Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-09-14
AFTER THE COMMISSIONER.
Commander In Chief Rassieur Takes
Fall Out of the Head of the PEN
sion Bureau. s
Suggested that thesssGrand Army Pen-.
sion Committee be Instructed to y
Prefer Charges. gs II.
Conservative Members of the Conven-
tion Led by John H. Palmer Oppose 7.
Radical Action -. RI,

Cleveland, Sept. 13.-The national
convention of the Grand Army OF the
Republic opened during the morning
at the Euclid Avenue Opera House
with a large attendance. The annual
address of Commander-in-Chief Ras-
sieur was the principal event of the
morning session.
The commander-in-chief devoted a
large part Of his annual address to the
matter of pensions. without any ef-
fort" he said, ION the part of the Or
ganization or it's officers to give the
pension problem any undue promin-
ence, that subject has overshadowed
all others and has called for more
attention and thought in the past year
than all other questions which concern
U.s."
He criticized the administration OF
the pension bureau and demanded 'the
honest and fair administration of laws
which are already on the statute
books" Continuing, he said: "H an
officers lawlessness, recklessness and
boldness go to such extreme length as
to lead him to override and ignore a
plain and unmistakeable order, indi-
eating the line of his duty, under the
law, coming from his superior officer,
the secretary of the interior, what can
4 the poor and helpless old soldier ex-
pect at his hands when he is claiming
! to exercise his discretion under that
4 law. The exercising his discretion
cannot possibly result in anything else
! in most of the cases than positive
yl -, so1 h. ~ NOD lxY
i the law"
Demands an Investigation.
4 Commander-in-Chi Rassieur made
I a supplemental report to his address
in which he made sharp attack upon
q the officers of the pension bureau at
q Washington. He stated that since he
y had prepared his annual address he
K had seen the report of the pension
i committee and that it had made no
4 suggestion for a remedy for the exist
4 ing evils. He therefore suggested that
4 the committee be instructed to prefer
q charges against the pension commits
4 sioner and that these charges be pre-
4 sented to the president, asking for an
Investigation of the same.
1 Senator Hawley Of Connecticut was
then presented and spoke at some
length On the pension question. He
4 recommended that no formal protest
] be made against the present admins
tration OF the pension bureau. Sen.
ator Hawley was loudly applauded.
John H. Palmer of New York, one of
! the leaders of the conservative ele-
! ment in the convention, declared to a
4 newspaper man that General Ras-
: sieur's suggestions relating to the pen
sion bureau would not be accepted.
It would be unwise, he said, for the
G. A. R. to take any such radical steps
at this time.
The report Of the adjutant general,
F. M. Sterrett, showed that the total
membership, June 80. 1901, was 269,-
507, in 6,67S posts. The gains during
the past year were 30,019, and the
] losses 37,172-by death S,166, and by
suspension 1922. The number
dropped from the rolls, having been
previously suspended, was 7,722. The
number on the rolls June 80, 1901, in.
Guiding 25,550 suspended, was 295,057.