The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1911-01-26
TIE RAID OF THE WORLDS WORK

TIE RAID OF THE WORLDS WORK.
The installment of the Pension Car
nival" in the Worlds Work for January,
begins with full page picture of Henry
Clay Evans. Underneath this it says:
The Best Man Ever in Charge of the
Pension Bureau. Thru the Error of a
Washington Photographer a Picture of
Judge Walter Evans, Ex-CommissiOner
of Internal Revenue, was Published
Last Month Instead Of the Ex-Commis-
sioner of Pensions"
This is lame excuse. Henry Clay
Evans was so strongly identified with
the Pension Bureau that anyone who
pretends an acquaintance with the sys-
tenn should be acquainted with his face
and personality, and be able to make
no mistake. To shift the blame on to
a Washington photographer is simply
to expose the Worlds Works ignor-
aace of the whole subject and those
connected with it.
The installment for this month is de-
voted to widows Wfao succeeded in tenn
porarily imposing upon the Pension Bu-
reau, and there is formidable list of
where more than million of cases
have to be acted upon. What the
Worlds Work cunningly fails to state.
is that all these impositions We're dis
covered in the ordinary operation of
the Pension Bureau and the agents of
that Bureau brought the frauds TO
light without any outside Intervention.
This is most important, for it shows
the energy and capability of the Bu-
reau officials in keeping the Pension
roll roll of honor by detecting and
severely Furnishing impostors.
Much the most of the instances oc-
CURED in that exceedingly troublesome
widows of eolored soldiers. As every
one knows, the marriages between
slaves were exceedingly informal, and
a record was possible only in a small
percentage of cases. Yet. the widows
of a large proportion of the coIored
soldiers were as truly their wives as
If they had been married in full ca
thedral in the presence of thousand
witnesses. by a robed priest. These
women lived with their husbands faith
fully and deyotedly, bore them chill
dren, brought these up as well as they
knew how, and cared for their hus-
bands until death, faithfully, sympa-
thetically, and as well as their humble
knowledge would permit. They were
just as deserving as any other widows.
The Bureau officials were tormented
on the one hand by the fear of doing
injustice to worthy women and faith
full wives, and on the other hand to
sharks who were taking advantage of
the soldiers and the widows ignorance.
The officers of the Bureau should, in
stead or being blamed, receive the
highest compliments for the patience,
consideration for sacred human rights
and the indefatigable fidelity by which
they KEEP humanity and justice in view
on one hand and the interests of the
Government on the other. Where
there was any reason for suspectins
fraud they pursued the case relentless
ly until they either determined the
rightfulnes of the claim beyond
doubt, or sent the guilty one to the
penitentiary.
The Worlds Work admits grude-
ingly and very obscurely that all this
evidence which it published was OBJ
tanned from the Offices of the Depart
ment of Justice, to which il had been
furnished by the officers of the Pension
Bureau. This alone shows the mere
tricious character of the whole expose
do, in making exposures"
obtained a lot of information regard
ing frauds and corruptions independent
of the operations of the Bureau or De-
partment, it would have had a good
case, but it only takes what the Blu
reau itself has discovered and remedied
by vigorous prosecution. Everyone of
these frauds was detected by the Bu-
reau, the evidence against the impos-
ton furnished by it, and the proper
punishment melted out.
If it were possible to make a COM
parison with such other great bureaus
as the Internal Revenue Bureau. Gus
toms Bureau, Public Buildings, Rivers
and Harbors and other similar channels
of great Government expenditures, al
most overwhelming illustration might
be given of the vastly superior hon.
esty and effectiveness of the Pension
Bureau. There have been a thousand |
lines more frauds in either of these !
a