Sunday Washington globe., 1902-04-13
Editor SUNDAY Globe.

Editor SUNDAY Globe,
The present Commissioner Of Pensions
enjoys the distinction of being the most dis
cussed official head Of a bureau that the
history of governmental affairs has any
record of, due indirectly to the fact that he
is Commissioner of Pensions aud head of
the most important bureau Of any of the
executive departments, directly to the per-
souality of the Commissioner himself and
his methods His administration of the af-
fairs Of the bureau has been the subject of
discussion in city, town and hamlet all over
the country. and he has been subjected to
the severest criticism by those whose in.
terests are in his keeping, and strongly de-
Tended by those who believe his policy to
be conservative, and that he is conscientious
in the discharge of his official duties. 1t is
not therefore with any feeling Of animosity
toward the Commissioner personally that
we invite public attention to some of the
things that relate to his career as the head
Of the Bureau of Pensions. The Commis-
sioner is no novice in the art of playing poll
tics, and possesses in a marked degree the
happy faculty so necessary in political life
of making white appear black and rice
ttfaeAt anu II - uMA0uhAGAAI AAN " MS
talents in this respect that he has been able
TO retain his position against tremendous
and influential opposition The Commis-
sioner knows, and the public knows as well,
that the bitterness with which his policy
toward the veterans Of the Civil War has
been attacked has not been inspired, as al
legged, by pension attorneys or claim agents,
but results from the methods employed by
Il. ~ 81. Il.
bureau. Last Sundays issue of the GLOBE
gives a very truthful and interesting state
ment of some Of those methods, and should
be read by every one interested in pension
matters, especially by the veterans them
selves.
The Commissioner, however. believing
himself secure IN his position, laughs at the
attacks made upon him and complacently
falls back on the worn out allegation that
pension attorneys are the "nigger in the
wood pile Now let US look into this
feature OF the case a little and see what
there is to It, The attorneys practicing be-
fore the bureau have never before had any
difficulty, as a class, with the official head
Of the office, things went along smoothly;
there was no friction or serious difficulty,
and good feeling prevailed between the head
of the office and those who represented
claimants, in the mutation of politics
change of administration occurs and the
present Commissioner is iuducted into Office,
and presto change, far reaching in its
consequences, is without ceremony inaugu-
rated The Commissioned halls from a state
where wholesome Republican majorities
are an unknown quantity, and where it is
not considered correct form" to associate
with Union veterans. The new Commis-
sioner on assuming the duties of his posi-
tion at once becomes solicitous for the
financial welfare of the Government
wicked and INSCRIPTIONS claim agents and
pension attorneys have couspired with
equally wicked and INSCRIPTIONS survivors
of the cause that was not lost to rob the
Government; something must be done to
save the Treasury from those who saved it
in the sixties War must be waged on the
fifty thousand pension agents and attorneys.
and incidentally to examine with suspicious
scrutiny the cases in which they appeared
as the attorneys Of record, and to make the
road as rocky as possible for those who
claimed the benefits Of Congressional legis-
latiou; accordingly the Commissioner takes
up the pen and in an article published in a
New York newspaper over his signature,
with his distinguished profile at the head,
proceeds to fay the pension attorneys.
characterizing them as "pestiferous var
mints, ETC., A characterization very strongly
suggestive Of the Commissioner long resi-
dence in Dixie. " where to use the rather
inelegant but expressive language of a
noted Pennsylvania campaign orator on one
occasion, They raise hell and niggers."
In that article the Commissioner stated
there we're City thousand names on the
roster Of persons authorized to represent
claimants before the Bureau. Is It not
therefore amazing that he should under
take to hold such a vast number of persons
up to public ridicule and contempt And IS
it any wonder that those City thousand per
sons should resent the Commissioner
temerity IN 50 doing2 That newspaper at
tack was uniusti6able from any point OF
view, and was entirely gratuitous and un
called for. and served no useful purpose
Furthermore It did not add an iota to the
dignity Of the Office of Commissioner. or tC
the prestige Of the man temporarily in the
position OF Commissioner, for it could no
be possible that an intelligent public wOuiC
take the Commissioner view in an srraign
ment at the Dar OF public opinion of th'
men whose lives, as a class, are an opel
DOCK IN kue COMM uuAAAen IN WHICH kuG.
live, and who are the peers OF their de
tractor IN all that goes 70 make an honor
able career, many Of them, IN fact, larg
majority OF them, are country law
yers of limited practice, who tax
pension cases as matter of neces
sity, rather tn anof choice, for tn
new and inexperienced Commissions
20 rush into print immediately after assun
ing the responsible duties Of his Office. an
make an unwarranted attack upOu the me
with whom he must necessarily have bus
ness relations. was a piece Of the mo-
egregiOus folly. and wholly indefensible
There is not and never has been any goo
or sufficient reason why the most amicabl
relations should not exist between the Con
missioner Of Pensions aud those with whoi
he is brought into official contact. He
invested with discretionary powers an
can bring TO book" any attorney or agei
who violates the law or the regulations
the Bureau IN his practice before it. III
Commissiouer's ability to keep things n
cannot be questioned. The Office force ca
bear testimony to that fact. The who
force, except perhaps those from whot