The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-09-24

Defends His Order No. IS In His Char
acteristic Way.

To the Editor of the Sun: All
\ Democrats are constitutional lawyers
and occupy the relation to the Repub-
lican party that mosquitoes do to a
/ fisherman
I have recently seen Report No. L.
made by the Parker Constitution club
of New York, IN which they find that
pension order No rs. known as the
age order is an invasion of the con-
stitution, and they hold the president
responsible therefore.
Order No IS was an order making
the proof of certain ages. by old SOL
diers, evtdential facts of certain de-
grees of disability; not conclusive
only evidential.
! Seventy years. being the Biblical age
of three score and ten, was fixed as the
probable age of total disability, which
so incapacitated them from the per-
4 Torrance of manual labor as to render
them unable to earn a support" The
foregoing are the words of the statute.
The United States statutes make the
commissioner of pensions the executive
officer TO carry out and enforce the
pension laws The laws are brief and
need much Interpretation, and the po-
sition of commissioner is in many re-
spects analogous to that of a judge, in
that he must interpret the law and
weigh the evidence presented, and de-
clare therefrom whether the claimant
is entitled to a pension or not Over
10000 claims are by him rejected
annually.
Among other things which the COM
missioner is called upon to decide is
the meaning Of the sentence above quo
ted For instance: What is manual
labor?" Notice d policemtn strolling
leisurely along-is he performing man.
ual labor? Is the night Waterman in a
hotel, or the cashier in a bank, or
many another whom We might cite, en-
gagged in manual labor?
The commissioner must decide what
is manual labor" The statute does
not apply to brain labor, nor does it
1a4 II lei,
sions for physical and not mental de-
cay.
Again. what is "a support?'' Must
an old soldier live on rice or corn meal?
Is the support contemplated by con-
gress the cheapest that will keep life
in him at one meal a day? Must he
live in a cellar or in a bunk. like a San
Francisco Chinaman; must he wear
rags, must he wrap himself up In |
a piece Of carpet and hibernate through |
the winter?
The present attitude of thought in
the pension bureau is that the word
support" means clothes good enough |
to go to church in and a respectable |
abode, and such medical attendance as
square meals a day, and plenty OF plug
cut, and several other things, and then
some more
order No. IS finds that an old soldier
who is 81 years of age is probably able |
to earn only one-half of this kind OF /
support and is entitled to Sc per month /
as a pension, ana at % ne Is lWO- /
thirds disabled and entitled to IS.
This rule is within the strict line or
statutory authority, human experience
and executive precedent No Demo-
cratic president or commissioner will /
ever abrogate order No. 7S, because 1t
is for all time; yet a Democratic pres
fdent or commissioner would have that
power, and General Black who hild
been pension commissioner, knowing of
this power, thought il wise to suggest
that congress put the question beyond
the reach OF his party by making an
act done in pursuance or Congressional
authority the motive of a SPECIFIC act
There being nothing wrong In prln-
cipIe with order No. rs, let US now ex-
anime the particular charge or uncon-
stitutionality which the Parker Con-
stitution club sets forth
The club finds President Roosevelt
responsible for the order and finds that
il contravenes section of article l,
which reads as follows: mo money
shall be drawn from the treasury but
in consequence of appropriations made
by law"
History and the public records con-
corning order No. rs show that when
il was made congress was in session;
that the order was made March Is,
until April IS, 1904; that it was i'm
mediately reported to congress with
request that 1 u million dollars be ap-
propriated to carry the oder into ef-
feet. The sum estimated was embod-
led in the pending deficiency bill and
came up for quick discussion As or
der No. IS had been made under ana /
by virtue of authority granted by con-
gress there was then one Of three
courses to be taken by congress First,