The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-11
$8,s4s, tYS,tR FOR PENSIONS.
COST TO THE GOVERNMENT IN
THE PAST IS YEARS.

In Addition II Cost aOS. 04s .0SA to Main
tain the Pension system-l1.S07s Span
Ism War Pensioners on the Rolls. n z
Cost the Past Year OF -, 3O] .OS<.
WARRINGTON. Sept. lO.-Pension Com.
missioner Ware has completed and for.
warded to the Secretary Of the Interior
his annual report for the fiscal year just
ended. in which he makes q number Of
interesting recommendations for the bone.
1t Of the Pension Bureau.
Commissioner Ware shows that the total
cost OF pensions to the Government for the
past thirty eight years has been "a 81, lis I+d
In pensions paid and So5. sA7,ssA expended
In maintaining The pension service. He
estimates that the Revolutionary War
cost the Government 100000 in pensions;
War OF 1872, s6.2S4,+l4; war with Mexico,
s33, 4e3.209, War of the Rebellion, S2s7s.-
240,400. and the war with Spain S.A7o, 26s,
sions s. .aOs ,e23, $50.
The report explains that in 1890 the cost
OF the pension system amounted to $l.4O
per $1,000 Of the aggregate wealth Of the
country. In 1893 it reached SPA, and since
then has gradually declined to $l.9O in
1885, $3.50 in 1900 and Sl.a2 in the last year.
Mr.. Ware reports that 1874 appllca-
tions were elected last year. of which
sl.lO7 were for increase, in which it was
found that no increased disability existed,
and 00, 0io were rejected on medical grounds.
A total Of 22,sOO cases were rejected on
legal grounds, many of the claimants being
nlrenHv n c;r,t of pnrSifrr v1ti
Der Of applications for original rersic ns
was 228OO2, and the number Of appi!cations
fer an increase IVES lt4,0S3.
Referring to the Spanish war pensions
Commissioner Ware says that the total
number of pensioners on the rolls of this
class is 1852 and that during the past
year 1870 original apple ations were re-
sion list cost Sl.7SsA'. For the year just
ended it reached 3!,2O4 ,0S4.
Commissioner Ware recommends the
passage of a law that any man convicted
in court Of an Infamous crime shall forfeit
his pension or his right to one, He Is also
opposed to giving pensions to women who
marry soldiers after the soldiers become
pensioners He also discusses the neces-
sity Of law to nal Ike some provision for
superannuated clerks. and says that in the
Pension Bureau alone there are 500 en-
ployees who are 80 years old or over, That
he is DESTROYS Of making some important
changes in the pension system is shown by
the following statement:
recommend a different method Of exam
lining applicants for pensions. The present
system " a most uncertain, expensive and
unsatisfactory method. The system Is Ma
BILE to outside control and political dictation
and generates an enormous amount of politi-
cal friction. suggest boards constituted
Of experts, under civil service rules. who
should 90 from place to place on fixed days.
regarding the conditions OF the applicants
and making reports thereon. The territory
could be divided into circuits and the board
serve outside OF the States OF their domicile.
IT will be observed that the number Of
applicants and demands upon the bureau
were rs per cent, larger last year than the
annual average Of the past ten years and
that the bureau has gained upon the current
work 100 600 cases in two years.