The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-20
GETTING 4 PENSION.
De Land Has Examining Board-NOt
an Easy Matter 10 Secure a Pension

De Land Has Examining Board-NOt
an Easy Matter 10 Secure a Pension
DeLand, Fla, Dec. 18.--However much
Of fraud may have attached to the pro-
curing of pensions under republican admin
istrations 1t is safe to believe that during
President Cleveland's last administration
a great reform has taken place. While
Secretary Hoke Smith may have erred in
some cases, seeking to abolish abuses that
could only be reached by congressional &C
ton, in the main he was just and even gen.
erous in his efforts to have every worthy
claim for a pension promptly and properly
allowed. His best work was done In the
granting of new pension claims, all of
which were proven under the most rigid
scrutiny. Still, there were very few, If
any just claims that we're rejected In his
efforts to suspend certificates improperly
granted by his less careful predecessors,
as might have been expected some worthy
pensioners were unjustly cut off, which
caused severe criticism.
Secretary Smith started out to put the
pension bureau on a higher plane, to lift
it above the atmosphere of scandal and
corruption that had at times surrounded
it, and yet to so conduct 1t that the hum
blest union soldier, or veteran of earlier
wars or their survivors, might suffer
no kind of injustice in the consideration
of their claims Congress alone can reg
ulate the granting of pensions, and the
Secretary of the Interior and his COM
missioner simply enforce the enactments
under wise and impartial regulations con-
forming to the laws of congress. The
pension business has assumed immense
proportions, and an outsider can have
no idea OF the amount of routine work
connected with each claim. / have before
me a card sent to veteran soldier In this
vicinity numbered as high as 1,l75S37. and
this was dated last March. His claim was
granted In October and was numbered
918626, showing that out Of !, ,5S7 claims
only 9lS,626 had been allowed. In such q
mass of claims there must OF necessity
be some traces of fraud, but in the main
the present administration has made
strong effort to purify and keep pure
the workings of the bureau.
Thousands of claims that fail to pass
the scrutiny of the pension commissioner
and his subordinates are carried through
congress by political influence but gener-
ally fail at last by reason of the Presl-
dents veto. And the public sometimes
condemns this action without a full knowl-
edge of the facts in the case. The Presl-
dent knows that the proper place to secure
pension, except In certain cases needing
congressional action, is the pension bu-
reau, and when one Of these cases reaches
him out of the proper channel he gives
1t very careful scrutiny. If he finds that
II is not just claim--one that the pension
commissioner could not indorse-he
promptly vetoes 1t. Occasionally he
makes mistake, but as a rule his ve-
toes of pension bills have been Justified
by the law and the evidence 1t is nm
Just to him to say he is opposed to pen
sions because he declines to grant them
iIaUal IVA To- srr.ft1. a.
thing as rejection of a claim by the COM
missioner OF pensions. Both acts are based
upon a lack of evidence to show that tho
claim has been properly established un-
der the rules and regulations Of the bu-
reau.
People who suppose it is an easy thing to
secure pension labor under great de-
fusion. DeLand being the headoua rters
for the medical examining board Of physi-
clans for this state all soldier applicants
for pensions have to appear before this
board for examination, and these exam
nations are held every Wednesday al the
ONCE OF DR.. U. N. Mellette. the secretary
or the board. 1t is safe to say that hardly
one-half OF those who are examined sue
coed in their efforts to get pensions or Sc
cure an increase on the pension they al
ready enjoy. The latter class is the most
numerous and the least successful. Men
In apparent good health. who have al
ready secured pensions for the loss Of
fingers or slight wounds, are constantly
applying for an increase on the ground OF
lung, heart, or throat troubles, or deaf
ness, or rheumatism, etc, contracted in
the service. know Of one old soldier
who is a big, fine looking fellow, who has
been before the examining board six times
during the past ten years for an increase Of
his sl2 month, on the ground Of lung
trouble contracted in the service And. al
though he has failed six times he still
hopes, under a republican administration,
to succeed.
The usual course to secure a pension is
for the old soldier to employ a lawyer
here In Florida or a pension attorney in
Washington, TO conduct his claim, which
he makes out on a blank sent him. This
must be sworn to before a proper officer
authorized to administer oaths and must
be endorsed by two reputable citizens who
have long known the claimant Then fol-
lows the affidavit Of two old comrades as
to his services etc. in the army As soon
as the claim is duly filed at the pension
bureau in Washington he is ordered to
come to DeLand and go before the board
Of examining surgeons. They make a
thorough examination OF his condition
and report TO the commissioner OF pen
sions. This report Is compared with the
AFFIDAVIT made BY the soldiers family ply
sician, already on hle, and II Il does not
harmonize with that document the claim
Is liable 10 be rejected al this stage OF
the case. But where there is an agree
ment Of opinion the claim often falls for
want Of sufficient evidence to show that
the disease or injury was really contract
ed or received while in the service. II is
often hard for a soldier TO prove that his
disabilities are not the result of bad hab-
lis on his part. rather than hardships and