The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1901-09-19

pension or W. was granted under Qhtt
of Feb. 9, 1901, and which only reached
the widow after the soldier had died, or
Jan. %. His0widow brought me the pen
sion certificate, which the old soldier him
self had not heen5permitted to see by the
crude rules of theTPension Bureau, or the
harsh administration Of a generous law
These were in substance the expressions
INDUCED in by this faithful old soldier
while struggling with poverty in the last
few months OF his lifei
rs it possible that l, who tried to serve
my country faithfully, am deemed a fraud
at Washington? Is it possible that | an
to be denied a pension because l did moi
deem it right to apply for one until wa;
worn out with honest labor? What will
become of my poor old, faithful wife when
I am goneW
THINGS TO BE CONSIDERED.
1 commend these questions to every
comrade, and every patriot who expresses
his satisfaction with the work of the pres
ent administration of the Pension Bureau
The wonder with me was that the old
soldier did not doubt the sincerity OF the
gratitude of a Government that permitted
such things to occur in the administra'
ton of its laws.
In this connection it must not be over
looked that this Missouri soldier lived
near two cities that had three Boards OF
| Examining Surgeons, and was, therefore,
able to have himself examined by each of
| them, without outlay of money for Trans
pOrtation, in order to right the wrong that
the Pension Bureau was perpetrating
against him, and that this advantage ID
enjoyed by about 10 only out IF every
100 claimants and that the other w are
ordinarily without redress, when under
the unjust and harsh rules Of the Med
ical Division of the Pension Bureau at
Washington rejection is ordered. Nor
will it answer in this and SIMILAR cases
arising under the act of June 81, 1890, to
explain the merciless rulings or the In
.:Xcusable ignorance or negligence OF sucn
rulings by the Medical Referee and Pen
sion Commissioner by the application OF
epithets upon the pension agent VINO pre-
pared the claim.
The official report of the regularly EN-
ployed surgeons of the Government, whose
regulations professionally and as citizens,
as a rule, are equal, if not superior, to
those of the Medical Referee at Wash
ington, are on the one side of this con-
troversy, and the Pension Commissioner
and his Medical Referee with their Wash
ington employees are on the other side.
The dereiction OF duty, for surely there
is one in these cases, can only be located
with some of the officers of the Govern
ment charged with the administration CT
the pension law, who are all working I'M
der the supervision and control Of the
Pension Commissioner. If he claims the
credit of the work of the Bureau, if there
BE- any, he must also be ready to take the
blame.
At the time when Comrade Hauser's
pension certificate came to hand | in
dulged the thought and belief that this
was an exceptional case of carelessness or
ignorance until, during the past year,
while visiting the Departments in their
Annual Encampments, the information
came to me unsolicited in all parts OF
this large country, from sources whose
pureness and truthfulness could not be
questioned, that Hauser's case was no ex-
ceptiGnal one, but occurred all to frequent
Iy, and that the evidence thereof was
contained in the lists of pensions granted
as published, in which the word dead
frequently follows the name of the pen
siOner. H.'
But while the foregoing statement
shows that the present administration of
the pension law is bad enough, it is by
no means the worst part of its record.
When the complaints of the suffering
eaused by the nialadministration above
referred to reached the National Encamp
ment which met at Philadelphia in 1899,
it formulated and favored the passage Of
a law which undertook to interpret and
construe the law of June y, 1890, and
directed the Pension Commissioner to ag
gre,ate the disability of a claimant in de-
tCrhlning the extent of his inability 10
earn his living by manual labor, and at
the same time directed that an income
of less than $3.50 per annum on the part
of widow produced reasonable status
or condition.
The Congress passed this law unani-
mcusly on May 8, 1900, thereby showing
its Interpretation of the law. What was
the result? Instead Of reopening the
many cases in which the Medical Divi-
sion of the Pension Bureau had set up
its own judgment as against the report
Of the Examining Surgeons, and had re-
jected the claim because each disability, |
sngly and separately considered, had not
come up to its standard of what was ne
cessary for pensionable degree, and then
applying the law of Congress as enacted
therefor, those charged with the duty OF
these laws, on June 80,
1900, discarded and rescinded the old in
structions to the Examining Surgeons,
which prescribed the method of rating |
each disability separately, and gave Ex' |
Surgeons an opportunity of in |
dicating these views in eighteenths of n |
total disability, instructions which mad |
been in force for many years, and which |
were founded on the law, and issued new
requiring the Examining Sur
geOns to state the result of their examina- |
tons by giving their opinion as to the |
amount of pension which should be al |
lowed the claimant, and which gave di- |
rections regarding the separate rating of |
separate disabilities in this language: !
Nor should there be n separate rating |
Of separate disabilities as heretofore"
HOW NOT TO DO IT.
If | were asked to formulate the in
5tructions under which the new form OF |
report was directed to be prepared for |
the Examining Surgeons, | would say |
that the instructions under which the new |
method was evolved required the author |
to prepare and submit such a form OF |
report for the Surgeons as win enable the |
Medical Division of the Pension Bureau |
10 do what it pleases in each case, regard |
ess of the law, and without exposing the |
Pension Bureau to the charge of NAL
feasance in Office. This modification of
many years, and enabled the Exam
ming Surgeons seems to furnish the clear
st case on record of How not to do it,
know it is astounding to make this
.harge, but it is more astounding upon
.areful investigation to find the charge
we'll founded, as far as appearances go.
The old form of report was adopted
many years ago, and enabled the Exam
ming Surgeons to indicate accurately aid
loosely the degree of disability caused by
ZACH disease, and the manner of rating
permitted an expression of a difference of
opinion to the extent of an eighteenth. A
more perfect picture of each character of
disability could not well be given than
IL