The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1895-09-07
PENSION ABUSES.
Corporal Tanner Points Out Some Ways
in Which They Occur.

Judge Loehren, the present Commits
sioner Corporal Tanner is an in
tense Republican himself. bnt in his
letter, makes charges against Repub-
liean employes in the Pension Bureau.
lie declares that Dr. w S Bell,
one of the medical examiners, and
other Republican employees have been
rejecting pensions for the purpose Of
bringing the administration into dis
repute. He iraises Commissioner
Lochren for the latter's friendliness
to the old soldiers, and explains that
these cases are rejected in the Mexi-
can department and while technical
ly passed on by the Commissioner,
are never seen by him.
In talking about his charge against
the medical examiner and the gener
al charge that members of his own
political party are attempting to
make political capital by bringing
Judge Lochreu into disfavor among
old soldiers, Corporal Tanner said
ia the first place, | wish 10 en-
phssize the fact that IN cases which
are acted on in the Pension office,
the Commissioner is held responsible
all over the country for actions which
in 80 cases out of 100 he knows moth
ing about The Commissioner is
held properly responsible for the
general rules Of the office, but the
fac simile OF his signature is used
1000 times where his autograph sig
nature is used once From this, it
is easily inferable that the Commits
sioner knows nothing of the merits
of any case which he does not per
sonally investigate As a conse.
quence, the Commissioner figures In
one case as a hero and in another as
a sonlleas wretch.
The ex Commissioner was asked II
politics entered into the matters OF
which he had complained.
The meanest kind of politics. he
replied. There is n lot of fellows
in that Office which out Heroded
Herod when ! was there as Commits
sioner, but as soon US the Democrat.
ic administration came in, they be
lieving that the policy Of the admin
istration is not to grant pensions,
make themselves the apostles Of that
idea in the Pension Office and they
have proved it by their record.
81 am bound, however, to exclude
Commissioner Loehren from this i'm
putation He has acted fairly, and
always is ready to hear a complaint
and to rectify an error.
Il have abundant proof" he said
Il have three eases oil men which
were rejected on the ground that the
applicants we're not so disabled as
to prevent them from doing manual
labor for a living. Well, these men
have died of their disabilitie-. I
have received letters from their
friends, telling me that there is no
use to push their claims any further
They are dead.
"Now, l make the following ser
ious statement, and | make it delio
erately l have proven it in the
past. and | shall undoubtedly be
able to prove it in the future, to wit.
That very often the Pension Exam.
ming Boards who have the claims in
their hands are personally acquaint-
ed with the disabilities Of the appIi
cant before he goes before them.
They examine him under oath. They
know the facts and they report that
be is clearly entitled to a pension.
"Fhe papers from this board, and
the papers only go before the medi
cal division of the Pension Office
This medical division fixes the rat
ings, and time and again, to my per.
sonal knowledge, this medical divis-
ion has coolly written out the bald
faced lie that the medical examina-
tion showed that the applicant was
not disabled to pensionable degree.
No man with any knowledge Of the
medical division, and who has the
slightest regard for the truth, will
dare deny this statement.
"Pll give you concrete instance
of this. Not many months ago,
went to Judge Lochren in case for
one of my clients, which had been
rejected on the ground that the ex-
animation showed that he was not
disabled to pensionable degree.
The disability of this man was most
pronounced. When ne was informed
of The action of the medica division
he vent to one of the Medical Board
and told him of this action.
The member of the Board wrote
me thatif the medical division had
come to the conclusion that the man
was not disabled to pensionable
degree, they lied.
u went to Judge Lochren and told
him Of this letter, that | had it in
my pocket, and / knew he wouldn't
embarrass me by asking for it. 1t
was not necessary for him to see it.
for told him he could prove the
truth Of it bv the records of his own
office
Judge Lochren called for the pa
pers in the case, and he examined
the papers in my presence. The rec
ommendation Of the Examining
Board was that the applicant receive
$26 month. Judge Loehren is a
fair man. He simply ripped mp this
case, rejected his medical division
report, and had the man given his
pension.
How do you explain the attitude
Of the medical division toward these
applicants?'
This way? There are lot OF
good men in the medical division
but, unfortunately, there are lot OF
old fossils and quite a number oil
young fellows who never diagnosed
a case in their lives in actual prac-
tice, and who, if the Divine Power
has any regard for the veal Of hui.
manit}, should never be permitted
to do any diagnosing. Unfortunate
ly, these fellows are in a position
whore they can DO lot of harm and
cause IA lol Of suffering through theil
ignorance, recklessness or prejudice
and they often exercise that for pc
litical purposes.
FERTILIZERS.
The Cleveland Dryer Co.'S distribu