The National tribune., 1904-04-28
LIBERALIzED PENSIONS.
An Interview With Commissioner Ware as to the Meaning and
Scope of the New Order.

NOTE.-Such IN extreme interest was
manifested in the interview with Commits
sioner Ware, printed in last weeks Ma
TIoNAL TRIBUNE, that We have decided to
reprint it to meet the demand for extra
copies, and that it may go to thousands
who were pct on our lists last week
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE
The readers of The National Tribune
have all intense interest in the way the
new order from the Commissioners of Pen
sions will be practically applied, and
therefore n representative of the paper
sought and obtained an interview with
Commissioner Ware. who said:
pie and easily understood. 1t does not
pertain to widows, minors or dependent
parents. 1t is not in addition to any other
pension, for no one can receive more than
one pension at the same time and no one
but an old soldier is affected by it. Those
who draw ST. or more are not affected by
it.
Pensions are of two classes. First
old law in which the disability incurred
in army service and line of duty, rate So
to 500. Second. New law, disability
occurring since the service and not of vi
cious origin, rate ST to $12.
Order No. 20 pertains only to the New
law, which is the law of June u, 1890,
modified by the law of May 8, 1900. 1t
which incapacitates him from earning
support by manual labor. The infrmity
is bodily and not mental. No matter
what he may be able to earn with his
brain. The pension theory of the United
States in all acts of Congress and in all
decisions on the subject has only cOnsid-
cred physical vigor. Brain power has
soundness of mind has diminished ability
to perform manual labor. So the test is
manual labor and the inability to earn
a support. The ability to earn q support
means a support of reasonable quality at
and near his domicile. He is not Obliged
to go to the pOor-hOuse, or move off where
things are cheaper, or to subsist on rice
or live in cellar, or to leave home, friends
or kindred and go to distant spots to hunt
job. To illustrate, there is member of
the United States Supreme Court who has
served in the army; if he applied for a
pension the question would be: Suppose
he was stripped of his Office, of his for
tune. and of the benevolence of friends.
could he go forth in the County of his
domicle and earn a support by manual
labor! 1t is not probable that he could.
What kind of machinery can he run, for
this is an age of machinery? Can he run
locomotive, a lathe. a loom, or only
spade! Can he compete with the Italian,
the Hun, the negro, or others seeking
manual labor? lie is not a bricklayer,
and ii he were he must find that class of
work. and if a walking delegate did not
interfere with him, he might be employed
lie must take society in its present cOndi-
tions, and, if necessary to obtain work. he
must join labOr-union. When he is in
labOr-uniOn he must conform to the
rudes, and if the rules do not allow him
fn r<pL fow Al.
not cut down the wages of others by work
ing for reduced wage, and this lets him
out. Where is the gainful occupation that
VIII employ men Of G2 or over OF coursh
ii he were not a skilled laborer, he must
enter the class of the unskiled Under
these circumstances l doubt if the Judge
could earn money enough even to get into
a union. And l think that at G2, instead
or being half disabled and entitled to Sc
he would be three-fourths disabled and en-
titled to So ~
.'Itere Is solnething pathetic about all
this. but 1T is fact that laborers at that
age for manual work are not desired and
work IS only given them out of sympathy.
if they need work, and the fact of total
disability is exceedingly common. Some
metropolitan Journals, with their vast
force of laborers, often speak of pensioners
as sturdy beggars.' These newspaper
Offices themselves employ young men. and
old men have no place in the manual labor
necessary to carry on the work Gen.
Black drew total disability pension while
ne held the office of Commissioner of Pen.
slons at 5000 year. But his cond-
ton absolutely justified the pension. and
the high esteem with which he was mi.
vefsally held showed that the public fully
acdniesced" '''''
"Your views. Mr. Commissioner. arc
highly commendabIe." said The NationaI
Tribune representative. "They are pre-
ciseiy what we labored to impress upon
Mr.; Cleyeland's Administration"
During the Administration of Mr.
aieveiand. the Commissioner returned.
in 1892. the pension law called the New
law was then in it's early stage. Few
soldiers of that period were GO years OF
age, the bnlk OF them nearer -. There
were very few as old as 65 and exceeding
Nv few rs old as -. and such ns were that
old belonged to the 'gravbeard' regiments.
or wer" MEXICAN War soldiers. There was
hut little Pension Bureau experience II.
those days concerning soldiers from CO to