The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1893-09-29
PENSION REPORT.

PENSION REPORT.
Annual Report Of the Pension Cemmis.
sioner Matters Of Interest to Pension.
ers.
| WASHINGTON, Sept. 23-Pension Com
missioner Lochren has submitted his
annual report to the secretary of the
interior The number of pensioners on
increase of SO. 944 during the past year.
During the year 24,715 claims for in.
crease of pension and 1890 fol
additional pension under the ACT
of June %, 1890, were allowed.
In the same time 115,22l claims
for pension and for increase were
rejected The claims pending consid-
Grafton July Z numbered 11,15O. The
amount of money paid for pensions
during the year was 1856, 74O,447 The
balance at the close of the year was
s2,4s7,s7l. The appropriation for
the next fiscal year, Commits
sioner Lochren states. will be ample.
and the estimates for the fiscal year
1895 amount to 1852, 631. $50. Referring
| to cases under the act of June 81, 1890.
Commissioner Lochren says:
| Recognizing the difficulty Of tracing disab;li-
ties to service origin after long lapse of time,
deserving soldiers. who. in their advancing
| years. are mourning disabilities not Of service
| origin. uniting them from earning o support
by manual labor, are proper objects OF national
bounty. The act of June q, 1897, was passed
providing that all persons who had served in
the military or naval service Of the United
States in the war ninety days or more and had
been hoporably discharged therefrom, and who
are suffering from q mental or physical
disability Of permanent character, but
not the result Of their own vicious hab-
it's which incapacitates them from earning a
support by manual labor. shall be pensioned
at not more than SI2 nor less than IS per
month. proportioned to the degree OF inability
to earn q support Under this act, aside from
the requisite service and honorable discharge
there is but one condition that can give any
right to pension, viz: "a mental or physical
disability of q permanent character, not the
result of their own vicious habits, which in
capacitates them from the perfor nance of
labor in such . degree as to render them I'M
able to earn support" But by Order 164,
issued October Il, 1890, the commissioner,
with the approval Of the assistant secretary,
directed that specific disabilities should be
rated in applications under this act, as they
would have been rated under the schedules
then In force II Of service origin, up to $l2 per
month. The medical referee stated, in answer
to inquiry, that under this order Of June q,
1899, a claim Of inability to perform manual Ia
Dor was no longer even considered in adjudicat
ing claim, but that disabilities were rated up
to Si2 per month, as If the claim had been made
under prior laws for like disabilities OF service
origin.
1t is perfectly clear that under this Order l64 g,
in granting pensions under this act OF June -
1892 the act itself was set aside and disregard
ed, with the result of granting pensions not au-
thorized by any law. This was shown in the
Bennett case. which called your attention to
this order and to the practice under it There
the claimant, applying under the act OF June q,
1890, was pensioned at sla per month for slight
deafness not Of service origin. This slight deaf
ness could not interfere with his capacity to
perform manuel labor. And such n pension
has no warrant to sustain it in any law.
1t IS absolutely void The state
ment of the medical referee above
mentioned made it appear probable that under
Order 164 many pensions were illegally granted
and pursuant to your order of May q, 1898. a
beard Of revision was formed of the ablest and
most experienced men Of tine bureau, to exam
inc the cases allowed under that act and Gull
out such as had no legal basis TO rest upon but
with instructions to disturb no case which BY
the most liberal construction of the evidence of
the right to the pension could be sustained un
that pensions could be sustained, and other
medical examination was thought necessary.
the payment of the pension was ordered to be
SUSPENDED, pending nvesligation, according to
the practice Of the bureau from the beginning,
and at the proper time the.usual sixty days no
ttce was given to the pensioner. within which
he could ask for o medical examination or sup.
ply further evidence of his right to his pension.
This practice Of the bureau, always followed,
Is the correct practice. It is not the withdrawal
or taking away of q pension. but the tenn
porary Withholding OF its payment, where it
appears to be unlawful, pending proper in
Quiry.
Upon your suggestion that even this tempo
fary withholding might work hardship where,
upon the face of the paper. it appears that the
persioner is entitled to at least some less
rating, the practice will be moderately changed
to cases under this act SO far that suspensions
of payment pending the sixty days are only Or
dered when on tine face Of the papers it appears
prlma facie that the pensioner is not entitled
o any pension. 1t is certain that there are
r>lny cases like the Bennett case where
prisons not entitled to any pension will
&c removed from the rolls but the work
not yet proceeded far enough
to enlble me to forecast the result Undouot
eddy, under the system Of adjudication which
followed the PRONUNCIATION OF Order l64 many
pensioners perfectly able to perform manual
famili IT with the fleet of that order, applied
for and received pensions for specific dlsabili.
ties not of service origin and not properly pen
sionable under the act Of June q, 1879. This
also accounts for the large proportion OF late
Claims under that act, comprising the after
nath in the work of claim agents, which are
now being properly rejected.
Wholesale frauds like those discovered at
Norfolk. Va, in New Mexico and Iowa have
DecC disclosed by special examiners The
work Of this division has greatly increased.
and an additional appropriation for augment
ing the force in the service is asked for Con-
siderable work in connection with the fraud.
has been done with the Law division. All cases
OF fraud brought to Ii n. by special examiners
receive the personal attention Of those ir
charge Of this division
NOMINATIONS.
Large Number OF Appointments in the