St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-05-28
Secretary Smith Promulgates
a Most Important PEN
sion Decision.
1t Will Reduce Pension Pay-
ments Between $15,OOO,-
600 and $2O,OOO,OOO.
The Decision Is Simply an In
depreciation Of the De-
pendent Law.
W. L. Anderson, OF La Crosse,
Appointed Consul GEN
eral at Montreal.

WASHINGTON, May 27.-ProbabIy the
most important pension decision ever
sent from the Office of the secretary of
the interior to the commissioner Of pen
sionS was filed today. 1t is believed
by those high in authority in the
pension bureau that it will re-
duce the payment of pensions under
the act of June 27, 1890, between S15,-
100000 and S20,000.000. 1t involves the
repeal of an order passed by Gen.
Raum and approved by Assistant Sec
retary Bussey, and return to the lam
guage of the statute requiring the
disability, not of service origin,
to be such as to prevent the
applicant from earning support.
by manual labor. Secretary Hoke e
Smith has been considering the
principles involved in the decision for
several weeks, and so important did he
deem it, that when it was called to his
attention from the pension board of ap-
peals he submitted the question IN
volved to Attorney General Olney and
Judge Lochren, the commissioner of
pensions, both of whom concurred in
the correctness of the decision.
Cause Of the Decision.
The decision is in the case Of one
Bennett. who sought pension under
the old law alleging that, while in the
service at Raleigh, N. c., he was pros
trated by sunstroke, which resulted in
partial deafness Ill both ears. His
application was denied Oh the
ground that. while the applicant has
slight deafness, as alleged, it
was not of sufficient severity to warrant
any rating. fhe testimony showed that
Bennett could hear watch tick at the
distance of half an inch from-either ear.
Bennett subsequently applied for and
received a pension Of S12 month under
the act of June 27, 1890.
This act allows pension ranging
from IS to S12 per month to eX-SoldlerS
or sailors suffering from any disability
of permanent character, not the result
of their own vicious habits, which inca
pilates them from the performance of
manual labor in such degree as to rem
der them unable to earn a support.
The inability to earn support is there
fore made the basis of the law. During
Commissioner Raum's administration
an order was issued known as Order
No. 164, which directed that all claims
for a pension under the acts of
June 27, 1890, should be rated the |
same as like disabilities of serv-
ice origin. and that all cases show
ing a penSionabIe disability which is of |
service origin would be rated at or
above $12 month, should be rated at
S12 a month.
The Only Requirement
to obtain pension under the law ap-
plicable to pensions of service origin is |
disability by reason OF wounds re-
ceived, or disease contracted while in
the service and in line of duty.
'lncapacity to perform manual Ia
bor." says the secretary, (which is the |
foundation to the right of pension |
under the act of June 27, 1890, fixes an
entirely different standard of disability |
from that just mentioned, contained i'll |
the revised statutes, covering injuries |
of service origin. Disabilities in
CURED while in actual service |
and incapacity coming upon an ap.
plicant long after service ceased |
are made by the law to stand upon an !
entirely different footing. Those in |
CURED during service and in line of |
capacity to earn support, and are |
graded without reference to this con-
dition. Disabilities resulting from causes |
other than of service origin are only pen
Sionable when incapacity to labor joins |
with incapacity to earn support, |
and the grades of rating are dependent |
upon these two conditions. When, by |
Order No. 164, it was declared that disa-
bllitieS under the act of June 81, 1890, |
should be rated as if of service origin, |
the very principle which governed the
rating under the act of June 81, 1890, |
was displaced, and rule applicable to |
different act was substituted. This |
case illustrates the effect of the depart
ure by your bureau from the terms of
the act Of 1890:
"F'irst-The applicant was awarded |
for slight deafness not,of service origin, |
$12. The award was made under the |
act of 1890, which required the rate for |
deafness of both ears to be graded from |
Sc to $12. The highest amount-S12-
was only to be allowed i'll the
Severest Cases Of Deafness.
1t was given by your bureau for slight
est deafness because under all entirely |
different act, applicable to disabilities
of service origin alone, SIS was the low |
est rating for slight Deafness
"Second-The inability of the appli- |
cant to perform manual labor was not |
taken into consideration. Yet the act |
of 1890, under which the applicant |
sought and was allowed a pension, |
made inability of the applicant TO per-
form manual labor In such a degree as |
to prevent him from earning a |
support, the foundation of his claim. |
1t is therefore clear that the rating |
under the revised statutes for disabili- |
ties of service origin was substituted by !
Order No. 164 for the rating provided |
under the act of 1890. The order hav-
ing resulted in one error, second |
error naturally followed, and the in-
ability of the applicant to perform |
manual labor was not taken into |
consideration. In a word, the act of |
June 27. 1890, was changed and super
seded by order No. 164, as construed by |
your Office and by practice that neg |
lected 70 take into consideration the |
ability of the applicant to perform |
manual labor"
The decision is signed John NJ. Rey- |
nOlds, assistant secretary of the interior. |
Secretary Smith, IN another commune
cation to the commissioner of pensions, |
says that it IS hardly necessary to pre- |
sent argument or to support by author |
ity the proposition that neither the sec |
retary nor the commissioner Can by |
order or practice SuperSede an act of |
congress, and he therefore directs here |
after the practice of the Office shall con- |
form to the law.
Purely a Legal Problem.
WASHINGTON, May 27.-Judge Loch- |