The age-herald., 1898-05-25
LAXITY. AMONG
 THE NOTARIES. In Executing Vouchers For
 Pensions. THEY'RE AFTER THE MONEY The Pension Bureau Has Inaugurated Whole sale Investigation, and Proposes to Rectfy as Far as Possible
 These irregularities
THEY'RE AFTER THE MONEY

sbSoS VI
 It has been shown by a wholesale exam ination that there is much laxity among the notaries public, justices of the peace and other officers throughout the country, who execute vouchers for pensions.
 ''The officers who are responsible for jurats on these papers seem to have very little regard for the law governing the ex- ecution of official papers, said George A. Drury, pension examiner, yesterday
 'In fact, developments indicate that in- stead of recognizing that an oath to paper is a solemn matter, many of them, in their haste to execute number of vouchers upon pension day. seem to only recognize that 1t Is necessary to place their name, seal and official character upon the papers, together with the signature of the pensioner and witnesses, without any re- gard to the contents of the paper and their purport, or the facts to which the affiants were supposed to take oath. Pension day to these officers is merely a great scramble for the few cents that each jurat returned to them and the main object in their minds seemed to be the number of vouchers ex- ecuted, with their financial remuneration." These investigations have been conducted under the direct supervision of Examiner J. O'C. Roberts of the law division. In the principal large cities of the country the same state of facts exists and the same methods seem to be used in every place.
 The lay authorizes the execution of a pension voucher "before any officer au- thorzed to administer oatns for general purposes" There is a law that prevents the execution of a pension voucher before the quarter pension day, and the post-dat- ing and forwarding of a pension voucher is a criminal offense and punishable by fine and imprisonment. The investigation, it is asserted, has established the fact that many of these officers performed their du- ties in a most careless and perfunctory manner, and in some eases deliberately vio- lated the law by post-dating and by falsely certifying that the pensioner and witnesses duly qualified to the paper, when in fact no person was sworn by them.
 Stock Witnesses
 In many cases it is claimed that stock witnesses were used to certify and swear to the fact of the non-marriAge of a widow pensioner, and to the fact of minor children being alive upon the date of the exception of the voucher.
 Mr. Drury relates that in one particular case two NuLnGSSSSy DOy Ol 10 yHdio OA aoC and young lady about 21 years of age, swore to the fact of the non-marrigae of about 136 widows and to minor children be- ing alive in number of cases, while as matter of fact it was shown that these two parties only saw these women once every quarter, in many cases had never seen the minor children in their lives, and really had no knowledge whatever or the facts.
 In another case two women who were used as stock witnesses were put in the attitude of testifying that about 100 widow pensioners have not remarked, and that the children for whom increase was al- lowed were alive and in the pensioners custody. These women knew but few, If any of the widows well enough to be In a position to testify as to their condition.
 Vouchers were signed in the homes of the pensioners and sent to the officers to be completed, and. were executed without the exhibition of pension certihcates, ana were wholly fabricated.
 At one agency alone 1t was reported that over 14000 irregularly executed vouchers were received. In one locality, where stock witnesses were used, 1t was shown that one of the witnesses was drunk at o'clock in the morning, could recoiiect noun ing subsequent to that time, and yet upon vouchers executed In that particular office his name apepared as a subscribing wit mes sto the non-remarriage of widow pen- sioners, to the dependence of dependent pensioners, and to the fact that minor chii- aren were alive upon the date of the ex- ecution of the paprs.
 Tie Limit
 MT. Drury has recently returned from washington and tells of a peculiar incident which shows the limit to which these om- cers go.
 So great has become the scramble TOT the "honor,' of executing pension vouchers for she sake of the insignificant fee thereto attached that even in the District of CO lumbia one can see upon pension day this sign: "Pension vouchers executed and a glass of beer for fifteen cents, when, .ybi1e 1t may be the extreme of the limit 4o inc methods used, yet shows what careless and lax method some of the of1- cers have. and what little Idea they pos .ess of inc solemnity of an oath. and what stter disregard they also have of the neces- s,tv of having papers upon which millions of dollars are paid executed regularly and in conformity with law.
 "The pension bureau proposes to invesu- cate this matter further and notify as far as Is possible all the irregularities" con- cluded MT. Drury.