The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1893-07-19
Washington Letter.
From Our Regular Correspondent
Washington, D. c.,
.Ju1v IL 1893

Gratis for years, that millions of dol
lars were being paid out illegally for
pensions, was correct. Cases are
numerous where men are drawing
S72 a month for total disability and
in addition following ordinary avoca-
tons and drawing the same salaries
as uninjured men. Two cases of
this sort turned up this week right
here in Washington, one man a
musician regularly and the other q
government clerk, and there are
many more here. These two men
were re examined their pensions re
duced to SIT and S23 a mouth re
spectiyely, and so apparent was the
Justice of the reduction that neither
Of them availed themselves Of the
right to appeal from the decision of
Gl6 DOalu VI tAaullueIs-
A little incident occurred this week
at the Pension Office which shows
that politics do not enter into the
present conduct of that office. A
democratic Congressman called to
protest against the reduction Of the
pension of q prominent democratic
worker in his district, and said that
the man had Influence enough to
throw his district, which is close, to
the reduclicans. The papers in the
case were produced and 1t was con
olusively shown that The man was
drawing a larger pension than he was
entitled to, and the Congressman had
to acknowledge it, although he still
asked that this particular pension be
not reduced. He was informed, as
other democratic congressman have
been who called upon similar errands.
that the policy Of this Administra-
ton was to administer the law as it
exists without regard to the politics
Of the pensioners.
Secretary Morton thinks the work
of the Weather Bureau should be
confined to the purposes for which it
was established and that the employ
ment Of high salaried scientific ex-
perts to experiment along lines which
nobody really knows anything about
is all wrong, and in consequence Of
those thoughts he has notified sev-
eral professors who have been en-
gagged upon work that was of no i'm
mediate practical use either to the
Bureau Dr. to the public that their
services will be dispensed with. Fl
Secretary ;ntend- .A0 en'ne
,,sue Bureau shall be devoted
to improving the daily forecasts Of
the weather, which he believes to be
the work which is the most beneficial
to the public. "How the fur would
fly" remarked o man who knows con-
siderable about the inside workings
OF some Of the other so called scienti-
tic bursau of the government, ''if a
man like Morton was put in charge
of the Geological and the Coast Sur
vey Offices. He knows enough about
science not to allow himself TO be
bamboozled by the fake scientists
whose sole object in life is 70 holS on
to the soft snap they now have.
Senator Voorhees,, whose long Con.
gressional experience makes his opin-
ion valuable, takes no stock in tile
talk about the extra session being a
short one. Speaking of it he said:
"Congrcss will probably be in COL
not longer" Representative "hr
son, of West Virginia, the gentleman
who is thought to stand the
best chance of being the chairman OF
the Ways and Means committee OF
the House, should MI. Springer not
get it again, also thinks the extra
session will run into the regular SEES
sion and that the latter will be an
unusually long one. Mr.. Wilson
thinks the tariff will be taken up just
as soon as the Ways and Means COM
mittee is announced by Speaker
Crisp, and it is expected that will be
Immediately after the House goes
through the formality of re-electlng
Mr.. Crisp Speaker.
Many misststements have been
made concerning the alleged antag-
onism between the administration
and the silver Democrats in Congress.
Representative Wheeler, Of Alabama,
is and has been for years a silver
Democrat, and this is the way he ex.
pressed his a~ntagonism: Il have I'M
bounded confidence in President
! Cleveland, Secretary Carlisle and the
Democratic party. Mr.. Cleveland
struck the keynote in his letter OF
acceptance when he demanded legls-
lation which would give adequate
money for our business needs and
also legislation WHICH would insure