The Portland daily press., 1893-10-18

the Immortal, have borne the battle"
We deny that the Secretary of the In
terror and Commissioner of Pensions have
any such power. We insist that the ad-
Indicating divisions Of the Pension Office,
acting under the direction and super
vision of the Commissioner of Pensions
and Secretary of the Interior, are tribun-
ais esta blished by authority of law for
the settlement of pension claims, and
that their decisions are entitled to full
faith and credit and cannot be legally
impeached when change OF admlnlstra-
ton occurs, except for fraud, upon
charges preferred and evidence adduced
in support thereof. We insist that where
changes are made in the construction of
the law, rules of evidence and schedule
of ratings, unfavorable to claimants,
they must and should be limited in their
operation to the future work of the office
and not the past. An ex post facto regu-
lation is as repugnant to our sense OF JUS
tice as an ex post facto law, and we pro-
test against the adoption and enforcement
of any such regulations in the matter OF
pension claims.
Therefore, The Grand Army of the Re-
public, in National Encampment assem-.
bled, speaking for that great army OF
beloved comrades, many OF them
Too Poor, Too Bruised, Too Broken,
to withstand the strong arm OF the govern
ment when administered with an.unfrend-
ly hand, proud of the good name and fair
fame of the American Volunteer Soldier,
interested far beyond any other person or
organization that the pension roll shall
in truth and in fact be--what it is in
theory-a "roll of honor, and ever mind
full of its cardinal principle, 10 pre-
serve honor and purity in public affalrs,"
scouts and denies these indiscrimlnate
charges of universal fraud and resents
the imputation that because some "un-
worthy survivors may be found, that
discredit shall be cast upon the entire
roll, and this great body OF brave and
patriotic citizens shall stand sdlsgraced
before the country We demand, that
there shall be no backward step in pen
sion legislation or, administration that
no pensioner shall be deprived of his
property without due process OF law that
the presumption shall be in favor OF
honesty and fair dealing that the poor
and lowly shall not be put to unneces-
sary, expensive or oppressive process TO
preserve their meagre pittances that the
sacred trust in favor OF those who have
borne the BATTLE" shall be sacredly
observed and sacredly administered and
Resolve, That the Grand Army of the
Republic looks with solicitude, not
to say alarm, upon the proposition. that
after sufficient tribunals have been estab-
lished by law before which questions
have been presented and adjudicated,
upon evidence submitted and examined,
and upon which grateful nation has
accorded pensions IN this their hour OF
need to those who in it's hour of need
stood between it and death, the officers
of that nation,
Administering Public Trust,
have arbitrarily deprived, without notice
or an opportunity to be heard, our needy
and distressed comrades of the rights
thus solemnly ajudged and confined to
them.
We Declare. That every presumption
should be made in favor of such records
so made that no presumption of fraud
shall be INDUCED in against them, and
that no change be made in the pensions
so accorded until after charges have been
made and evidence in support thereof has
been produced, of which charge each
pensioner has had full notice and a full
and complete opportunity to be heard IN
support of the pension SO accorded to
him and it is further
Resolved, That as the Commissioner
of Pensions, by his recent Withdrawals
of the obnoxious rulings which had been
SO generally condemned, has virtnaly
acknowledged the incorrectness of such
rulings, we deem it his further duty to
at once restore to the rolls the thous-
ands of pensioners now standing illegally
suspended.
This report is signed by N. Walker,
A. M. Warner, J. W.Burst, A. r. Greene
and H. E. Taintor, the committee on
Pensions.