Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-07-22
IN ANSWER TO VETERANS.

The Roke Smith Pension Order
What 1T Was Based On.
s'veterans" are informed that Score.
tary Hoke Smiths pension order was
based upon the decision made by the pen
sion bureau in the case of Charles L. Ben
nett, Company F, Thirteenth In diana reg
iment, who claimed he had suffered loss of
hearing from eunstroke received at Raj
eigh. N. O., in June, 1855. The syllabus
OF the decision Is as follows:
/. The basis Of pensions under sections 4692
and $685. h. s., is disability by reason of wound,
injury, or disease contracted while In the SER
:. The basis of pensions under section 2, Act
June q, 1890 is ,ncapacity, due to any perma
Of Vicious habits, 70 such degree as renders
claimant unable to earn support by manual To-
Dor.
in the line of duty, and incspacity for earning
support befalling claimant for pension after
sion laws on an entirely different footing
Disability incurred during service and In line
Of duty is pensionable without regard to capac
visions of the revised statutes without reference
to this condition,
5. Disability resulting from causes other than
provisions of the second section of the Act Of June
H. 1890 when incapacity to labor joins with inca
pacity to earn support, and the grades OF rat rat
6. When by order No. 1854 of the commissioner
of pensions, October 49, 1890, it was declared
that disabilities under the act Of June e. 1890,
should be rated as if of service origin, the very
principle which governed ratings under said act
was displaced, and a rule applicable to a differ
emit law was substituted.
= Neither the secretary OF the 1 mt nor
practice, supersede an act OF congress. The
power Of the department, 80 far as its orders and
praIti are concerned, is limited to an execu-
ton of the law; it ceases when an effort is made
to supersede the law.
The decision was prepared by Assistant
Secretary Reynolds, was approved by the
secretary of the interior and submitted by
proved 1t. The secretary of the interior
then issued the following order:
=. WAsH1NeToN, D. G., May q, 1893 !
To the Commissioner of Pensions:
rus Busy, Assistant Secretary OF date October
for approval BY the secretary, new rules and
regulations covering the proof of the right to
pensions and rates OF same IN accordance with
sttensien i directed to lie fsst tS sss
under this section must be Of a permanent char
actsr, fncapacitating for the performance of
abiiity to esrn support You viii OBSERVE Also
that the rate Of pension is fixed at not less than
SO nor more than $12 per month, proport1oned to
the degree of inability to earn a support
You will have an examination made to deter
mine what pensions have heretofore been allow.
ed under section I'd Of the act approved June ~
1890, in disregard to the terms Of said act and in
conflict with the ruling of this department, In
the case Of Charles T. Bennett, this day trans
mitted to you.
Respectfully, HoKE SMITH, seeretary
& The last paragraph of this order indi-
Gates the purpose of the pension bureau
not only to apply this rule to future appH-
cants, but to extend the examination and
overhsuling to cases which the new score
tary may interpret as having been wrong
fully sdjudicsted. 1t is alleged that this
new ruling and order will affect nearly q
half million applications, including both
''orieinsl" and Traditional" cases under
the second section of the act of 1880.