The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1898-09-15

"A series OF searching questions was
carefully prepared and submitted 10 the
Commissioner of Pensions. And these
questions were promptly, cheerfully and
carefully answered after an exhaustive
search of the records of the Pension
Bureau. Inquiries were instituted in
different States and Departments. Promi
number of pensioners among the members
OF different Posts of the GAR was
found, their standing. the merits of their
claims considered, etc.
"ln one State very prominent ex-
soldier, scholar and teacher of deserved
and envlabie reputation. made a careful
study of this claim of Fraud in Pen
siOns." as far as the ex soldiers in his
State was concerned. He had every
facility afforded him and through the
various State, County and Town Organi
cations he gathered his data conscien
tiously and exhaustively, and to your
Committee he reported the result of his
patriotic and lahorious investigation.
And it waSE Not one soldier pension
fraud in the whole State Your Com
mittee have neither time nor space
allowed them in this brief report 81 give
all the evidence considered by them, but
they give with pride and satisfaction
their unanimous verdict that the Pension
Roll of the United States is Roll OF
Honor. That the soldiers and sailors who
! fought the battles of their country and
now are receiving pensions on account of
their wounds and disability are worthy OF
their country'S gratitude and the respect
of their fellow citizens. Es
'Your Committee do not deny that
frauds are sometimes attempted, and
thus the Pension Bureau is deceived
but these attempts are comparatively few
in number and very seldom traced TO a
soldier or sailor who served during the
war OF the rebellion.
at is no fair argument TO try 10 prove
that our courts are Venal and rotten he
cause perjury and sub0rnation of perjury
lead them into error and Injustice at
times; and because that ab0mination. the
dishonest pension attorney, often tries
and sometimes succeeds in foistng upon
the Pension Bureau fraudulent claims for
pretended widows and other dependents.
it does not f0l low, and il is not true, that
the Pension Rolls are padded with
frauds
'It is one Of The principal claims. kept
in stock by the enemies and slanderers OF
the old soldiers, that there are more pen
sioners on the rolls than there we're sol
diers in the army. In this connection
permit us TO quote from the report of an
expert and most reliable gentleman. who
gives the Committee the result of his
research:
alt has been definitely ascer rtained
ilOIi an 6AdHlilldtiDn Oh tllG records OF the
War Department that there were 2 ,213, ,3GE
individuals in the military and nava
service of the United States during the
war of the rebel lion, of which number
/ ,727 ,353 were alive when the war closed
tali deSerterS excluded). In $50, accord
ing to the estimates made by the War
Department, based upon careful investi
CATIONS, there We're ,2S5, Al survivors OF
the war living, while the Census reports
showed only ,03t,G13. The Census re
ports are believed not 10 be correct. for the
reason that a great many ex soldiers were
not in this country during the time the
census was taken, while many others
failed to he enumerated as such. When
the investigation was made by the War
Department they had the Census figures
as a guide, and reached the conclusion
that the figures were too low By the
sa me methcd the War Department esti
mates the number OF survivors On June
80 1S97, 1T h95, ,628.
"'Now let us examine the report of the
Commissioned OF Pensions foY the fiscal
year ending June 80 1897, and we find
that there were then on the rolls the
names of 733 527 soldiers who are drawing
pensions. This includes all the rem
sioners OF the Regular Army and Navy
who contracted their disabilities before
the war and since 1855. And while il is
impossible TO determine the number oi
such persons il is perhaps not far from
30, 900, which number deducted from the
whole number leaves about 7G0 900 whose
service was iii the war of the rebellion.
"'This leaves about :95. 900 survivors
who have not yet been peneiOned and
cfrectuafiy dlspnSeS of the charge that
there are more pensioners than survivors
of the war.
Again. t>Le The Commissioner re
port which shows that on June 90 1897,
there were 49, $50 original invalid claims
pending, not yet adiudicated This would
leave more than 200 000 survivors who are
not pcnsioned and who had no claims
pending on June 30 1897.
80 give you those figures Ia show that
there is very little, if any, foundation i,r
the charge that the pension rolls are