The Hartford republican., 1913-09-19
pensions GROW,
/ Tho Vets Dying
The Sherwood Law Causes
Much of Expenditure.
$3.50, 100000 To Be Used In
1913 and SlS5, 100000
In 1914,
(By Jonathan Winfie,d.)

tBy Jonathan Winfieid.)
n Washington. Sept. 15.-Altho 1t Is
estimated that 100 Of Uncle Sans
psnsioners die every day. or approx
iifately $500 every year. there Is
q strong probability that the pension
appropriation for the coming fiscal
year. beginning on July 1. 1914. will
be larger than the amount appropri-
aide for pensions the present year.
The pension bill this year carried,
about $lSO.O0O.0OO not including a
$l5.OOO.000 item in the General De-
ficinecy Bill which was passed in the
closing hours Of the last Congress.
Death keeps thinning thc(list Of names
on the pension roll each year, but
somehow or other the amount Of mon
ey that the Government has to ex-
pend keeps on getting larger, and ex-
perts are OF the belief that the pen
sion list will not show an appreciable
decrease in the amount of money pal
out for several years to come. Much
of the present increase is due to the
act of May. 1912. which provided,
roughly speaking. a dollar a day for
veterans OF the Civil War.
This is the state of affairs that the
Government Is confronted with, fifty
years after the close of the Civil
War. There is a possibility that next
year may prove the hieh-water mark
In pension appropriations, provided,
OF course, that Congress does not en-
act some new legislation which will
increase the size Of the average pen
Hion paid out.
The Ilast fiscal year the pension
budget was si64 800, 900. This year it
was slS0, 100000. Next year 1t may
reach the grand total Of SlS5,000, 900.
During the fiscal year of 1912, when
the appropriation was $164, 500. 900. the
Sherwood Law. that is the act Of 1912
had not begun to be operative. Hence
the effects of the Sherwood law were
not fully felt until the present year.
1t Is quite probable that the esti-
mates for the coming fiscal year may
develop the fact that the legislators
quite underestimated the cost Of the
Sherwood Law and fuller financial
idea of the effects Of the law will be
had the coming fiscal year.
The net decrease to the roll last
year was 31,S04. The number OF PEN
sioners dropped account Of death and
other causes was 55.115. but there
were added to the roll 23,311 new
claims. "Claim" is the technical term
applied by the pension experts to
new pensioners who have successfully
met the requirements Of the Govern
ment to be placed on the roll and
1raw an annual benefit from the
United States Treasury.
For some reason or other the loss
as to the pension rall by death in
recent years have shown but 1.-THE
...difference. altho theoretically. deaths
y of veterans on account of their ad-
yanclng age would seem to lead to
the condlusion that the loss by death
would show big increase from year
10 year.
The average annual value OF PEN
.sions during the last fiscal year was
.$l76.l5 as against an annual average
the year before OF $l73.56, but the
average annual value of pensions paid
to survivors of the Civil War is es-
timated to be $197.09. The Sherwood
law increased this annual average
about s72 a year.
The total number of Civil War Vet
Grams who expected increases in their
pensions by reason OF the enactment
of the Sherwood law was estimated
to be 100000. As yet it is impossible
TO tell whether all Of these VIII bene-
fit thru the law. because all the
claims have not been adjudicated and
pension officials can not tell how
many of these claims will be allow
ed and how many rejected. From the
.progress thus far made disposing OF
these applications for increases, IL
is predicted that nearly all OF these
old soldiers will receive an increase
This means that somewhere In the
neighborhood of 400. 900 ultimately will
bet $72 a year more than they have
been receiving. OF course. many OF
them already are drawing the addi-
tional S72 a year more than they have