The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-28
Case I'm Point Shows That Citizen
ship Is Not Necessary.

|
WASHINGTON, Dec. N.-When the elder
Weller admonished his susceptible son to
avoid widows, the possibilities Of the Ameri-
can pension system has not developed Now
ms advice would be to marry widow, Sc
cure her pension, and live life of luxury.
Inc intent OF the pension laws is to make
the most ample provision for widows. All
other classes of benefciaries can take their
| chances, but a widow is promptly tucked
under the protecting governmental wing.
| 1t does not matter II she has never seen
the ocean boundary line of the United States.
| 1t is not necessary that she should speak
the English language. 1t Is not essential
| that she should have seen her husband since
| the Civil war. The only requisite is that
| she shoula have had a husband at some
/ period OF her previous life who served in
! the Union army.
The guardianship which this great gov
! eminent extends over widows was recently
not seen her husband for forty years was
allowed a pension. with back allowances
| aggregating nearly $500. The bureau de-
| voted nearly three years to an examina-
ton OF the case and finally decided that
| there was no alternative but payment.
In 1861, three years after his marriage,
Knud Knudson left his home in Norway
and started for the new world. His wife
| remained behind. He came to Wisconsin
and after working for a time a farm en-
listed in the Fifteenth Wisconsin regiment.
| AS a soldier Knud KnudSon made an ex-
| cellent record and he died year and a half
after his enlistment, lighting for the cause
| he had esDoused.
| In her Norway home unacqualnted with
| tho country which her husband had made
| his own. and without advisers wo could en-
| tighten her, the woman who had known but
| three years of wifehoOd plodded along in her
| customary mode of life.
| More than three decades were thus passed
| when some ono brought to her attention the
| benefcent provisions the adopted govern
| ment Of her husband had made for widows
Thirty-one years after the death of Knud
| Knudson, which occurred on Oct. 16, 1863,
! an application on behalf Of his widow was
| formally filed at the pension bureau 1t was
| decided that under the act of June Z 1888
the widow entitled not only to a pension
| for the remainder of her life, but to an
equivalent monthly allowance for the entire
! period Of her widowhood.
! Mrs. KnudsOn is past sixty years of age.
and the sum thus placed at her disposal will
! be equivalent to competency for the remain
! der of her days.
The officials of the persiOn bureau say
that the fact of her permanent residence
abroad could not be taken into considera-
/ ton. The only thing necessary for her to
| prove was that her husband had died while
| in the service.
The extent to which the government takes
care of widows is further illustrated by the
fact that a pension, with arrears aggre-
I whose husband died in 1871. An additional
| sum was allowed her some fifteen years after
her husbands death. she being then married
| to another man. The law stipulates that
upon the remarriage of a soldiers widow she
must give up her pension.
In the case Of another veterans widow,
a pension was recently granted to cover a
period Of five years which interviewed be-
tween the death Of her first husband, who
served in the army, and her marriage to num-
Der two
Hundreds Of widows carefully conceal from
the pension bureau the fact that they have
remarked and continue to draw pensions
Such cases are being unearthed daily.
Within the last week special examiner who
had been sent to New York TO investigate
this class of frauds succeeded in finding
eight or nine women drawing pensions as
widows who had remarked and had living
husbands.
The examiner reports the arrest and con-
viction ~ FIVE persons. and says that four
more have been arrested. He says that the
cases cited are small percentage are those
existing in New York.