Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1911-03-01
THE PENSION MATTER AGAIN.
Comptroller General Jones Replies to
~ Gen. q. I. Walker.
(The State.)

sI My attention has been called to q
recent article in The State In which
Gen. G. Irvine Walker charges that
there are large number Of fraudu-
lent and unworthy pensioners on the
Confederate po,.sion roll Of this State.
He asks the Legislature to create the
office Of pension inspector, in order
that such officer may visit the vari-
Gus counties, examine into claims and
prevent the placing OF names improp-
erly upon the rolls.
1nasmuch as l am ex-oflicio chair
man Of the State Pension Board, |
1eeI called upon TO take notice Of his
article, and to show that there Is no
ground whatever for the reckless
charge that there Is general fraud in
the giving Of pensions to those not
entitled to receive the same; that 1T
prevents worthy veterans and widows
from receiving all that the State in
her generosity awards them.
The administration of the pension
laws in this State Is entrusted to ex-
Confederate soldiers, with the excep-
ton Of the Comptroller General and
the Pension Clerk.
The State Pension Board consists
of the Comptroller General and three
Confederate soldiers and a surgeon,
and they are elected by the Confede-
rate veterans at their annual reun-
ion. The present State Board is as
IN
man; Capt. w. II. Harden, Chester;
John Ahrens, Charleston; r. ID. Elem
niken, Columbia; DR.. William Wes-
ton, Columbia.
The county boards are composed of
four Confederate soldiers and a sur
geon, elected by the Confederate sur
vivors in each county.
All APPLICATIONS for pension must
first be approved by the county
boards and then are passed on by the
State Board The Confederate sol
diers can be trusted to conduct the
interests Of their comrades as far as
1t is possible to do so.
The care with which they endeavor
to perform their duty is shown by
the hundreds OF applications they dis
approve which never reach the State
Pension Board, and even among
those that do large number are an
nually disapproved.
While there are charges made at
various times that names have been
fraudulently placed upon the pension
lists, the Comptroller General and
State Pension Board always promptly
investigate them, and 1t Is the mark
ed exception when such charges are
substantiated.
Although the State Board is in ses-
sion only five days each year, yet
these Investigations are carried on
at all times during the year, when
necessary, by the Comptroller Gene
raj and resident members of the
State Board in Columbia, without any
compensation or expense to the pen
sion fund.
Gen. Walker cannot specify any
instance where parties have been
shown to be fraudulently on the pen
sion roll and allowed to remain there.
Gen. Walker in his interview states
that Of his own regiment, the Tenth
South Carolina, there are 90 names
on the pension rolls, and that Of
those 80, or one-third, we're never
members Of that regiment.
In conversation in the Comp
troller Generals office he instanced
only one Of these-L. II. Venties--as
being on the roll Of Charleston coun-
ty. However, an examination OF the
application filed by Venties shows
that William e. Huger, formerly SER
geant major Of the Tenth Regiment,
swore that he knew Mr.. Venties Of
his own knowledge to be a soldier
In Company Il, Tenth Regiment. 1t
may be that Gen. Walker was mis-
taken in his recolle ton as to who
belonged to his regiment and relied