Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-05-19
Grand Army Matter.


became a law. In order that your
readers may understand the situation
and what led to the contention be-
tween the veterans of War and the
Commissioner, H. Clay Evans. we will
briefly give the facts that led to the
appeal to Congress by the Grand Army
The pension laws have always given
q pension to dependent relatives.
which is the practical working out of
the law means only fathers and moth
ers and children under sixteen years OF
age. Prior to the passage of the new
law June a. 1890, the rule of the De-
partment as to what constituted de-
pendence was well understood and had
been the subject of numerous deeis-
ions of the Secretary of the Interior.
Let us see what a few of these decls-
ions were:
1. Income of $167.46 per year does
not constitute an independence in case
of mothers. o. H. Browning, Secre-
tary, January 20. 1862
2. Income of $40 per annGm by a
mother does not defeat her claim, she
being 72 years of age and having two
unmarried daughters dependent on her
for support. Columbus Delano, Secre-
tary, March 10, 1874.
8. In mothers claim where the
proof showed that prior to and at the
date of the sons death the father av-
eraged only about $3.50 per year from
his earnings: Held, That the action
of the Office was erroneous in rejecting
the claim, and that the case was one of
dependence within the meaning of the
law. Carl Schurtz, Secretary, Deem
Der is, 1880
the Pension Bureau, prepared by Hon.
Calvin B. Walker, Deputy Commits
sioner, 1882, the instructions in regard
to ascertaining dependence in case of
minor children are as follows: (page
95) Generally minor, the proceeds
of whose estate does not exceed $500
will be considered as dependent. 1t
will be seen by the above that the
practice of the Department had been
fixed by these decisions which were
as binding as law on the employees
and clerks who had the work of decid-
ing these cases, and these rulings and
decisions were in force when the Act
of June 81 1890, was passed. under
President Harrison's administration.
When the question came up as to de-
pendence under the new law, the de-
cisions above referred to were taken
as governing all questions of depen-
dence and the widows were granted
pensions notwithstanding they had
small incomes amounting to not over
$500. However when Lochren became
Commissioner of Pensions under
Cleveland's administration, the amount
was cut down to s96. or there abouts,
so that a widow who had an income of
$96 or about that much, was barred of
receiving a pension.
Great suffering was caused by this
decision and great cry went to heav-
en- reaching from one end of the land
to the ether from the widows and
children of the men who saved the
Union, and who had been looking for
the pension to exc out their scanty in
comes, cut of by this ruthless decis-
ion.
The campaign of 1896 had more or
less of this question in it. depending
somewhat upon the section of the
country in which it was conducted
When McKinley's administration
came in the soldiers and their wild
ows looked for a reversal OF this de-
cision or ruling. and for restoration
but they found that Mr.. Evans took
the ground that he could not reverse
the rule. 1t had been quite easy for
Mr.. Lochren and his colleagues to find
way to upset the rulings of the De-
partment which had been in force for
many years without even saying by
your leave. So nothing but an act Of
Congress would do and now on the
recommendation of President McKin-
ley the present law has been passed.
The other contention between the
veterans OF the war and the Commits
sioner was in regard to rating which
prior to Lochren's administration of
the Pension Office had been the same
under all laws, but he had changed
this and ruled that A soldier under the
new law should be disabled equal to
$1,000 before he could get the lowest
rate, which was $500 per month, and
equal to about $4,000 per month before
he could get $1,000 per month, which
was the highest rate under the new
law. Then they adopted method OF
rating each disability separately and II
none of them came up to $500 per
month then the soldier could not have
pension. The practice under the
Harrison administration had been to
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