The San Francisco call., 1901-11-07
.GLARING FAULTS
IN PENSION LAW
Attention Is Called to
Many Defects by Com
missioner Evans.
Modif1es Unpleasant Rules
Relating to Paying
Money to Widows.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6.-In his annual
report Commissioner Of Pensions Evans
discusses at length the faults of the pres
ent system of pensioning and the difficult
ties in the way of determining the merits
Of claims for pension and increases.
Attention is directed to the friction and
unkind feeling that attends the admiIlis-
tratiOn of the act of August z, 1882, which
provides that the open and nOtoFiOus acts
or widow penSIoner shall operate 10
terminate her pension; but the absence or
such law, it is stated, would encourage
such pensioners to dishOnOr the memory
of their soldier husbands while still en-
joytng the bounty of the Government;
and, on the other hand the widow who
respects the law and hOnors society by
legally entering into the marriage relation
loses her pension. For the purpose of car
rying out the provisions of this law, in
strucJions were issued in 1886 to special
examiners in the field to take deposlttonS
from widow claimants showing whether
they have cohabited with any man as his
wife since the death of the soldier. These
instructions were in force until Septenn-
Der, 1887, shortly after the Commissioners
took charge Of the bureau, when he mOdi-
fed them by directions that special ex-
aminers must never question the claimant
whether she has violated the act of Au-
gust Z, 1882, unless the evidence procured
shall show that she has been living In
violation of law and then the inveStiga-
ton must be made carefully and discreet
Iy, so as not to cause unnecessary neigh
borhood gossip or scandal.
The Commissioner says that, while the
law is most delicate and difficult one
tC administer, yet he cannot recommend
its repeal Attention is invited again to
the necessity of repeating the act OF
June Z, 1885, which swept away all the
limitations as to the filing of widows
claims under the general law and
TO be a standing invitation to file fraud
rlent claims, the arrearages being so
large and the chances Of detection 80
small.
Frauds bv Guardians.
In January, 1900. a rule was adopted re-
quirtng guardians of pensioners to rem
Ger to the bureau annual accounts OF
their receipts and expenditures of PEN
sion money. The rule was followed by
disclosures which, in some instances,
were OF a startling nature. Guardians
after the death of their wards. Many
cases We're round where insane pension
ers had been placed in asylums and other
pubic institutions as INDECENT persons.
while the guardians had drawn the pen
sion during the whole period, and either
diverted 1t for other purposes or allowed
1t to accumulate for the benefit OF the
pensioners legal representa- tives. I'm
proper, exorbitant and extravagant items
II eApenultureS We're SHOWN, which had
cal courts Other cases were revealed
IN which the guardians were appropriate
ing the pensions to their own use while
the wards were being maintained at nuh-
lie expense. In many cases pension
moneys were shown to have accumulated
III the QdQOS OF guardians In sums rang
ing from $1,000 to over $500, while the
intended beneficiaries of the bounty OF
the Government were being cared for in
public.
The report presents a number of in
tereSting features connected with the fl
ing of claims for pensions on account OF
the war with Spain and the insurrection
in the Philippines. 1t is shown that the
soldiers of these wars enjoy much
greater beQefits than were accorded to
nf 4 ha nfxrf1
amount of pensions granted for the same
degree of disability.
While the civil war lasted for four
years and the casualties were enormOus
and the Spanish-American war lasted
only about four months, with compara-
lively few casualties, it Is shown that
three years after the close Of
the Spanish war claims for pen
sions amounting to about 20 per
cent of the soldiers engaged in that war
had been filed. while in 1872, or seven
only about per cent of the soldiers en-
gagged in that war had filed claims.
Fault of the System.
The Commissioner says he Is not pre-
pared to believe that those who engaged
in the war with Spain, many of them
less patriotic than their ancestors, or
more covetous, but in his opinion it Is
the fault of the system of pensioning,
with its active army of attorneys, soli-
ly licensed by the Government with the
promise of SIS for each claim allowed.
The report presents some interesting de-
tails regarding the operations of these
solicitors at San Francisco when the vol
unteers returned from the Philippines for
muster out, and shows the persistency
with which these soldiers were hunted up
and persuaded to apply for pensions.
The Commissioner calls attention to the
unsatisfactory conditions attending the
legal and medical adjudication of claims
for pensions. Cases are usually settled on
ex-parte evidence prepared and submitted
by attorneys, whose fee Is dependent upon
the allowance of the claims The medical
examinations. which determine the rate
of pensions in valid claims, are made by
surgeons who are the neighborhood prac-
titioners, whose appointment is usually
reward for POLITICAL services and who are
subject to local influences that bias their
Judgment. AS a remedy for these abuses
the Commissioner earnestly recommends
the following method of ascertaining the
facts in pension claims: That travelling
medical examining boards be constituted
consisting of two skilled medical examin-
ers one attorney and one stenographer
and typewriter. These boards would meet
at the county seat of each county. say,
twice year, and the claimants would re-
ceive notice in advance of their coming.