The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-01-01

scure disease of the nerve centers, as
the brain and spinal cord, where the
evidence was exclusively subjective,
there having been no objective signs
whatever to be discovered. SO, too:
many men have received pensions for
degrees of impaired hearing and vision,
which never existed to the extent
claimed, if at all.
Cases have not been infrequent where
soldiers have apparently been deaf as
posts while undergoing examinations by
the pension surgeons, yet have been
found able to hear ordinary conVersa-
ton in the midst Of their daily voca-
lions,
Regarding these cases, I think all
would agree that they should be
stricken from the pension roll. If SOL
der is totally deaf, the fact can gener-
ally be substantiated by inquiry or
watchfulness IL in no other way; and
total blindness can be determined in
the same way; but degrees of both In
| firmities, short of totality, are not so
easily proved, and are more easily
| feigned. ..,,
For example, if a soldier claims that
his sense of hearing is impaired one
| half, how is he to be disputed? Exam
| ination of the ears, nose and throat
| may not disclose any appreciable lesion
| to cause deafness, and yet the pension
er may be honestly deaf; while in ex-
aminations of other ears, where little
deafness is claimed, there may be found
| abundant reasons why the parties in
terested ought to be seriously deaf, and
! yet are not
Appearances being thus deceitful, and
contradictory, what is there to fall back
upon but the soldiers word? Just how
much value the government ought to-,
and can, place upon the word Of the
average soldier, in cases like these,
when he expects to receive from S. to
$25 per month, is something Of prob
| lem s
| What is true of partial loss of hearing
| is true concerning partial loss of vision;
for If a soldier claims that he can see
only so many feet Distant; can read
| type of a given size and no larger; is
moon-blind by night and dazzled by the
light of day beyond endurance, how is
one going to verify the claim beyond all
| doubt and suspicion? AS all appear
/ dHCtS VI Tic lultlIldl cars III CdSCS VI
partial deafness are often found very
| deceitful, so are they of the eyes in par
! tial loss Of vision.
| Next, let us consider the disability
| known as piles.
| Victims of this disability among the
veterans of the war are legion, and as
the pension rating is all the way from
81 to $12 and upward month, the total
amount paid is very great Regarding
this disability, l would PROFOUND one
question, namely: Ought the govern
ment to pension thousands, and tens of
| thousands, of these cases, year after
year, which could be cured In a month ?
The different examining surgeons upon
the board of which l had the honor to
belong repeatedly suggested to soldiers
claiming pension for piles that they
could go to any surgeon and be cured
| by an operation, and that very soon;
| when the claimants would ask IL their
pensions already granted would be con-
tinued in the event Of cure. 1t was very
evident that the soldiers desired the
continuance of the disease in order to
reap the profits So long as the piles
| would yield an annual revenue of from
| $50 to $50 a year they regarded them
| in the light of an investment; there
| FORE why should they desire them cut
| off, and their pension likewise? 1t APP
| pears to me that the refusal of soldier
to permit cure of any disability for
which he is pensioned practically
amounts to deliberate swindle. Every
surgeon of experience and average sur
gical ability would say that the vast
majority Of soldiers pensioned for piles
could be cured in four weeks. This be-
ing true. the government ought to
| strike off all such cases from the pen
sion rolls, after a reasonable notice
and save great many millions annual
ly.
1t would be immensely cheaper for
the government to give notice that il
would pay all. expenses of cure. after
which 1t would cut off the pension, than
to go on indefinitely paying it. Com
pute the difference between pension
| outlay and expense of cure, and note
the saving. Suppose civilian surgeons
were employed at an expense of 500 In
each case; as the pensioner is paid any
where from $50 to $3.50 a year for ten
twenty, thirty years, as the case may
be, it can be readily seen how large q
reduction in pension expenditure could
be made on account of this single disa
bility.
Take the disability known as hernia
popularity called rupture. / think I an
4 perfectly safe in saying that fully q
per cent of all the male population
having arrived at the age which all the
soldiers of the late war have, suffer
from. hernia, whether they have or have
not seen war service.
AS matter of fact also, the majority
of citizens who have hernias appear t.
be but little disabled as compared will
the degree Of disability claimed by thu
pensioners. AS hernias increase in fire
, quency with advancing years, in th'
natural order of things am firmly con
WINGED that not one-half of the cases o
, hernia now pensoned ever originated
during the war or were induced by mil
. itary service. I therefore believe tina
the government is paying out double
. 1t pretends to pension only those actual
ly disabled in or by the war. The de
! mands of the veterans for pensions ar
ever on the increase; the pension rol
) grows larger and larger, and now tn
! strife is to have every soldier pensionet
: in one grand roundup by servic
, pension bill, regardless Of any disabil
| ity.
This scheme is unjust and extortion