Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-30
THE SYSTEM OPPOSED
Commissioner Evans Wants Pension
Attorneys Abolished.
CONSIDERING A BILL TO THAT END
Would Be Fewer Frauds and
Considerable Saving.
HIS VIEWS IN DETAIL

The commissioner of pensions has under
| consideration a bill designed to abolish
pension attorneys and to substitute gov
ernment attorneys, to prosecute pension
claims
In recent interviews the commissioner
has scored pension attorneys for the very
questionable methods adopted by many of
them in obtaining pensions for old sol
| diers. His utterances in this connection
have been tne subject of attacks from diff
ferent sources, and an eX-commissioner OF
| pensions has lately seen hit to score him.
Commissioner Evans when asked by a
reporter of The Star this afternoon what
| he had 10 say regarding the attack, said:
Why, have not even read it. / have
been informed, however, by some of my
friends that there is nothing in 1t and so
there is nothing for me to answer. I have
never condemned all the pension attorneys.
| In their ranks 1 have many good friends.
men above suspicion and of the highest in
tegrity. But there great :Ial.y at
toIneys who literally stop at nothing to
get a pension.
The System Wrong.
THE system is all wrong. Years ago the
government should have taken this subject
in hand and dealt directly with the PEN
sioners and not through attorneys. Sena-
tor Pritchard expresses the situation very
forcibly in a recent Interview, when he ad-
mitted that there was considerable skull
duggery in this pension attorney business,
and expressed the belief that the govern
ment would do better by dealing directly
with the veteran and not through attor-
neyS. Look at the advantages OF such
arrangement.
First of all. under the supervision of the
government the liability to frauds would
be reduced to minimum We would have
a az he a xEh Inns
hess ii would be to see that all honest
claims We're promptly and intelligently pre-
sented. If one of these attorneys failed to
do his duty found incompetent it
would be an easy matter to remove him.
Then ii would be a great saving to the
government. Why just think OF 1t, sl3,-
100000 has been paid out in the past thlr-
teen years to pension attorneys This
enormous sum has been taken from the
poor pensioner. This present system is
wrong. 1t is unsatisfactory to the old pen
sioners. How? Well, first OF all they do
not relish having part of their pension
withheld and paid over to an attorney.
Then there are cases where soldiers suffer-
ing from practically the same disabilities
receive different pensions. one receives,
say, st month, while a friend of his for
the same causes obtains ST. How does it
happen? Sharp and unprlncipled attorneys
and incompetent medical examiners.
There's the secret. This is a fraud, but
now are you going to reach it7
sample Case.
Here comes old soldier for examina-
tion for Increase. He is already pensioned
for one disability. and now pleads for an
increase on the ground that he is deaf. The
medical officer in his district examines him,
and, sure enough, the regular experiments
Tor perfect hearir show a deficiency.
Ihere Is nothing to do but certify to the ad-
ditional disability. L remember a good IL
lustration of how an increase was worked
through an attorney who was endowed
with little conscience. The client was draw
ing pension Tor some slight disability
forget exactly what il was-and applied for
an increase. His attorney asked him a
great many questions, in the hope of find
ing some excuse for basing claim. ana
finally learned that the applicant at times
suffered from diarrnoea. His advice to the
Soldier was TO make the application through
MIN in the usual way and wait for an at
tack before presenting himself for exam
nation.
Then there are cases where the old SOL
der is illiterate, and shrewd attorney
prepares almost any kind of an affidavit
he wants and directs the soldier to sign it,
He does it, many times unconscious of what
it contains. These are only a few illustra-
tions of the sharp practices the depart
ment unearths every day To have the
system entirely under governmental con-
troll would break uo such things and re-
dopnd to the good of the government and
the advantages of the old soldier
Swelling the Rolls.
The New York Herald says today regard.
ing the swollen pension rolls:
There have been many and varied rea-
sens for the exuavagant growth of PEN
sion expenditure. The most prominent one,
of course. is to be found in the efforts of
politicians to pander to the soldier vote"
and this reason is most potent in opposition
to any movement to expose the pension
frG ids.
The question of benefting the soldiers has
had little to do with the incrpa Sai 1. N DSinn
lists made under statutes passed since 1850.
There was an excess of revenue over
expenditures III 1880 of $65.SS3 6,32o, and
in 1852 of Sl45,5i3. .s1O.11. There was still
an excess of Ss5040, ,271.91 in 1890, and the
politicians saw the necessity of disposing OF
the surplus. 1t occurred to various un-
scrupulous leaders that they could increase
their political power by giving the surplus
to the soldiers. The pension act of $780,
consequently, not only disposed of the sur
plus, but the receipts of the government
have not equaled the expenditures since
1891.
The pension mill continues to grind under
this law. For the first half of the present
fiscal year, ending this month, the pension
expenditures amount in round numbers to
S765O0,Oo0. If this rate is kept up the total
for the year will be sl53,ooo.Oo0-ahout Sl1,-
0Oo00OO more than last year.
Might Save Eighteen Millions.
1t has been urgently asserted that these
commissions accomplished nothing, and the
cry Of fraud raised in 1893 was without any
result. There was a steady increase In the
amount paid for pensions from 1854 to 1S93
when it amounted to s159,l51 ,557S1. Tnen
came the cry of fraud and the investiga-
tion which resulted In the pension roll be-
ing decreased TO Sal, 1,2S4.96. II the pro-
posed investigation would do no more than
the last, the saving of slS.000.000 would
fully justify the publication of the list.
Congressional influence has not only been
exerted to prevent the discovery Of frauds,
but it probably has often helped undeserv-
ing applicants. There are several repre-
sentatives who devote their whole time
while in Washington to procuring pensions.
They go to the pension Office with their
clerks at 0 a m and stay until pm, urg-
ing clerks to pass upon cases, or. IL the
clerks find objection, persuading the COM
missioner to issue orders for pensions.
While these are perhaps exceptional cases,