Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1893-11-30
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anu thc Ttpuutious uut TuicS III ~"
gard TO proof aud ratings, under which
more than three thousand claims have
been allowed and paid, have been re-
voked, and another construction of
the law has been established, and
new regulations for proof and ratings,
less favorable To claimants, have
been adoptcd that board OF ro-
vision has been organized In the pen.
sion Office charged with the duty of
revising all these abjudicated claims In
accordance with this new construc-
ton, and such changed regulations as
To proof and ratings that under these
changes, thousands of pensions have
been suspended without notice and
thousands of pensioners have been
dropped from the rolls. IL Is claimed
that's adjudication OF u pension set
ties nothing; that the secretary of the
interior and commissioners of pensions
are invested by the law with absolute
power over tho pension roll, and that
II is within their legal authority TO re-
open and revise pensions allowed by
their predecessors under regulations
adopted by them, whenever they see
III To change the rules of evidence
and the scale of ratings under which
the allowance was made: and this In
country OF law, where from tho very
infancy of the government the United
States, by it's organic law, In its terms
denied the right TO deprive any person
OF property without due proc rs OF the
law, notice and opportunity To be
heard, aud whore in every other rela-
ton and condition In life fraud IL
never presumed but must be clearly
proved, and every person shall have
the right Ia face his accuscr To em-
| phasizc the vlciouRness of the situation,
we learn that IL Is said, rs though by
authority, that lit IL expected that
many of the pensioners so summarily
suspended or dropped will be able to
/ prove that they are still entitled
| To the pension OF which they have
| been deprivcd;" thus saying In no
uncertain voice that the burden IN
not upon the party alleging the fraud,
but that the government which they
had preserved shall first brand with
infamy by the charge, then sentence,
aud after the stigma has been eff
fcctivc, then concede to them, whose
barriers and support of character
have been thus undermined, the pitt
full privilege of moving for a new
trial upon the ground of newly-dis-
covered evidence and this not upon
strangers aliens or foes, but upon our
own flesh and blood, our comrades,
the saviours of the nation, those
who, In the language of Lincoln. the
immortal, have borne the battle.
We deny that the secretary OF the
interior and commissioner OF pensions
have any such power. We insist that
the adjudicating divisions OF the PEN
sion office, acting under the direction
aud supervision of the commissioner
OF pensions and secretary OF the in-
terror, are tribunals established by
authority of law for the settlement of
pension claims. and their decisions
are entitled To full faith and credit,
and cannot be legally impeached
when II change OF administration oc-
ours, except for fraud. upon charges
preferred and evidence adduced In
support thereof We insist that where
changes are made In the construction
of the law, rules OF evidence and
schedule OF ratings, unfavora-
BILE To claimants, they must
and should be limited in their
operation 10 the future work OF the
Office, and not the post An OK post
facto regulation is as repugnant to
our sense Of justice rs an ex post facto
law, and we protest against the adop-
ton and enforcement Of any such regu-
lations In the matter Of pension claims.
Therefore, The Grand Army OF the
Republic. in national cpcampment
assembled, speaking for that great
army of beloved comrades, many OF
them too poor, too bruised, too broken,
To Withstand the strong arm of the
government when administered with
an unfrendly hand, proud OF the good
name and fair fame of the Amer
lean volunteer soldier, interested
far beyond any other person
or organization that the pension
roll shall in truth and in fact
bc-what IL is In theory n roll OF
honor" and ever mindful Of the car
dinal principle, ITO preserve honor
and purity in public affairs" scouts
and denies these indiscriminate
charges Of universal fraud and re-
sents the imputaton that because
some unworthy survivor may be found,
that discredit shall be cast upon the
entire roll, and this great body of
patriotic citizens shall stand disgraced
before the country. We demand, that
there shall be no backward step in
pension legislation or administration;
that no pensioner shall be deprived of
his property without due process of
law; that the presumption shall be In
favor OF honesty and fair dealing; that
the poor and lowly shall not be put to
unnecessary, expensive or oppressive
process to preserve their meager pit
tances. that the sacred trust in favor
OF those who "have born the battle"
shall be sacredly observed aud sacred
ly administered; and we do now sol
emlny and deliberately
Resolve, That the Grand Army of
the Republic looks with solicitude,
not to say alarm, upon the proposition
that after sufficient tribunals have
been established by law before which
questions have been presented and
adju dicatedN upon evidence submitted
and examined. and upon which a
grateful nation has accorded pensions
in this their hour of need to those who
in its hour of need stood between it
and death. the officers of that nation.
administering public trust. have
arbitrarily deprived, without notice
or an opportunity to be heard, our
needy and distressed comrades of the
rights thus solemnly adjudged and
confined to them.
We Declare. That every presump-
ton should be made in favor of such
records so made; that no presumption
OF fraud shall be INDUCED in against
them, and that no change be made
in the pensions so accorded until after
charges have been made and. evidence
in support thereof has been produced.
of which charge each pensioner has
he / full notice and full and com
plete opportunity to be heard in sup
port of the pension as accorded to him;
and 1t is further
Resolved, That as the commissioner
of pensions, by his recent Withdrawals
of the obnoxious rulings which had
been so generally condemned. has vir-
tually acknowledged the incorrectness
of such rulings, we deem it his further