The National tribune., 1908-10-15


How bitter the feeling Of the present
| Bryanites against this measure of right
was is atteAted by the speed with which
| they reversed it upon attaining to pow
Ter. They lacked the courage to abso-
luteiy repeal the Act of June 27, 1890,
/ but determined to reduce its benefits to
| the veterans by every art which a petit
| Jogging lawyer could bring to bear to
neutralize law. Hoke Smith, one of
| Bryan's supporters in the South, and
who will undoubtedly have much to say
in the event of Bryan's election, issued
the following order but little over a
month after Mr.. Cleveland was inaugu-
rated:
| Department of the Interior,
| Washington, D. c., May q, 1898.
To the Commissioner of Pensions.
| Sir: Order No. 164. signed Green B.
Raum. Commissioner of Pensions" and
approved, Cyrus Russey, Assistant
Secretary" of date Oct. Is, 1890, is
! hereby revoked.
You will prepare, for approval of the
| Secretary, new rules and regulations
/ covering the proof of the tight to pcn-
sions and rates of same in accordance
| with the provisions of Sec OF the act
| Of Congress approved June 81, 1890.
Your attention is directed to the fact
that the disabilities which are pension
able under this section must be OF a
| permanent character, inca pacitating for
the performance of manual labor to
such degree as to produce inability
to earn support. You will observe
also that the rate OF pension is fixed
i at not less than Sc nor more than Si2
per month, proportioned to the degree
1 Of inability to earn support. ,z.1....,
4 You viii have an examination maflc
| to determine what pensions have here
| tofore been allowed under Sec. Of he
act approved June 27, 1896, in disse-
| gard Of the ternas Of said act, and ia
| conflict with the ruling Of this Depart
! r1ent in the case Of Charles I. Bennett,
| this day transmitted to you. rs.i
Respectfully.
Hoke Smith, Secretary.
| This was speedily followed by order
No. 226, which carried sorrow to tens
of thousands of homes of veterans and
order read: -
] Order No. 22S.
| June Z. 1898.
| To properly comply with the order OF
the Honorable Secretary of the Interior
and directing the Commissioner to
"have an examination made to deter
mine what pensions have heretof0fe
been allowed under Section of the
act approved June 81, 1890, in disre-
gard of the terms of said act, and in
conflict with the ruling of this Depart
nent in the case of Charles T. Bennett, !"
it is deemed necessary to organize a
Board of Revision"
The following-named gentlemen are
hereby detailed as members Of this
Board, viz:
]. r. Van Mater (Acting Chief,
Dennis Kerr, Charles M. Bryant, Thos.
/ W. Dalton, Herbert w. Olmstead, Jo-
seph Loughran, Thomas G. Randall,
Henry n. Hough, Thomas H. Dawson.
1 DIR. John +. Keenan,, DR.. w. w. Fierce,
Dr. James K. Boude. Thomas De Loach,
Thomas P. Randolph, John J. F'reeland,
Winfield +. Works. VIM. J. Mcdonald,
Charles B. Heminway, Paul Kelso, John
| NJ. Williamson, William w. Van Loan,
DR.. Thomas D. Ingram, DR.. August N.
Coolidge.
The duties of the Board of Revision
shall be to draw from the admitted
files, as rapidly as may be practicable,
all cases allowed under Sec. 2 of the
act of June 27. 1890, and to determine
whether the allowances are in accord
ance with law.
The Board win act under the imme-
diate supervision and direction of the
Commissioner, who will give proper in-
structions as needed.
i The Chief Clerk will see to 1t at once
that proper accommodations are pro-
vided for the Board, and will detail the
necessary force of typewriters, file
clerks and messengers as soon as an
organization is effected.
(Executed.)
yViIIiapo 7 ochrcp ro,,, icciopnr
AS a-matter of actual history this
Board did with thoroness and harsh-
ness the odious work for watch it was
constituted. Every pension granted
= that was SO rigid that it became ma
licious to discover some reason for cut
ting down its allowances or stopping it
,altogether. Men had struggled painful
ly and anxiously to get upon the Pen
sion Rolls and obtain from the Govern
ment that measure of justice which had
; been promised them when they. enlisted
and which they then sorely needed to
aid them in the decline of their powers,
when age was making the hardships
Of their army service painfully mani
fest. They had searched the country
for their old officers and comrades to
obtain evidence; they had lived years of
anxiety. awaiting the collection of proof
and the action upon it OF the Pension
Bureau, and now, after having complet-
ed all this and secured an allowance
they were subjected to harsh scrutiny
and called to re-proye their cases at a
! time when their witnesses were dead
: and the refurnishing of the evidence
impossible. They Were dropped from
, the rolls by the ten thousand, and wild
ows We're reduced to the depth Of dis
: tress by the stern withdrawal of theiI
meagef stipends. The crying injussices
: perpetrated by this Reard of Re-Re-
r view became so manifest and intoler-
able that Congress had to act by max
ing a pension a vested right and stop.
ping the merciless and unjust inquisi.
tions.
Not only this, Heke Smith, Secretary
Y of the Interior. and William Loehren
s Commissioner Of Pensions, went tt
S Congress for extraordinary appropria.
!, tions and received 100000 a year 70,