Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-09-19
About Pensions.

Commissioner Of Pensions Ware
predicts in his annual report, which
is just out, that his bureau will
cease to be noticed as prominent
factor within the next ten years.
The commissioner places the
total number of pensioners now
on the rolls at 996, 545, of which
729, 1856 are soldiers and 267, 189
are widows and dependents. Mr..
Ware announces that it is not
probable that the pension roll will
again cross the million line, the
high-water> mark having been
reached year ago. Five of the
pensioners are on the roll on ac-
count Of the war of the revolution,
1, 116 on account of the was of 1912;
4,734 on account of the Indian wars,
and 10, S74 on account of the MeXi-
can war
The great bulk of the roll is as
follows: Civil war 1nval1ds 703,-
1855; widows, 24S, 800; Spanish war
invallds, 5000; widows, 1862; and
the regular establishment invalids,
9,170; widows, 2,93S. The roll
shows net loss of 1901 pensioners
during the year. Out of total of
3O4, 800 applications on hand dur
ing the year, $50, 100 were admitted
and 113, 794 rejected.
The average annual value of
each pension is now $133. The
annual value of the Spanish war
pension roll has reached 81, 765, 80.
Commissioner Ware makes the
following recommendations: Laws
FORGETTING the pension or right to
pension Of any man convicted in
court of an infamous crime; pro-
hibiting the giving to the women
who marry soldiers after the sol
diers become old pensioners, and
a different method of examining
applicants for pension. He stamps
the present system as uncertain,
expensive, unsatisfactory and gen
erative of an enormous amount of
political friction.
Mr.. Ware suggests boards con-
stituted Of experts under civil
service rules, which should go
from place to place on fixed days,
giving examinations and receiving
testimony regarding the condition
of applicants, and making reports
thereon. He also recommends a
law providing for superannuated
clerks, vigorously urging some
law Of retirement and provision.
Mr.. Ware says that the bureau has
gained upon the current work
100000 cases during the last two
years.
An interesting historical analysis
of pension figures shows that the
actual total of disbursements in
pensions on account of the re-
evolutionary war, war OF 1912, In
dian wars, Mexican war, civil war,
and the war with Spain was 49,,
o39, 623, 500.
It is estimated that SIG, 100000
was paid in pension for disabilities
and deaths due to military and
naval service in the wars of 1912
and with Mexico, and during time
of peace prior of the war of the
rebellions, making the payments
of pensions to soldiers and sailors
of the war of the rebellion and OF
the regular military and naval
establishment since the close of
said war of the rebellion, and their
widows, children and dependent
relatives amount to $2,862, 240, 400.
The cost of the pension system
per capita of population for 1903
is given at $1.75. The system,
according to Commissioner Wars,
was the greatest as burden to
the people Of the United States
in 1898, since which time it has
shrunk from 1924 to $1.2S per
$1,000 of taxable wealth, and in
ten years, he says, the burden
will cease to be noticed. Mr.. Ware
estimates that the unpensioned
survivors of the civil war, exclu-
sive of deserters, is in round num-
bers 100000, and saws that this
unknown army is meeting with
disease and misfortune to such an
extent that it is applying for pen
sions at the rate of over $4,000