The National tribune., 1900-06-14
THE COURT OF PENSION APPEALS.


Adjournment.
This is measure of which THE Ma
TIoYAL TRIBUNE has long been earnestly
in favor. That we have not more per-
sistcntly urged it has been because We
have hoped TO reach the same results by
another method. Had the present Com
missioner been the man we hoped for and
expectcd-onc who would have judicially
interpreted the law, and executed it ac-
cording to its evident meaning and In
tent-thnre would have been no necessity
for such a court.
The bill, which has been the subject of
the most earnest thought and study for q
ing lawyers in various parts of the coun-
try, proposes to put the pensioners, pen
sion claimants and their rights on the
same plane with the other creditors of the
Nation. They are to be no longer the
sport of politicians, the victims of the
whms, vagdrics and distorted notions of
the man who happens to be for the time
Commissioner of Pensions. The personal
element of the Commissioner, with its
prejadiccs, animositics and tricky self
seeking, from which they have suffered so
much in the past seven years, will be en-
tirely eliminated The Commissioner will
be reduced to the grade of a mere cXecu-
~. 1 Et..11
The pensioners and claimants will have
court for the adjudication of their claims.
according to principles and methods with
which they are all familiar. They can go
into it and prove their claims in the same
way that they can prove their title to
horse or to their farms. 1t will be non
partisan, of high rank, full. powers and
entirely independent of party policies and
political manipulations. 1t will be made
up of able lawyers and judges. whose sole
business shall be TO determine the will of
Congress, according to the letter of the
laws, and then see that the legal intent is
properly executed.
This is all that the veterans and their
friends desire. They merely want what
the laws say that they shall have. Their
complaint against the present Commits
sioner is that he has persistently and most
wrongfully refused them what the laws
clearly grant.
There will be an immense gain in anoth-
er direction. The pensioners have always
suffered from the cl. Grge that undue favor
itism has been exhibited in the allowance
of pensions. This charge has been so CON
stantIy made by such a number of inGucn-
tial men and newspapers that it has in
fuenced The opinions of vast numbers Of
people who should be our friends. The
establishment Of such court will remove
all this prejudice against pensions. The
people of the United States have pro-
found respect for their courts. They ac-
cept their decrees as the highest human
authority. They are all very willing. even
anxious, that every veteran shall have all
that the laws give him, and also that his
widow shall have this. What that will
amount to in the aggregate is q matter OF
more or less Indifference. The main thing
is to do justice to the veterans. When the
court shall say that a man is entitled to so
much pension, that will end the discussion.
The pension roll viii then become a roll Of
honor which no one can question.
The argument which the Pension Com,
nittee presents to the President in favor
Of the establishment OF such a court is,
we think, unanswcrable. AT present all
appeals from the action Of the Commits
sioncr 70 before the Board of Pension APP
peals. This Board is merely a set of
clerks of the Interior Department passing
upon the acts Of another set. The Board
has no judicial independence and no au-
| thority.
On the other hand, there is one great
danger about the constitution of the court,
| and this requires anxious consideration to
avert. Time is alI-important to the vet
Grams and their widows, and we must con-
| trive to have the court act cxpeditiously
! upon every question presented 10 it. The
intention of the bill is to have the appeals
and original cases classified into groups,
and assign one group to each member.
| Then It is the intention to have the de-
cison of one case govern all those like it,
and SO clear up the docket with the great
est rapidity. To make sure that the bill
when it becomes a law will accomplish
this should be the earnest study of every
friend of the veteran. 1t can be done,
and we must make sure that it will be
done. If so, then we have placed the vet
Grams aud their rights on a rocliliiic
foundation, against which the storms of
political vicissitudes shall beat in vain.
The thing to do now is to enter into m
active canvass Of all the Congressional
candidates to make sure that this bill will
be passed the very first thing when Con,
gIcss resumes its session next December
The passage OF the bill viii take pensions
out Of politics, give every man an inde
feasible right TO his pension, and shear