The National tribune., 1894-12-06
1.-THE HIGHEST POINT"

/ y
close of the war, that " the highest point
in pension expenditures may naturally
be presumed to have been reached, and
that it is reasonable to suppose that s
rapid diminution will henceforth
follow" etc.
A still more important fact in thi;
connection has been obscured. 1t is one
that The NATIONAL TRIBUNE has de.
voted many columns of space, extend.
ing over a period of years, to impress
upon the attention of the Secretaries OF
| the Interior and Commissioners of Pen
| sions who have succeeded each other In
this work. That fact is that If the
claims before the Bureau had been dis
posed of with business-like promptness
"the highest point" would have been
reached long ago, and the rapid diminu-
ton Of the expenditures begun years
since. We have held it to be strong
reproach upon the methods of the Blu
reau that 80 years after the close of the
war it should still have several hundred
thousand unadjudicated claims before
it So long as this enormous number
of unsettled claims still burden the files
it is absurd to talk of having reached
the highest point" The Treasury
officials did not allow themselves to talk
Of having reached the highest point in
the war debt until they had audited
every account of every obligation in
CURED for the war; till they had settled
with every money-lender, every con-
tractor for army supplies, every man
who furnished mules, bareback, pork,
blankets, or uniforms. They would not
have dared 90 before the business world,
with any "highest point while there
were hundreds of thousands of unsettled
accounts in the Treasury, the aggregate
amount of which could not even be
guessed.
In his report dated Sept. %, 1894,
the Commissioner of Pensions says:
On July j, 1894, there were undisposed of
and in different stages OF preparation and
advancement claims for pension, or for in
crease of pension to the number of 6l9, 027,
represented by 514,4l claimants of whom
DO, 2G5 are upon the pension rolls, and 2ss,
209 original claimants, Or widows or depend
ents are not now upon the rolls.
After reading this statement it is
clear that the only way that it can be said
with confidence that the highest point
has been reached, is in close connection
with a determination to arbitrarily fix
highest point" and not permit it to
be passed.
THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE has always
strenuously insisted that true economy,
as well as humanity, mercy, Justice and
honor, dictated that all the claims before
the Pension Bureau be settled up with
the same business celebrity that was dis
played in the adjustment Of the accounts
Of the money-lenders and the contractors
for army supplies. We have insisted
that this could have been done, and
should have been done, long ago, and
that then the pension expenditures
would have dropped at once the $685.
100000 or s30,000,000 paid out an
nually for long-accnmulated arrears,
and thereafter the expenditures would
have decreased rapidly from the inroads
that Death made upon the rolls. We
have insisted that in addition to other
reproaches the failure to do this was in
itself grave indictment of the efficiency
Of the administration Of the Pension
Bureau. The s25,00O,000 of the ap-
preparation which was turned into the
Treasury last year as "saved" would, if
applied to the purpose for which it was
voted by Congress, have gone very
long way toward settling every claim
before the Bureau, and making the
4" highest point " an honest reality in
stead Of something TO carry on a cruel
juggling with death by keeping worthy
and deserving pensioners waiting for
their rights until either they died or
they could step into the dead mems
shoes Of their comrades on the roll.
PEOPLE have been greatly puzzled
by the enormous numbers of Russian
Jews flocking to the Russian Consulates
In This country IN fata tho Goth nf