The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-07-15

o. o. HOWARD.
General stckies' Letter.
MAJ len o. o. Howard. U. S. A.:
General: Complying with
HI nest have much pleasure
in reea pitu1ating the views express
ssed byssTae the other day about the re-
cent pension order of President
sFooseH Sit.
Fhef Const ution commands the
s. that the laws
executed Congress-
tie organi cation of<sthe Pension
once, imposed upon the President
the duty of supervising the execution
8of The pension laws. 1t is the only
bureau IN the government placed I'M
der the immediate direction of the
President by an act of Congress.
OrderNo. IS, dated March Is, 1904,
HIGH recognizes old age as a disa-
bili tysincapacitatin a soldier or sailor
to earn a. living by manual labor, and
therefore emitting him to a graduated
pension under the act of June %,
1880, is sustained by precedent and
law, and is one of the wisest acts of
President Roosevelt's administration.
You and I have heard this order de-
.nounced as: usnrpation of 1esisla-
live aut hority by the Executive.
These critics forgot that Judge Loeb
sren, President CIeveland's Commits
Ssioner of Pensions, by his order of
September 1893, gave the same eff
fectIo the act of 1890, fixing, however,
+Ia
of disability The legality of Judge
sLochren,s order was not questioned.
President McKin1ey's Secretary of
q the Interior. in July 1897, established
the rules that "a claimant for pension
under the act of June 81, 1890, who
has attained the age OF sixtyy-five
years, shall be entitled to at least
tie minimum rate of pension CSC a
month"; provided by that act This
order Of President Mckinley was not
disputed.
Cleveland and Mckinley Precedents.
President Roosevelt's Commissioner
of Pensions, Colonel Ware, in his now
famous order No. IS, approved by the
Secretary of the Interior, Mr.. Hitch
lsScock, directs that when a claimant
under4 the act of June 81, 1890, has
passed the age of sixty-two years. he
is disabled. one-half in ability. to per
form manual labor and is entitled to
be rated at SCI month";, the minimum
pension, taft er sixty-five years at SIS
amonth; aftdr sixty eight years at SO
month, and after seventy years at
n s12 month"; the maximum.
Each ofEtheses orders is based upon
b the same Interpretation of the act of
June 81, 1890. If Cleveland and Nc
Sc Kinley were right, Roosevelt is right.
tits the common experience of man
q kind that old age units one to earn a
& living by manual labor. Who will
give a job of hard work to man over
sixty? We have seen that our Pension
flee has for many years recognized
old age as legal disability" affect
ing the fitness of a veteran soldier or
sailor to earn a support. President
~ Roosevelt declares this inability be-
II gins at the age of sixty-two. That is
true; and Roosevelt has the same au
thorityi to fix the pensionable period
SRas Cleveland and Mckinley had when
+ they were in power. officers of the
navy are retired from service at that
age; army officers are retired at sixty
ssfour. Congress determines these Pc
ssriods. In 1887 Congress directed
that all of our soldiers who served in
81 the Mexican war who were over sixty
1.-TWO years of age, Should be placed on
She pension roll giving them IS a
fonth -s2 more month than is al
sowed by order No. rs to the Civil
war soldiers of the same age. The
President followed these analogous
Bases.
The q ln,igh tyF Ruler has enacted
that the great mass of mankind are
seriously disabled from earning a sup
i pprt by manual labor at siXty-two
ears, and President Roosevelt and
lei Pension, Bureau have only recog-
s1ed that 4 law in determinin that
IS pension Off veteran for bility,
under the act of June q Z, 1870. shall
& begin at that age, at the rate of Sc
a month and be increased gradually
5 su1ntil, the age OF seventy, s12 a