The National tribune., 1902-06-05
THE PENSION ROLL.
Comrade Judson theoretically Repels the
Assaults Made Upon It,


Assaults Made Upon It.
Capt. ]. A. Judson. for long time one
OF the leading employees of the Pension
Bureau, was so moved by the unjust as
saults of the New York Times on his
comrades that he wrote strong letter
refuting its assertions. which, Of course.
the Times refused to print. The Times
is naturally afraid of free discussion, and
shirks it. The letter was at last pub
lshed in the Sandy Hill Herald, and is
as follows:
ITO the Editor of the New York Times:
Il have just read your shamefully abu-
sive editorial entitled Pension Commits
sioner Evans in the Times of this morn
ing. 1t is not of Commissioner Evans
that l desire to speak. am not his cham
pion. and have no desire or intent to criti-
else him or his methods. But it is of
the Grand Army of the Republic that l
| intend to speak-that great body of war
veterans concerning whom you presume
to speak in such disrespcctful, false and
abusive terms. You say: In
! the face of innumerable evidences of
fraud. showing that the pension roll was
deeply tainted with dishOnor and odious
mcndacity, the Grand Army of the Re
public ceaselessly clamors for more pen
siOns. There is very good reason TO be-
| lieve that Onc-half of the persons now in
receipt Of pensions from the Government
I
were fraudulent in the beginning. and the
money they receive is a pure gratuity.'
These are exceedingly bold statements
| for anyone to make who cannot produce
conclusive sustaining evidence. You have
no such evidence; you can produce no
such evidence, for no such evidence exists
or ever existed, nor any such conditions
| as you assert to be facts.
For example, you say: There is very
| good reason to believe that one-half of the
persons now in receipt of pensions from
| the Government have no title to its boun-
| ty.' A very good reason What reason?
You are bound to state it. You cannot.
| There is no such reason and no such
| fact To make such a reckless assertion
| is to say that the Government is a fool
| and all the 2,CG0 and more officials and
clerks of the Pension Bureau are deep
dyed villains and rogues and criminally
| dishonest scOundrels, and that thousands
upon thousands of veteran war-wOrn sol
| diers, who imDeriled their lives for their
country, fighting gigantic battles that will
| live in history forever, are also deep-dyed
| villains and rOgues and criminally dishOn-
| est scoundrels. Is it possible you think
the people of this country will believe such
a statement. even when made by a power
full paper like the New York Times! l
don't believe it. You don't believe it. You
| cannot believe it, because you know 1t IS
not only untrue but impossible And let
me show how it is impossible the United
States pension roll can be such mass Of
frand or anything approaching it. Any
one of common intelligence will admit that
in, order to get Il fraudulent pension claim
admitted collision between the claimant
and the Government officials and the at
torneys is prime requisite. Admit for
the sake of argument that both the claim
ant and his attorney know the claim to be
Il fraud. When it comes before the Pen
sion Bureau it must pas; the scrutiny of
over 80 distinct individuals before the
claim is either admitted or rejected. VIII
any sane man pretend 30 believe that
those 30 and more separate and distinct
individuals could. if they would, conspirc
to dcfrard the Government to the tune
of So or so IL month. or any other sum
for that matter. for the purpose of plac-
lug on the pension rolls bum soldier none
of them ever saw, or know from Adams
off OK / know what | am saying. for l
have been Il clerk in the Pension Office,
and | have been q member of the Board
OF Pension Appeals in the office of the
Secretary of the Interior. the official SUI
peror of the Commissioner of Pensions,
and / say that such thing would be 4
physical impossibiity and moral impos-
sibility. an unthinkable monstrOsity.
I'm the administration of a great bu-
reau like the Pension Office. handling such
enormous masses of claims from the sol
diers themselves as well as their widows,
orphans. and dependent mothers and faith
crs, it is undoubtedly the fact. and it is
well known that frauds creep in constant
ly, for there are raScals everywhere, in the
army as well as among the attorneys. and
the witnesses and every other class. for
to err is human. and although David said
in his haste all men are liars. he was in
too big Il hurry to get at the facts, which
the Pension Office is not. To be sure. a
lying claimant. assisted by lying witnesses
and lying attorney. often manages to lie
Il lying claim through the Pension Bureau;
but the Special Examiners Division. the
detective branch of the bureau. unearths
these i'll the eHd. and the Uaited States
courts land them all in Jail. as the records
show.
''All the old soldiers. pensioners and
others do not belong to the Grand Army,
yet the Grand Army is an enormous or
saniZation. All the old soldiers are not
pensioners. and thousands of them. for
tunatcly for themselves. have no pension
able disabilities. and thousands of others
who happen to be well to do don't want |
or need or never have asked and never
will ask for pension. But there are
thousands upon thousands borne on the
rolls who would rejoice to give up their |
pensions if their disabilities could be re-
moved / know the old soldier. l am
one myself. l bore President LincOln's |
commission. and | have belonged to the
Grand Army ever since it was organized. |
and l say that yonr statements are false. |
Il am sorry to be compelled to use Wig !
Orous language, but since l have your eX-
ample before me l can be pardoned for
following it.
Respectfully yours,
u. A JUDsoN.
"Ex.-Capt and Asst Adit-Gen. L. s. V. |
Park Row Building. March IS, 1902"