Sunday Washington globe., 1902-03-30

One of Commissioner Evans plans lot
defeating the pensionable rights and claims
of Spanish and Philippine war vet
Grams, suggested in his annual re-
port of 1901 and advocated by his
special aid-de.camp, Congressman Bell,
in that infamous speech on the floor Of Con-
gress January 49, 1902, is to keep the pen
sion laws secret from the veterans. They
hold that every body is bound to know the
law. therefore nobody is justified in telling
the veterans what the laws are or what their
rights under the laws are. Chain the pen
sion laws to the Goddess of Liberty on the
dome of the Capitol, or box them up in the
musty vaults, or keep them on the shelves
of the libraries where the veterans will
never see them or hear Of them.
Bell admitted that Evans is holding up
the claims of these veterans under the pre-
tense that they will finally recover. Evans,
in those claims, as in the claims OF the Civil
War service pensions, takes the liberty OF
ignoring the reports of the county examin-
ing sui geons, and is taking the law IN his
own hands; holds up claims just as he IL
legally delays and holds up the claims Of
almost every class of pensions in order TO
make his annual savings" for the sur
plus" Just as he has taken 100000 claims
from the DGnQluk ulGe hlAiA AAAN EaAAy AAAr-l A~N
them abandoned" without the knowledge
of the claimants), and stored them in the
loft of the pension building, where they are
kept out Of the race permanently Csee
GLOBE. March and %, 1902, and just as he
is holding up the 5000 accrued pensions of
heirs of soldiers, waiting for the children
10 die. (See GLOBE Dec. y and Jan. Ie.
Bell wished that steps be taken to keep
these Spanish War and Philippine War
veterans from having attorneys. This is
one Of Evans pet theories. For two years
he illegally denied the rights Of wives and
pensioners to have attorneys in contest cases
where the deserted wife claimed half the
veterans pension under the act Of March
4 1900, in litigated cases. Davis VS.. Davis,
Stevens & Co., attorneys, 10 p D., 4o3.
Evans wants nothing 10 do with judges, the
Acknowledgement, attorneys for claimaD1s,
or courts. They are nightly in the way Of
his schemes. Where there is no attorney
for claimant, Evans has free hand Take
his course in claims under the act of March
4. 1901, by widows remarked who have be-
come widowed again.
In these claims he prohibits his clerks
from giving her the necessary information
where she is entitled 10 be placed on
the roll but has not yet been pensioued.
There are many cases (the attorneys are
fnding) where Evans has rejected the
widows claim under that act without giving
her notice that she can complete it by hav.
ing her name placed on the old law roll
Many such cases exist where the children
were peusiOned from her Temarriage, and
that completes her claim for a short pen.
sion from soldiers death to her remarriage.
When she files her claim for pension the
bureau should notify her that she must file
her original claim, and then she has title to
this renewal. The law is explicit, and ap-
plies to renewals of pensions now or here
after on the rolls. 1t is clearly part of her
case TO complete both claims at the same
time Any practice which denies her that
opportunity by concealing the status from
her is illegal, and would be a reproach to
the Sultan of the Sulu Islands To reject
her claim is sneak thief stealing. The prac-
tice in pension claims is all by correspon--
ence in which claimant is given the full
status necessary to enable her to complete
her claim. Where a widow files a claim
under the June law, and she is clearly en-
titled TO pension under the old law by the
fact that the proof shows that the soldier
died Of his pensioned diseases, the practice
established under the Harrison administra-
tion and continued under the Cleveland
administration (and also under EvansD
requires that notice be given the widow to
file an old law claim and take her
pension under that law at the higher rate.
This is consOnance with the requirements
of the civilized age in which we live and
the liberal rules OF amendments in courts.
The widow alleges that she was pensioned.
She forgets. claimant in court can amend
his complaint on trial so as to cover ali the
evidence But Evans is not a civilized
Judge, and is not running a civilized court.
He is running a snap-judgment court, tax
ing advantage of the widows ignorance of
the pension laws and forgetfulness to defeat
her rights. He had the boldness to say in his
annual report: THE legitimate claims of
widows are filed promptly, and no hardship
will result to the honest claimant by the
repeal of this law" act 1888, giving her
arrears Of pension. (See annual report,
1909, p. 22.) Evans knew that he was living
when he officially made that statement
Thousands of cases still exist where the
legal rights of the widow stand proved in
the pension allowed the minors, and thou
sands of claims show that the widow has
made her living as a domestic servant by
scrubbing and washing, where soldier died
in service and widow did not learngof her
rights until recently, and her claim is pend
ing and ready for allowance This il the
reason why Evans is making such frantic
efforts to get the law repealed, and Incl
dentalIy he expects the repeal to cut out
retroactively the claims Of 5000 short PEN
sions of heirs which he has illegally held
on the files for over four years waiting for
the claimants to die or for Congress to con.
fscate their accrued pensions. Evans is not
executing the laws but defeating them.
In harmony with Evans propensity for
Justification and deceiving the officials and
the public and claimants, he declared in the
same report: The laws are generous: the
Interpretation Of the laws bv the depart
ment has always been to liberalize, and the
administration of the laws by the bureau
officials has been, and is now under the
established practice, far more liberal than
the generous laws-always giving the ben
EFT Of the doubt in favor of the soldier"
(Annual Report 1899, p. 44) Evans In
tended that sentence as bold lie; and be