Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-03-05
PRIVATE BILLS IN CONGRESS
Development Of the Ar Of Scientific Vote
Culture by oungTsssmsn.
HOW TIE PENSION ROLL Is swELlED
Thousands of Names Placed on the
List ny special Aet-APpIicsnts
U.uaIIy Turned Down ny
Pension Buresu.

Reports OF proceedings in congress On
Fridays and Saturdays usually announce
that a given number Of private pension bills
were passed IN an hour or less. How the
work Is done and what Il means is OK
planned in Golfers BY a member of ;he
press gallery. In part lac writes:
At the close Of the congressional FAY Of
Friday. February l5, there had been in
troduoed in the LJuse OF represents tives
Is, oss bills OF these arly 1880 were what
IL knewn as private that is thcy pro-
pose In some form or other. and for one
purpose or another 20 take marcy "Ut Of
/ the treasury and give I 20 ',rivlte per
sons. organizations or sorporssi Jns. <tBriy
/ $500 OF them grant pensions oT increase
! Of pensions TO persons who cannot secure
such benefit In the regular way through the
! pension bureau. Over 200 sack TO satisfy
claims growing out OF the civil val sno
about l.2u5 lay the foundation for future
pension legislation through the congress
sional Strengthening out Of crooked military
records. In the plain English Of the day
practically the whole 12,oOo are graft bills
IN the senate, up to the same Gate, there
had been introduced 44A bills, Of which
over 2.2OO deal out graft directly in the
form Of pensions. Besides these 1.14s pro-
vice relief for somebody. relief usually
meaning money given In satisfaction OF a
claim coming under the class that has been
| uniformly rejected 10y the court of claims.
over so prepare the way FOR later bills
giving pensions Thus about $500 of the
44s4 senate bills for the first two months
Of the session are propositions to pay gov
eminent money TO constituents OF the sen
ators-
AL this means that more than five-sixths
than four-fifths Of the business Of the SEN
ate is not public but private legislation,
and all aimed at the purchase Of votes
for the senators and representatives with
public money. That, in a nutshell, is the
meaning OF the private bill graft thai is
going on in Washington.
II IL Conceivable, of course. that among
this mass OF bills there are some that are
not without merit. but d very brief ex-
animation Of the general pension laws and
the administration Of the pension bureau
will reveal a Nberality on the part OF the
government in the granting OF pensions
through the regular channels that compels
serious question az TO the necessity or
justification for all these special bills.
General Pension Laws.
There are three general pension acts, with
host Of amendments The laws Of July
a. 1eO<s hfO pl fndTCn 4htos IIoNtut AOl
the granting Of a pension TO any soldier
J who incurred a disability in the line OF
duty. and continue IL TO his widow or
minor children or his dependent parents.
D | The only conditions are that the orig
inAl pensioner must have been a sol
4 der with clean record evidenced
! by honorable discharge, and that
I the disability was incident TO the service
, The act Of January q 1890. known as the
8 dependent pension law, provides for the
granting of pension TO airy man who
served ninety days in the army. navy OF
marine corps and was honorably dis
I charged, and who. by reason OF any diss-
bilities OF q permanent character. not due
I TO vicious habits, even though not incident
in any way to the service. is incapacitRtec
from earning support by manual labor
Such pension is continued 70 the widow
or other dependents, regardless of tbs
i cause Of the original pensioners death. L
= the soldier himself never applied for
e p, nsion. his widow or minor children may
y secure II after his death.
= The numerous amendments Of the orig1
4 mai acts all tend 10 extend the liberality o.
II the government and 10 increase the mum
Y Der Of pensioners and the ease with which
d pensions may be obtained. To secure
s pension under any one of these laws o.
1t person legally entitled TO he pensioDed II
h make application on the prescribed form
and TO comply with the not irksome regu
Il laJions Of the pension characterization
=. all designed 20 facilitate just claims ant
!. TO prevent the success Of fraudulent ones
le The pension bureau lie administered in
J. liberal way. which aims at carrying oVt tn
IL spirit OF the law that 9 person who &C
5, tusIly performed military service for tn
n government and is now disabled in an.
way should receive a pension.
II IL from the thousands of persons VIII
cannot comply with the comparatively sim
il pie requirements of the law that the sp
plications come which demand special Seq
+ islstion And out Of this possibility Of spe
d. cihl pension Legislation has grown up
N custom Of congressional log-rollinE whic
Re neither public building nor river and har
L. Dor bill ever approached.
- CuItivatinE Votes.
y Every pension bill introduced in con
~ gresE means votes for the man who intro
duced H. That is the real reason II lie in
rodueed. II means not only the vote c
~ the hopefully eXpectsnt beneficiary hin
self but thu votes of all whom he can il
= nuenoe. II the applicant is woman,
means the votes of all the men she ca
claim as her friends. II any one dOubt
this. let him consult the hill record n
'e capitol, ana consider the difference in IN
number of pension bills introduced by N
- member from a close district and thos
introduced by the member who haE no hsr
hEht on for reelection. TIE more bill
the more votes. and the greater the nee
for votes the greater the number OF bill
II is never dificult 10 find men or worne
willing 10 benefit by such congressionl
hberality.
The FIRST thing that happens when
man OF woman gets the pension desired
an application 10 the pension bureau. Whs
that IL rejected the next move lie a :,
Guest 10 the Congressman from the dt
trict 20 secure the passage of q privst
bin Very often II occurs that the a,