Evening star., 1898-12-13
Commissioner Evans Estimates That
$l5o,000,0OO Will Be Needed.
REVISION OF THE LAWS NECESSARY
Commission to Make the Changes
Suggested.
MANY JUST CLAIMS WAITING

| The United States expended last year
| S144, ,O00,0GO in round numbers for pensions
alone The commissioner of pensions esti-
mates that it will take s150,OoO, 600 to pay
| the pension claims during the next year.
| Every year since Garfield was men,
ber of Congress the hgh-water mark of
| the pension expenditures has been predict.
! ed But year after year. with startling
regularity, the list has gone on increasing,
| until today, thirty-five years after the close
of hostilities the pension payments aggre-
| gate the enormous sum of Sl44,000, 600 an
| nually This Is for pensions alone. To this
sum must be added the expenses of the de-
| partment, aggregatng in round numbers
$5,00O.OOO.
| The old soldier plays such an important
! part in the politics of this nation that Con-
gieSs is loath to take any action which
| could possibly be construed as detrimental
! TO ms interests, and SO year after year
| more pensioners are added to the rolls,
and more money Is appropriated out of the
| treasury. That there are unworthy claim
\ ants, unlawful payments and extensive
| frauds in the pension business no one
| doubts. But how to separate the good
| from the bad, and how to All Just the pen
| sion system so that only the worthy SOL
| diers VINO fought TO save the republic are
| generously pensloned Is the desiueratum Of
| every patriotic man.
Revision Of the Laws Needed.
Every o. who has taken the trouble to
| investigate the pension system realizes
| that the only way to adjust the pension
! business is to amend the laws, and es-
| pecially the act of June u, 1890. 1t is
| pointed out with great deal of argumen-
] ,ative force that Congress should imme-
| uiately amend the laws governing pensions.
| hey stand in mead of orderly, systematic
| levlSlon, and without this the pension bu-
| reau is absolutely poweriess to meet the
| abuses which exist. The trouble is in the
| .aW. This is better illustrated by the eff
iorts of President Cleveland to cut down
| The pension roll during his last administra-
| tlon. Every method of evaS4on delay and
hostile int erpretaton of the law was re-
| sorted to TO cut down the pensions. Il was
| boldly stated by the commissioner of pen
| sions at that time that he was going to
| purge the roll of frauds. Yet with all of
| his force, with all OF his adverse rulings,
| he scarcely made any appreciahle inroads
on it, and with tn allowances that could
| not be refused the list of pensioners grew
| even under the pruning knife. All of the
| unsuccessful applicants under that admin
iaifation row clamorlnS for a review
Of their cases and with a fraer intarpreta-
| ton of The law most Of them must be sue
IceSsful.
\ Proposed Commission.
1t is a difficult matter to get Congress to
parties watching each other like hawks,
| and if either one takes the initiative and
| champions a bill which can be construed
| by any force of reasoning as unfavorable
| legislation 10 the Old soldier the next cam
paign will ring with its denunCiaton. There
Is a way, however, by which all of this
Icould be obviated and the pension laws
| amended that the old soldier who fought
with honor would welcome the change.
Create a pension commission, whose duty
it shall be to examine the pension laws.
their direct and indirect workings and
suits, and report at the next session of
Congress its conclusions, together with
such recommendations for reVisions and
amendments as seem necessary.
| This commission could be non-partisan
and might be composed of old soldiers for
| that matter. The people of the United
| States are getting restive. The pension roll
| has been degraded and millions of dollars
| are being paid annually to men and women
| who have no earthly claim upon the coun-
| try. This agitation Of the pension question
| is growing. Every now and then it breaks
| out in q fresh spot and the press of the
| country takes il up, and for time the peO-
| pie are Surfeited with ways and means to
| corre> pension abuses. From careful in
| VeStiEatlon of the pension laws 1t becomes
| apparent that it is more the Interpretation
| than the actual meaning of them which
| has caused most of the trouble.
| Proposed Changes.
| , The act of 1890, it is urged, should be
| amended so as to provide pensions only for
honorably discharged soldiers who are ser-
| ously and permanently disabled for active
/ manual labor and who are without other
| means of support than their own daily la
| Dor. The of July II. 1867, and subse-
quent enactments upon its lines 1t is urged.
| should be amended to grant pensions
| only TO officers and soldiers who are dtsa-
| hicd by wounds and disease contracted in
| the service and who are without other
| means of support than their own daily la
! Dor. And this same provision should be
| made III the case of widows of officers or
| soldiers who have died from effects of
wounds disease contracted in the mill
| tary service. In short, the laws should he
! so changed to authorize the payment of
| pensions only to those who need them.
Whatever amendments made to exist
| ing law should cover the cases of all pen
| sioners already enrolled, that after
| examination by the pension office each PEN
| siOner not entitled under the law amend
| ed could be dropped.
| prominent pension attorney recently
| stated that from an experience of twenty
years in the pension business fully one
! fourth of those enrolled could be dropped
| If pensions We're made payable by law only
| to those who, being otherwise entitled by
| reason of military service. disability, etc.
are without the means of obtaining com
| Portable support independent of their own
daily labor. This same attorney argued
| that there are many thousands of pension
| ers who sufficient property to make
| them Independent and many who are actu-
| ally wealthy. and that these men and
| women should be by law excluded from
| the benefits of the pension system.
| The Dependent Pension BILL.
| The original dependent pension bill,
| which was vetoed by President Cleveland,
| but afterward passed in June, 1890, allowed
| pensions only to those soldiers who, being
| dependent upon their own daily labor for
| support. were incapacitated from such la
| Dor by mental or physical disabilities etc
| This dependent clause was stricken out be-
| fore the bill passed relating to soldiers
| but left In to widows. The reason is
| obvious. The shrewd political hand of the
| machine man was at work, and right well
| did it act. This law, and the law of 1862