New-York tribune., 1897-08-20
THE PENSION HIGH-WATER MiRh.

Material is often found for sneer at the
prodiga of our pension policy III tue '"c.
that to-day -thrty-tw0 years after 'he cioSe Vi
the War Of the Rebelion-the higll-wa'er 'l''rN
of pension expenditures has not definitely been
passed by the National Treasury. The gibe Is
not altogether q pointlcss one; yet it can have
10 sting for those who hold with the great
mass of the American people that the solemn
pledges Of LincOln's second Inaugural care
.for him who shall have borne the battle and
"for his widow and his orphan should be fnl-
filed by a grateful Government without stint
or grudging Popular sentiment has demanded
and popular sentiment will sustain the lcgisla-
ton under which pension payments hav" risen
TO a total which consumes almost half of the
Treasury's present annual income; and. indeed.
no part of the Governments yearly outlay com
mands n reader and more cheerful approval
in Congress than the huge appropriation asked
each winter to satisfy the debt due the co'lli-
trys pensioners.
II is interesting to note, however. III Il recent
dispatch to The Tribune from Washington the
assurance that. although the higl-wafrr marx
Of pension payments cannot be said definitely to
have been reached and passed the actual list OF
pensioners has remained practically stationary
for the last four years. and that the aggregate
disbursements from the pension agencies have
actually decreased within that time. The great
increase in pension appropriations dates. on
course, from the passage of the socallcd dc-
pendent pension legislation Of 1890. On June
80 1891. there were on the rolls of the Pension
Bureau only G76.1G0 names, and the sum spent
that year for pensions was S1lS,JiS.9I". Two
years later. on June 30. 1893 the number oil
pensioners had risen TO Di0l2 and the amount
dsburscd through the pension agencies had
been swollen TO 81. 1.lJj.1fO.46I. Since lS!c' the
names added to and stricken from the rolls
have just abou, balanced each other in number,
while the annual amount cXpendcl has fallen
materially. the total for 1896 showing de-
crease of $1S525. .1O6 from tha. of 1S9;.
Something OF the working Of the checks and
balances which have kept The pension list from
mounting pcrccptiby in the last four years is
disclosed in the last report of the commissioner
of Pensions During the year ending June
80 1896, the report explains. 4i.2iI new names
were added TO the rolls. But on The other hand
payment on 44O93 claims ceased. in no less
than 20 393 cases because of death. The net
gain in the number of pensioners was there
fore only 1I. During the same twelve months
the aggregate of claims still pending was re-
duced by j6.5i6. yet on June 30 1896. there re-
manned 1864 cases TO he adjusted.
With this vast accumulation of unsettled
claims 10 draw on. II is indeed possible that
the names on the pension rolls may ovcrrun the
million mark before the end Of the century. and
thus force expenditures to an even higher notch
than in 1899. But with no further legislation
in Congress and n conservative management
of the Pension Bureau, il seems entirely prOla
bile that pension disbursements can he kept for
some time longer within the moderate average
struck in the Bureaus operations Of ,hc last
three years"