The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1909-02-10
STATE PENSION FRAUDS
Legislative Probe May Be Turned
Into Mountain Counties.
FEW SOLDIERS, MANY PENSIONS

In Many Instances Money Is Drawn
From the State Treasury by Those
Not Entitled to 1t. More Money
Is Drawn in tn Ninth Congress
siOnal District Than in Amy Other
Three Districts.
ATLANTA-Evident fraud in
Georgia's pension rolls will again be
brought to the attention of the gem
eral assembly this summer in the
hope that steps will be taken prop
erly to purge the pension rolls.
There is not a particle of doubt in
the mind of Pension Commissioner j.
w. Lindsay and others who have in
vestigated the subject that extensive
frauds have been practiced and that
in many instances money is now
drawn from the state by those who
are not entitled to it.
1t is, to say the least, a remarka-
BILE fact that more pension money is
drawn from the state treasury by
the ninth congressional district in
the northeastern section of the state,
the Ninth congressional district, in
the state, with the exception of the
fifth, in which Atlanta is located.
And the amount drawn by the ninth
far exceeds that drawn by the fifth
alone.
Mountain Counties Get Most.
1t is a well known fact that as
compared with other sections of the
state the mountain counties fur
nished few soldiers to the confeder-
ate forces, and yet the pension rolls
show far greater proportion of pen
sioners in that section. This is con-
fined to no one or two counties, but
includes practically all of them.
Banks county, for instance, with a
population of 10,5 39 according to the
last census, draws $500 in pen
sions, or almost 81 for each inhabi-
tant, while Chatham county with a
population of 1929, and which is
said to have furnished more soldiers
to the confederacy than any other
county in the state, draws only So
5S5, something like 10 cents per
capita of population.
Richmond county, which gave lib
orally to the ranks of the confederate
army, draws about 80 cents per capt.
ia in pensions, and Muscogee, which
was also represented extensively in
the ranks, about so cents per capita.
Poverty No Explanation.
On the other hand White county,
20
the North Carolina side, draws 80
cents per capita, Rabun about 70
cents and Habersham, in the same
section slightly more than 81. 9th
er counties of the Ninth district
show similar proportions when it is
known that they gave comparatively
few soldiers to the confederate army.
This discrepancy cannot be ex-
planned on the idea of poverty, nor
does the fact that veterans have
moved into those counties account
for it. While some may have moved
in many more, it is said, have moved
away. In fact, many pensioners have
moved from various sections of the
state to Atlanta and Fulton county.
Attempt to Defraud.
A persistent applicant for a pen
sion from one of these north Georgia
counties brought every possible in
t1uence to bear recently to get on
the rolls, but by mistake disclosed
the fact that his service consisted
only in being guard at a conscrip-
ton camp. He was never a member
of any military organization. When
he found that his application had
been disapproved he attempted to abb
stract the paper from the commits
sioner's office, it is believed, with a
view to presenting new one with
a different statement of facts, of
course properly certified and sworn
to.
Commissioner Lindsay thinks the
state ought to have a pension exam
liner in each congressional district.
He is firmly of the belief that it
would result in a great saving of
money to the state.