Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-11-11
IOWA PENSIONERS
MORE THAN $4,000 VETERANS,
WIDOWS AND CHILDREN, PAID
FROM DIES MONIES
Actual Survivors of War of Rebellion
on Pension Rolls Number es4,eos-
lowans Received Over S., 1000, 900 in
Pensions in Past Year.

Pensions in Past Year.
Veterans of the wars of the United
States, widows of soldiers and minor
children of soldiers, to the number of
! 54,710 are paid from the United
States pension agency at Des Moines.
Since the consolidation of the agen-
cies controlled from offices at Fair
| field, Dubuque, Des Moines and Oma-
ha, the Des Moines Office transacts
| the pension affairs for the states Of
Iowa and Nebraska. From the mod
est Office in the federal building men
who have marched behind bullet rid
died flags, over fields of carnage, to
victory, or been beaten step by step
to defeat; women whose homes have
been darkened by the sorrow caused
by the loss of husband; children
whose fathers have come home Grip
pied for life receive that consolation
that only republic which sends out
a million men to battle for humanity
can offer.
The total of pensioners represents
net gain in the two states of thirty
seven. Over the United States there
is usually gain of about per cent
in the number of new pensioners add.
ed to the rolls. The loss of pension
ers during the fiscal year over the
entire country was 43,SS3 and the
death loss of pensioners who actually
served In the civil war was 30,334.
There are at present on the pension
rolls of the United States, department
of pensions, 6S4,60S actual survivors
of the war of the rebellion.
There are at the present time in
the United States 998,441 pensioners
on the rolls of the department. The
largest number in the history of the
department was recorded Jan. 81,
1905. There were at that time 1904
1So. Since that time there has been
a gradual decrease in the number Of
pensioners. In the opinion Of experts
in the department, the number will
never again equal the top notch reach
ed in January, 1905. Since the time
mentioned there has been a decrease
Of 5,755 pensioners.
The amount of money handled year
ly through the agencies of the pension
Office Is startling in extreme. Few
persons who visit the agency are able
to form an idea of the vast amount Of
cash yearly passed over the pay count
er to the veterans Of the late war In
the United States last year there was
paid to pensioners $141.142,S6133.
The Des Moines Office pays soldiers
and their widows of all wars, with the
exception of the war of the revolution,
ever had by the United States. For
| instance, pensions are paid to 1888 vet
Grams of the Spanish-American war;
ISL widows of this war also receive
monthly stipends. There are nineteen
pensions paid to widows and other
pensioners of the war of 1872. In this
connection it is interesting to note
that there are now no survivors of
the war of 1872. Hiram Cronk, who
recently died in New York at a ripe
old age was the last survivor of the
war and with him passed the last of
the fighters against the mother coun-
/ try.
Survivors of Mexican War.
| OF the war with Mexico, however,
there are number Of survivors resid-
! ing within the limits of the Iowa-Ne-
braska pension agency. There are 1850
survivors of that war and 240 widows
/ drawing pensions. OF the Indian wars
there are still fewer. In the district
there are fourteen survivors and forty
three widows.
! However, these figures of the In
| dams wars are not representative, as
in the further west are hundreds Of
survivors of these campaigns against
the red man who have never returned
to their eastern homes.
The number of pensions paid to
~ l.. IL
the amount paid to Iowa pensioners
for the year ending June 80, 1905 was
/ 5,4s0,045s2.
One of the interesting features of
the pension agency is the soldiers
who have gained the right to pensions
by reason of their service in times of
/ peace. There are on the rolls of the
Des Moines agency 291 men who have
served their term in the regular army
and by reason Of disability in the
service are entitled to pensions. There
are forty-seven widows of these
peace soldiers"
Perhaps the most interesting and
yet the smallest class, of pensioners
are the nurses. 1t may be mentioned
that under the laws only such women
as served as nurses in the war of the
rebellion are entitled to pensions.
There are forty-nine nurses who re-
ceived the baptism of fire in the re-
beilion who are paid in the Des
Moines office.
In the year 1904 there was paid out
of the Des Moines office $7,S7O,449.46.
The Des Moines agency is the ninth
in size in the United States out of
eighteen similar ones New York was
formerly the ninth in size but passed
Des Moines, thus taking place as the
eighth in size.
Girl Pays Out Millions.
But who are these $4,000 pensions
paid? They are paid by the simple
signature Of girl, who for twenty
Gays does nothing but affix her name
time after time, day after day, and
week after week, ffty-four thousand
times until the task is ended. 1t is
a rule of the pension Office that each
check must be signed by the pension
agent. But the number of checks in