Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1902-04-03
SENATOR TELLS HOW He oP-
POSED HIN.
Old Soldiers AK That No Higher Po-
sitions Should Be- Given tho Pen
sion Commissioner Want Him
Bounced for Good.

Probably no one man did more
to serve the desires Of the old soldiers
and get Pension Commissioner Evans
to resign than Senator Burton. In
an interview just before be lett ior
Washington be said:
Evans made an agreement with
the national committee that be would
retire at the end Of bis four years
term, J" said Mr.. Burton, "and l am
glad to see that he is going to get
out, even though it is a year later
than be agreed to-"
"But Evans Is to be taken care OF
somewhere else?" was suggested.
III he is to get foreign mission,
the foreigner the BETTER" replied
the senator. "A minister to some
county in Central Africa or Asia
would be the proper place tor him.
His case calls to mind q story on G.
H. j. Taylor, the Kansas negro Demo-
crat, who received SO many iavors
from President Cleveland. Taylor
wanted to be consul to Madagascar
under Cleveland's administration.
One day he asked Wade Hampton for
an Endorsement. 1t seems that Tay-
lor had been bothering Hampton con.
siderably and the senator was getting
tired OF it.
"'And you want my indorsementp
asked Hampton Of Taylor.
"'Yes, sir
What forP'
"'Consul to Madagascar.
+" III gladly give it to you, drawled
out Hampton, and II you we're going
twice as far l would give you two :"
Warming up to the Evans case,
Senator Burton said: II am glad 10
sknowshat had s.hsnd IN his enforced
retirement. That is exactly what It is.
There was no voluntary business
about it. Evans was fired. In my
fight on him was backed up by the
ex.Union soldiers from the Atlantic
to the Pacific. II he must be taken
care Of, hope he will be sent further
from home than Cuba"
"There has been a good deal said
by the mugwump papers Of the east, !"
went on the senator, "to the effect
that Evans was the watchdog Of the
treasury; that he was standing be-
tween the money vaults Of the coun-
try and the old soldiers. Thus, in an
indirect way, the old soldiers we're
held up as looters Of the treasury.
l simply want to make couple Of
observations on this point. In the
first place, the old soldiers made 1t
possible for us to have q treasury.
Is it likely that they would want to
loot the treasury which they are
responsible for existing? | don't
think so. Neither does any other
friend Of the old soldier think SO.
And, again, the reports Of the pen
sion department showed l26 convic,,
tions for fraud during the last fiscal
year, while that Of the internal
revenue service showed over 1000
convictions for fraud practiced on
that department for the year. This
shows that the old soldiers make
only one.thirtieth Of the attempts to
defraud the government that other
civilians do. And in the matter Of
frauds in the pension department, a
large majority Of the cases did not
implicate old soldiers at all. They
implicated notaries public and some
alleged old soldiers who tried to get
pensions op others names. As be-
tween the charge that the old soldiers
are attempting to loot the treasury
aud the old soldiers themselves will
take my stand with the old soldiers.