The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-11-10

The Pension Roll.
During the fiscal year 1910 "a. $50
names were stricken from and ?9.2l9
names were added To the national PEN
sion rolls. net decrease Of 25,iii. That
left g2i .Os3 pensioners. deserving and
undessrving. n these two groups could
be effectively classified there is reason
to believe that an opportunity would
be given for a great economy in ma
tional expenditure. There il no pres
ent way by which such a division
may be- made. The recently issued
annual report OF the Pension Office nat
urally and necessarily affords no clue
To the frauds and falsifications, the
tricksry and the political manipulation
by which thousands of names have been
placed on the roll The books OF the
bureau are not open. and Congress is
naturally little disposed to spread a
record Of its easy largesse before the
public
The Worlds Work for November con-
tains the second OF series of articles on
The Pension Carnival II reviews the
laws passed in the fifteen years imme-
diately following the close OF the civil
war. An article to come will show the
laws passed since issO. While this is
interesting and important "a an exhibit
OF the way in which hundreds Of thou
sands of names have been added to the
rolls. il does not touch the offensive
features Of the system. The principle
involved and. broadly. the system itself
are generally approved. The objection
10 to the abuses that have crept or have
been forced into the system Are there
cases where two or even three per-
sons have drawn pensions for one
mans service? Have pensions been
continued long after the proper bene-
ficiariss were dead? Are there cases
Of one man drawing several pensionss
Are women who were never married
to soldiers drawing pensions as legal
widows? Are pensions paid TO deserters,
bounty jumpers. -bummers- and camp
followers. 20 men discharged for the
good Of the service, 10 men who never
wore a uniform and never carried GIN?
Il is said that all these and many other
frauds are represented many times over
on the pension rolls and there is no
assurance that they are not.
The magazine article cites q specific
case. giving the name and the place OF
the rascal, Of a man who drew one PEN
sion legally and four others unlawfully.
II gives the name and prints the
picture Of a deserter who draws SIS
cited. and the magazine claims TO have
a record OF so many that il NAV seem
As il the pension list were made up " holly
OF frauds, which ia not the case How
are these frauds perpetrated1 Bluntly,
in most cases, by the collision OF I'M
votes and the political support Of the
The general law il now
very broad The act of February q,
1907. provides a pension. graduated for
age but irrespective of physical or finan-
cial condition. for all who served in the
Union army for ninety lays or more Of
the civil war. or sixty days Of the Mexi- |
can war and were honorably discharged.
The act Of April 10, 1909, grants ST. a
month TO the widows OF persons who
served ninety days or more in the army
or navy during the civil war, provided |
they we're married prior TO June -. !
1879 Need OF tho pension is nor con- !
dition Of its payment
The worst phase OF the matter il per- !
haps the fact that the Congress goes on !
e correcting the record Of men who !
never had any record. goes on giving |
the benefit Of the doubt to men whose |
claims hav" no foundation whatever.
The survivors of III" war who are IN |
any way entitled Ia pension and who
are not already Un she list are now
few. vet each session Of Con-
gress grInds ont new pensioners. under
special bills approved in binche.
As the average value Of the pensions
paid last wear Increased littl. more
than 81. according To- the report Of the
the decrease in ,h. num-
Der Of pensioners results in decreasing
the total payment by only some s. .OOo.-
Do. The requirement Is still about
siso ,OOO.OOO An honest and effective
pruning would unuiiestionablv effect a
very material reduction.