably appsar to
be we'll established and in~contsstable.
No ons has claimed that the. great
q Of pension cases u psrmsatsd
with fraud open and plain ON the
papers, 90 that tho examination OF Z
thousand cases might mot disclose IN
instrncs. And { have 100 high IN
opinion Of my old conradss 70 believe
that any large numbse u tAsm ars
scoundrsls. who hare sought and Oh.
tained pensions dishonesty. Especially
! believe that the pensions granted b
soldiers who did actual service in the
field on account of disabilities of service
origin, are unusually honest and well
deserved.
The Investigators 40 ID the work Of
dishonest pension attorneys II Norfolk.
New MEXICO and Iowa show local
frauds oflargs extent. BUTT would b
far from fair TO concluds from such
cases that pension attorneys are gsnsr.
ally interruptions Or diahonsst. I think,
on the contrary, they ! ordinarily
honest, painssaking, and careful Al
other business men. A case Of alleged
fraud Is brought to the notice of the
bureau by information from some
| sourcs. IL the information 10 indefinite
or appears to be prompted by malice
it is disregarded. II ii seems TO b.
trustworthy the case 10 Investigated,
the pension being suspended during the
investigation, according to the uniform
practice OF the bureau from the begin
ming. If the pension Ia improper il
should not be paid; IL not shown to b
improper the suspended pension 10 al
paid, and the suspension enlists thu
active cooperation of the pensioner il
furnishing evidence and reaching
speedy result.
The examination Of the June 81
1890. cases is made not because of an,
fraud on the part of the claimants, bu
because IL was discovered that thi
bureau had. by the adoption Of al
erroneous rule for adjudication. al
lowed many pensions not authorized b.
law.
Attention Is called particularly to tn,
Bennett case, where q pension of OIL.
was allowed for slight deafness, ant
which obviously did not ~incapacitat,
the ~pensioner for manual labor.
1t is clearly the duty of every oficia
having charge of the administration o
the pension laws to enforce those law
fairly. and to stop such pensions a
clearly appear to have been granted
without authority of any Law.
Commissioner Lochren concludes
my old COMRADES may feel sure o
receiving everything to which the Law
most literally construed--entitls
them. / have perhaps written NOR
than / ought. but my comrades are in
terested in understanding this matte
rightly and as it is. The man gener
ally misrepresented is the secretary
who has, in fact, always beer NOR
considerable and liberal towards pen
sioners than any of his subordnates
myself included"