The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-02-27
PENSION PROBLEM.
IN SPANISH WAR
Flood Of Requests for Aid from
Young Veterans Puzzles
Department.
Ry&W. w. Jermane.

washin gton, Feb. Applications
for pensions from Spanish war veterans
are pouring into the pension office, and
before the pension committees of con-
gress with astonishing rapidity. The
percentage for the time that has
elapsed since Santiago fell is very much
larger than the corresponding. period
of the greater scrutiny of the examin-
ations for enlistment in the recent con-
test. In certain parts Of the country,
practically the entire strength of the
! military organizations participating in
the Spanish war have applied for pen
sions- .s-
The Spanish war veterans see the
operation of the act Of 1890 as it ap-
plies to civil war veterans, and they
think the same system should apply to
them. That law gives a disabled civil
war veteran a pension whether his dis
ability arose from the service or not,
provided only that is it not traceable
to his own vicious habits.
A man who recently lost his hands in
rolling mill in Indianapolis, was
greatly surprised that the pension Office
could not give him pension, altho he
came out Of the war Of 1898 in perfect
physical condition.
Altho the expenditures on account Of
the war with Spain have not yet been
large, they are growing significantly.
In 1899 the Spanish war pension roll
was only $4,000. The next year it
twelve months increased it fourfold,
| practically, making the 1901 total
nearly. $1,200,000. In the fiscal year
| just closed it had reached So ,4O9,99S.
The popularity of this roll is that its
. names are on the books to stay a long
time. Death will not greatly deplete
it. Every bit Of new legislation will in
crease it.
The. pension office is finding an ap.
palling amount of tuberculosis in the
regular army now, growing out Of trop.
icM service. There. seems to be- some
thing about the transition from the
down. the physical system in it's abil-
ity to resist the inroads Of disease;
this Sletting down. comes first in the
form Of malaria, and before that is
over, tuberculosis often sets in. The
very considerable army that is perma
nently maintained in the Philippines
makes the charge on the pension office
heavy. -.
The great difference between civil
and Spanish war veterans in regard tc
pension applications, is that the former
| Aou W 10 dIOuStU TO go aIL6r Cle1
privileges; the stream Of pensions was
rather small until the passage Of the
arrears act of 1879, by which it be
came apparent that a small disability
emitting the sufferer to from So to Sc
q month from the time Of discharge
to the date of application, would b
paid IN lump sum, amounting to hun
dreds, and often thousands, of dollars
Before its passage Veterans generally
felt a certain pride III Declining to TAKE
the small sums which the government,
had offered. -.
This arrears act, followed by the Law
Of $780, virtually sent the veterans Of
the civil war tos@the pension office e1
masse, and it was to the atmosphere
that their, success created, that tn,
Spanish war veteran returned when h,
came home. :. y s9@t0 ~
| Congress this winter is enactine int,
law the famous order. No. IS of Com
missioner Ware, estimating age. from
81 to 70 as a disability, or rather pre-
sumptive evidence Of it. 1t gives s.
a month to every veteran, honorably
discharged, who has reached the az,
Of 90; So to the man who has reached
the age of S.; $40 to the man who ha
reached 60; and $12 when he, reached
1 70, assuming ninety days service II
each case. This is for those who ar,
not already receiving a larger sum OF
l ground Of disability. 80 4 ~: