1.059
1,071
1,514
1,089
1,806
1,165
8,740
2,358
1,119
1,071
d Or 128 per day.
e Or 158 per day.
f Or 27 per clay,
g Or 31 per day.
a Or 31 per day.
b Or 102 per day.
c Or 104 per day.
It thus appears that during each of the years 1894, 1895, and 1896. up to
March, 1897, when President McKinley was inaugurated, the Democratic Ad-
ministration was allowing original claims under the general law at the rate
of 27 per day and rejecting such claims at the rate of 58 per day. It was
allowing original claims under the act of 1890 at the rate of 111 per day and
rejfteting them at the rate of 143 per day.
Under both laws it was allowing 138 original claims per day and reject-
ing 201 per day.
The Republican Administration has been allowing original claims under
the general law at the rate of 31 per day and rejecting at the rate of 41 per
day. It has been allowing original claims under the act of 1890 at the rate of
158 per day and rejecting at the rate of 90 per day.
Under both laws it has allowed 189 original claims per day and rejected
131 per day.
ORIGINAL CLAIMS.
Allowed
per day.
Kejected
JUT day.
189
131
138
201
The above figures relate simply to original claims adjudicated.
Now let us take claims for increase.
The Democratic Administration allowed 35 claims for increase under the
general law per day and rejected 69 per day. It allowed of claims for in-
crease, under the act of 1890, 10 per day and rejected 43 per day. In other
words, it was allowing 45 increase claims per day and rejecting 112 per day.
The Eepublican Administration has been allowing 37 increase claims per
day under the general law, and 28 per day under the act of 1890, a total of
65 per day, while it has rejected 44 increase claims under the general law per
day and 41 of such claims under the act of 1890, a total of 85 per day.
INCREASE CLAIMS.
Allowed
per day.
Rejected
per day.
Republican Administration . ...
65
85
45
112
INCLUDING BOTH CLASSES.
Republican Administration
f 189
131
( 65
85
Total
254
216
Democratic Admiiiist ration
f 138
201
t 45
112
Total
183
313
1 O4185
8
It is seen that while the Democratic Administration was adjudicating
496 claims per day, as against 470 per day adjudicated by THE REPUBLICAN
ADMINISTRATION SINCE THE RETURN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
TO POWER, THE PENSION OFFICE UNDER COMMISSIONER H. CLAY
EVANS HAS ALLOWED 71 CLAIMS PER DAY MORE THAN WERE AL-
LOWED UNDER THE FORMER ADMINISTRATION^ WHILE IT HAS RE-
JECTED 97 LESS PER DAY.
This proves beyond any controversy whatever that while the Pension Bu-
reau has been a little slower in adjudicating- pension claims since March 4,
1897, than prior to that date, the work done has inured wholly to the benefit
of the old soldier and of hiswidowand orphan. Every day for the ninemonths
covered by these figures in 71 cases more than under the last Administration
has happiness been carried to the family of some old soldier. The rates al-
lowed have been much larger also.
Those who complain of tardiness at the Bureau and who are inclined
to suggest that the Administration is against the old soldier should study
the figures well before indulging in such unwarranted and undeserved
criticism.
Our Democratic friends who, now they are out of power, would pose
as the soldier's friend, when in power and when thej had an opportunity
to do something for the needy old soldier and his widow and orphan, were
slow to act in Congress and granted pensions and increases with a hesi-
tating and niggardly hand, as we have seen.
At the Pension Bureau they struck from the rolls the names of thous-
ands of needy and deserving pensioners. In passing on claims they were
swift to adjudicate unfavorably but exceedingly slow to allow pensions.
Let the old soldiers remember the few bills passed ; the many vetoed ; the
fact that at the Bureau of Pensions in 1894 and 1895 the Democratic Ad-
ministration allowed 34 per cent, of the claims examined and rejected 66
per cent ; that in 1896, when it did its best, trying to influence the elec-
tion, it only allowed 42 per cent, and rejected 58 per cent.
During the entire year since H. Clay Evans became Commissioner of
Pensions 154,445 pension claims have been finally adjudicated, and of these
79,298, or 52 per cent, have been allowed, and 75,147, or 48 per cent, have been
rejected or held for further evidence. The Bureau has proceeded with great
care, and in thousands of the cases not allowed the Bureau has held and is
holding them for additional necessary evidence. There has been no veto of a
special pension bill, a-nd every patriotic citizen knows that President, Mc-
Kinley, himsejf an old soldier, will not tolerate an illiberal pension policy or
an injustice to an old comrade in arms.
During the first nine months of the present fiscal year the pension roll
was increased by the addition of 15,000 more names than were lost by death,
remarriage, and the arrival of minors at the age of 16 years. During the
year ending April 1, 1898, the loss to the roll v - as as follows:
From death 37,855
Remarriage 1,42 1
Minors arrived at age 2,284
Failure to claim pension o.56;j
Other causes 3,194
Total 48,317
9
During the yenr ending- June 30, 1895, 37,000 original churns were illert.
For the year 1896, 33,749 such claims were filed, while for the year ending
April 1, 1898, 61,613 original claims and 164,438 claims for increase a total of
226,051 were filed. It is easy to see how impossible it has been for the
Commissioner to examine and adjudicate all of these claims, and when we
consider the rejections and failure to reach claims, and the consequent dis-
appointments, in connection with the misrepresentations made by politicians
of the opposing political party for partisan purposes, it is not difficult to un-
derstand how undeserved is the criticism to which the Pension Bureau has
been subjected.
Common prudence suggests and demands that every case be thoroughly
examined. If by inadvertence or neglect an undeserved pension is allowed,
the enemies of the pension system and of the old soldiers themselves seizu
upon the fact and herald it far and wide as an evidence of laxness and cor-
ruption in the Pension Bureau and of frauds on the part of the pensioners
themselves.
A ROLL OF HONOR.
No class of citizens in our great country is more interested in a just and
an honest administration of the pension laws than the old soldiers. The
pension roll always has been, now is, and always must be maintained "a
roll of honor," The fact that an old soldier's name appears on that roll
should guarantee that he was a loyal man, that he was a brave man, that he
served faithfully and honorably, and that he received wounds or incurred
disabilities in the service and in the line of duty, or that he is now suffering
from disabilities that prevent his earning a support by his manual labor.
The generous hand of a just Government will always be open to such as
these; and our patriotic people, loving liberty and good government, de-
termined that our institutions shall endure, proud of our past and confident
of our future as a nation, admiring the defenders of the national honor and
life and ever willing to give them encouragement and recognize their brave
deeds and care for those who defended the flag when it needed defenders,
or who shall hereafter inscribe additional glorious victories upon its broad
and ample folds, will not fail to maintain and perpetuate our pension system.
But honors are for those to whom honor is due, and pensions are for the
deserving. The pension laws should be so framed and so executed as to cre-
ate confidence in the minds of all our citizens that the $150,000,000 annually
expended under their provisions is given to those who have just claims upon
the resources and generosity of a grateful Republic.
This large amount of money to meet the just claims of our pensioners
will be required but a few years longer. Year by year the soldiers and
sailors and marines and their widows are answering to the last roll call. In
a very few years the last survivor of the Mexican and Indian wars will be
in his grave, and fifty years hence the last survivor of the war of the rebel-
lion will have passed over the river to his eternal rest under the shade of
the trees on the evergreen shores.
Nearly all who incurred pensionable disabilities in the service are now
on the rolls and the main additions by reason of past service will come in
under the, act of June 27, 1890, where the maximum allowed is $12 per
month.
It
THE DEATH ROLL.
During the last five years pensioners have died as follows:
1893 25,005
1894 28,070
1895 27,816
1896 29,393
1897 31,960
As only two-thirds of the survivors are on the rolls, it is safe to say that
at least 25,000 of the comrades of the war of the rebellion die each year.
By reason of deaths and other causes the decrease in pension payments
in 1897 was $5,684,081. The increase in the figures before given was caused
by the addition of new names and the granting of increase applications. It
will be seen that when the addition of new names in considerable numbers
ceases the decrease in the amount of pension payments will be very rapid.
A SAMPLE OF PLAIN MISREPRESENTATION.
As a sample of plain evasion of truth and misrepresentation I insert the
following letter, written by a Democratic member of this House, who, at the
writing, had had three of his own bills favorably reported and one passed
and become a law by the approval of the President. As the cases were meritor-
ious, the committee is proud of its action, but must express its regret that
the beneficiaries of the bills referred to are represented by a gentleman
whose attainments in a certain direction indicate that he is a lineal descend-
ant of Ananias and Sapphira, and that he is fully able and willing to main-
tain the reputation of the Ananias family.
[Fifty-fifth Congress. Josiah D. Hicks, Pa., chairman; Edward Sauerhering,
Wis.; Winfield S. Kerr, Ohio; John M. Mitchell, N. Y.; Walter Reaves.
111.; William C. Lovering, Mass.; James H. Davidson, Wis.; William L.
Ward, N. Y.; William Sulzer, N. Y.; Champ Clark, Mo.; Thomas Y. Fitz-
patrick, Ky.; James R. Campbell, 111.; John H. Stephens, Tex. T. S. Davis,
clerk.]
COMMITTEE ON PATENTS,
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES UNITED STATES,
Washington, D. C., April 28, 1898.
DEAR MAC AM: I have your letter of late date. If there is any earthly
way to pass a pension claim through this Congress, I have failed to discover
it. Occasionally a Republican Congressman gets one through for the rich
widow of some officers, but for a Democrat to get one allowed for some wor-
thy poor woman or man seems impossible. I do not expect to get one bill
passed out of sixty-five introduced by me. The Dingley bill does not bring-
in enough money to run the Government, and the Republicans are trying to
make the pensioners pay the balance by keeping them out of their just dues.
Yours, very truly,
CHAMP CLARK.
Mrs. LYDIA LOLLAB, Sullivan, Mo.
11
Remember, the gentleman from Missouri had had three of his own bills
favorably reported and one passed and approved by the President.
The Dingley bill has done remarkably well in bringing in money, and
this Congress has done more for the old soldiers and their widows and
orphans in seven months than the Democratic party did in four years.
The Dingley tariff bill will more than support the Government, aside from
the expenses of the war, and even Democrats know or ought to know the
fact.
It may be that the gentleman who wrote that letter had not discovered
any "earthly way" to pass a private pension bill through the Fifty-fifth Con-
gress; but the Committee on Invalid Pensions had discovered the way, and
had steadfastly and patriotically pursued it.
PENSION TO BELIEVE THE PBESSINO NECESSITIES AND WANTS
OF THE NEEDY AND DESEBVINQ.
At the time that letter was written its author knew that more than 250
private pension bills had already been reported favorably to the House, and
that more than 150 had passed. He also knew, or ought to have known, that
nearly every one was in aid of a private soldier, a private soldier's widow, or
a dependent child or parent of some defender of the flag long since dead. He
also knew, or might have known, that in every case the pension or increase
of pension had been given to relieve the pressing necessities and wants of
the needy and deserving claimant. He also knew, or might have known,
that the Fifty-fifth Congress has reported 115 pension bills introduced by
Democratic and Populist members of this House, many more than their
proportion.
If the gentleman pleads ignorance of the facts, he still stands before the
bar of public opinion convicted, for he who asserts as a fact something he
does not know is equally guilty with the one who wilfully misstates a fact
within his knowledge. I regret the necessity of calling attention to this
letter, but in no other way can I defend the Fifty-fifth Congress against this
gross and outrageous slander. In no other way can I reach the ten hundred
thousand old soldiers whose minds the gentleman would seek to poison by
such misrepresentation. The baseness of the slander will the more fully
appear as I proceed.
CHARGES FALSELY AND EVIDENTLY MALICIOUSLY MADE.
I shall be pardoned for exhibiting some considerable feeling on this sub-
ject for, as I am charged, as chairman of the Committee on Invalid Pensions,
with caring for the rights of the old soldiers, my comrades of thirty-three
years ago, and with whom I marched and "drank from the same canteen,"
the statement is a personal reflection on me, and the Committee on Invalid
Pensions, as well as the Republican party and the Fifty-fifth Congress. I
regret being compelled by this letter and many more of the same false tenor
now in my possession, to give any partisan tinge to these remarks, but, sir,
when^such charges are falsely and evidently maliciously made, my plain duty
as a citizen, and as a member of tllJS House demands that the truth be
plainly and fearlessly spoken. ^
12
More than 1,500 private pension bills, with all the papers on file at the
Bureau and the great mass of testimony filed with the committee, havv been
carefully examined and considered by the Committee on Invalid Pensions
alone. But one bill allowing a pension or an increase of pension in excess of
$50 per month has passed the House, and that was given to a private soldier.
Only two bills granting pensions or increasing the pensions of general
officers have been reported, and only twelve bills granting pensions or in-
creasing the pension of general officer's widows have been reported.
One bill has been reported and passed increasing the pension of a widow
of a commander in the United States Navy, and one increasing the pension
of the widow of a captain in that service.
CAREFUL ATTENTION TO THE CLAIMS OF PRIVATE SOLDIERS
AND OF THEIR WIDOWS AND HELPLESS CHILDREN.
Particular and careful attention has been given to the claims of private
soldiers with good records and of their widows and dependent, helpless
children, and in every case Avhere a pension or an increase has been asked for
any person, recognition has been refused unless the necessitous circumstan-
ces of the applicant justified and demanded action. It should be remembered
by the old soldiers, officers and privates alike, and by the Representatives in
Congress, that the Government has not undertaken, does not undertake, to
fully support the old soldiers, seamen, or marines, or their widows, but only
to afford a reasonable degree of aid. This is all any nation assumes to do.
Mr. FARRIS. May I ask the gentleman a question?
) Mr. RAY of New York. Certainly.
Mr. FARIS. I should like to ask my friend to state to the House if it is
true that he has received the original of that letter which he read.
Mr. RAY of New York. I have seen the original letter. It is on file at
the Pension Bureau. But I will not call the names of other gentlemen of this
House. This is the wickedest letter of them all, but I have five more writ-
ten by Democratic members of this House making the same charge and to
the same effect.
Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, if it does not discommode my friend I would
like to ask him just in that connection if it is not true that in the Pension
Office, under the general pension laws, in the lately expired fiscal year, in
the settlement of pension claims, there has not been $8,000,000 more expended
than was expended during the prior year?
Mr. RAY of New York. I have that here and I am coming to it in just
a moment.
(No. 7 )
PROSPERITY
SINCE McKINLEY'S ELECTION
HELP FOR CUBA
FROM THE REMARKS OF
HON. THADDEUS M. MAHON
Part of Congressional Record, August 3, 1898
PROSPERITY SINCE McKINLEY'S
ELECTION.
MR. MAHON said :
MR. CHAIRMAN : I desire to incorporate as part of my remarks
the following article from the columns of the New York Tribune :
It is just two years since the Republican party in its conven-
tion at St. Louis nominated William McKinley and promised in its
platform to do certain things in case it should be again intrusted
with the control of national affairs. These things were, in brief,
the adoption of a protective tariff, which should benefit the
American manufacturer and producer ; reciprocity, which would
add to the profits of the agriculturist ; a sound currency and inter-
national bimetalism, if possible, and that the Government of the
United States should " use its influence and good offices to restore
peace and give independence to the island of Cuba." It is interes-
ting at this time to see how these promises have been kept and
what has been the result.
TARIFF.
President McKinley was inaugurated on March 4th. He im-
mediately called Congress to meet in extra session, beginning on
March 1 5th. The President's message dealt wholly with the tariff
I PROSPERITY SINCK MrKINLEY'S ELF/TION.
and urged immediate action. The tariff bill was introduced in the
House on the first day of the session, and passed that body fifteen
days later. March 31st. Owing to the fact that the Republicans
did not control the Senate, it \\as impossible to make as rapid progress
in that body as in the House, but notwithstanding this fact the bill
passed the Senate on July 7th and became a law on July 24th. No
Administration since that of Washington has brought about the en-
actment of a tariff law within so brief a period after its inauguration.
TEN MONTHS' RECORD UNDER THE DINGLEY ACT RECEIPTS
$1,000,000 A DAY.
Now, as to the course of the commerce and national finance since
the enactment of this new and thoroughly protective tariff law, com-
pared with the conditions under the tariff act which preceded it. The
new law has now been in operation ten months. In spite of the fact
that excessive importations in the few months immediately preceding
its enactment passed to the credit of the Wilson law, probably 40.-
000,000 which would have been collected under the new law but for
these anticipatory importations, the receipts of the Treasury have
been in these ten months of its operation more than $30,000,000 in
excess of tlmse of the corresponding ten months of the history of the
Wilson law. That the new law was able, under normal conditions,
to produce sufficient revenue to meet the current expenses of the
Government is shown by the fact that the receipts during the last
four months, in the face of war and the consequent disarrangement
of commerce, have averaged SI, 000,000 a day.
The ordinary expenditures of the Government during the last
few years, aside from the postal service, which is practically
self-sustaining, average $1,000,000 a day the year round, and
the fact that the Dingley law has produced an average of
$1,000,000 a day since the effect of the anticipatory imports
ceased to be felt shows that its frame rs were fully justified
in their belief that it would meet the ordinary expenses of
the Government, and that the additions which have recently
PROSPERITY SINCE MrK IN LEY'S ELECTION.
5
been made have been necessary only because of the extraordi-
nary expenses resulting from the war. The following table shows
the receipts of the Government in the first ten months of the Ding-
ley, Wilson, and McKinley laws :
A COMPARISON OF RECEIPTS.
Total receipts of Treasury (exclusive of Pacific Railroad sales),
in months, as follows:
First ten months McKiuley
Law.
First ten months Wilson
Law.
First ten months Dinglcy
Law.
Date.
Amount.
Date.
Amount.
Date.
Amount.
Ocl., 1890
Nov , IX'IO
839,222,174
28,678,675
31,106.165
36,810,2:53
29,273,178
29,027,455
25,465,232
27 ,289 ,:)!>
31,631,850
:!4,lo8,245
Sept., 1894
Oct.. 1894
^22,021.229
19,13^,240
19,411,104
Aug., 1897 .. ' $l9023r. 15
Sept., 1897
21^38,098
24,391,415
2.->,16*,!>87
27,931,494
28,795.227
28,572,358
29.307,251
30,361,443
30,074,818
|)c<> . 1S9U
Nov. J8'.)4
Oct., 1897
.l;ui . 1*91
Dec., 1894
21,866,187
27,804,400
22,888,057
25,470,576
24.247,830
25,272,078
25,615,474
Nov., 1897
Feb., 18111
Mar , 1891
Apr., 1891
May, 18!H
Jinn:, 1891
July. 1891
Total
Jan., 1895
Feb., 1895
Mar., 1895
Apr., 1895
Dec., 1897
Jan., 1898
Feb., 1898
Mar., 1898
Apr., 1898
Mav. 1898
May, 1895
June, 1895
$312,662,508
.?2:t4, 336,431
8265,559 ,7C
A GAIN OF $157,000,000 IN SALES ABROAD DURING TEN
MONTHS.
When the Dingley bill was under consideration the free traders
insisted, as they always do, that the adoption of the protective sys-
tem would affect commerce disadvantageously would reduce Amer-
ican markets abroad. Let us see how much truth there was in this
claim. The new law went into effect during the first month of the
present fiscal year, so it is fair, in discussing this question, to con-
sider the entire fiscal year, so far as completed, and compare it with
the corresponding months of the preceding fiscal year. Our total
sales to other parts of the world during the first eleven months of
the fiscal year amount to. ftl.l.'tf, 485, 6 18, against $977,800,422 in
6 PROSPERITY SINCE McKINLEY'S ELECTION.
the corresponding months of the preceding year. Here is a gain
of over $157,000,000 in our sales to other parts of the world in
eleven months under the new tariff law. Does this look as though
the protective system was hampering our foreign trade or reducing
our sale* to other parts of the world?
EXPORTS OF MANUFACTURED GOODS SHOW AN INCREASE
OF $1,000,000 A MONTH.
Not only have American manufacturers been able under the
Dingley law to continue their competition in the world's markets,
but they have actually increased their sales of American manufac-
tures more than $10,000,000 in the first ten months of the fiscal
year. Thus, in spite of the assertion of the low tariff advocates
that the protective-tariff system would disadvantageously affect our
foreign commerce, we have increased our exports of manufactured
articles at the rate of $1,000,000 a month since the enactment of
the new law. and our total exports to other parts of the world at
the rate of $15,000,000 a month, making a total much greater than
in any corresponding period in the history of the country. Indeed,
the exports of the eleven months of the fiscal year just ended are
greater than in any entire fiscal year in the history of the country,
and the balance of trade is much larger than in any preceding year.
In the eleven months ending May 31, 1898, our total exports were
$1,135,485,618, while the largest exports of any full fiscal year
prior to this were (1897) $1,050,993,556.
COMPETITIVE IMPORTS REDUCED.
Not only has the Dingley law fulfilled the promises of its framers
in supplying, under normal conditions, sufficient revenue to meet the
ordinary expenses of the Government, and show an increase of our
exports of manufactures and our general sales to other parts of the
world, but it has at the sanie time reduced the imports from other
PROSPERITY SINCE McKINLEY'S ELECTION. 7
pants of the world which came into competition with our manufac-
turers. The imports in the first eleven months of the present fiscal
year amount to only $563,596,581, against $679,547,391 in the
corresponding months of the preceding year. Thus, while we have
been increasing our exports $157,000,000, we have decreased our
imports $116,000,000.