Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-19
PENSION OFFICE Numbered
Many Requests for Information Regarding
the Same Case.
A Practice That Wastes Time and
for Which There Is Apparent
~ No Remedy.

Nothing has embarrassed the pension Of
flee in its work since the present admin
istration came into power more than the
practice of members of Congress in calling
for the status Of pension cases. When the
pension office gets request Of this kind
it goes into the hands of clerk who
hunts up the record of the particular pen
soner or applicant for a pension, finds
just how the case stands and writes let
ter in reply.
If the calls for such Information were
limited to one call for eacn case every
three or six months the labor involved in
replying to them would not be so great
as to seriously embarrass the office. But
the idea has gone abroad among appli-
cants for pensions that the more infuen-
tial men they get to ask regarding the
status of their cases the quicker they will
be allowed. 1t has become a general prac
tice among attorneys, it is said, to file
pension claim with incomplete evidence,
then notify the claimant and inform him
if he wants his claim pushed through
quickly it would be well for him to get
congressional influence to push it along.
The claimant proceeds to act on this ad-
vice. He writes the senators of his state
and frequently large number of repre-
sentatives of his own and other states,
asking their aid. These senators and rep
reSentativeS proceed to call upon the pen
sion office to get information regarding
the status or the case, and the practice of
doing SO involves the office in an immense
amount of correspondence, with the re-
suit of delaying the work of adjudicating
pension claims, for the reason that clerks
who should be SO engaged are kept busy
answering calls
Printed Form Ignored.
In order to lessen this work the pension
Office prepared a form of request for in
formation of this kind, which stated plainly
that the soldier in whose interest the
"roll'' was made lived in the district of
the representative or in the state of the
senator. But no attention was paid to
this IN a great number of cases, and half
dozen representatives would call for the
information, each certifying that the SOL
der lived in his district. Every reply writ
ten by the pension Office was accom-
panied by an official envelope addressed
TO the claimant, SO that after reading the
answer the senator or representative could
inclose 1t to the claimant for his informa-
tion- In this way it has happened that
some claimants have received a dozen Of
fetal communications, each stating the
same facts. The claimants do not seem
to understand that the time taken in writ
Ing these letters could be better employed
in adjudicating claims, and that the quicker
other peoples claims are disposed of the
sooner their own cases will be reached.
Apparently No Remedy.
Apparently nothing can be done to stop
this practice which has kept several hun
dred clerks constantly busy since March
4 and which has always made much I'M
necessary work. The pension office can
not refuse to answer letter from a mem
Der of Congress asking information, no
matter If the information in the case in
quired about has been given twenty times
to others within week Of the receipt of
the request
The trouble does not stop here Every
little while the senators and representa-
tives will repeat their requests for infor-
nation on the cases just inquired about
The usual reply sent them states that since
the last cali no additional evidence has
been filed and the case is just where it
was.
If Congress were asked to enact legisla-
ton to correct this wasteful system there
Is no Likelihood that it would be favorably
considered, as member of Congress is
very jealous of anything likely to curtail
his privileges. So the present condition
Will continue, so far as any one can tell.