Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-05
PRESENTING PENSION BILLS
Senator Dietrich 0Fsn a Suggestion to
Grand Army Men.
DEPARTMENT BOARD or EXAMINERS
Plan whereby Deserving Veterans
Can Secure Proper support for
Their Bills before
Congress.

Senator Dietrich, who was in Omaha dur
ing the week, has some suggestions which
he will have presented at the first oppor-
tunity to the Nebraska organization Of the
Grand Army of the Republic, with a view
to simplifying matters relating to pension
claims, and more especially to private pen
sion legislation.
When l went Town to Washington" said
the senator, II found that / was being in
undated with letters from old soldiers with
pension claims that they wanted promoted.
l soon discovered that a great many Of
them were cases that had been sent to my
predecessors and to the various representa-
tives in congress, often to all OF them in
succession, and had been turned down by
the departments or found to be without
any merit. 1t was impossible for me to in
vestigate each particular case, so ! have
made II a practice to send all such COM
munications back to the nearest Grand
Army post with a request for official action
by the post, promising to push the claim
to the best OF my ability In case the post
should give IL it's endorsement. You would
be surprised to know what a good effect
this procedure has had. In many instances
where an old soldier had secured long pc
titions certifying to his deserving charac-,
vi ~ bdul6 utu Wu0 hdu ANNaGntu. NutlE
signatures to the petitions refused to com
init their Grand Army posts o~fncially to the
request which as individuals they had no
hesitation in endorsing.
what Grand Army Can DO.
The idea behind this, 1 think, ought to
be extended and enlarged so as to cover
all the pension applications arising within
the state. In my judgment the best way
to bring about a better condition Of af-
fairs would be for the Grand Army at its
next reunion to appoint a pension board
consisting OF say, three members, who
will get together regularly every month or
two and pass upon all pension cases. The
states representatives at Washington
then would refer the communication bear
ing on pensions back to this board, which
would in turn not only investigate the de-
tails, but also have the local Grand Army
post express o~f1cially its wishes in the
matter. As 1t is impossible for any sena-
tor or congressman to get more than Ave
OF six pension bills through congress at
any one session this pension board or com
mittee would be in position to apportion
the cases that require special legislation to
the different members and senators from
Nebraska, who could then be sure that the
bills they were urging covered only meri-
torious cases which required the most i'm
mediate attention.
by systematizing the pension business
In this fashion the Grand Army organiza-
tion would not only make It much easier for
us to handle pension matters, but would
also accomplish much more satisfactory re-
suits. Those who ask for special pension
bills would then know that they would
have to have a case that would Withstand
the searching Investigation, and IL they
were turned down they would feeel better
satisfied that 1t vas because they were
asking for something they were not en-
titled to. I hope the Grand Army men
all over the state will give these sugges-
lions careful consideration and take action
In conformity with them II they appeal to
them as sound and practicable"