Evening star., 1901-11-26
The Commissioner of Pensions.

Secretary Hitchcock in his annual report
pays the following handsome and deserved
tribute to the Commissioner Of Pensions:
''The report of Commissioner Evans
should be carefully read by his country
men In order that they may properly uI-
derstand the great responsibilities of his
office and the exceeding difficulties which
he has encountered in faithfully discharg-
Ing its duties. He has no option, and should
have no desire, to do otherwise than con-
form to the plain direction of the law in
the disbursement of the enormous appro-
priation made for the payment of pensions.
The veterans have no more sincere friend
than their comrade. the commissioner. who
himself served as an enlisted man in the
armies Of the Union and he but maintains
and defends the honor of their patriotic
service when, refusing to ignore both the
letter and spirit of the law, he declines to
permit the impostor, whether claimant or
agent, to share In the bounty which Is pro-
yided for the veteran and those dependent
upon him."
After they had failed to shake his reso-
luton about conducting his own office, the
opponents of Mr.. Evans started a report
that he did not enjoy the full confidence Of
either his immediate chief, the Secretary
of the Interior, or the President. He was
merely tolerated by them. Both would bc
glad to see him retire, but neither was in
position to give him shove. The President
particularly was embarrassed by finding
that he had put the interests of his old
comrades in arms into the hands Of a man
so little In sympathy with them and thedr
claims upon the government. How many
people were deceived by this yarn has
never ascertained. but from the industry
exhibited in It's circulation It's inventors
seem to put good deal OF store by It,
Mr.. Mckinley months before his death
put his foot upon 1t so far as he was con-
cerned. He not only resisted every effort
to have him dismiss Mr.. Evans from
office. but he lost no opportunity to testify
to his faith in Mr.. Evans personal and
official Integrity, and to signify his ap-
proval of the record then being made in the
pension bureau. There were some threats
last year of losses at the polls, but the
President did not dignity them with serious
notice. He stood by Mr.. Evans and the
country stood by him.
OF course there was quite as little to the
yarn as it involved Secretary Hitchcock
He gave his confidence to Mr.. Evans, as
the President did, and sustained him right
along, and now, in the most cordial and
emphatic form, publicly applauds his con-
duct of the pension bureau. -.-'
There has been lull in the warfare
against Mr. Evans, partly as the result Of
the Buffalo tragedy, and partly by reason
of the defeat Of his bitterest opponents at
the grand encampment at Cleveland in
September. 1t is to be hoped it may never
be renewed; but if 1t Is, the continued sup
port of the Commissioner Of Pensions by
his superiors In office Is reasonably within
expectation. A full eight years of his ad-
ministration of that important and difficult
post would be Of great benefit to the coun-
try, and go long way toward making it
impossible for the bureau ever again to fall
back into the old rut when men looked to
the list of pension claimants and then at
the Treasury Department and fervently ex-
claimed: God help the surplusy'