Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-09

Of Commissioner Evans. At it's close the
report makes the following references to
the present commissioner:
"In our intercourse with the present COM
missioner, Mr. Eugene F. Ware. we have
expressly declared on your behalf that the
Grand Army had nothing to ask but the
just construction of the laws to pensioners
or applicants. without prejudice or bias:
We want doers Of wrong punished, but all
applicants are entitled to be considered as
honest until the contrary is proven.
I'VE believe that the commissioner has
accepted this most Onerous position with an
earnest desire and intent to faithfully ex-
ecute the laws governing his great office, in
letter and in spirit. and if ne shall honestly
construe and apply the laws it is all We or
any other citizens demand.
Already there Is evidence that abuses
and misconstruction, against which We have
protested, have been corrected. The ability
and training of a lawyer and man of af-
fairs is shown in the concise report just
printed. In it we find no pages of denim
citation or labored explanations The work
of the office in it's varied and intricate de-
tails is simply presented in form to be un-
derstood by the average layman'
The Statement to the President.
Copies of the report sent the President
were distributed among the delegates for
their perusal as the adjutant general read
1t aloud to the convention. Its principal
features follow:
I'VE have held two meetings in the city
of Washington, and certain of the commit
tee, with the ommander-in-chief have
made careful investigation Of the actual
workings of the pension bureau.
."First-An examination was made Of par
ticular cases, wherein special complaint
had been made to the committee by ini!-
vidual applicants or their attorneys.
''Second-Of portion of the current
workings of the bureau, reviewing the re-
jections of the previous day.
The honorable commissioner Of pensions
and his subordinates treated US with great
courtesy and afforded us every opportunity
to make a thorough investigation not only
of the special cases referred to us for ex-
animation, but of the system and methods
under which the business of the bureau Is
conducted.
"As a result of this investigation we
found that many of the special complaints
made were without merit, due in most in
stances to ignorance of the law of the
rights of the applicant and of the character
of the proof necessary to sustain the appli-
cation, while on the other hand we found
that many claims had been rejected that in
common justice and by every fair and
reasonable Interpretation of the pension
laws should have been allowed"
The Medical Division a Dead Line.
THE dead line,' or place of execution of
the veterans claim was found in the medi-
cal division Of the bureau, where unlimited
discretion seems to be vested to ignore the
reports and ratings of examining surgeons
and to minimize the soldiers disa bilities.
From a personal investigation we are
convinced that scores of claims are
jected every day that should be allowed.
In many cases We found that the rat
fngS of the examining board of surgeons,
based upon painstaking, Ineligible and
satisfactory reports, bearing ample evil
dence Of professional skill and conscien-
tious work, were wholly disregarded by the
medical bureau.
The report of the commissioner OF pen
sions for the fiscal year of June 30, 1901,
page %, discloses that during the preceding
year 1882 claims were rejected on medi-
cal grounds, the majority Of which were
cases in which the medical referee found no
ratable disability or no disability warrant
ing higher rate than the pensioner al
ready received.
The commissioner justifies the action Of
the bureau thereon, for the reason, as he
claims, that such ratings were not In ac-
cordance with the pen pictures Of the
applicants which were parts Of the reports
1T seems to us needless to suggest that
the living pictures which the local exam
inlng board of surgeons had before 1t in the
persons Of the claimants undergoing close
scrutiny were much better ones from which
to determine the disabilities than the So
called pen-pictures reviewed at Washing
ton.
I'VE find that the bureau has been ex-
the application of rules of evidence, even to
the extent of requiring claimants to estab-
lish their right to a pension beyond all rea-
sonable doubt.
Many of the rules of evidence applied to
the business transacted in the pension bu-
reau find their salutary uses in criminal
courts, not in courts of equity.
''In the matter of the proof of marriage
required of widows, the evidence demanded
both in quality and quantity is unreasona-
BILE, and in many cases burdensome and
very vexatious.
THE usual presumptions in favor of law
full wedlock receive scant recognition in the
pension bureau.
Examining Surgeons Upheld.
"As illustrating the bureaus measure of
respect for the examining surgeons, the fol-
lowing quotations are taken from the medl
cal referees last report:
After more than three years effort to
improve the work of examining surgeons
it has been found that such effort has not
been crowned with the measure of success
hoped for and reasonably expected.
Many boards apparently have no con-
ception or appreciation of the Importance of
their duties, and quiet their conscienccs by