Sunday morning globe., 1901-08-18
We TAKE chances
On This Article Touching an I'm
precedented Outrage.
THE CASE OF MISS MATHEWS
Daughter OF Tho Late WeIl.KnOSn Presbyterian
Clergyman, Who Is Working iOr Twenty DOL
lars Per Month and Living In an AIIey-ThJ
Pension Department Denies Information, But
We Have the Matter Direct From tho Inside.

ne Pension Bureau under Commits
sioner Evans is conducted with undis-
guised hostility to eX-soldier claim
ants for pensions or increase Of pen
sions. OF this fact there is no doubt
and but iimsy denial by even its apol-
ogists. The S5,OOO,OOO turned in by
Mr.. Evans. and the thousands Of cases
he has turned down, which it was the
intention of Congress should be pen
stoned, tells their own tale. Recently
his reduction in salary Of some Of the
Oldest and most efficient clerks in the
Bureau. and the rapid promotion OF
his own relatives and fayOrites, was
aired in these columns. But all Of
these pale their Intellectual fires be-
fore a case which The Globe this morn
ing presents to the Washington public.
II is a case which will and must appeal
TO all who are not callous to human
suffering and dead to the more ennob-
ling emotions OF human nature. It's
very recital affects our pen so that it
haus and hesitates in tracing the
damning and disgraceful facts. If
Commissioner Evans record was as
pure as the dream Of a cloistered yir-
gin this one black act would damn him
i'm court presided over and composed
of Carpatheian Doors, the most inhos-
pitable and the least sympathetic frac-
ton of the Caucasian race.
Residents of Washington will re-
member the late Rev Mr.. Mitchell
who was pastor of the Presbyterian
| Church, New York avenue and Ihlr-
| teenth street. lie was highly respect
ed as a man, and as a clergyman he
was faithful, conscientious and served
with signal fidelity his Master II is
| of daughter Of this lamented gentle
man The Globe would speak.
Miss Mitchell secured employment
| i'm the Pension Bureau and earned a
compensation Of 81 200 annually. She
| is a refined. educated lady Of high SEN
sibllities. and will regret, and, indeed,
resent this publicity. But The Globe
! believes that some wounds require 1h1
( knife. and however Miss Mitchell may
suffer from the exposures in this ar
! ticle the good which it will accomplish
! mstifies The Globe, as a public jour
! nal in laying the acts before the pup
lie.
Miss Mitchell is noted for her refine
ment and efficiency in the Pension Or
flee. She is a conscientious clerk, VINO
has ever attended strictly to her du'
lies. and neither sought nor invited
association with the Objectionable ele
ment-which happen to be the favor
ties of this as of all other Government
Departments-o that office. When
the recent reductions took place, the
Commissioner evidently expected the
reduced clerks to resign, as the reduc
tions were made with that end In view
notably I'm the case of Anderson ON
reduced from 81 400 to $1,000. GIL Is
an old soldier, having served i'm a Mas
sachusetts regiment during the war
He has held some Of the most import
ant positions in the Bureau, having
been critic seven years and thirteen
wears at the desk. When Gill was re-
duced he was Immediately transferred
to other work, and a task set MN
which was a vertable trap. In other
words, it was new, or strange, work
and no clerk unaccustomed to II could
possibly perform the task. Fortunate
ly for Gill, Miss Mitchells desk was
near his and i'm the goodness or heI
heart this lady helped Mr.. Gill with
his work and coached him successfully
so that the object of the consprators
was defeated and Mr.. Gill still holds
down his desk.
brother of honest Binger Herman
is chief of this division, AS in thou
sands of other cases, he is as dissim
liar to the head Of the Land once
except. perhaps, in the matter Of hon
estv as a domineeTing, coarse and
sIavedriving individual could be from
that of a polished gentleman and
broad.minded man, the leading chan
acteristics Of Binger Herman.
This Pension Office Herman, II
slightly demonstrated with by one OF
his slave clerks, frowns like Jove, and
thunders out Don't speak back to ME,
or. How dare you answer Me.
Imagine an old soldier and an old clerl
like Gill spoken to i'm this fashion.
But. coming back to the case Of Miss
Mitchell. Her purity and Christian
principles being incorruptible, she wal
a marked woman under the Evans re
gime. In addition to eXacting IRON
her the most laborious and dithcul
clerical work, which she faithfully an'
efficiently executed, the graded system
of reduction I'm salary was inaugu
rated i'm her case, with such virulenc,
and persistency as to have no parable
I'm this or I'm any other Department o
the Government. Her salary got grad
ually less and less. Her expenses wer
as gradually curtailed to meet these re
ductions. She moved down the socia
scale insofar as luXuries and outwar
, appearance were concerned, but he
! soul remained pure and her innate rt
anement and Christian character r.
b sisted all temptations to rebellion
, against the injustice and persecution
5 10 which she was subjected. Finally
OH We Christian citizens Of the capita
of the nation, this living martyr wa
forced to move into an alley anon
livery stables, negroes and EurOpea
immigrants OF the Russian-Jew an
T low Italian class because her MONTH
p salary reached the unbelievable hgur
of TWENTY DorLARsl
, Surely there must be some mistalJ
2 about this. There Is no clerk I'm tn
2 Government service working for 81
. per month. The charwOman receive
r that compensation for few hour,
work each day. The very law provide