The Sunday globe., 1901-08-04
As to the Pension Bureau.
(Communicated.)

When H. Clay Evans assumed the
duties and responsibilities of admin
istering the affairs of the Pension Bu-
reau it was expected, and it was natu-
raj to expect, that he would administer
them on sound business principles.
with the sole view Of carrying out the
intention of Congress, as expressed in
the statutes.
1t was believed that he would eXer-
else the same care and circumspeCtion
over the Governments interests as he
had over his own private affairs. He
had the reputation of being an enter
prising and successful business man,
large employer of labor, and shrewd
judge of human nature Although a
strong, and probably bitter, partisan,
he was regarded as too broad-minded
to allow partisanship to warp his judg-
ment or divert him from an honest
and conscientious performance Of his
official duties. The Government, 1t
was thought, would receive the benefit
of his business experience and his eX-
ecutive ability. No marvel then, that
the employees of the Pension Office
were astounded when they learned that
he had called George Hamlet, Jerry
Connolly Nose Wright, Walter Brooks,
Romance Campbell Geo. Barens, and
Diamond" Alexander to his council
table, and invested them with plenary
power of removals, reductions and pro-
motions. Who are these men? The
wise, the good, the learned; men who
have won the confidence and esteem Of
their fellow clerks by the purity Of
their lives, the splendor Of their tai
ents, their probity in public trusts,
their profound knowledge of the law
and practice of the Bureau; men dis
tinguished for deeds of valor in the
darkest hour of our nations peril?
No they are defrauders of the Gov
ernment, political traitors, petty spies,
detestabe talebearers, official busy
bodies They stand to the administra-
tion of the affairs of the Pension Bu-
reau as the PrRtorian Guards did to
that of the declining monarchy of
Rome He who would wear the purple,
fill the curule chair or have the fasces
carried before him must see them, pay
them homage. and give them doRa-
tions. Evans made them men of pow
er, whose favor the ambitious must
court and whose vengeance they must
avoid. He delegated to this unscrupu-
lous clique powers Of government that
they forthwith employed to reward
their friends and punish their enc
mics. The interests of the Govern
ment and the old soldiers pension
were alike neglected, while these ire
sponsibles were engaged in nefarious
work of perverting the original pur-
pose of the office, that of adiudicating
the claims Of old soldiers and their
widows and orphans to ordinary dis
missals and distributing promotions
as they bargained together. The Pen,
sion Bureau became a brokerage, in
tested with public thieves. There was
a time, not far distant when the pro-
posal to sacrifice swine in the temple
would hardly have excited greater hor-
ror and indignation in Jerusalem Of
old than would among the old soldiers
that of turning the most important
branch Of the general Government over
to the Hamlets, Connellys and
Wrights, to conduct it as they saw
fit.
With characteristic Indifference, II.
Clay Evans remained unmoved. He
was too busy devising schemes by
which he could deprive the old soldier
and his widow and orphan of the pit
tance that Congress had appropriated
to sustain them. Although his party
had achieved victory, and he had OBJ
tanned a soft position through the ex-
soldiers loyal support of Mckinley, he
was now ready to kick from under him
the ladder by which he and the Re
publican party had climbed to place
and power
It was not by accident that Commits
sioner Evans selected these men to run
his Bureau. Il would be as reasonable
to expect beautiful poem or logical
argument by dumping a galley of type
on the floor as to expect that such
clique could be selected at random.