Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-10-10
PENSIONS THE THEME
Attracting Most Attention at the
Meeting of the Grand
Army Encampment.
REPORT THAT Is SEVERE ON EVANS
Stewart Elected COMMANDMENTS
Chief-Encampment
Notes.

Washington, Oct. 10. - The Grand
Army got down to business yesterday
and the encampment of the order, be-
sides hearing an address from Com
mander-in-chief Torrance and reports
from a number of officers and commit
tees, elected a new head for the en-
suing year. The new commander-in-
chief of the Grand Army of the Re
public is General 4. j. Stewart, of
Pennsylvania, who was leading can
didate for the honor year ago. His
competitors We're General John c.
Black, of Illinois, Il former commits
sioner of pensions, and Colonel John
McElrOy, of this city. The name of
General Daniel Sickles of New York
city, was presented to the convention,
but he withdrew from the race. Will
lam NJ. Olin, of Massachusetts, was
elected vice commander-in-chief, and
James NJ. Averill. of Georgia, Junior
vice cOmmander-in-chief.
Report of the Pension Committee.
Aside from the election of these Of
ficers the most interesting feature OF
the encampment was the report of the
pension committee of the Grand Army
of the Republic. This committee Sc
verely scored the medical division OF
the pension bureau, declaring that it
was a dead-line where were executed
the claims of veterans seeking pen
SiOnS. 1t accused the personnel of this
division of approaching the reports of
the examining surgeons throughout the
country with the suspicion and distrust
that they were made in bad faith. 1t
denounced the reports that extensive
frauds were practiced in pension
claims as absolutely baseless.
Evans Charged with Lack of Equity
The report is dated March % last,
which accounts for the following. re-
ferring to the then commissioner, Ev-
ans: "Hailing from widely separate
states of the Union, and familiar with
the views OF our comrades, we deem
it our duty in making this report to
declare that among the survivors of
the war of the rebellion there is an ir-
removable belief and conviction that
the present commissioner of pensions
is not disposed to administer the du
ties of his Office in that spirit of equity
and justice to applicants for pensions
which they have right to expect. and
while we are actuated by no feeling of
unkindness toward the honorable com
missioner of pensions. we are con
vinced that justice TO the soldier is i'm
possible of attainment under the pre-
sent administration of the pension bu-
reau.'
Called a "Gratuitous Insult"
Reference is made to the charge that
a great many eX-UniOn soldiers are
making an effort to obtain pensions by
fraud, the report saving: ''This is Il
gratuitous insult to the defenders of
the Union, and without justication as
shown by the commissioners last re-
port in which the subject of frauds is
extensively dealt with. An analysis
of the facts shows that of the 159
persons convicted last year only ten
were soldiers of the civil war. two of
whom were deserters, or one to every
1888 soldiers and sailors on the pen
sion rolls We challenge any other
department of the government to make
as favorable n showing" The report
is concurred in by General Black in
short separate report.
Washington, Oct. 1O.-The Grand
Army of the Republic today decided
by large vote to hold its next en-
campment at San Francisco. Cal.
Washington. Oct. 1O.-The Woman's
Relief corps elected Mrs. Ledusky j.
Taylor. of Minnesota, president. The
Sons of Veterans elected Frank Mar
tin. of indianapolis, commander-in-
chief.