The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-08-04
How They Swarmed Around
Court House and POstOfi1ce.
DISTRIBUTE 100000.
Topeka Men Are the First to
Be Paid.
Receive Their Checks on First
Day Of Payment.

4OQdY Is pGHSlOuf Qdy. Il ne QudLNG&-y
payments by the Topeka pension Office
began this morning and will be con-
tinued for the next ten days. In that
time upwards of "a. 600, 600 in checks will
go out of the pension office in the Co
lumbian building to the old soldiers in
Kansas, Missouri and the adjoining
states that are included In this pension
district.
The vouchers that will be paid today
are those of veterans living in or near
Topeka. The big rush will not COM
mence till next Monday, when the ma
jority of the $1,000 vouchers from the
pensioners in Missouri will arrive.
In the county clerks Office at the
court house no county business is trans
acted today. The entire time of Coun-
ty Clerk Wright and of Deputy Clerk
SWayze is taken up in acknowledging
pension vouchers. The work began at
6 o'clock this morning and will be kept
up till the Office closes at o'clock this
evening.
AS a usual thing about 700 vouchers
are acknowledged in the county clerks
office on the day that payment begins.
People need their money and they are
anxious to get their vouchers in before
the big rush begins, because those that
get in first are %sually served fn1medi-
ately, while those who do not get their
vouchers in until the third day some
times have to wait several days longer
before the agency gets their checks is
sued.
On pension days County Clerk Wright
opens his office at o'clock in the morn
ing as an accommodation to the old SOL
diers. soon after daylight this morn
ing the old veterans began to gather In
front of the court house, and by the
time s o'clock came there was quite an
assembly. When Mr.. Wright came he
entered by the back door in order to
get thirgs ready in the office before the
crowd rushed in upon him, but by the
time he had the ink bottles and pens
Nv-Tre r.Ire
on the outside had learned that the Of
fec was open and if was rapidly filed
A few minutes later Deputy Swayze ar
rived, and all the morning the two were
busy acknowledging vouchers. BY
O'clock the old soldiers were lined up
in front of the counter five and six deep,
waiting their turns.
At the G. A r. posts there were also
CROW ds all day. Notaries were kept
busy in making out papers, which were
taken direct to the pension agency IN
person, or mailed in the postOffice-
After the papers are inspected in the
agency, the checks are mailed to the
pensioners. No one is allowed to get
mis- check direct from the agency.
During the forenoon some of those
who had succeeded in getting their
vouchers into the agency early, began
to gather on the shady side of the post
office, waiting for the first batch Of
mail to come up from the agency, hop
ing that their checks might be among
the first. In the little groups were the
with gray heads and backs bent with
the burdens of time. Some of them told
old army stories and fought their bat
ties over again, while others discussed
the Philippine question, and gave their
opinion of Commissioner of Pensions
Evans. AS soon as the first batch Of
mail came from the pension agency,
they formed In columns in front of the
carrier windows in order to get hold OF
their checks as soon as possible.
The next ten days will be busy ones
in the postoff1ce. There will be 212 900
There are 100000 pensioners served by
the Topeka pension agency, and each OF
them mails his voucher to the agency
and has his check mailed to him in re-
turn. Today and tomorrow the extra
mail will not be SO large but what the
postoffice force can handle it, but on
Monday the mailing clerks would be
swamped without extra help. The local
clerks can handle all the checks that
will be sent out of the offices around
Topeka, but when the 1900 vouchers
from all the little postoffices in Missouri
begin to roll in, and the corresponding
checks sent out, it will be more than
the local force can take care of.
On Monday morning the postOffice de-
partment viii send a railroad postal
clerk here who viii do nothing else but
handle the Missouri pension mail. He
will be an expert who knows every little
office in Missouri, and with his help for
the next ten days the mail of the To-
pexa pension Office can be handled. It
is a big job all around.