The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-12-02
ARE PASSING ON.
Over Four Thousand Old Soldier
Pensioners Died Last Year.
Still the Aggregate Amount
Paid Is Larger.
CHANGE IN THE LAWS.
This Is Responsible for This
Strange Anomaly.
Topeka Office Has just Paid
Out Over Four Millions.

some people cream dDOuI SONSiA IL
ment jobs-dream of. sitting around in
government offices looking out of the
big plate glass windows over the
| broad eXpanse of Uncle Sans property
and smoking the pipe of peace. "Oh,
for a government job they sigh and
! Immediately they bring out their ham
| mers and with the accompaniment of
the ever ready anvil chorus they take
savage blows at the way the world in
general is being controlled today. For
instance a St Louis paper said not
long ago: Government employees
don't work hard, they just think they
do. The women who work in the de-
partments take their knitting and sew
ing along with them. The men take
their magazines and pipes.
That is what some people think OF
the Uncle Sam toilers. There is only
one thing that will make a person
think differently and when he accom-
his ideas so quickly that he will Won
der at his former thoughts. Visit a
government offce-that will tell the
story.
porter took a little tour through the
cold. cold offices of the pension de-
partment. These offices are the ter
ror of all newspaper men--not be-
cause the men in them are of hard
hearted nature, but because of the
continual clocklike business regularity,
their unwaVered diligence and their
strictly business characteristics There
is not another office in Topeka where
the chief clerk official or head" will
not turn from his desk and engage in
a few moments of conversation on any
topic reporter might suggest. they
seem anxious to know what Is going
on out in the Street-and more than
all-what are the chances of the
Washburn football team for next fall?
But a reporter does not find this
val ri Of n TOnRl<a-
sion offices. Everyone has something
to do (this is not surprisingly but they
do it (that is surprisingly This morn
ing with a stick of dynamite in one
hand and a conciliatory smile on his
face the reporter determined to blow
some news out of the big pension de-
partment which takes up most of the
floor space in the federal building.
This department is under the agency
of Colonel Wilder S. Metcalf and Chief
Clerk James P. Howe. 1t is we'll
known fact that the Topeka pension
office is the largest of the eighteen
agencies in the United States and the
jurisdiction includes Kansas, Colorado,
Missouri, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
At the present time the clerks in the
pension Office are preparing the 120,-
600 vouchers to be sent to The pen
sioners all over the territory. 1t takes
twenty clerks twenty days to perform
this tedious task of addressing en-
velopes and vouchers and this work is
being done at the present time.
More Money, Fewer Pensioners.
The November payment of the To-
peka pension department was $4.225,-
O5670 This is not a record breaker
but one of the largest sums ever paid
out of the department This is vast
amount of money to be paid out in
few days and it is the busiest and
most nerve racking period in the pen
sion department. This is the time
that most people think the govern
ment clerks work. They will admit
that there is something to do at this
time but after that they throw up
their hands in disgust. The Novem-
Der payment this year was paid to
1O7,2O2 pensioners. Last year at the
same time $4,0S6,713-74 was paid out
of the office to 107,539 pensioners.
In other words an increase of $lSS:-
600 round numbers was paid this
year to almost $50 fewer pensioners.
This looks improbable but it must be
remembered that not long ago special
legislation was enacted by which the
pensions and pension conditions were
Increased to such an extent that thou-
sands of dollars were added to the
enormous payments. already in tap.
The fact that there are 337 fewer.
pensioners this year during the
November payment than during the
same payment last year is due to
many causes. First of all. of course,
the death of the old soldiers. Despite
the fact that a large number of these
account for such a decrease in PEN
sioners as almost all of them leave
widows or children who take their
places on the rolls. There are many
reasons for the decrease-such as the
death of widows, and the children ar
irving at the age limit. When a child
becomes sixteen years of age he is
out of the jurisdiction of the govern
ment pension bureau.
Many Die Every Month.
TIT TO
on-looker of the pension business is
the deaths of the old soldiers over the
country. When asked concerning
them this morning Chief Clerk Howe
said:
"Of course they are dying off rapid
ly and in course of a few years they
will be memory of the past. In our
district the average number of old sol
other words about 1000 each year"
During the last payment there were
4SS old soldiers reported dead in the
month of October. In September 246
the big apparent death rate in Oc-
tober was the regular postal card re-
port at the end of every three
months. This comes after an, inquiry
from the department for the cause of
certain Recommendations Then is
when all deaths can be learned. But
on an average there are about $50 old
soldiers who pass away every month
IN the Kansas district. In the last
few years the average has been the
same. It is a noticeable fact that in
these western states the old soldiers
live much longer than back east
where the dampness and colder
weather catches it's victims. Kansas
especially, is a healthy state for old
soldiers and the death rate here is
much lower than in any other state in
the Union. CThis may cause a gen
eral influx of old soldiers to the state i
Report for Five Years.
In a report kindly submitted by