Evening star., 1898-05-16
PENSION VOUCHERS.
Investigation oftheWholesale Meth
DDS of Notages, ,,nd Justices.
USE OF STOCK WITNESSES
No Investigation Made in Hundreds
of Cases.
L H E EXTREME LIMIT

| Recently the commissioner of pensions in
sttuted an investigation relative to the
| methods employed by notaries public, JUS
| tees of the peace and other officers who
execute vouchers for pensions, and most
| serious and deplorable state of affairs was
shown to exist.
Inc offlcers who are responsible for jurats
| on these papers. it is claimed, seem to have
| very little, if any regard Tor rules and
| regulations, or for laws governing the ex-
| ecut1on Of official papers, In fact develop
| ments indicated that instead Of recognizing
| that an oath to paper was solemn mat
ter, many or them in their haste to exc
cute number of vouchers upon pension
| day, seemed to only recognize that it was
necessary to place their name, seal and
ofilclal character upon the papers, together
with the signature of the pensioner and
witnesses, without any regard to the con-
tents OF the paper and their purport or the
facts to which the affiants were supposed
, TO take oath. Pension day to these officers
II IS SAID, was merely a great scramble for
the few cents that each jurat returned to
them, ana the main object in their minds
seemed to be the number Of vouchers exc
cuted, with their financial remuneratio
These Investigations have been conducted
under the direct supervision of Examiner
j. OC Roberts of the law division. In the
principal large cities of the country the
same state of facts exists and the same
methods seem to b. used in every place
The law authorizes the execution of
pension voucher before any officer au-
thorlZed to administer oathS for general
purposes. There Is a law that prevents
the execution of Il pension voucher before
the quarter pension day, and the post
dating and forwarding of pension
voucher is a criminal offense punishable
by fine and imprisonment. This invcstiga-
ton, it is asserted. has established the fact
that many of these officers performed their
duties III a most careless and oerfunctory
manner, and in some cases deliberately
Violated the law by post-dating and by
falsely certifying that the pensioners and
witnesses duly qualified to the paper when
in fact no person was sworn by them.
Stock Witnesses.
In many cases it is claimed that stock
witnesses were used to certify and SWEEP
to the fact of the non-remarriage of
widow pensioner, and to the fact of minor
children being alive upon the date of the
execution of the voucher.
In one particular case two witnesses, a
boy of eighteen years of age and a young
lady about tWenty-one years of age, Swore
to the fact of the non rsmarriage of about
136 widows and to minor children being
alive IN d number Of cases. while as a mat
ter of fact it was'shown that these two
quarter, in many Gases. bad never seen the
minor children in, their. lives, and really
had no knowledge whatever of the facts.
In another case two women who were
used as stock witnesses were put in the
attitude of testifyiag that about 100 widow
pensioners have not remarked, and that
the children for whom Increase was allowed
We're alive and in the penslonerS custody.
These women knew but few, if any. of the
widows we'll enough to Be in position to
testify to their condition.
pensioners and sent to 1.-THE officers to be
completed. and were executed without the
exhibition of pension certificates, and were
wholly fabricated. r'~
AT one agency alone 1t was reported that
over 14oDo irregulary executed vouchers
We're received. In one locality where
stock witnesses We're used it was shown
that one of the witnesses was drunk at )
o clock in the morning, could recollect moth
ing subsequent to that time, and yet upon
vouchers executed in that particular Office
his ilame appeared as Il subscribing witness
to the non-remarriage of widow pensioners,
to the dependence of dependent pensioners,
and to the fact that minor children We're
alive upon the date of the execution of the
papers.
The Limit.
So great has become the scramble for the
honor of executing pension vouchers for
the sake of the insignificant fee chere-o at
tached that even in the District of Column
bia upon pension day this
sign: Pension vouchers executed and IL
glass of beer for fifteen cents" which
while ii may De the extreme of the limit
to the methods used, vet shows what a
careless and lax method some of the Off
GERS have. and what little idea they pos
sess of the solemnity of an oath, md wha
utter disregard they also have of the necc5-
sity of having papers upon which millions
of dcila $ are paid executed regularly and
in conformity with law.
The pension bureau proposes to investi-
gate this matter further and rectlfy as far
as is possible all of the irregularities.