The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-27
PENSIONS FOR WIDOWS
WHERE THE line HAS BEEN DRAWN
AGAINST SUCH APPLICANTS.
Adverse Reports by the House Com
Claims, with the Reasons Therefor.
Washington correspondence New York

Claims, with the reasons Therefor.
Washington Correspondence New York
Post.
Much is said by critics of our haphaZard
| legislative methods about the readiness Of
| Congress to vote away public money for
the relief of almost anybody who applies
for it under guise of tracing the cause OF his
misfortune directly or indirectly to the civil
war. A glance over the records Of the
House committee invalid pensions, how
ever. shows that that committee Goes draw
| the line somewhere In the present session
the committee has made a number of ad-
verse reports and stated at some length its
reasons in each case. The scope the reports
| take shows the variety of grounds on which
this class of private claims to public money
are based.
| Alice De K. Shattuck, widow of an army
| hospital steward, was already drawing
pension of $12 month and asked for its
| increase to $40. 1t appears that the soldier
never asked for a pension for himself. The
| claimant was his second wife, and was not
married to him till 1875, ten years after the
close of the war and less than two years
before his death She obtained employment
| for time in one of the government de-
partments, but was obliged to resign this
| place on account of i'll health, and is now
| poor and invalid, dependent on relatives
| for support. Her case is in every respect
| deserving of pity. out the committee cannot
see that it is one calling for government
aid. No general law has provided for in
crease of pension in such cases. Congress
has declared it's policy by limiting the
| amount to $12 per month.
| In tens of thousands of the increase
| of years and consequent inability to earn a
! livelihood accompanied by serious illness,
| has reduced soldiers widows to dependence
| on charity, relieved only by the pension of
! $l2 per month. This is true of thousands
| who shared the suiteringS and sacrifices or
! their husbands during the war; STILL even
| in their case no change of policy has been
| made. This claimant did not endure the
| anxieties and suf1erings of war widow"
! Her case, the committee says, appeals
! strongly to our sympathies but we find
nothing to justify us in making. it an excep-
| ton to the rule established by the law
making power. The theory of our pension
! law is not to support the soldier or his
widow, but to afford partial relief and pre-
| vent extreme SUFFERING.
A COLONELS WIDOW.
| Another widow, Hester A. Robinson, APP
plies for an increase from $50 a month, the
rate accorded her because of her husbands
rank as colonel, to $75 The amount she
| is now drawing is the maximum to which
report says that, although she is sixty
years of age, she produces no evidence that
she is in need 'or that her pension Of $50
month does not afford her a support suit
| able to her station in life'-a strange state
ment in view of the principle enunciated in
| Mrs. Shattuck's case that the theory of our
pension law is mot to support the soldier
! or his widow Still as the committee
| turns the claim down there is no call to
| quarrel with this trifiing inconsistency.
a third widow denied is Maria N. Flint,
! whose husband was West Point graduate
and u colonel in the regular army. Mrs.
| Flints case seems to have been taken up
| by more than one member of Congress. as
| three House bills asking relief for her have
| been referred to the committee One OF
! dating back to the date of her husband
| death in 1884, is made the basis for report
on all. The claimant has already made an
| application through the Pension Office in the
regular way, which had been refused be-
cause there was nothing to show that Col.
| Flints death was due to any wound or
| disease contracted as the result of his mill
| tary service. In the Fifty-fourth Congress,
! however, a bill similar to the present one
had been introduced and received q favor
! able report on the rare technical ground
| that, although at the time of the death OF
Colonel Flint he was retired officer, he
| was still practically in the service Of the
| United States, and the disease of which he
! died must have been contracted while in
that service, whether on the active or re-
| tired list is not very material.
| The committee does not recognize the
force of this deduction. Colonel t'lints
| services it admits "were faithful and hon.
| CRADLE but not especially meritoriouS or
| distinguished. Educated at the public ex-
pense he entered the service and did his
duty. AT his own request he was placed on
the retired list and drew the pay of a re-
| tired colonel until his death at the age of
| seventy or upward-an age but few reach.
| He had accumulated and left a competence
to his family That 1t was invested largely
in unproductive real estate is not the fault
of the government or OF the people OF me
| United States. 1t can, the most of 1T, be
| converted into money and such proceeds
prudently and wisely invested will produce
an adequate income. THAT portion was
unwisely invested and lost in a speculative
scheme'-a reference to the fact that $1,000
Of the twenty odd thousand left by the
decedent had been sunk in the Molly Glib
son mine-''is not ground for any claim
against the government and ought not TO
be upheld as ground for special pension
invite and encourage the widest and most
improvident speculation on the part OF the
widows of deceased army officers
The government has incurred no such OBJ
legations expressed or implied, legal or
moral. The Congress of the United States
has adopted no such policies.
'RELIEF'' DECLINED.
A fourth widow who has been refused re-
lief is Corneia L. Brownell, the widow of
Francis e. Brownell, whom older readers
will remember as the zouave who accom-
panied Colonel Ellsworth on his fatal err
rand in Alexandria, and avenged him. AT
the time of his death he was first lieu
tenant, retired, and in the civil service of
the government on a salary. The claimant
was not married to him until after the war,
but is now drawing the maximum pension
of the widow of an officer Of his rank, ST
month which she wishes to have increased
to $50. The committee declined to approve
her claim There was no issue of the mar
rage" it says, and the widow is not in
INDECENT even necesSitouS circumstances,
and is evidently robust and in good health.
She lives well at a prominent hotel in one
OF our great cities. There is nothing
special or peculiar in this case. 1t is
fully covered BY the general law.
Every departure from the statute except
for very special and satisfactory reasons,
is not only an unjust discrimination against
the widows of private soldiers, but an invi-
tation to flood Congress with special bills
saving nothing of the feeling of discomfort
Justly and necessarily bred and fomented by
such action.
The last of the widows who will be con-
sidered at the present writing is Celia A.
LETTERS She is drawing $12 a month as the
widow of q first sergeant in a Michigan
volunteer regiment, who had never filed
claim for pension, although his death was
due to a disease of the lungs contracted in
the service. The claimant was not mar
ried to the soldier until nine years after
the war had closed. They had one child,
Charles who while in his seventeenth
wear and twenty-six years after the
closed fell from wagon, and was kicked
&C 49,