Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-27
Effort to Determine the Present
Number Of Veterans.
STATISTICS OF TEE WAR EXAMINED
The Grand Army Of Those Who
Draw Pensions.
THE QUESTION OF FRAUD

To the Editor Of The Evening Star:
A few weeks ago a New York news
paper startled the country with the an
nouncement that on June 80, 1897. there
were on the roll Of invalid pensioners
several thousand more names than there
were survivors of the recent war. and that
nearly 100000 other persons, claiming to
be veterans, were seeking Judgment
upon said rcll. The announcement was
startling and dangerous, for 1t appeared to
have as solid basis the official census
table Of the number Of survivors as found
in June, 1890. If that table be approx
mately correct, the announcement of the
paper in point is substantially true, and
the pension rolls are disgraced by having
on them the names OF several hundred
thousands Of criminal impersenators of
soldiers, or several hundred thousands of
criminals are knocking at the door of the
pension bureau fraudulently claiming pen
sions for military services never rendered
by them. To ascertain the truth of the
matter is subject of national importance.
And now steps forward Robert p. Porter,
man of honorable fame, who, as the
superintendent of the eleventh census,
initiated and carried forward the sur
vivors' tables, and vouches for the sub
Stantial accuracy Of those tables.
Several years ago friend of mine was
clerk in the veterans division CT the
census bureau, the division having charge
of those tables. Myself a veteran, 1 was
much interested in his work, and often
talked with him concerning it. One even
ing he surprised me with the statement
that said division was broken up, and the
whole business abandoned and shelved,
leaving everything in confusion and no ap-
probable results secured. 1 recalled this
when, in 1894. the commissioner of pen
sions detailed me to give a senator an
estimate q In
volved in a pension bill he had recently
Introduced in the Senate. The primary
difficulty was to ascertain the probable
number of survivors. Without approximate
ing to their number. could take not even
the first step. l called at the census bu-
reau, then in charge Of Carroll D. Wright,
but could get no satisfactory answers to
my questions. studied silence prevail
ed; but a high official mot Superintendent
WrighD said that that survivors business
was the least satisfactory of all the CEN
sus work, and had not been pushed to
completion.
But February q, 1896, light dawned. for.
OH that date the Secretary Of the Interior
responded to resolution of the Senate of
FEBRUARY l. 1896. for information as to the
progress made concerning the statistics re-
latlng to the survivors Of the late war.
(See Senate document No. 1876 Fifty-fourth
Congress' first SESSION. 1t seems that
April Il, 1894, the act authorizing the Sc
curing and tabulation of such statistics
was repealed, and Mr.. Wright was ordered
to transfer all his materials appertaining
TO such work to the commissioner of pen
s1onS. That was done, and that was the
end Of the census of the survivors
Allow me to now make several quotations
from Mr. Wright, which can be found in
the document above designated: LAS a re-
suit OF TINS special enumeration there were
found to be living at the time the census
was taken June, 1900 LOS. G(S soldiers
sailors and marines. This statement is
t naseu upon a preliminary count made from
WITT
tlon as TO applications, wrong entries etc.
and Is subject to revision" AFTER this in
formation, which from the nature of the
inquiry was necessarily more or less in
ct mplete, had been collected and some
work done toward its verificatfon and
completion, 1t was temporarily set aside
a ano +s Saosequen1ly by an act of Congress
az une schedules and papers relating to
Wis special inquiry We're turned over to
the commissioner of pensions
Duplications.
AS result of this statistical inquiry. 1t
was found that on June 1, 1890. there were
l,o54,073 surviving United States soldiers.
sailors and marines" (The work of revi.
sion had reduced the LOIS, 1868 survivors to
L0S4OIo, mainly because names had been
SSou.eu several lines where soldiers had
belonged to several different o1ganiza tons !
In another place he states: ar the worir
VI examining and correcting the veterans
schedules had been carried to its connie
, .,oi, iHe ! would nave been obtained, in all
PROBABILITY, upward of 100000 additional
II cords Of service ''>N-'-o''''
recently ! called upon Mr.. Wright in ref.
s ete 70 thls matter and this is, in sub
stance, MS guarded summing IN. ..rrhe sur
vlvors tables of the eleventh census ca
v as they go, are approximately correct.
iou can work on the basis that in 1SaO
to- were at least 1,034013 survivors,
Ina. mat work having been Abandoned before
the tabulation was completed there nust
De very considerable number of veterans
uhaccounted for in those tables How
at and d dhos not prepared to say or to guess
az ana nose tables give me no basis for
any satisfactory estimate thereof" In a
communication addr essed to, the Senate in
lsSV, and virtually repeated in 1896. Col F.
division of the War Department Stated.
II requires but a brief examination of the
census fgures to show that they fall far
snort or representing the total number of
S SaTsdVors o IN is' and that they cannot be
reneo upon as basis of any calculation
Tor the future" And yet the Hous. COM
mittee on invalid pensions introduced a
service pension BILL accompanied by a re-
PET, using the census figufes;t9 show that
the NUMBER OF survivors was sd small that
said measure would not add largely to our
annual expenditure for pensions
1t is safe to assume that the census Of
1880 does not embrace the army records Of
the deserters of the war Two hundred and
fourteen thousand assertions Cnot DESERT
ers, for some may have deserted more than
ohceC were repe rteo Many assertions were
charges for such have been removed. SO
that It has been calculated that there were
only IBIS real desertsrs during the war,
berg only per cent OF the. actual number
OF men who enlisted. Until recently. de-
sertions prior or subsequent to the late
war barred the soldiers thereof from pen
sions: But now 1t is justly ruled that
faithful service In that war cannot be set
aside because of prior or subsequent faith
lessness. and the roll of genuine rebellion
desertsrs grows less and less. OF the about
1bO. 600 veterans living in June. 1880. open
to the charge OF desertion, surely at least
100000 of them withheld from the census
enumerators the fact of their military or
naval service.
Over q Million.
What is the number Of. survivors? My
answer is That. June 80, 1897, there were
1.1104S3 survivors. and s72,lO4 living de-
serters. q total Of / ,1S2 .5sl This is the re-