The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-03-29
THE PENSION BUSINESS
Under the Present Policy Agents
See Their Incomes Vanish.
They Have Made Money. but Not Through
ExOrbitant Fees-Causes for the
Decrease i'm Business.
Washington Post.

clared a pension attorney of this city who
has turned his attention almost exclusively
to real estate. He spoke in reply 10
Post reporters suggestion that there is not
so much gained in prosecuting pension
claims as in former years.
ut cannot be said" he went on, that
the business is dead, but il might Gs we'll be
for all a man can get out of II nowadays
And yet there is money in the claims /
have locked w in my files or before the
Pension Bureau If they would be allowed
Time was when a man engaged even in
a small way could make $500 a month by
careful. conscientious work. That day is
past But If an attorney could afford ii
he ought to hold on to all the claims he
has In hand that he considers possible to
put through later. For. although at this
time the bureau is allowing fewer claims
in proportion TO the number before II for
adjudication than ever before in the his
tory Of pensions, the time viii come when
the majority of them must be granted.
However If that time does not soon come
death will settle the question so far at
least as original veterans Eases ere con-
cerned.
81 do not mean by that to say that the
business Of paying pensions will cease al
together soon,' continued the attorney.
Look at the revolutionary war pensions;
the bureau is yet paying w,dows claims AIMS
pendence. Undoubtedly, though, many
years hence perhaps. service pension Dill
but It does not pay at this time for a
man to stay in the pension business. much
less enter it great many have been
forced 10 direct their energies elsewhere.
l could point out 10 you pension attorneys
who once did or-nous business. en-
ploying scores of clerks, whose practice
hoe GhR 70 al T.f tnCy "a n
now do not have work for one-tenth as
many clerks as formerly.
when you come to consider the amount
of work honest pension attorney has
TO do to properly present claim for &C
ton before the bureau you will admit
e eRaa the Cases under by the Ud aT and
$40 for cases under the act of June q,
lSsO-it is very small. And this is more
account of the difficulty in finding veter-
ans comrades as witnesses. even If alive.
mans whereabouts from time to t.me since
the war. An attorney may expend In this
search many times the amount of his fee:
1t takes the handling of thousands of
cases at once to insure fair return for
ones labors. The percentage of money al
lowed in fees TO attorneys In proportion
TO the amount collected as a whole Is far
below what lawyers In other branches re-
ceive.
IAN honest, competent pension attorney
and the proportion of them is quite equal
TO that among other lawyers-is OF the
most positive help TO the Pension Bureau
in facilitating its work. 1t would be prac-
tically impossible for pension claimants to
get along without attorneys, and they re-
lieve the bureau of work that is done out
side the office at no cost to the government.
Prior to July 4, 1884 all that one had TO
do TO practice before the bureau was TO
take the oath of allegiance. At that date
however, 1t was made necessary for an at
torney at law to file a certificate, duly
sealed, from federal court, stating that
he was a lawyer in good standing; any
other who desired To nrpSpnt claim
ants was obliged to file certificate from
the judge Of federal court 10 the effect
that he was a person Of moral character,
good repute, and possessed of the neces-
sary qualifications to enable him TO rem
der claimants valuable service.
LAS to the several reasons why the busi-
ness Of prosecuting pension claims is no
longer profitable l might say that In the
first place all the best claims have long
ago been allowed; that is not necessarily
those most worthy, but those in which
there was the least work required to put
in shape The present rulings of the Pen
sion Commissioners are so stringent that
additional difficulty is experienced both In
procuring sufficient and satisfactory evil
t that case comes Within the limitations
they have seen fit to impose by their new
interpretations of the law. Indeed. L think
that at no time was the practice OF prosecu-
ting claims so favorable to honest at
torneys from a business standpoint as In
General Blacks administration, because the
system in vogue was so admiralty bal
anced. Again, the latest assault along the
whole line against the pension system has
had more effect on the public mind than
any attacks previous. Ever since the first
opposition developed in Congress and in
| the press of the country at the time OF
the vote on the arrears bill, In 1873. the
| time to secure to their constituents what
they conscientiously believe their dues. AS
everybody knows, this fight developed into
| a political question. Pensions have been
made the issue of more than one presiden-
| tial and numerous State campaigns. But
| has lost very much of its power as po-
| litical factor. 1t will be on the wane now
| steadily until it dies OUT
| GROWTH OF THE PENSION SYSTEM.
prosecuting war claims as profitable
| business had it's birth in the war of the
| rebellion. Our government was practi-
| cally without a pension system when the
| civil struggle came. Out Of the necessi-
| ties of the war was passed the founda-
ton act of the present system on July
| IA, 1862. At the beginning of the year
1875 there were, in addition to countless
minor acts. fifteen great measures of pen
| sion legislation the statute books, each
| calculated to remove some friction from
| work of the Pension ONCE The widows
| bill, increasing pensions from IS to $l2,
indirectly acted, in the additional induce
| the benefit of the attorney. while the
| Mexican service pension bill opened up
\ gagged in prosecuting claims. In legisia-
| ton since 1880, however, there was done
more for pensioners than during any other
period, and il stands to reason that at
| torneys made more money in that time.
considering that in 1854 there was paid TO
100000 and in the year 1871 nearly
| s134.OOO.O00 In gold value. IL will be seen
| what strides the pension business must
have taken, even in that early period. II
| has increased, not steadily in the number
of claims allowed but under the impetus
| given by new acts, until it reached its
| highest point in the passage Of the act of
AT most, the present estimated volume
of expenditures can be kept up but a
few years longer. They We're sweled
| hitherto by the payment of long accumu-
| lating arrears. II every man and every
| woman in the United States entitled to a
| friends of the veterans, were put on the
| rolls at the rates allowed by existing
/ laws. and under rulings that have hSther-
| to obtained, the total payments would
| not exceed Sl50,000,00O a year for a brief
| period, and the amount would diminish
| melancholy rapidity, for death is taking
| off the veterans at the rate of 1000 year
THAT there have been fortunes large AMI
! small made out of the pension business adj
| mits of no question but Il is not too much
| to assert that none Ia We bean made fraud
by attorneys by ways questionable perhaps
from professional standpoint.
"A number Of years ago member OF
/ Congress when he charge of wholesale
/ fraud was made by he enemies of pen
sion legislation caused - be furnished by
! the Pension Bureau complete list of the
! pensioners then on the rolls. with service,
! 1fGah ~ nd adj