The National tribune., 1902-03-20
CONGRESSIONAL AND
DEPARTMENT NEWS.

ATTORNEYS-SPE ACT PEN
SION CASES.-In the pension approprla-
ton act just passed by Congress. for the
fiscal year ending June so, 1903, is en-
bodied the following provision:
"And provided further That hereafter
no pension attorney, claim agent, or other
person shall be entitled to receive any
compensation for services rendered in Sc
curing the introduction of bill, or the
passage thereof through Congress, grant
ing pension or increase of pension: and
any person who shall, directly or Indirect
ly, contract for, demand, receive or retain
any compensation for such services, shall
be deemed guilty Of an offense, and upon
conviction thereof shall, for each and
every such offense, be fined not exceeding
$500, or imprisoned not exceeding two
years, or both, in the discretion Of the
court"
1t was stated in the House Of Repre-
sentatives, in explanation of this provision,
that it is designed TO stop a practice,
which it is said exists, of persons claim
ing and receiving fees for alleged serv-
ices in securing the introduction and pas
sage Of private pension, bills.
SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE OF
ORIGIN-In the general law pension
case of the widow Of Silas Ramsey, the
decision on appeal asst Secretary Camp
bell, Dec. II, 1901) says:
y DIl. SlCisiIl ltolIutt ludl Nv llfiu "
clear recollection of treating appellant for
rheumatism when at home on furlough
in 1863. One neighbor testified it was his
understanding, from what the family SAID
when soldier was home on furlough, that
he had camp dysentery for one thing, and
rheumatism for another. Another neigh
Dor testified that in 1868, when home on
furlough, soldier complained Of rheuma-
tism and walked lame, and another swears
that while in the service and after dis
charge he frequently heard soldier COM
plain of rheumatism in his legs and body,
and noticed at one time in 1863 that he
was quite lame, and after discharge he
was still apparently suffering and dis
abled on account of rheumatism"
1t is therefore held that the origin in
service of rheumatism from which the
fatal heart disease resulted is sufficiently
shown
DEFECTIVE VISION-LACK OF
UNIFORMITY IN GENERAL LAW
RATINGS.-In the general law pension
case Of John 7. Watson, the decision on
appeal asst Secretary Campbell, Dec.
1G, 1901) says:
I'm the case at bar, a pension at the
rate Of SIT per month is held by the Bu-
reau to be adequate to the degree of disa-
bility resulting from total blindness of one
eye and loss Of nine-tenths vision in the
other eye from corneal opacity. In the case
of William Moore Q2 7. D., 81, cOnsid-
cred by the Department upon appeal Nov.
80. 1901, the Bureau had allowed the
third grade rate (S24 per MONTH for loss
of one eye from traumatism, and loss Of
nine-tenths vision in the other eye from
optic atrOphy resulting from said injury.
1.-The inequality in the rates allowed by
the Bureau in these two cases for prac-
tically the same degree of inability TO per-
form manual labor, of each pensi0Hed, by
reason of poor vision, demonstrates the
adviSabiity Of adopting some method by
which more equable adjustment Of rates
in cases Of ocular injuries can be made.
'.In the judgment of the Department
the rules laid down. the formulas evolved,
and the tables prepared showing the rela-
tive values of the different defects Of WIS.,
ion, by Wurdemann and Magnus in their
joint work on The economic valuation of
vision furnish medium or working ba-
sis for a more uniform arrangement of
rates in such class of cases.
Accepting their maximum and mini
mum limits, respectively, Of the range Of
visual acuity necessary as n condition Of
success in the performance of manual la
Dor, namely, 0.50 (one-half) TO 0.0J (one-
twentieth of the full scientific standard
as being both practical and approximate
ly correct, though not controlling, it is
quite evident that q visual acuity that is
limited TO one-tenth of normal, and exists
in but one eye (the conditions shown in
this case) is a very low grade of vision
Held, That the degree of disability re,
sulting from the amount of damage to
the visual acuity of the appellant in thie
case is fully equivalent TO the loss of /,
hand or foot for purposes of man,
ual labor, and warrants the allowance OF
the third-grade rate the rate allowed in
the case cited above. for an equivalent
though not identical case of disability. .)'
! LEGALITY OF MARRIAGE.-In the
pension claim under the act of 1890, OF
the child of Thomas ]. Fox, the Pension
Bureau rejection was based on the ground
OF declared inability to prove death Of 6