The National tribune., 1901-01-31
THE COURT OF PENSION APPEALS.

After seven years of such experience as
the veterans and their widows have had
with Commissioners Lochren and Evans
it is no wonder that they turn in any di-
rection for relief. The Court of Pension
| Appeals promises them that their rights
| as pensioners shall be no longer depend
ent upon the whims, prejudices and vagar-
les of any one man, but be placed as their
other rights as American citizens are,
upon the safe, solid basis of judicial de-
termination. This they all desire. AS
American citizens they have profound
faith in their courts OF justice, and 10y
| ally accept their decisions. They earnest
| ly desire a judicial decision as to what
Congress really meant when it passed the
pension laws now on the statute books,
and what these shall mean when applied
| to their cases. They have these judicial
decisions about everything else, and about
far less important things than their pen
sions. Why should it be denied them about
that which constitutes their sole reliance
and support in their old age?
We had little to expect from Commits
Sioner Lochren. He came in as an open
enemy to a greater part of the pension
system. President Cleveland had fully
and freely expressed the strongest hos
tility, and Capt. Lochrcn was selected to
carry out his views. Lochren also brought
views of his own. He believed, honestly,
no doubt, that only those men who enlist
ed under the first call were actuatcd by
true patriotism. Everybody that came af-
ter that was induced by the high boun-
ties and pay. Then he thought the war
degenerated into an abolition crusade"
These views strongly colored his admin
iStration of the Pension Bureau. He was
unsparingly denounced everywhere for
these views, and his administration formed
Il large part of the issues of the campaign
of 1896. The people condemned him at
the polls, and radical amendment was
promised, with return to the practice
prevailing before his entrance into office.
Commissioner Evans came in, on the
other hand, as a professed friend. pledged
to undo Lochren's wrongs. He did moth
ing of the kind. He did not change 4 sim
gle one of Lochren's practices, so bitterly
complained of, but rather hardened and
intensified them. All this with a great
pretense OF doing signaily beneficial things.
He was continually offering the veterans
stones. and volubly protesting that they
were bread. He gave them serpents and
claimed they were eggs. We had changed
King Log for King Stork. With all of
LOchren's hardness of view, he had bowels
of compassion, and would occasionally
yield when cases of unusual merit or dis
tress were presented to him. But there
have been no such instances Of gracious
softening on the part of Evans. lie has
always been cold, finty and impervious to
cntreaty.
Now, with the experience of these seven
years still fresh in every memory, the vet
Grams ask that they be freed from the des-
potic, uncontrolled power of any one man.
They ask that this matter of vital import
ance to them be adjudicated by courts,
and settled in accordance with universal
American principles and practices.
1t is objected that courts are leisurely
and deliberate, and will not pass claims
with the rapidity of an executive officer.
This objection has been duly considered.
1t is not contemplated for an instant that
the proposed Court of Pension Appeals
shall pass upon every case, or even any
great number of cases. Its decisions in
one case will settle the law for hundreds
of thousands involving the same principle,
and thereafter the Commissioner will be
compelled to adjudicate all those cases in
accordance with that decision. If he does
not the Court will have power to compel
him, upon the citation of single one in
which he fails to do so. The Court will
1nciIa what ig Spff avilaura
when that evidence is furnished will di-
rect the allowance of the claim, without
preference to the Commissioner desire
to advertise himself as a great public
economizer
It is urged against the Court that it
leaves right of appeal still open. and
that consequently there never will be an
end of litigation, for every rejected claim
ant will at once appeal. This is vain
dread. There is right of appeal in every
case tried in every court in the land, but
how few take advantage of it?
If we once have an exact judicial deter
mination of what the pension laws mean
every case on the docket will stand or fall
with it. If the laws do not go as far as
the claimants wish, then recourse must
be to Congress to amend the laws
What we want is TO stop the Commits
siOners multiplying and pervcrting the laws
which Congress passes, and refusing to
give the benefit Of them to those for whom
they were passed. The power now as
sumed by the Commissioner of Pensions
is opposed to every American idea, and
its exercise by any one man is radically
wrong in principle, and exceedingly dan