The National tribune., 1903-04-16
PATHOLOGICAL SEQUENCE.

One Of the greatest reliefs to the vetcr-
ans by the passage of Il S12-a Month Sery-
ice Pension will be a stoppage of their
pursuit by that red-tape demon who has
harred them for years--''Pathological Sc
quence."
Precisely what constituted ''patholog-
zeal sequence" has been knowledge which
the Medical Referee has always jealousy
confined TO himself. God and the angels.
1t was a secret that he did not propose to
share with any mortal however gifted.
Like certain awful words of the ancient
priesthood. it was too dangerous Il power
10 be revealed to ordinary men. 1t was
Il weapon that he kept i'll reserve as a last
resort. When every other reason for re-
iecting pension failed he could simply
deny the pathological sequence. and that
ended it. Sequence is something that fol
lows. and if he had made up his mind
not to follow, the trail was lost. He was
youble as 10 what was not pathological
sequence, but very reticent as to what it
actually meant.
Attorneys might protest-iu fact. made
of them. in all these years: disappointed
claimants might rage-hundred:; of thou
sands of them did so during all these
decades: and if the Recording Angel kept
al exact report of all they said in their
anguish of spirit. he has Il collection of
word-blisters only cqualed by that he
gathered up from the Transfers during the
war. Experienced physicians might rail.
ridiculc and .'cite authorities but the
Medical Referee had the last word. and if
he chose to say that death was not neces-
sarily Il pathological sequence of stop
page of breath. and could not be so re-
garded to give a reasonable status. that
had to 90. 1t has been alleged that one
Referee decided that inability TO do full
days work splitting rails or pitching hay
was not a pathological sequence of losing
both hands and feet, but this was probably
the slanderous invention of some pension
shark who hated the pure and honest
Henry Clay Evans.
Seriously. pathological sequence has
been the source of unnumbered woes to
pension claimants. The rigid requirements
of the Bureau for The most irrefragable
connection between the Affections from
which the veterans were suffering and
their service, the arbitrary and unjust re-
fusals to accept evidence which would
have been conclusive before any other
tribunal, have for 40 years been the occa-
sion for the bitter heart-burning of in
Vulnerable claimants, of endless contro-
versies with the Boards of Examining
Surgeons and pension attorneys, and.
under such Commissioners as Lochren and
Evans. been most potent in robbing much
deserving veterans of what was clearly
and justly due them. 1t was something
capable Of being made so complicated. OBJ
scure and indeterminate as to lend itself
most readily to the purpose o anyone
who desired TO restrict the operation of the
laws. and deny pensions to those entitled.
The passage of simple, straight So
service pension will remedy all this. No
ono can deny that the pathological Sc
quence Of the flight of years is old age,
with accompanying disabilities. The long
years of juggling with the potent phrase
must cease, for all the possible patho-
logical sequences have eliminated in the
drawing nigh Of the evil days when the
keepers Of the house tremble, the strong
men bow themselves, and the mourners go
about the streets, because the silver cord
is loosened. the golden bowl shattered, the
pitcher broken at the fountain, and man
goeth to his long home.