The evening times., 1897-12-16

Assistant Secretary of the Interior Web
ster Davis handed down several decisions
in pension ca ses toda OF great Importance.
One in particular decides a very important
question and overrules the decision of tie
department in a number OF decisions .au-
dered In former years. This is very
important ruling tpr the reason that. whlle
the Secretary sddes not pass upon the
claim of the claimant, he promuIgates a
very import shr. img that there shall be
no limit to tie time IN which a widow
may file an appeal in completing her
deceased husbands claim. The case is
rat OF the widow OF william, II. II Ughes.
late of Company ID. Sixterut tn Ohio Infantry.
The soldier filed an application for pei
sion under tie act of June 81, $780, HIS
lain was rejected July 81. 1884. Claim
ant then d;}d before appealing the case
from the adj or the Commissioner OF
After his Aeath his widow filed an ap-
peal from Tie action rejecting her nus
bands Claim. - The widows claiiu was
rejected. on the ground that she had no
right to file an appeal from the action
taken in aer husbands claim prior 10
his death, on the ground that it was not
a penuing CLAIM, Il, the GATE OF his de:Itn.
Froiu this action of the department the
widow has appealed In the decisiun
Secretary Davis says:
The right OF the widow OF soldier who
had made a proper application to complete
his claim has never been Questioned: but she
has uniformly been denied the right to
set up new claim in her deceased hus-
bands case after his death. In a soldiers
claim in process OF adj judica ton when the
claimant died, the widow has been ac-
corded the right to do anything in the
claim that her deceased husband could
have done had he been living. In other
words under section AIS, r. s., and tine
act OF March 2, 1895, she succeeded to
his rights, not only to receive the pension
when granted, but to prosecute the claim
To u final adiusiica tion. One of these
rights is the right to appeal to the Secre-
tary of the Interior from the rejection of
the claim, or from the rate allowed. The
soldier, If living, would have the right to
appeal from the rejection OF his claim
at any time.
In other words, there is no imita ton
as to the time OF filing an appeal by an
applicant for invalid pension. BY what
authority, then, can the department fix a
limitation as to the time OF filing an
dDpedi Dl tut WiuOW, uti TlSllb 70 dpItdi
being conceded? The law provides that
II !. sol,ii.r IL entitled to a pension mi mas
an application therefor pending, on his
death the W idow shall receive the pension
he would have receiv ed to the time OF his
death. The question whether the soldier
was entitled to a pension is not settled by
the adverse decision OF the bureau, but the
Secretary of the Interior has right to
pass upon the question. Her right to
prosecute this case to a final adjudication
and to appeal from the adverse action Of
the Commissioner OF Pensions is conceded.
Then the question arises, has the Secretary
of the Interior power to fix limita tion as
to the time In which such appeal may be
filed?
Rejected claims are uniformly reopened
and readjudicated upon application and
additional proofs submitted. Appeals by
the original claimant are entertained ten
and twenty years after rejection of the
claim, and no just reason appears for lin
iting the time of filing such appeal by the
person who succeeds to the rights Of such
original claimant. am, therefore, of
the opinion that the decision in the cases
Of jacob wolhart. Henry Groppe and
Briggs SopeE, in 10 far as they fix a lirnlta-
ton in filing appeals, exceeded the juris-
dictfon of the Secretary, and they are, to
that extent, overruled.