Sunday Washington globe., 1902-04-06

The doctor being dead this testimony Is not
accepted as sufficient preliminary evidence
to admit the testimony that soldier was sick
with the disease after service The rule is
based on a technicality grounded on prin-
ciple Of public polity, which excludes the
truth for the general moral health Of the
United States. Congress alone can enact
such rule The President is guilty OF a
great usurpation of law That the rejection
by the exclusion OF the oral evidence is
based on a principle of public polity, not on
weight Of evidence is clear, because all
claims are rejected and none allowed; and
from the fact that a Doctors testimony or
record could add no weight TO the case and
would be merely cumulative evidence. II
would be as easy for doctor to swear falsely
as for the captain or first sergeant or pri-
vate and he would be more liable to be
mistaken because of the great number that
he treated The record is contained in
single line with a date or two dates; as,
March to 8, 1862 chronic diarrhoea. This
gives nothing Of the case. The regimental
records are all lost, and but partial hospital
records What soldier did not have such
case? What soldier was not sick during the
service2 The whole case at last must de-
pend upon testimony of officers comrades
and neighbors. Evans whole scheme is 10
catch the majority Of cases Il was found
that not one.tenth Of the cases has record,
OF an army surgeon or home physician
living, and by adopting this unlawful scheme
100000 claims could, without reading the
evidence, be rejected, which are just as
satisfactorily established as if the doctor
was alive or the record was made, or the
family physician az discharge was living.
These cases which Evans rejected, that
L.ochren and Commissioner Murphy had
marked disease accepted in service, were
proved up by officers, comrades and neigh
bors in the most satisfactory manner. II is
absurd TO hold that the record or medical
testimony adds anything in weight TO the
positive testimony Of eye-witnesses in
thousands of cases The fact that these
cases have all been rejected shows that it
was a scheme of dollars not diseases. The
rule was fitted to the cloth.
Attorney. General Gushing passed upon
this question and rendered a celebrated de
cision holding that, where no record can be
found, the disability is to be proved by
eye-witnesses the same as in the ordinary
affairs of life. (Opinions of Attorney Cen
/ eral, P. d. 4o3. GLOBE Feb. 9 and I6.)
/ The veterans would be satisfied with the
]
gress has not got the nerve to enact into
| law the Presidents unlawful rule of ex.
clusion. Congressman prefer to protect
thls unlawful scheme Of Evans by pre-
tending q that the law requires a record,
and a. that the cases are decided on weight
of evidence, but with too great strictness.
These Congressmen are making themselves
bayttcebs cviMliHiS with Evans and the
President, and should be taught a lesson on
the supremacy of law. It is not question
which porch-climber, or which highway
man, or which safe-cracker gets the most of
your money; but a question of defending
yourself against the whole present bunch
of criminals When you put a new Mem
Der Of Congress in place Of the present in
cumbent. il will be time afterwards with
out regard to his politics. to settle with
him, and oust him by putting in another
orch.climber if you have TO do so. That
these are open, fragrant bold and criminal
violations Of the pension laws must be ad-
mitted by every candid man. That these
are known to the President and Congress
men is equally a self-evdent fact. That
the unlawful scheme was coucocted to de
fraud meritorious claimants Of the Civil
War is conclusively proved by the nature
of the principle involved, by the fact that
every claimant is hit, by the course Of the
procedure by the law itself and by the
history of the matter from start to finish
(See GLOBE Feb. 73, 1907
This is only a specimen of the usurpa
tions of law by the President and Evans
against the veterans aud their dependents
Some of this lawlessness nobody but
beast could approve. Take the illegal and
bold rejection of 5000 claims of aged anC
dependant mothers of Civil War vete rams
which Evans arbitrarily and illegally re
iected for two years on the pretended
ground Of remarrage that not being lega
objection to pension under the new law
He did this in the face Of eight years con
trary practice and the rulings of the bureau
and the department. for the purpose of de
lay and of gettingithe majority of those ageC
mothers into the grave without paying ou
the money Justly due them So with the
claims Of IA, 900 children (many of them al
the bottle dependant upon charity which
Evans while admitting them justly due
held up for three years; but Evans pre-
tended that part of the children did no
file soon enough. II was an open fraud as
to the whole ID 900 claims; and after wait
ing nearly three years, the board of appeals
reversed Evans when the fraud had rur
its course. GLOBE Dec. %, 1901
The completely of the President and Con
gressmen in Evans bold lawlessness ac
counts for the reluctance of the Presiden
to remove him. This was the purpose il
selecting for Commissioner of Pensions
bold, ignorant, INSCRIPTIONS political bos
who got himself elected to Congress by tn,
ex-slave voters Of Tennessee and during his
term in Congress signaled his fitness fo
such fraudulent work by the constau
slander of the veterans, the cry of pension
shark and the advancement of the Southern
school book propaganda against the Civi
War veterans. This was Evans stock anC
trade in Congress all his term. This is WHY
President Roosevelt is soun ding Evans
praise against the charges of the veterans
as a slap in the face to the veterans. Thi
is why the President is going to reward
Evans by a substantial promotion" This
is why Evans sinister face IS being photo
graphed and printed in all the newspapers
Evans would advance his own interest bet
ter by keeping that photograph out of the
newspapers. II is telltale physiognomy