The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-09-10
c. 4. R. CONVENTION.
Pension Committees Report-An Attack
 Upon Commissioner Evans.

Cincinnati, Sept. 9.-The work of the thirty-second annual encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic was concluded this afternoon. The antici- pated discussion of the resolutions from the pension committee did not oc- cur. The pension report went through without objection, although it was modified later to take away an impress sion that might have arisen that Presi- dent Mckinley was under censure.
 The report of the committee on pen sions recommended the adoption of substantially the following:
 Resolved, That 1t is the judgment of this encampment that the pension laws should be. administered in the spirit of justice and fairness in which they were enacted.
 honest applicant for q pension from sue ceedlng by any subterfuge rule or forced construction of the laws which will work injustice to the applicant is to be condemned by all honorable men.
 Resolved, That the repeated complaints of the unfair construction of the pension laws and of the enforcement of rules which are in violation of the law and inmical to
 
 campment to call upon Comrade William Mckinley, president of the United States, to exercise his authority and see that the law is executed in spirit of justice and liberality.
 Resolved, That all rites which hinder and embarrass the allowances of honest pen sion claims should be repealed and we ask the president that he use his authority to cause those whose duty it Is to perform this service. to make a complete examination. Two years ago the. country was stirred to It's depths by complaints of the injustice. of the then administration of the pension bureau. Beyond doubt the political cam paign of 1896 was largely influenced by the hope of amelioratlng the harsh conditions then existing in the pension bureau. We submit that this expected amelioration has not taken place, that in no substantial h. stance has one of those harsh rules been ab- rogated, but every one Of them remains III full force. The veterans had the right to expect very different treatment from the present commissioner of pensions than they received from his predecessor. Ever. day brings the veterans nearer the grave In in creasing ratio yet the number of weekly al- lowances steadily diminishes while the pen sion commissioner states that he has 62o, 900 claims pending in his bureau of which ne says 15,000 so far have received nothing at all. Elsewhere he states that about 100000 survivors received no pensions and yet re gently the commissioner made q reduction in his force on the ground that they were not needed.
 Resolved. That the rule of the pension of- flee by which a widow is debarred from q pension is unjust and we ask the president that the order be abrogated and the mini mum debarrlng from pensions be fixed at not less than $500 per annum.
 Resolved, That we ask for the re-estab- fishing of order 164, which was enforced under the Harrison regime. This order took cognizance in rating mans pension of all the disabilities he suffered under. It was abrogated by the last administration and it was that to be entitled to the lowest rate of SC per month, comrade must have some one disability, which is rated at that amount If he has three disabilities rated at $4 each, he gets no pension at all. This iniquitous rule Is maintained up to this hour and we submit that it is not such treatment as we had a right to expect from Williams
 Resolved, That the phrase Inability to perform manual labor Is to be construed to mean inability to perform unprofessional, uns- ed labor, labor requiring muscular effort alone,
 Your committee further states that it is wise to receive even the official statement of the commissioner of pen sions with several grains of allow ance. He states in one place that there are 75,000 comrades who never received a pension. Tn another place he fixes the figures at 100000 From time to time he issues glowing statements as to the great work which he is doing for the comrades in comparison to what was formerly done, but most of his comparisons are with the adminis- trations of Presidents Grant and Hayes, prior to the act of 1890 granting pensions after ninety days service for disability honorably incurred even after the war. He compares with the pe- riod when the sum total of claims was only 300000 when, owing to the small force in the adjutant generals office it took two years to get report on the claimants record, where now it takes only five days He compares work with the work done when the clerks in the pension office numbered only 300, while he now has 1,6O0 He discreetly re- frains from giving prominence to the number of his rejectons. Our com rades living and the widows of com rades dead cry aloud for justice. We voice their cry and bring it to the ear of that comrade in chief authority over all the land confident that he will do justice.
 The report was adopted. Some time after fear seemed to have come into the minds of some comrades that some blame had been attributed to President Mckinley, and Judge Torrance of Min nesota moved to expunge from the re- port the sentence: 'The iniquitous rule is maintained up to this hour and we submit it is not such treatment as we had right to expect from Comrade Mckinley" Corporal Tanner stated that in preparing the report it had been far from his purpose to cast any impu- tation upon the president and he asked unanimous consent to add to the sentence which it was sought to have expunged:
 And we are confident that when he is once relieved from the mighty mat ters of national and worldwide impor- tance which now command his atten- ton he will see that justice is done" The encampment unanimously gave permission to make the addition to the report and the motion to expunge was withdrawn.
 A resolution declaring it to be trea- son for any member of the Grand Army to refuse to do all in his power to give employment to a fellow soldier was discussed but was voted down. The proposition to make eligible to member ship in the Grand Army soldiers who have served in the war with Spain was tabled.