The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-09-27
LOCHREN ON PENSIONS.
THE COMMISSIONER MAKES HIS An
NUAL REPORT.
Number of Benefcfaries After 1925
VIII Likely Decrease Statement
Concerning the biIity Act-After
the Fraudulent Ones.

terror To-Day. The NUMBER OF pensioners
on the rolls of the bureau is 966.O12 with
a net increase of 1894 during the past
year. During the year 24,715 claims for
increase of pension and 1880 for addi-
tional pension under the act of June q.
1890, were allowed. In the same time
115.221 claims for pension and for in
crease were rejected. Claims pending
consideration July numbered 711,15O.
Amount of money paid for pensions
during the year was S156.74 4e7. Balance
at close Of the year was 2,437.371. APP
preparations for the next fiscal year, Com
missioner Lochren states, will be ample
and the estimate for the fiscal year 1895
amount to s162, $751; $40.
Referring to the estimates for the fiscal
year of 1895 Commissioner Lochren says:
IF these were based wholly on the ex-
perience Of former years and the capacity
of the force of the bureau to handle
cases through the formal. stages of ex-
animation to allowance the result would
be much larger estimate. But 1895 is
thirty years after the close Of the civil
war. The pension roll, in view of its
size, compared with the number of men
enrolled in that war, will, in my opinion,
begin to decrease. The falling off in the
presentation Of new claims appears from
the fact, shown by the last report of my
predecessor, that there were, on Oct. l.,
1892, 7SS,O61 claims pending in the bureau,
while on July z, 1S9S-not quite nine
months later-the number of claims
pending had been reduced to 711,150 1t
is apparent, therefore, that the filing of
new claims and claims for increase has
ceased to exceed the number of cases
disposed of by the work of the bureau
and that a rapid diminution in the num-
Der of new claims may be expected"
Reference is thus made to cases under
the act of June q, 1890, recognizing the
difficulty of tracing disabilities TO service
origin after a long lapse of time and
the fact that deserving soldiers who in
thelr advancing years were mourning
disabilities not of service origin. unfit
ting them for earning a support by man
ual labor, were proper objects of the
national bounty, the act of June p. 1890
was passed providing that all persons
who had served in the military or naval
service Of the United States in that war
ninety days or more, and had been hon
orably discharged therefrOm and who
were suffering from mental or physical
disability Of permanent character. not
the result of their own vicious habits
which incapacitates them from earning
a support by manual labor. shall be pen
stoned al not more than twelve nor less
than six dollars per month, proportional
TO the degree of inability to earn a sup
port. Under this act aside form the
requisite service and honora BILE discharge.
there is but one condition that can give
any right to pension, viz: "A mental
or physical disability of a permanent
character, not the result of their own
vicious habits, which incapacitates them
from the performance of manual labor
IN such degree as to render them I'm
able to earn a support"
Concerning Specific Disabilities.
But by order 164 issued Oct. Is. 1890.
the commissioner, with the approval of
the assistant secretary, directed that
specified disabilities should be rated. in
applications under this act, as they would
have been rated under the schedules
then in force. if OF service origin. up to
$12 per month. The medical referee
stated, in answer to inquiry, that under
this order the capacity of the claimant
under the act of June %, 1890, to per-
form manuel labor was no longer even
considered in adjudicating his claim, but
that his disabilities were rated I'D TO
$l2 per month, as if his claim had been
made under prior laws for like disabil-
ties of service origin. 1t is perfectly clear
that under this order 164, in granting
pensions under this act of June q, 1890
the act itself was set aside and disre-
garded, with the result of granting pen
sions not authorized by any law. This
was shown in the Bennett case which
called your attention to this order. and
to the practice under it. There the
claimant, applying under this act of
June u. 1890, was penSiOned at $l2 per
month for slight deafness. not of serv-
ice origin. This slight deafness could not
interfere with his capacity TO perform
manuel labor. And such a pension has
no warrant to sustain il in any law. 1t
is absolutely void. The statement of
the medical referee above mentioned
made II appear probable that under Or
der 164 many pensions were Illegally
granted, and pursuant to your order of
May 81. 1898. a board of revision was
formed of the ablest and most ex-
perienced men of the bureau to examine
the cases allowed under that act and
Gull out such as had no legal basis to
rest upon; but with instructions TO dis
turb no case whereby the most liberal
construction of the evidence Of the right
TO pension could be sustained under any
law. In cases where 1t was believed that
a pension could not be sustained and
another medical examination was
thought necessary. the payment of the
pending investigation according to the
practice of the bureau for the beginning
and at the proper time the usual sixty
day notice was given to the pensioner
within which he could ask for a medical
examination or supply further evidence
of his right to his pension. This practice
of the bureau, always followed is the
correct practice. 1t is not the with
drawal or taking away of a pension but
the temporary Withholding of its pay
ment where it appears to be unlawful,
pending a proper inquiry
Upon your suggestion that even this
Temporary Withholding might work hard
ship where, upon the face of the papers
ii appears that the pensioner is entitled
to at least some less rating, the prac-
tice has been modified and changed as
to the cases under this act so far that
suspensions of payment pending the
sixty days, are only ordered when on
the face of the papers 1t appears prima
facie that the pensioner is not entitled
to a pension. 1t is certain that there
are many cases like the Bennett case,
where persons not entitled to any pen
sion will be removed from the rolls, but
the work has not yet proceeded far
enough to enable me to forecast the
result.
Undoubtedly under the system of adj
Indication which followed the promulga-
ton of order 164 many persons perfectly
able to perform manual labor. under the
persuasion of the claim agents familiar
NTH tho affaqt of that order. anD1iad for.