The evening times., 1897-02-08
THEPENs|ONAGENCY ORDER
President Cleveland Has Cut the
Number to Nine.
AROUSED HOSTILE COMMENT
The Congressman From the States
Affected Are Up in Arms Secre-
tary Francis Is Held Responsible.
The Republicans Are Provoked
by the Reduction of Patronage.

President Cleveland has ordered the re-
duct-on Of the number of pension agencies
in the United States iom eighteen to nine.
II is claimed this VIII save $161 ,407
year TO the government. This estimate
allows S19,732 a year for office expense,
the salaries, including $4,000 a year 10
each chief, who alone is properly called
pension agent, foot UP about S141,67
The M owe is made upon the recommendation
OF Secretary FranciSg The change does not
become effective till, September /, 1897.
The agencies at Concord, n. II. . and Au-
gusta, Me-, are discontinued. ana payments
hitherto made there are ordered made
from the agency at Boston; the pensioners
heretofore paid at Buffalo, \. Y are TO be
paid from the New York city agency;
those at Pittsburg from the Philadelphia
agency; those at Louisville and Knoxville
from Washington; those at Detroit from
indianapolis; those at Milwaukee from Chi
cago; those at Des NJ oines and Topeka from
from st. Louis, where a new agency is es-
tablished.
A new agency il established at st.
Louis because OF the better mail facilities
there than at Des Moines or Topeka. There
are in Missouri 53,S12 pensioners; in
Kansas, 42 ,433; in Iowa, 81, 7,798.
The order recites that the payment by
checks instead of in person which was in
augurated last year. makes it possible 10
serve pensioners as well from fewer agen-
cies. Tie exact words are without any
inconvenience whatever To the pensioners
nd 81
Republican politicians, however. do not
look at 1t that way; neither do the pen
sioners They regard it as President CIeve-
lands latest-tley hope his Iast--official
act unfriendly To the old soldier For one
thing, it reduces the number OF places
to which veterans are especially eligible.
The pension agents at $4,000 each have
nearly all been from the Grand Army ranks,
while the clerks have been drawn largely
from the same source. The change takes
nine more good places from the small num-
ber left for President Mckinley TO dis
tribute among Republican Congressman, and
almost the entire SI6o,OOO saved will be
withheld from the hands Of Republicans
Furthermore, it is pointed out that it is
not always as convenient for a pensiOner
to get his money from Washington as from
Louisville or Knoxville. Otherwise an
other great saving might be effected by
abolishing all the offices except that in
this city
The Presidents order attracted a great
deal OF attention at the Capitol. 1t is be-
ing severely criticised by Republican MEM
bers, who are within the districts that are
to be abolished, and some leading Demo
70 IN hn
alleged saving is quite paltry in COM
parison with what they deem the diSadvan-
tages of the Encouragement, and the re-
moteness of some OF the new agency head
quarters from the pensioners.
The Iowa and Kansas members express
Indignation at the abolition of the Topeka
and Des Moines offices, and their attach
ment to the Sd Louis office. The Iowa
men would pTefer to have had their State
included in the Chicago district, and the
Kansa men feel tina dthe office should have
remained at Topeka, even If Iowa were
added to the territory having headquarters
there. AZ
One OF the KANSAS members says that the
whole plan Of reorga niZation emanated
from Secretary Francis. ''He wanted to
give his Missouri friends some reason to
remember that he had been in the Cabinet
for few MINUTES" he continued, land
therefore put Utp this little scheme TO an
mex bleeding Hansas ito Missouri"
The interesting fact developed this after
noon that the FeaTrangement drops out of
office ex-CongressmRn Levi T. Griffin,
now pension agent at Detroit. Griffin is
an old legal associate of Dickinson and
Thurbar md was a pp0snicuouS cuckor
and Palmer Democrat. But more than
that, the Michigan Republican Senators had
fully intended to continue him in office
as reward for the efforts of the gold
Democrats in the State. So the Francis
reformation hits this particular friend of
the President right below the belt.