The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-02-11
Flood of Private Pension Bills
In Congress.
ATTEMPT CR0OKEDWORK
EFFORTS TO PLACE DESERTERS
ON THE LIST,
Since the Opening of the Session
There Have Been introduced LAS
Private and Forty-five General
Bills, Nearly as many as in the
Entire Last Two Sessions.

New York, Feb. ia special dis
patch to the Times from Washington
says: Nothing like the flood of pri-
waite pension bills, which is being pour
ed in on this congress. has ever been
known before in American history.
Within two months after the opening
of the session as many bills have been
introduced as are usually offered in a
whole session, and the flood is increas-
ing instead Of diminishing.
In this respect this congress will
break all records. The pension COM
mittee are simply staggering under the
increases Of business. There has also
been an increase in the number Of
bills introduced to amend the record
of deserters, so as to enable them TO
get pensions.
Up to this time last year the senate
committee on pensions had received
about 400 bills. Since the opening Of
this session it has received 1,1s5 private
pension bills and f0rty-five general
bills-1,190 in all. During the whole Of
the last session and the extra session
which prece1ed it, 1,2S3 such bills were
referred to this committee so that the
number introduced in two months Of
the present session is almost as large
as the total number introduced in the
last two sessions.
The extra session was as long as some
regular. sessions. The total number Of
private pension bills referred to this
committee in the whole Of last con-
gress from both house and senate was
2,465. scarcely more than double the
output of the last two months.
Bankrupt the Government.
Senator Ganinger. chairman of the
senate committee on pensions, says that
if all the pension bills introduced at
this session were passed it would bank
rupt the government Representative
Cyrus Sullovay, chairman of the house
COMMITTEES on invalid pensions, does not
agree with him. When Mr.. Sulloway
was asked how many private pension
bills had been introduced in the house
he said:
About 5000. That is an increase
over preceding sessions. but it is per-
fectly legitimate"
What is the reason for the increase2
One Of the reasons is that last year the
pension bureau rejected I6T. 919 claims
Three Thousand is not very large pro-
portion Of 1o7 900. talk about
bankrupting the government is non
sense. The money spent on the old
soldiers is a drop in the bucket COM
pared with the sums that are being
spent in other directions. Nobody OBJ
jects to spending a lot Of money on a
dock without any sides to it or in
mending a slough in Louisiana.
Mr.. SullOway was aware of the eX-
istence of an outcry against the in
crease in pension legislation and he
said it was the work Of newspaper
writer's who did not understand the
subject.
Blessing to the Country.
These bills don't average over ten
to a congressional district" said he.
and how many districts have you got?
As matter of fact. the distribution of
pension money is a blessing to this
country. 1t prevents Wall street from
ever creating another black Friday.
When you have got $50, 600, 900 among
the people in free circulation it cannot
be cornered."
over 800 bills have been introduced
to remove the charge Of desertiOn. This
is a large increase over the number of
similar bills introduced in the preced-
ing congresses. Senator Cullom intro
duced bill early in the session to re-
move desertiOn charges by the whole
sale, but there was an cutlery against
il and he dropped it, explaining that he
had introduced it under a misappre-
hension. The bill is now being used
against Mr.. CullOm by his enemies in
Illinois in the interest of Tanners cam
paign for his seat in the senate.
The increase in private pension bills
is not eXplainable by reason of the
Spanish and Philippine wars, for COM
paTatively few of the bills are in the
interest of those who served in these
campaigns. Most of the private pen
sion bills are introduced after the pen
sion bureau has rejected the claims of
the applicants.
Where bills are introduced in the in
terest Of Spanish war veterans, the case
is generally found to be that the fore
handed veteran had an application
pending at the pension bureau and has
a bill introduced also, so as to be sure
Of getting it.