The National tribune., 1898-04-14
PENSION POINTERS.
Inquiries Answered and Sug
gestions Made.

Ian communications for this column shou
be accompanied by the true name ana CORE
address of the jnQuircr- The reply. boweve
will be marked as may he desired. Noattentio
Will be gwen To anony mous Inquiries III no d
ply is printed within three weeks. write again
II. A. b., Rushmore, Minn.-H til
soldiers dcath-cauSe can be shown 10 /
Que 10 the service and ne of DUTY, and III
widow was married To him before March l.
1855 the widow would lie entitled to per
sion under the general law at the rate {
ST. per month. it'll 81 additional per mont
for each child unfer is. At the death {
renlarriage of the widow the children the
un 5er is would lie entitled to receive Tia
same pension that the widow would haV
been entitled TO receive, continuing unit
they become f6.
l.. l. L.. Whitman, Mass.-A circula
showing who are entitled TO bounty fo
military service in the late war OF tn
rebellion NAV e obtained, free of charge, OF
application to the Auditor for the Ma
Department. Treasury Department. Their
is no official publication giving the
g Bounty laws in cod fled form The
National Tribune Soldiers Handbook,
obtainable as premium, gives complete
synopsis of all bounty laws, rulings, an1
decisions.
G. C.-See reply to III. A. B., above. II
the absence of an official record in the Wal
Department of the incurrence or existence
in the service of the disability from which
the soldiers death resulted, the evidence
OF officers and comrades must be furnished
showing origin in the service. The dis
ability must be ira ced from discharge, and
death therefrom shown by satisfactory
testimony; that is testimony satisfactory
10 the Pension Bureau. 1t is not required
that pension claimants shall be repre-
senled by attorney, and on request, the
Commissioner of Pensions will furnish an
application blank free of charge. Other
necessary blank forms for aifidavits, etc,
must be furnished by the applicant. The
great ma ority of claimants ind III advan-
tageous to employ competent attorney,
whose fee is by law dependent upon the
success of the case and who furn shes all
necessary blanks and forms. Observation
shows that most claimants who undertake
10 prosecute their own claims find ii adviS-
a bic to employ an attorney before they get
through. A competent attorney Is prac-
tically Indispensable; an incompetent at
torney, having no special experience and
little OF no knowledge of pension law and
pension practice, is OF little or no use.
l.. C. C.. Perdon, Neb.-Invalid pension
under the general law on account OF a dis
ability formally alleged and claimed on
before July 1, 1880, would commence from
the date of the soldiers discharge from the
service.
HI. H.. Joplin. Mott is perfectly legal
for a widow to claim and draw pension
while at the same time her child by
former marriage is drawing pension on
account of its father who was d soldier.
A. b.. Bennington, O.-The arrears act
of March 3, 1879, provides: Sec. 2. All
pensions which have been, or which may
hereafter be, granted in consequence OF
death occurring from a cause which orlgI-
Nor or
in consequence OF wounds or injuries re-
ceived or disease contracted since that
date shall commence from the death or
discharge of the person on whose account
the claim has been or is hereafter granted,
If the disability i. e., diSahlementI oc-
CURED after the discharge, then from the
date of actual disability idisablement. or
from the termination of the right of party
having prior title to such pension: Pro-
vided, The application for such pension
has been, or is hereafter, filed with the
Commissioner OF Pensions prior TO jelly /,
1880, otherwise the pension shall COM
mence from the date Of filing the applica-
ton. >" The opinion OF physicians
having no personal knowledge of dis
ability until years after the war, that such
disability had its origin in the service,
would be of no practical benefit.
B. b., Salem, Ind.-Soldiers of the Regu-
lar Army are entitled to invalid pension for
line of dut.. whether during the war OF the
rebellion or since.
d. r. D.-A soldier travelling under or
ders would be entitled to trans Dortation
and subsistence or Communication therefor.
Such claims are considered by the Aud
itOr for the War Department, Treasury De-
partment."
l.. E. T., Franklin, Pa A three-yea
vounteer discharged before two years
service for reasons other than the close OF
the war or wound or injury incurred in the
service and line of duty, was not entitled
TO any of the 500 original bounty, or II his
enlistment was after the large bountIeS
were offered, he was not entitled To any
more than the accrued installmentS.
T. NJ. p, Upper Tygart, hy.-An appeal
TO the Secretary of the Interior from the
rejection Of a pension claim by the PEN
sion Bureau may be in the form OF letter.
properly descr b ng the claim, and, es-
pecialIy. giving its number, and stating on
what grounds the appeal is based.
l.. B.. HibeTnia, y. IA person is not
debaned from receiving pension while in
the civil service OF the Government. A
person employed in a mill or shop of the
War Department or the Navy Department
is not debarred from pension while so en-
ploycd, unless he is enlisted as soldier or
sailor.
j. NJ F.. Gordon, O.-Paragraph 372 of
instructions 10 postmasters issued by the
Post Office Department, requires that let
tiers addressed To a penSioner, from the
Office of any United States Pension Agent
must be delivered only TO the pensioner, or
Ia member of his family specially author
lied by him To receive them, and that
they must not be delivered To any person
in whose care they may be addressed"
j. H., kratZerYIl!e, Pa.-lnaSmuch az
the present Administration continues to
maintain the practice and rulings Of the
last Administration with reference to rat
ings Of invalid pension under the act Of
June q, 1890, il Is impossible, in many
instances To- obtain the restoration OF a
rate OF pension cut down when the re
vision" Of the pension roll was made.
". r., Eureka Springs. Ark.-No land
warrants are issued for military service
rendered since March 3, 1865. The only
way for a soldier % the late war TO obtain
any OF the public lands is by the taking up
Of homestead, for full information as To
which address the Commissioner OF the
General Land Office Washington, ID. c."
NJ. V. D.-The present Commissioner OF
Pensions does not permit the reports of
examining surgeons 30 be examined during
the tendency Of the claim or after more
than three months have expired from the
allowance or rejection Of the claim. Or
dinarly a claim should be heard from
within six months after medical examina-
ton, but il may be longer time or a
shorter time. There does not appear 10 be
any marked difference between the
"promptness" of the Pension Bureau under
the present Commissioner and that OBJ
served under Commissioners Lochren and
Murphy.
j. NJ. b., Kempton, Ind.-The Commits
sioneY of Pensions IL caIiino on ;n-.l;1