Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-29
Commissioner Ware Sum-
marizes His Work.
THE MILLION MARK
WHAT MAY BE EXPECTED NEXT
YEAR.
Spanish War Allowances Swell the
Number on the Rolls of
the Bureau.

The report Of the commissioner of pen
sions was made public today. 1t shows
that eleven of the twenty leading Off
Gals of the bureau, including the commits
sioner. served in the army or navy during
the civil war. Thirty of the clerks in the
bureau drawing over $4,000 a year in sala-
ries do not constitute a part of the pro-
ductive force of the bureau, as the exigen-
cies of the service have from time to time
necessitated their detail to Congress, the
White House. civil service commission and
the Interior Department.
During the coming year, the commits
sioner says. the rolls of the pensioners will
probably exceed one million. The number
Of pensioners upon the rolls July 1, 1902,
was 999.446. This was the largest number
In the history of the bureau. and was nearly
1900 larger than the previous year. On
July Of several preceding years the num-
Der on the rolls was as follows: 1901, 997,-
1885, 1900, 500, $50; 1899, y91 519: $685. 800, ia.
The Increase on July !, 1902, was due to the
Spanish war, there being then on account
OF that number 6,2S2 were for army inva-
lids. 2.1H were for army widows, 800 for
navy invalids and 127 for navy widows
Pensioners on the rolls for different wars
were as follows: Revolution, 8; war of 1912,
1918; Indian wars. 1920, 4, 223; Mexican
war, 4,S45; civil war invalids, 125. 100; civil
war widows pa, 4S7; Spanish war invalids
6,611; Spanish war widows, 2,S51. Since the
previous annual report Of the commissioner
one pensioner of the revolutionary war died.
The number of civil war invalid pension
ers had fallen off 1O6s9 and the civil war
widows pensions had increased 1924. Dur
ing the five years from 1898 to 1902 the de-
crease in the number Of civil war invalid
pensions was 2O.722 and the increase in the
number of civil war widows pensions was
2325S. The total decrease of all pensions
during that period was 26,991 and the in
crease was 80. 723.
The Pension Roll.
There has been a gain during the last fis-
cal year, ended June go 1902, of the number
on the pension roll, as follows:
Gain by act of the bureau. .43, 661
Gain by special act of Congress. $50. 291
1OLol. .fo,oo-
There has been lost from the rolls the
following number of pensioners during the
same time for causes as follows:
BY death. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 81, 145
BY remarrlage. .......... 9VS
By legal limitation (minors). ........ 1.569
By failure to claim. ................ l,69o
For other causes. ..................... LIS
Total. .42,24l
1t will be noticed that the gain from spe-
cial act. as above set forth, is 291, while, as
shown by section Al, the number of special
acts was 1,l41 Inc ulHeTeUce III lne
ures is owing to the fact that large NUM-
Der Of the special acts were increases and
pertained to pensioners already on the roll.
The number of death notices of old SOL
diers not now in the service, received by
the bureau during the year was 5O,12S; but
only 27,O43 of them were pensioners.
The death rate among the pensioners for
the coming year will be about 10000 and
the losses to the roll from other causes will
be about 60OO
Owing to the new laws enacted by Con-
gress the pension roll will probably pass
the one million mark during the coming
year.
Location of Pensioners.
The present location of the pensioners in
the United States and the amounts paid to
-o,,;onars i,, tho differepf states and