The National tribune., 1906-04-05
WRITING TO THE PENSION BU-
REAU.
Information Of Much Value to All Who
Send Letters.

Editor National Tribune: For the
information of ali persons having cor
respondence with the Pension Bureau,
relating to claims for pension, l SUBJ
nit the following:
Every communication addressed to
the Commissioner of Pensions is re-
| ceiyed in the Mail Division of the Blu
reau. and it is the duty of the clerks
in that Division to open, stamp date
| of receipt and transmit same to the
Division to which it belongs.
Upon receipt of a claim for pension
| it is sent to the Law Division for tn"
purpose of determining whether 1t is
| legally drawn, then to the Record Di-
vision. where it is given g. number.
and all claims made by the same per-
sons and all papers referring to same
| will carry this number until a certiii-
cate for pension shall be issued. When
| a certificate is issued 1t Is given what
| is termed a certificate number, and all
| future claims for increase and papers
relating to same will carry this num-
ber. The Record Division numbers the
| claim, and enters on its records the
name of the soldier and the company
and regiment, together with the State
| to which the same Is credited, except
soldiers of the Regular Army, who are
| not credited to any particular State,
after which the claim is sent to the
| proper Division.
| When a claim reaches the Adjudicat-
| ing Division 1t is filed by its number,
| in numerical order, by the file clerk.
and this clerk can find any claim in
his division at once. simply by going
| to the file-case containing that num-
ber and drawing the claim from the
files. and placing a slip in its stead,
| showing where the papers are 10 be
| taken by him; this is done so that
papers in every claim can be located
quickly.
During the % working days of Feb
| ruary 903 letters were received in the
| Mail Division that did not contain eth
| er number or service OF the claim to
which they referred. These letters had
| to be returned to the writers with a
| request to supply this data, so that
the papers could be forwarded by the
| Mail Division to the Division in which
the claim Is filed.
i A soldier replying to one of these
letters on March. after supplying the
! data asked for, said: Your Bureau
needs reorganization, IL you keep nc
records OF disposition of claims. There
must be too many aged and mediocre
heads of Divisions. Get young men,"
Il 1t is not an infrequent occurrence to
have one of these letters which we
have sent back for the data which Is
lacking. and without which we cannot
forward it to its proper Division, re-
turned with q statement that the in
formation asked for has been furnished
; several times. and must be here or
file, il we win only look for it.
} A communication relating to a claim
for pension can be sent direct from
the Mail Division TO the Division tC
! which the claim belongs. IL the mum.
Der of claim (or certificate), name OF
soldier, letter of company. number oi
regiment arr: State to which the Or
ganiZation is credited, Is given by the
writer. If only name and number are
given we cannot tell in what Division
the claim belongs, SO must make briei
and send 1t with the papers to the Rec
| ord Division, where service will be sup.
piled and the papers sent from there
I to the proper Division. Again, If only
name and service be given, we coulC
send 1T to the Division, but the file
clerk could not find 1t without the
number, so we have to brief it an6
send it to the Record Division to sup.
ply the number.
The number of communications that
have to be briefed and sent to the Rec
ord Division Is largely in excess oi
those that have to be returned to the
writer, thus making quite an additional
amount of work in the Mail and Rec.
ord Divisions, and delaying the trans.
initial OF these papers from the Mai
Division to the Division to which thes
belong.
A careful perusal of the above should
make it plain to every one communi.
eating with the Bureau of Pension!
that by giving, in every communication
| relating to claim, even IL sending fol
blank for increase, the original, o,
! certificate number, the name of thf
soldier. letter of company. number OF
regiment and the State to which hi: