The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1895-10-31

1u0 WY h1ou0Fv1mB DOlO1ofB nave Tno1R
Pensions Taken From Them.
The soldier is drawing e10 per month,
not dreaming that his pension will in
any way be disturbed; he has not made
an application for increase and has had
no correspondence with the pension de.
partment since the granting of his PEN
sion. Without any warning he receives
notice from the commissioner Of pen.
sions as follows:
Medical evidence on file in this de.
partment shows that you are not dis
abled in q pensionable degree by reason
Of the disabilities on which you are now
drawing pension" and he is given 80
days to produce evidence to show why
his name should not be dropped from
the pension rolls. The soldier who had
the patriotism and the courage TO enlist
In the army and endure the hardships
Of four.year campaign 10 not . man
that would call on physician for treat.
ment for every little ache or pain, and
consequently in nine cases out Of ten he
can not give the medical evidence 70
quired. and at the end Of 30 days his
name 10 dropped from the rolls and
helps to make up the number Of 75, 900
that were to be stricken of, a. stated
BY the newspapers at the beginning of
the Cleveland administration.
From the time Of the administration
Of Commissioner Bently down to the
time Of HoKe Smith it has always been
the rule in the department at Washing.
ton that where there was reasonable sus-.
picion Of fraud in the procuring Of
pension the pensioner was notified and
the government undertook I'd set aside
it's former judgment by proof of the
fraudulent character of the obtainment,
but now Mr.. Hoke Smith, either through
ignorance of the fundamental principles
of law or in disregard thereof, suspends
these pensions upon his own volitlon,
thereby overruling the former Judgment
Of his bureau and forcing the applicant
to prove that the government was wrong
when it decided in his favor. The atti.
tude of this man is a burlesque upon
Justice, and the judicial character of old
Dogberry has been raised good many
points by the stupid blundering of this
frenzied official. What right has this
scion of the southern confederacy to say
that an adjudication in favor of sol.
dier was erroneous and reverse it, and
then call upon the soldier to retry and
re-establish his rights? A grosser abuse
of power or usurption has never hap
pened before in this country. For Hoke
Smith, upon his own motion, to order a
soldier before pension examining board
is an arbitrary exercise of power with.
out authority of law.
The truth is that this raid upon the
pension list, which has been so system.
atically conducted for the past two or
three years, is but the sequel of pre-.
arranged conspiracy to force upon this
country the free trade policy of the
: Democratic party. Tariff reform, as
howled by the Democratic party, meant
large reduction in the revenues of the
government. and reduction in revenue
receipts necessitated reduction in ex-
penditures, and so the old soldiers Of
the country have been made the victims
Of Democratic tariff reform.
Calvin S. Brice's part in this conspir.
acy consisted in seeing to it that no
Union soldier should be appointed a pen
sion examiner; also that 70 Republican
should find place on the pension
boards, which has been carried out in
the appointment of these boards all over
Ohio, with probably two or three unim-
portant exceptions.
This was the cornerstone of the con-
spiracy, and the work of executing it
was given to hater of the Union sol.
dier, hsbitue of Wall street, million.
aire and toady of aristocracy.