Evening star., 1901-06-26
PENSION COMMISSIONER
MAKES A STATEMENT IN REPLY TO
GENERAL SICKLES.
Mr.. Evans Defends His Administra.
ffon of HIS Ofice-Evils Legfs-
lati0n Must Correct,

committee that Mr.. Evans should be re-
moved from office.
Commissioner Evans said today that
aside from his carefully prepared state
ment he had nothing further to say at
present, although" he added significantly.
Il have plenty more ammunition. and shall
be perfectly willing to continue the contro-
versy II it shall be necessary. 1 shall wait
now to hear further from Sickles-" Com
missioner Evans statement follows:
Il know nothing OF Gen. Sickles' contract
with the national committee never
heard of 1t until he denied it Sunday. re-
considered it Monday and admitted it Tues
day.
II know nothing of Gen Sickles' object
in attacking me or the admnist ration of
the pension bureau at the present time. 1
am occupying a position of trust, and
have constantly cefrained from replying to
any such attacks. but it seems. in justice
to those associated with me in the dis
charge Of the burdens and responsibilities
incident to the administration Il this great
trust. that l should not now remain silent
l had served in my present position over
two years when Gen. Sickles wrote me this
very nice Extraordinarily, unsolicited
opening up the correspondence himself:
'23 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
'' May q, 1893.
My Dear Governor Evans: L am sur
prised and panied to see the attitude to-
ward you taken up by some of the Grand
Army organizations. Your administration
OF your Office seems to me worthy of the
highest commendatjon. and above all, from
the veteran soldiers If you think any ex-
preston from me to the President would
be useful to you, l will cheerfully commu-
n.cate with him. Sincerely yours.
I'D. E. SICKLES.
Hon. Henry Clay Evans. Commissioner
of Pensions. Washington, D. c.
"On May %, 1899. 1 wrote to the general
thanking him for his kindly expressions,
and in return he wrote me the following en-
couraging letter:
q Fifth Avenue. New York City.
June TO- 1899.
My Dear Gov Evans: 1 have carefully
read the inclosure in your recent letter. and
l am not surprised to see its ample, clear
and convincing statements. showing the ad-
have written an earnest letter to the Presi-
dent in which have expressed the utmost
confidence In you and the same measure for
your critics. Sincerely yours.
Hon. Henry Clay Evans,
Commissioner of Pensions, Washington. DC
Il have other letters from the general
equally as strong in commendation of my
administration Of the bureau.
He then referred to the Investigation by
the committee Of the G. A. r. and its sat
isfactory report, and continued:
Surely, there is no lack of generosity on
the part of the administration when it dis
tributes $1i0U0,000 per. annum. Every
patriotic American, every good citizen
ought to want an honest administration of
the pension bureau, as we'll as all other
branches of the government. The general,
in his interview, refers to my talking about
individual cases. l did He was here in
the interest of further pension legislation.
l pointed abuses out to him, and, what is
more he commended my course and gave
me his most enthusiastic approval, in most
forcible terms. He says l talked to him of
a hundred cases. | could well have
used thousands illustrations. l have
criticised the system and the practices,
and I have used object lessons to show to
those interested the bad and unsatisfac-
tory results. but it has always been my
aim and object to protect the honor the
good name and integrity and lofty patriot
ism of the Union soldier; to show that the
fault Is not with him. but with the sys-
tenn, which has been builded up from time
to time. and which my honorable prede-
cessors have criticised
He then gave extracts from the reports
of Commissioners Baker and Bentley.
pointing out evils In the system, and con-
cluded as follows:
1T is well to remember that Commission
er Bentley was appointed in March. 1876.
by President Grant, the great soldier-Pres-
presidential term Of President Hayes, hav-
ing been succeeded by Commissioner Dud-
ley in 1881.
THE evils have increased and multi
u.
Like conditions have existed since 1872,
when Commissioner Baker called the atten-
tfon Of the department to the conditions
that existed and which were beyond his
control and it must be remembered that
Commissioner Baker was also the appointee
Of that great soldier r-state tesman. Gen. Grant.
THE claim agents referred to by my
predecessors have grown and multiplied.
and instead of there being few hundred,
was the case then. there are many thou
sands now
THE statement that the commissioner
has a brigade Of inspectors who travel all
over the country with the main object of
defeating pension applications on one tech
nicality or another Is so lacking in truth
that 1t Is hardly worth replying to. Just
the reverse of this is the case. The corps
of special examiners engaged in this work
are authorized by law. and they are gen.
tlemen. Many Of them are ex-Union SOL
diers. They work under printed book Ct
instructions. and in every case sent to them
they are expected to get the facts. whether
such facts allow or reject the claim. About
5.OoO claims have been adjudicated in the
past twelve months; not over 25,000 Of these
have passed through the hands of the spe-
cial examiners referred to.
THE principal object In having this corps
of special examiners Is to procure facts
upon which to base settlements Of claims,
and their work, instead of retarding the
adjudication of claims. hastens their set
tlement.
II have no apologies to make for my ad-
made mistakes. no doubt. but I have en-
deavored to be honest with my government,
respecting my other Of office. administering
the laws as laid down in the practice with
equal justice to ALL In this I have had the
cordial support Of the many good employees
in this bureau, from the highest to the
lowest.
II beg to call your attention to the fact
that the disbursements through this bu-
reau and the numerous agencies, since
came here. have amounted to $500 ,OOO, 900 or
more. There have been no defalcations;
there has been no misapplicatfon or mis-
appropriation of public funds; there have
been no bounty land scandals or charges of
squandering public lands: there has been
no selling of appointments or promotions
Can more be asked? Effort has been made
to do justice to all.
II have given four years of the best ef-
forts of my life toward having this govern
ment get control Of it's pensioning system
and I am proud Of the results"
OUTLINING THE WORK.
Meeting of the industrial COmmiasio
Senator Kyle Better.