The National tribune., 1893-07-27
STILL HALTS.

the investigation that we have been urging
upon him for weeks.
This seems inexplicable, for it would be
such an easy thing to draw 900 or 1000
cases from the files of the Pension Bureau,
and make brief abstract of the informa-
ton they contain as TO each pensioners
name, his service in the army, his disability,
the evidence upon which his pension was
issued, the results of the medical examine
lions, and the rate at which he was pen
stoned. All this could be done in a few
hours, by the present clerical force of the
Bureau.
This would give information that the
public is hungering for. 1t is exactly the
knowledge that it strongly requires. 1t has
become very impatient with the picking out
of case here and there from the great mass
OF 100000, and exhibiting it as specimen
of the whole mass Whether the exhibit
be favorable or unfavorable, it is still repug-
nant to mems ideas as 10 the right procedure.
They can gain no idea of the character of
The whole by such acts. Those opposed to
the veterans will naturally hunt for the
worst possible cases, and give only such facts
or half-facts concerning them as will make
the most damaging showing. The friends
of the veterans as naturally pursue the
opposite course.
The people believe that the Commissioner
of Pensions is just and fair man. His life
long reputation and his honorable career
upon the Minnesota bench strongly support
this belief. Consequently the public is
eager for an impartial, calm, judicial investi-
cation by him of as many cases as will fairly
indicate the character of the whole pension
roll, and an unbiased presentation of the facts
which such investigation viii develop. This
will be accepted as conclusive by the whole
people, and their attitude toward pensioners
as a class will be shaped to fit it. If it shall
show that pensions have been frequently
granted on insufficient evidence; that
political designs and personal feeling
have entered largely into the decision
of cases, then the people will insist that
not merely Board of 81 or more clerks be
set to work scanning the roll, but that the
work be put in the hands of a special COM
mission large enough and able enough to
sift The whole matter from top to bottom in
a short time, and armed with extraordinary
powers TO ferret out offenders and punish
on the other hand, this examination will
show, as we firmly believe it will, that in no
other Department of the Government has
there been such a painstaking and rigorous
examination of claimants and creditors; that
in no other has there been such an exac-
ton of proof; that in no other has the pro-
portion of fraudulent claims been so small,
and that in no other has the Government erred
so frequently in its own interest, by denying
rightful claimants their due, or giving them
but moiety of their dues, then the people
will insist even more strongly that the
Commissioner be given larger powers and
an increased amount Of money, that he may
correct these abuses and dispense the Ma
lions justice as the people intend it shall be
dispensed-with the utmost promptness and
thoroughness. The people are right at heart
and they are particularly insistent that the
Government which represents them shall do
absolute right. They have no patience with
any other course We have all seen how
they taxed themselves mercilessly in order
to pay the bondholders in gold to the last
cent that liberal Interpretation Of the OBJ
legation to the bondholders would give them.
They will be no less determined to do SINH
lar justice to the veterans as soon as it is
shown what that justice consists of
The investigation we have urged will clear
up the fogs of doubt and Misrepresentation,
as the sunlight sweeps away the miasmatic
vapors of the lowlands. We think it is
Commissioner Lochren's duty to make it at
once-his duty to the Government, of which
he is an official; his duty to the people,
whose servant he is, and his duty TO his
comrades, to whom he is bound by the ties
of Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty.
ARd eUery consideration demands that that
duty be done at once.
LET AN INVESTIGATION BE DEMANDED.
Speaking in the name of LOCO, 900 surviv-
;pr, va4arans xnIo,,, - ranxaoau4s rrp- ~.