Omaha daily bee., 1899-05-24


the people employed In the bureau.
There are l,74l employees in the depart
ment Of which 566 are ex-union soldiers,
and OF this number l52 are drawing PEN
sions In addition to the salaries. The Board
Of Review as now organized Is comprised
OF one chief, two assistant chiefs, Ave
chiefs OF sections and 10 reviewers. The
chief Of the board is Colonel +. u. stephen
son, who served during the entire war of
the rebellion as captain in the Forty eighth
Illinois and later as colonel " the one
Hundred Fifty second Illinois infantry. He
was severely wounded and is peusoner
for that reason. OF the 10 reviewers sew
enty are ex-union soldiers A large proper
tion of the men employed on the Board of
Review have been connected with thu pen
sion department in different capacities Tor
from twenty to thirty-five years.
The medical division. whose work is to
settle all medical questions, especially
rates of pension, consists of medical
referee, an assistant medical referee, two
qualified surgeons, two principal examiners
and forty-three medical examiners, Tue
Board Of Review in connection with the
medical division us charged with the ad-
iuucation and settlement Of all claims and
their action is generally final on all ques-
tions involved. The commissioner does not
see one in hundred of the claims that
receive the attention of the legal and med
ical boards.
During the Rrst nine months of the pres
ent fiscal year $1,000 pension certificates
have been issued. divided as follows: Orig
ipal under the general law, 4,594; original
under the act of 1890 22,227: increase and
reissue, 9747; restoration and renewal,
1157; under the act of 1890. increase and
raiesup G05. rpstDrntion renewal
1856; accrued pensions, S,661; duplicates,
1902.
All of the employees OF the pension depart
ment are under the protection of the civil
service law. A majority of them are known
to be republicans. There are about 1874 en-
ployes who are known to be democrats.
Additional Information.
Commissioner Evans adds the following
additional information bearing upon the
subject of Senator Hayward's letter of in
quiry: y
you are no doubt aware of the fact that
Order No. 16i, which was promulgated Oc-
tober Is 1890, was substantially revoked
by Assistant Secretary Bussey on January
Z 1893, in very positive terms. Under this
order all disabilities under the act of 1890
were rated the same as those Of service ori
gin. Your attention is also invited to the
act of 1890 with reference to claims of wild
ows, which grants pensions only to those
] who are without other means of support
than their manual labor In cases of in
valid claimants it is held by the depart
ment that disabilities under the act of 1890
are paced by that act upon a different
basis for rating Lhan those under the general
law. Under the general law disabilities are
pensionable without regard to capacity to-
and wit rafa
ence to this condition. while disabilities
/ under the act of 1890 are only pensionable
when incapacity to labor joins with inca
pacity to earn support and the grades Of
rating are dependent upon these two con-
ditions. The bureau has been extensively
criticized for adhering to this rule, but as
! my functions are confined strictly to the
execution OF the law as find it am power
less to grant relief in cases that do not
come within the rule.
1T is very evident that upon a careful
examination of the act of June q, 1890, that
it creates conditions which are not applica-
BILE to claims under the general law and that
very much of the misapprehension and dis
satisfaction with the operations of this bu-
reau arise from a want of understand
, ing as to those conditions.
Thus, a soldier is entitled under the gen.
eral law to SIT per month for the loss of
an eye, but under the act of June 27, 1890,
he receives only Sc per month, as it does
not incapacitate him from earning subsist-
ence by manual labor.
$50 in case CT dearncss. a svlr'-r who
is suffering from a degree of deafness en-
titling him under the general law to $40
or SIS per month, has no pensionable status
under the act of 1890, as the slight degree
of deafness in question does not ncapacitate
| I, nrf hu anita In
Dor. A widow is pensoned under the gen.
eral law regardless of her possessions, while
under the act of 1890 the enjoyment of an
| income in excess Of the amount she would
receive as pension is a bar to pension under
the act. Now, when these different condi-
I tions arise in the same neighborhood people
| seldom stop to inquire as to the law under
! which application is made and when claim
| is allowed under the general law at a high
| rate for degree of deafness which does
not entitle to rating under the new law, 1t
| necessarily results in criticism of the COM
| missioner. And when a widow who is in
| affiuent circumstances is granted a pension
| under the general law, while a claimant not
| nearly so we'll off Is denied pension under
the new law, because she is not without
other means Of support than her daily labor,
it seems to the public to be an unjust dis
elimination on the part of this bureau. Yet
| the law creates these conditions and 1t is
| not within my power to do otherwise than
| execute the law as construed by the depart
ment, but in nearly all these cases the pen
sion Office gets the blame when 1t attempts
| to carry out the law as 1t exists.
'Thc disability which entities to the maxi
| mum pension (S12 per month"; under the
new law is substantially the same as would
entitle to pension of $50 per month under
the old law. Yet we find that under the
old law only 81 ,691 soldiers are pensinoed
at $50 per month, while under the new law
| 1884, 1867 are drawing the maximum rate oi
$l2 per month. Under the old law only
1867 soldiers receive s12 per month. AS
an index to the growth of the work of the
bureau 1t may be stated that during the
fiscal year 1896 there were 2,1625S1 pieces
of mail received and sent. For the yeal
1897 there were 5,O56,7S9 and for the year
1898 there were 6,566,967, being more thar
800 per cent over the year 1896.
Claims Allowed.
During President Grants first term, from
1869 to 1872, there were allowed in all H.
462 claims, and during his second term there
were allowed 47,359 claims, and during
President Hayes term, from 1877 to 1880
39945 claims were allowed. During thu
fiscal year ending June 80, 1898, 52,64
original claims were allowed. 1t will b'
| | seen that the number of allowances for tn,