Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1893-10-21
our ARMY OF PENSIONERS.
Loose Methods of the PrOfilgate Harrison
administration.

Loose Metn0ds OF the ATOilkhtc AAHHAhsot
administration.
The annual report of Commissioner
Lochren shows that in another yeaI
the number of pensioners is likely to
exceed a round million. 1t is the boast
of this country that the people are not
burdened with the support Of a stand
ing army, but here is a body of men
more or less dependent upon the gov
eminent for support which exceeds in
number and in annual cost any effective
standing army in Europe. 1t ia not
wholly maintained in idleness or EN-
tirely withdrawn from the work OF
production, but the drain Of slo0, 000,-
900 u year upon the of the
people is equivalent to the burden of
supporting Il vast standing army never
theless.
Of this there would be no complaint
II no one received a share Of the peo-
pies bounty who was not fairly en-
titled to it, even under the over.gener-
GUS legislation of congress, but in that
case the expense would be much less
than it is. The disability act of 1890,
which added so enormously to this
burden of expense, was based on IA
false principle, for it took from the
people at large a share Of their earn
ings for the benefit Of a class whose
ability for ~self-support had not been
impaired by the services they rendered
to the country in time of war. They
were in the same condition in this re-
spect as a much larger number of their
fellow-countrymen who could make no
claim upon the government for sup
port, and the distinction of patriotism
in their service was taken away by
making it a matter of ~pecuniary re-
ward. But the worst effect Of this law
is to be found in the encouragement to
avowed pauperism and the stimulus to
fraudulent claims to public support
which it involved.
But the disability act is now gen.
orally accepted as beyond recall, and
the demand is only that its generosity
shall not be abused. If a pension is to be
granted to every veteran who can prove
that he is no longer able to support
himself by manual labor, though the dis
ability is in no measure due to his service
in the army or navy, he should at least
be required to show that his disability
is real and his claim not fraudulent.
The policy pursued under the act of
1890 by the last administration has
been distinctly shown to have been
one of encouragement to fraud and
false p%retense on the part of claim
ants and Of agents. BY loose methods
and a disregard of important. require
ments of the law, pensions were
granted by thousands to persons in no
way entitled to them, the purpose APP
parently being to swell the rolls and
increase the expenditures as rapidly as
could be done.
This policy has entailed upon the
present administration a difficult and
delicate task which fidelity to the in
OF deserving pensioners and to
the people at large requires it to per-
form with strict integrity. Neither
the secretary of the interior nor the
commissioner OF pensions has shown
The least desire to deprive any man of
pension who is honestly entitled to
one under the present laws, but they
are determined to purge the rolls of
and clear the bureau of scandal.
in this effort they will have the
Encouragement and support of the peo-
Die and OF every patriotic veteran. The
'rmy OF pensioners, if large and
'%ensive, should be maintained in honor
md in the respect of the country.-N.
[. Times.