The National tribune., 1893-11-30
AN OPEN LETTER
To the Commissioner of
Pensions.


stand in a position quite different from that
of any other Commissioner who has hereto
fore administered the affairs of the Bureau
of Pensions?
Were there no other reason, the mere fact
that you began your administration four
years after your predecessor began his would
make an immense difference.
Four years is very long time to men
and women so far advanced in life as those
with whom your Office has to deal Those
! who were scarcely beginning to be old four
years ago are undeniaby aged now; those
who were old then are decrepit now; those
! who were then merely feeling occasional pain
and inconvenience from their wounds and
other disabilities are Frustrated and helpless
from them now. Help which would have
been a grateful assistance then is an i'm
perative necessity now. Fully 100 600 vet
Grams, who were alive when Gen. Raum
entered office, now sleep that long, deep
sleep that only the resurrection trumpet
will break. The sod grows green and flowers
bloom over the graves Of more than 100000
men who four years ago were either OH the
pens;on-rol or had earned the right to be
there. Even since you entered Office more
than 81 600 veterans have passed from your
reach beneath newly-risen mounds in the
cemeteries.
Years which come Oh like one who travel
eth, infirmities which grow like a rising tide,
and Deaths sickle reaping an overwhelming
swath, make every Commissioners relations
to his clientage much more moment0us and
exacting than his predecessors. Mercy,
humanity, justice, cry aloud for immediate
action by the Commissioner of today, where
the one of 16, -, or even eight years ago,
might have been excused for slowness and
deliberation.
Then, the circumstances under which you
entered Office place you in different posi-
party to which you belong has always been
sharply critical of pensions to Union vet
men and the sons of the men who opposed
with voice vote and arms the cause for which
believe the vehement charges that the whole
system was tainted with fraud. Enough of
away by the charges TO make the belief
widespread and dominant at the ballot
box.
With fairness that gained the applause
of the country the Administration placed
minis er the Pension Bureau and determine
the truth of those charges.
The whole country applauded the fitness
of the selection. To uuquestioned gallantry
as 4 soldier you added well-earned repu-
tation as an able and impartial jurist. The
people welcomed your appointment as that
of d man who had the honesty aud ability
to satisfactorily discharge the functions of
that great Bureau. The veterans were con-
fident that you would interpret and apply
the pension laws as justly and vigorously
as you had those of the State of Minnesota.
All expected-all hoped-that you would
,,-o,,n,Iv Odd nuf;uoI,inoIxy caaIy o,,t ard
expel from the psnson-IolI any undeserv-
ing ones upon it, and with equally thorough
promp,ness put upon it those who have the
right TO be there.
How successful has been your quest after
the undeserving ones we will not say The
fact that after nine months of entire control
of the Bureau, and the expenditure of hun
dreds of thousands of dollars in special in
yestigations, you have been able to show
The country such a suciiy of results, must
long ago have convinced you, as it has all
fair-minded people, that pensioners and vet
Grams, as a class, and the previous manage
ment of the Pension Bureaa, have been
grossly, persistently, and Indignantly SLAM
dered. Certainly you can no longer have
the slight.st doubt in your mind that
only the smallest percentage of pensioners
and claimants are fraudulent, and the pro-
portion Of these is very much smaller than
among any other class of the Governments
| creditors
Having conclusively determined this by
nine months Of painstaking and expensive
investigation, during and probably owing
! 10 which the allowance of claims has been
reduced to an absurdly small number per
week, why not come out frankly and
squarely and inform Congress and the coun-
| try Of the facts, point out in unmistakable
language the inordinate cruelty, hardship,
aud injustice Of longer delay in adjusting
the meritorious claims of hundreds of thou
sands of old, brokendOwn, and suffering men
and women, and ask earnestly that you be
| given at once the means of settling every
one Of these by the 31st of December, 1894
C0mrade Lochren, Congress and the coun-