The Washington times., 1905-04-16
A Fight for the Law.


The new Commissioner of Pensions
has begun right He has put his fin
ger on one OF the most distinctly il !
legal and dangerous practices OF the
bureau at the outset Hereafter, he
says, the superior officers of the
bureau are to grant no pensions by
special order which could not be
granted without their intervention.
To the lay mind this decision will !
seem entirely superfuous- Yet the
practice of granting pensions not
authorized by law on the mere : in
GERS of the bureau has continued
without question for many years The
grounds given have been various.
But the real reason has always been
the same-the case has been made .of
special order in behalf of certain
persons of influence
The pressure behind these initiated
cases has come from several sources.
Briefly those sources are the same
and the reward is the same. without
the element of theft, as in the cases
of August Machen and George W.
Beavers . The theory has been thatinl
little matters like pensions of $8 a
month and rural free delivery; routes
it did nobody any harm and certain
officers of the Government much good
To- eonstrue the law literally Thus.
certain members of Congress-and
others-have been able TO prove them
selves indispensable to their constitu-
ents, and certain officers of the Gov
ernment have made themselves inde-
pendent-for time-of their imme-
diate superiors.
No reference is made to what are
known in the Pension Bureau as "spe-
cial cases They consist merely of ap-
plications for pensions lifted out of
their regular places in line and rushed
TO immediate consideration This is
done, sometimes. because the claims
are really urgent-the applicant is,
sick unto death, or in sore need, or
otherwise under the stress of want.
II is done oftener because some mem
Der of Congress wants to report to a
constituent that he has had the case
given special attention. But the prac-
tiee is not illegal and not dangerous.
to
instant action. The Commissioners of
Pensions is not legislative officer.
He has no business to revise the laws.
He has no right to plan either 1'an
economical administration of the
bureau" as the Office describes a
policy of overseverity toward the
claimant, or IAN administration fay-
orable to the soldier" He does his
duty when he enforces the laws which
Congress has passed and the President
has signed Whenever he overrides.
or amends, or supersedes, or other
wise suspends the operation of these
laws, he violates his oath and com
mits fraud And if the Office of COM
missioner is ministerial, under these
fixed restrictions, how much less are
his subordinates warranted in reading
the law to snit their own fnterestst
How often the law has been read in
this light is not known now Men
well informed as to the proceedings of
the bureau do not think the number
OF cases great enough to cast sus-
picion on the whole system. The
number must be large, nevertheless.
The practice has continued through
too many years. If there were only
one such case, however, the old atti-
tude of the bureau would still be ut
terly indefensible.
The Commissioner has determined
TO put an end to the whole business
He will find II no easy matter. He has
already involved half dozen capab bic
and trusted clerks. If in this instance
he proves himself master of his Of
fiee force-and he must do that or
acknowledge himself greater failure
than the weakest of his predecessors
-he will have still to cope with the
Congressional machine these subordi-
mates have been building for the past
ten years.
The new Commissioner of Pensions
has begun right, it IS true. But he
has big fight on his hands.
Ct,rt;r1 p;obL