Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-11
NOT YET DECIDED
WEAT WILL BE DONE WITH PEN
SION REVIEWERS.

Commissioner Warner of the pension bu-
reau has not yet decided what he will do
in the case of the members of the board of
review of the pension bureau who have
been cited to show cause why their services
should not be dispensed with. The matter
under consideration the commissioner be-
lieves is one of grave Importance, and the
decision when made should be just to the
men under charges and the government
also. One of the persons under charges
has not returned an answer to the commits
sioner's communication, and until this an
swer is received final action will be defer
red. The member of the board referred to
Is out of the city on leave, and probably
did not receive the commissioners notice at
the time it was received by the others.
Mr.. Warner has received all but this one
reply.
In almost every one of the replies the
delinquent clerks frankly acknowledge
their guilt and ask no favors, except that
as much mercy is consistent be shown
them. Almost every one of them is an old
employe and all are men VINO are specially
detailed to the positions they occupy be-
cause of their expert knowledge of the
rules and practice of the office. 1t may be
that the commissioner will simply reduce
the Offenders with reprimand but there
is also a possibility that they will be dis
missed from the service. Some of them are
men who have grown gray in the service
and who have large families dependent
upon them. All of this will be given con-
sderation by the commissioner in his final
verdict, and the matter will then be passed
up to the Secretary of the Interior for his
approval.
Others Are at Fault
The suggestion has been made that others
than the members of the board of review
are at fault and that the examiners should
be called upon to explain why the six cases
of McLane's Regiment of militia were al
lowed to progress as far as the board of
review. The officials of the pension bureau
state that the members of the examining
force are overwhelmed with cases at all
times of the year. They give these cases
the greatest attention, but in some in
stances they are clerks of low salary new
to the office who are not as familiar with
the practice. In addition to this, it is eX-
planned, they have other duties beyond the
examination of cases to define the status of
the pensioners regiment and errors are
very likely to creep in.
1t is for the purpose of checking up all
such errors that the board of reviews, of
experts in the knowledge of the pension
laws and rules of practice, was formed.
The entire duty of this board is to discover
the errors of the examiners and correct
them. If it was possible to employ and
pay an examining corps that would make
no mistakes in the first instance there
would be no need for a board of review.
But there is a board of review and this
board has the final say on the matter of
pensions. The protection given by the
board is considered ample. The board is
divided into two sections, one of which re-
views the case originally and the other
takes it up after the first review and re-
reviews it. These sections are called, re-
spectively, the reviewers and re-revewers
Thus an additional safeguard is thrown
around the case and there seems to be
hardly any chance that an error will creep
through.
The excellence of this system is shown by
the fact that out of more than 100000 cases
passed upon by the board of review in the
last year there have been but eight errors,
the eight which have caused so much trou-
BILE for ten of the reviewers and re-reView-
ers. 1t is this board of men who are held
responsible for all errors and the correction
thereof and consequently it is on the delin-
quents of this board that the blow falls
when there is error.