Sunday Washington globe., 1902-06-08
A SHORT One
On the Hanna Syndicate for
Killing Pensions.
OMITTED DISEASE FRAUD
Citations, Quotations. Facts and
Figures Given In Proof Of Evans
VillainOus Hostility TO the soldier,
His Widow and His Orphans.

His Widow and His Orphans.
The Pension Bureau, during Evans ad-
ministratiOn under the Hanna anti pension
syndicate of fraud, had great field of ope-
rations in the June or new law cases of
invalid claims. Harrison's administration
had started that law on legal lines, and had
put in motion legal system of practice by
which each case was decided on its merits.
and claimant given full opportunity to
! prove up his diseases whether alleged or
unalleged (omitted or difference of opinion
on nature Of disease) and 400 600 claims
had been allowed under that practice. Then
came the anu-pension schemers, and
dropped many OF those pensioners from the
roll, and reduced the rate of MANY more on
two grounds: (1) by illegally raising the
degree Of disability required by the new
law 800 per cent; and (2) by refusing to
rate diseases not named in the application
for pension, although proved up by the evil
dence. This second method of rejecting
and dropping and reducing covered fully
100000. That estimate is not too high. for
almost every claim then fled, and now
being fled is affected by some uualleged
or omitted disease. This is the reason why
the scheme was adopted-the number Of
claimants that could be swindled by snap
Judgment.
In many of the cases having uualleged
diseases, the omitted diseases do not affect
the rate, because those named are sufficient
to carry the maximum rate even Gnder
Evans fraudulent rules and practice. But
uot so with at least zoo, 900 claims of old
soldiers which have come up before Evans
/ for rerafinu reeforaffot, 6ref aT1,o-,.,ca
or some form.
Take Evans book Of practice in violation
of the practice under the Harrison admin
istratiOn and in violation Of the decisions
OF the Interior Department under Assistant
Secretary Davis One section land there
are many other sections of the book equally
fraudulent on their face and in operation),
will illustrate the gross fraud committed
against this class of old soldiers. The old
soldier has been Evans meat" all the
time. The widows have been favored of
late to buy of the c. A. r. Committees.
Taking up Evans book at the proposed
section, it reads:
when a declaration is 6led under the act
of March g. 1896, for reissue to allow pen
sion from date of filing The first application,
and in such application the claimant sets
forth causes of disability not included in
] the AuIueI IdLEt the application Will De
treated as claim for reissue under the act
OF March g. 1896, without reference to the
new disabilities mentioned in said applica-
tion.' Book page 1o2.)
Now take single case under that section
and see how fraudulent the rule is We
quote from the syllabus of the decision by
Assistant Secretary Davis, reversing a claim
under that practice:
crNrocy p TzAvrr (nEcFAcrr\
81 In the adjudication of this claim dis
ability from insanity was not considered,
because not alleged. although shown to have
existed at time of fling declaration and con-
tinuously afterwards.
~ In the instructions relative to de-
clarations under said act, dated July 2S 1897
| (9 P. D., o3), said rules of practice were
abrogated and others substituted, which
| permit the consideration of all disabilities
proved to exist whether alleged or not, in
determining title. The former decision is
/ accordingly overruled and the action of the
bureau is set aside for the purpose of having
| claim readjudicated in conformity with
said instructions Eaves, 10 P. d., page
| I77.)
| The above soldier was insane and under
| guardianship, and the guardian failed to
allege the very insanity which caused his
| appointment prior to making any claim
but alleged another disease which the
bureau held was not ratable, although had
the guardian named the insanity, the rate
for the whole time would have been 9I2,
the maximum under the new law. This is
not an exceptional case by any means. At
| least 200. 600 old veterans were defrauded
in whole or in part by this same scheme.
| That was the sole reason for originating
| such a rule. The rule is of no particle of
/ value to the bureau or Government and does
not aid the practice in any way, and is not
warranted by any legal construction Of that
law (See GLOBE May IS and June i;
Brown, XI P. D., I72 Heinrich. 10 P. d.,
| 32I; Winfrey, XI P. D., page 3o Felix
Myers, XI P. D., 35I, by Assistant Secre-
tary Campbell, April I3, 1901; Rohn, 10 P.
D., 73 Mong, 10 p D., 7s; Hudson, 10 P.
D., page 367 text
Under said section four of Evans book,
/ upon an application for rerating under act
of March 6, 1896, the board of review would
simply ignore insanity and dispose of II
privately by writing on the face sheet,
/ Insanity informal because not alleged in
former claim" No account of such rejec-
tion of insanity or any other disease called
informal" is kept That rejection is not
tabulated Where the soldier is given a
small rating on other diseases, in similar
cases. there is no record kept or notice
given of the rejection Of the insanity or
informal" part and claim 10 tabulated as
an allowed claim for, say, 50. But in the
Eaves claim, the whole was rejected BY
treating insanity as informal" A mere
statement Of the rule shows the fraudulent
intent on its face.