The National tribune., 1900-06-21
COURT OF PENSION APPEALS.

pealS, that every veteran and friend OIL the
veterans may carefully study its provis-
ions, and all join with us in endeavoring
to make it carry out the objects We have
in view. To do this it is vitality neces-
sary that the bill have the very best
thought OF every friend OF the veterans,
that its language may be made unmis-
taxable, and its provisions infallibly ac-
complish the end in view.
The objects to be accomplished by the
institution of the Court are:
l. To give every pension on the roll,
or to be put on the roll, the authority and
sanction of judicial determination, which
will end all cavii at the right of any in
dividual to be there and satisfy the peo-
pie beyond question that the money cx-
pended for pensions is rightfully given to
persons to whom it is lawfully owed.
2. To remove the pension roll from the
sport, caprices, and distorted prejudices of
the man who at any time happens to be
Commissioner of Pensions. The man or
woman who has a pension should be made
as secure in it's possession as the man
| who receives from the United States a
deed to his land, or patent for his in
vention.
3. To jUdicially interpret and apply the
pension laws. For seven years now the
laws passed by Congress have been the
subject of the distorted views of the men
who have been Commissioners of Pen
sions. They have said that the laws
meant something totally different from
what Congress had in mind when passing
them; they have nullified some very i'm
portant laws, perverted others, and abso-
lutely disregarded still others. 1t is in
| tolerable that any subordinate, charged
with executing the laws, should do this.
| The Court of Pension Appeals is intended
to apply to the Commissioner of Pensions
the judicial correctives established for all
| the other ministerial officers of the Gov
ernment, but which the Commissioner of
Pensions has so far lacked.
The duty before US now is to critically
scan this bill, discuss its provisions among
ourselves, look for every possibility of fail
ure in any word, phrase or line, to accom-
plish the ends we desire, and, if this is
found, to make sucn amendment as will
put the matter beyond any doubt. The
passage of the bill will naturally be antag-
| onized by the Secretary of the Interior,
whose powers and prerogatives it dimin-
ishes; by the Commissioner of Pensions,
whom it curbs and restrains, and by that
large and influential class who prefer to
have the pension business remain as it is,
where they can control it, rather than
have claims settled in court as a matter
of right and justice, and according to a
judicial determination of the laws and
evidence. The bill, therefore, will be at
tackled upon its passage, and afterward it
will be sought to nullify it. Consequently,
we must not only put forth all our eff
forts to secure its passage, but we must
give it all possible study and thought, to
make it as perfect as possible, and infaili
ble in securing its ends. we have had
too many promising laws turned into Dead
Sea apples to run the risk of any more
And the one special danger that we
must provide against is that of the Court
adopting the leisurely methods of Courts
generally. We want it carefully provided
that when the Court adopts a rule or
makes an Interpretation, that this shall
apply to all cases of that class, and that
the Commissioner must Immediately pro-
ceed to adjudicate them in accordance
with it. Time is everything to the claim
ant. and we must secure a rapid clearing
up of the docket Having once laid down
rule, the Court can order the Commis-
sioner TO Immediately proceed to allow all
cases fulfilling those conditions. In any
case where he fails to do this within a
reasonable time the aggrieved party can
bring him into Court, and secure a man
damus. There is no reason why this can
not be done, and substantially every claim
now on file in the Pension Bureau settled
within year or two at the most.
The first thing to do is to have every
Congressman pledged to push the passage
of the bill as soon as Congress reassembles
in December, so that it shall become a law
before the holiday recess. Let them not
juggle about the terms Of the bill Thcre
| may and probably will be some verbal
changes in the bill. but as it stands it is
| substantially what we want, and what
we should demand to have. Secure their
pledges to support the bill substantially
as it is. We can in the meanwhile care
fully discuss the bill. and make any
changes in its yerbiage that we may de-
eide upon as desirable. Here is the bill
in full. Let us suggest to the comrades
to cut it out, paste it upon large sheet
Of paper, to study it the better, and note
any changes suggesting themselves.
|
SOME of the Posts are hesitating about
passing resolutions condemnatory Of Hen
ry Clay Evans, lest they expose their
members to his vindictiveness in regard to
pensions already allowed, or claims on