Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-21
FEWFACTS, BIG IMAGINATION
Commissioner Evans Comment on the Story
of Pension Frauds.
Safeguards About the Bureau sum.
cicnt to Prevent Such Rob-
berry as IL Alleged.

with the assistance of few facts and
figures, which you can find in my annual
report, and vivid imagination, the author
of the pension fraud story in a New York
paper of yesterday succeeded in building
up quite fiction"
So spoke Pension Commissioner H. Clay
Evans this morning in discussing the ar
ticle, which purported the unearthing Of
startling pension frauds.
Really there is little for me to say fur
ther in this connection. AS l have already
said the article is for the most part tic-
ton. based upon figures easily obtainable.
and it appears easily distorted. TO any
one familiar with the modus ooerandi of
obtaining a pension. the article at once
suggests its own improbability. We have
thrown about the pension office sufficient
safeguards TO prevent any such thing rs
fraud. DO hct understand me as saying
tn It frauds do not exist. The court records
prove that every day. We are ever on the
alert for such things. and when once we
loCatv "ne We never let up in the proSecu
ton. And 50 l say it is folly to state that
more survivors are receiving pensions than
there are survivors,
Method of Securing "a Pension
TIE people generally do not know what
is required to obtain pension. This office
does not pension people simply because
they say they We're soldiers. We don't give
pensions away. Take Il case in point fo~
Illustration and let us see what has to be
lone before a pension is granted. First IF
all, the application is filed with the afti-
diivlt OF the applicant that he was a soldier
OF such and such company etc. The next
step is to get from the War Department his
record as soldier. Now, notice the fur
thcr require nert.
The applicant must bring the affidavit of
at least two comrades to certify to his mill
tdrN record. The pnGinn af7cn
factory evidence of the facts Now these
requirements preclude frauds in that drec-
ton Once the office is assured the appIi-
cant Il soldier the merits of his ca So
are taken up. lie goes before one of the
medical examining boards. and is examined
for disability. Here. L grant you. frlAds
may exist. for d shrewd man has little
trouble in deceiving doctor. In my oDin-
ion. the greatest fraud practiced is deaf
ness. How can a doctor tell whether a
man is lying? The usual tests for deafness
are applied and the applicant hears moth
ing. There is nothing to do but certify the
case. and the man gets his pension. But
frauds of this character would not be re-
Sponsible for swelling list of pensioners
to figure in excess of the survivors.
Frauds Run Down.
Then there other frauds. Some time
ago. remember complaints reached me of
big frauds in the New York Office | sent
an examiner there and the whole office was
investigated We found five cases where
pensions were being issued to dead men.
Those who were performing dead mems
parts were run down and sent to the Deni-
tentiary. Another case happened several
weeks ago ont west. widow was draw
ing pension the relict of soldier as
well as one for her chile. We had a report
of something crooked here and investi-
gated. We found the widow had married
and thereby forfeited her right to pension;
that the child was dead and she was still
drawing its pension. Now, mark what this
office did. The woman who certified to the
fact that the woman who was drawing a
pension as the relict of a soldier
learned, knew differently, having been at
the second marriage of the pensioner. Fur
ther, that the two brothers of the alleged
widow We're present at the death of her
child and were still certifying to his exist
ence. This office never let up one iota.
They Were all prosecuted and sent to the
penitentiary.
These are merely Illustrations yet they
tend to show how carefully this office
watches for frauds, and how determinedly
they are run dow n.
There is another case I recall where one
an actually drew two pensions. He was
soldier in the Mexican and civil wars.
The Mexican pension was granted first
ard issued to him in Louisiana. while the
one for disabilities incurred in the civil
war was paid in Boston. The names were
the same, with the exception of the omis-
sion of the middle initial in one name.
When We learned of it the department
promptly stopped both pensions, and they
will not be paid again until the department
has recovered that which it has dishonesty
lost. In the New York case, where five il
legal pensioners were discovered, / forgot
to mention the department will not loss
one cent. The banks viii have to make
good the loss, for the checks were forgeries,
ard as such the banks are accountable.
And so | tell you it is impossible for
any amount of fraud to be practiced sue
cessfuly in this department. AS Cor my
self, l would rather spend $4,000 in running
down fraud than save 500 by perpetual
ing one"