Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1893-09-07
Sober Words About Pensions.

1t has been the rule Of the Pension
Department since its organization
to suspend the payment of the pen
sions in all cases during inquiry as to
the right of the pensioner to the pen
sion he was receiving. This was no
new order under the present admins
istration. When the Department re>
ceiYed information as to the correct
ness Of a pension, the payment has
uniformly been stopped until the
facts could be fully ascertained.
There has been no change in the
political complexion Of the authority
in the Pension Department that sus-
ponds pensioos. 1t is still Republi-
can with an experienced Republican
at its head, and every pension that
has been suspended has been sus-
pended by a Republican board and
under che rules that have been in OPP
Grafton ever since our civil war. The
| present Commissioner of Pensions
has, therefore, been simply following
the rules and precedents so long es-
tablished, by suspending pensions
| where reasonable doubt existed as tC
tie correctness of the rating or the
integrity of the pension claim.
The ruling made by Ex- Commis-
sioner Raum, by which disability
pensioners under the law of 1896
were put in the same class with dis.
ability pensioners under the old law
that required the disability to be the
result of wounds or illness received
or contracted in actual military ser,
vice, was oyerruled by the proper
legal authority Of the Pension De
partment, and it is this ruling tina
has caused the suspension of some
thousands of pensions. As most O
these pensions are not alleged to bt
wholly fraudulent, Commissions
Lochren has properly liberallzed the
uniform rule of the Department
and will henceforth continue tht
payment of pensions pending in
quiry into their validity. So fal
from restricting the rights Of pen
sioners the present Commissioner haI
greatly liberalized them in favor O.
pensioners. The new ruling O
!. Commissioner Lochren will be &C
cepted by every fair minded either
and by every honest pensloner as no
: only just, but as more generousl,
Just than the rulings of his prede
%cessor.
: It is a great folly to seek to mis-
represent the efforts of the presen
Pension Department to make tn
pension list .. roll of honor. Their
has not be a single pension sus
pended by a Republican board ant
upon cause which fully justify it
This should be commended rattle
than complained of by every tru
soldier. 1t means that the pension
: laws shall be administered in a lib
! eral spirit, and that no wrong shall
e leone to any veteran who has jus
claims upon the generosity of til
government.
J., There is every reason to believ
that better times are in store fo
f workingmen.-New York Her
d ard.
Ar index of the improvement
q trade is seen in the increased dem
and for wool and the rise in price
reported in the Boston market
-Grand Rapids Democrat.
II President Cleveland is all Iigb
There are prospects before hir
sufficient to make any man fet
young again.-Boston Globe.
ali The Fall River bankers wb
have been duped by Welcome E
u Hathaway, the defaulting cotto
q broker, have cone TO the conclr
a sion that he la a more tree tina
le welcome customer.-Steep Rroo
Bazoo.
The trouble with Preside,
q Cleveland Is that he persistent
& refuses to be as sick as his enemi,
are.-SWaueea Gazette.