Arizona silver belt., 1904-09-01
JINGLE SAM'S PENSION ROLLS
.,eresting Statistics Contained In
 commissioner Ware's Report

LO
 On the pension rolls of the govern
 u,snt on July lSt, there were 99i, 76. ..meS. During the fiscal year tha, .,r,s to a close on Juue 30 the cost tC ,Os government of it's pensioners was uI, ,049, ,9s7,74.
 This information is contained in thu annual report of the commissioner oi 0susions, Eugene F: Ware, just made npbIc by the secretary of the interior The report gives an interesting ac ,ount of the pension history of the country.
 The high water mark as to pensions commissioner Ware says, was reached on september 30, 1902, when there were ,OO0, 732 names on the rolls. He aoss not believe that this record will oser again be reached. On July l, 1903, ,,ere were 996, ,5i5 pensioners. A year later there was d decrease in this nun. b.r of l7s3. During the year just ,oSpd there were added to the pension ust l7 ,374 names. Of these additions, 2,s were made at the direction of con r,esS and the remainder by the pen sion bureau in the everyday conduct of it's business.
 These additions were more than bal auced by deaths of pensioners aud re- moydlS from the rolls for specit tic causes. The loss through death was as2O by remarriage of widows, 1919; ny minors coming of age, 1899; by fail ure to claim, 1887, and for other causes l,2s2.
 "It is sorrowful to contemplate, [" writes the commissioned, "that the deaths among the soldier pensioners for the year were 3l, ,72s. Among these NO7l were volunteers of the civil war The death rate among the pensioners for the coming year will be about lI.OOO, and the losses to the roll from other causes will be about 5000.
 Although the revolution was fought over a century ago, there are today three pensioners of that war enjoying the bounty of the government. They are Esther Damon, aged 90, aud now living at Plymouth Union, Vt; Sarah c. Hurlbutt, s6 years old, of Little Marsh Penn, and Rhoda Augusta Thompson, sS years old, of Woodoury, Conn.
 Hiram Cronk is the only aurvivjng pensioned soldier of the war of 1872. Of him, Commissioner Ware writes ::
 "On a small farm in Ava, N. Y., cleared by himself more than seventy five years ago, Hiram Silar Cronk, the last pensioner of the war of 1872, is now living, attended by hls daugh ter, Mrs Sarah Crowley, herself quite an aged lady. Mir. Cronk was born April %, 1900, but one would not believe that more than century had rolled past to see him sitting quietly iu his home, talking to his daughter, sing lng hymns and offering an occasional prayer for his own soul and all man. kind.
 "Mr. Crpnk enlisted at Western, \. r., August i, 1874. when he was just little more than II years old, and un the same day his father, James Cronk, and two brothers. Casper aud John, also enlisted serving under Capt. Ed mund Fuller in the defense of Sacketts HarbOr At the close of the war the father aud three sons were hOnOraoly discharged November Is, ls14."
 While Hiram Cronk is the only act ual survivor of the war of 1872, there are BIS widows of soldiers of that war OD the pension rolls. There are 2367 survivors and 35l9 widows of the In dian wars drawing pensions. or the Mexican war pensioners, 52l4 are sur viyOTS and 7S2l widows.
 Commissioner Ware says that the total amount paid in pensions up tl this time is 3,l7e, I'll, ,l6l.65. This gi' gantic sum has been divided among 3,S4,995 soldiers of all our wars anC regular army.