U B 37 3 A3 L.)<)l2f U S Committee on pensions - I^eport ]r«t.l4,19l2 Seifcvice Pension Glass_il£lZl. Book. Calendar No. 303. '%F^:Sr} SENATE (R-o- SERVICE PENSION .T REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PENSIONS TOGETHER WITH THE VIEWS OF A MINORITY ON H. R. 1 AN ACT GRANTING A SERVICE PENSION TO CERTAIN DEFINED VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR AND THE WAR WITH MEXICO ^ PRESENTED BY MR. McCUMBER February 14, 1912.— Ordered to be printed WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1912 t i !; Calendar No. 303. 62d Congress, { SENATE. \ Report 2d Session. \ \ No. 355. SERVICE PENSIONS FOR CERTAIN DEFINED SOLDIERS OF THE CIVIL WAR. February 14, 1912. — Ordered to be printed. Mr. McCuMBER, from the Committee on Pensions, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 1.] The Committee on Pensions, to whohi was referred the bill (H. R. 1) entitled ' 'An act granting a service pension to certain defined veterans of the Civil War and the War with Mexico," beg leave to report the same back with an amendment as follows: Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof the following: Section 1. That any person who Bervcd ninety days or more in the military or naval service of the United States during the Civil War, who has been honorably discharged therefrom, and who has reached the age of sixty-two years or over, shall, upon making proof of such facts,* according to such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may provide, be placed upon the pension roll and be entitled to receive a pension as follows: In case such person has reached the age of sixty-two years and served ninety days, thirteen dollars per month; six months, thirteen dollars and fifty cents per month; one year, fourteen dollars per month; one and a half years, fourteen dollars and fifty cents per month; two years, fifteen dollars per month; two and a half years, fifteen dollars and fifty cents per month; three years or over, sixteen dollars per month. In case such person has reached the age of sixty-six years and served ninety days, fifteen dollars per montli; six months, fifteen dollars and fifty cents per month; one year, sixteen dollars per month; one and a half years, sixteen dollars and fifty cents per month; two years, seventeen dollars per month; two and a half years, seventeen dollars and fifty cents per month; three years or over, eighteen dollars per month. In case such person has reached the age of seventy years and served ninety days, eighteen dollars per month; six months, nineteen dollars per month; one year, twenty dollars per month; one and a half years, twenty-one dollars per month; two years, twenty-two dollars per month; two and a half years, twenty-three dollars per month; three years or over, twenty-four dollars per month. In case such person has reached the age of seventy-five years and served ninety days, twenty-one dollars per month; six months, twenty-two dollars and fifty cents per month; one year, twenty-four dollars per month; one and a half years, twenty-five dollars and fifty cents per month; two years, twenty-seven dollars per month; two and a half years, twenty-eight dollars a-ud fifty cents per month; three years or over, thirty dollars per month. 2 PENSIONS FOR CERTAIN DEFINED SOLDIERS. That any person who has served sixty days or more in the military or naval service of the United States in the War with Mexico and has been honorably discharged therefrom shall, upon making like proof of such service, be entitled to receive a pension of thirty dollars per month. All of the aforesaid pensions shall commence from the date of filing of the applica- tions in the Biireau of Pensions after the passage and approval of this act: Provided, That pensioners who are sixty-two years of age* or over and who are now receiving pensions imder existing laws or whose claims are pending in the Bureau of Pensions may, by application to the Commissioner of Pensions, in such form as he may pre- scribe, receive the benefits of this act; and nothing herein contained shall prevent any pensioner or person entitled to a pension from prosecuting his claim and receiving a pension under any other general or special act: Provided, That no person shall receive a pension under any other law at the same time or for the same period that he is receiving a pension under the provisions of this act: Provided further, That no person who is now receiving or shall hereafter receive a greater pension under any other general or special law than he would be entitled to receive under the provisions herein shall be pensionable under this act. Sec. 2. That rank in the service shall not be considered in applications filed hereunder. Sec. 3. That no agent, attorney, or other person engaged in preparing, presenting, or prosecuting any claim under the provisions of this act shall, directly or indirectly, contract for, demand, receive, or retain for such services in preparing, presenting, or prosecuting such claim a sum greater than five dollars, which sura shall be payable only after the allowance of the claim and upon the order of the Commissioner of Pen- sions, out of the amount allowed, and by the pension agent making payment of such pension, and no agent, attorney, or other person shall demand or receive, directly or indirectly, any compensation in advance of such allowance, or other compensation than herein prescribed; and any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this section, or who shall wrongfully withhold from a pensioner or claimant the whole or any part of a pension or claim allowed or due such pensioner or claimant imder thia act, or shall wrongfully withhold any affidavits or other proofs in support of a claim, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall, for each and every offense, be fined not excelling five hundred dollars or be imprisoned at hard labor not exceeding two years, or both, in the discretion of the court: Provided, That no greater fee than two dollars shall be allowed or paid in any claim for increase of pension under this act. Sec. 4. That the Commissioner of Pensions shall make at the time of submitting his next annual report a separate report for each county of each State, Territory, or Dis- trict, containing a statement or table which shall contain the names, lengths of service, monthly rates of payment, and residences of all pensioners of the United States; and shall thereafter, as said annual reports are submitted, make separate reports similar in all respects, except that such subsequent reports shall contain only those added to the pension roll during the fiscal year for which each annual report is made. In the amendment proposed by your committee is involved the prime purpose of our pension system. A word upon that system and its purpose may therefore be proper. < Prior to 1890 all pension legislation relative to the survivors of the ( Civil War recognized only specific disabihties incurred in hne of dutv. ^ By the act of June 27, 1890, the requirement that a disability should ( be of service origin was abandoned, and there was substituted in its stead incapacity to perform manual labor, whether such incapacity was due to service or otherwise. This act provided a pension for such disabihty ranging from $6 to $12 per month. It required but a service of 90 days and was the first purely service pension legislation applied to the Civil War veterans. The estabUshiug of grades of disabihty to perform manual lab^r under this law was difficult and unsatisfactory, and as the age of th^ claimant advanced the difficulty increased. It finally became necesv sary to measure the disabihty oy the age test, and Executive Order No. 78 was issued in March of 1904. This order provided that in the adjudication of pension claims under the act of June 27, 1890, age PENSIONS FOR CERIAIN DEFINED SOLJ)IERS. 3 should be taken into consideration in determining disability; that at the age of 62 the soldier should be considered to be one-half dis- abled for the performance of manual labor, at the age of 65 two- thirds disablea, at the age of 68 five-sixths disabled, and at the age of 70 totally disabled and should receive for said disabilities $6, S8, $10, and $12 per month, respectively. This order was afterwards enacted into our pension legislation and was the forerunner of the age standard in subsequent legislation. The act of June 27, 1890, also provided a pension of S8 per month for all widows whose marriage had taken place prior to that date and (as amended by act of May 9, 1900) whose net mcome was not above $250 per annum. There was no material change in our general pension laws from June 27, 1890, until February 6, 1907, a period of nearly 17 years. By the act of February 6, 1907, a very great advance step in broadening and liberaUzing our pension laws was taken. Prior to that time the youngest and the oldest veteran were treated ahke except as their pensions were graded by this order, No. 78. By the act of February 6, 1907, we recognized advancing years as bringing with them increasing disabihties. Up to and including this period pensions w^ere granted upon the assumption that the claimant v/as disabled and that the Government in its gratitude for his great services in its time of need should extend the hand of assistance. The act of February 6, 1907, was solely an age pension and granted pensions to all who had served 90 days as follows: At the age of 62 years, $12 per month; 70 years, $15 per month; and 75 years, $20 per month. The act of April 19, 1908, abolished the income provision, wliich had always been of questionable propriety, and the pension of every widow included in its provisions was mcreased to $12 per month. By 'the acts of February 6, 1907, and April 19, 1908, the services of the physical and the financial examiner were discontinued. Industry and economy were no longer penalized; and the soldier of the most extended hospital record had no advantage over him of the most extensive field record. No pension act has ever given such general satisfaction as the act of February 6, 1907 ; and yet tliis act has of late been subject to some criticism. In aU of our past pension laws the 90-day soldier stands exactly on the same footing as the four-year soldier. House bill 1 seeks to remedy this by the enactment of a purely service-pension law. From careful inquiry your committee believes that whatever degree of popularity this bill has obtained is due more to the amount carried by it than to the basis upon which the amount carried is distributed. No standard can be adopted that will operate with exact justice to each and every soldier. Many soldiers of short service were hurried immediately into the desperate warfare which marked the last year of the campaign. If a pension should be granted based upon the severity of the hardships or sufferings which the soldier endured in each case, there would be as many different amounts allowed as there are names on the pension roll. 4 PENSIONS FOR CERTAIN DEFINED SOLDIERS. We may properly ask here, What is the fundamental idea back of pension legislation? We believe we express the concensus of the public idea in our answer, that it is national gratitude. This grati- tude seeks, in our pension laws, the most proper mode of expression. Its first and its most natural impulse is toward the relief of suffering and destitution. It recognizes that destitution flows from disability. If our pension, legislation had no deeper significance or sentiment than a sort of moral obligation to pay for services a fixed rate per month, then a pension based solely upon length of service might properly be enacted. But if such legislation springs from the senti- ment we have indicated, then it is certain that length of service should not be the sole standard in fxxing the rate in any particular case. We do not claim that a pension, varied in amount according to the length of service, does not harmonize with the spirit that is back of all pension legislation. We simply claim that making it the sole standard smacks too much of the idea of hire. Other things being equal, it may ver}^ properly be said that the longer the service given in defense of the country the greater should be the gratitude of that country. The committee agree that we will more nearly approxi- mate exact justice, and more nearly measure out to each soldier that sum which his services entitle him to receive from a given appro- priation, by adopting both standards, or a double standard which shall recognize both advancing age and length of service. A resolution adopted by the Grand Army of the Republic at its last encampment indicates clearly the tenacity with which that organization holds to the principle of a pension law wliich recog- nizes the disability of age. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Pensions prepared a large number of separate propositions with varying combinations of the age and service standards and submitted each proposition to the Interior Department to obtain the added cost of pension legisla- tion, and also reciuested of the department an estimate of the added cost of House bill 1. The eleventh proposition, containing the double standard, wliich was introduced in the form of a bill in Senate bill 4320, in tabulated form, is as follows: Eleventh pmpo^-ition. Age. 90 days. 1 year. 2 years. 3 years. $13 $14 $15 $16 15 Ifi 17 IS 18 20 22 24 21 24 27 3U 4 years. 62 years b6 years 70 years 75 years PENSIONS rOK CERTAIN DEFINED SOLDIEBS. 5 The report of the added cost of this proposition, in years, is as follows : Report on eleventh -proposition. Age. Annual Number of Present Proposed increase pensioners. rate. rate. per pen- sioner. 32,708 $12 $13 $12 27,807 12 14 24 25, 186 12 15 36 27,921 12 16 48 36, 966 12 15 36 31,427 12 16 48 28, 465 12 17 60 31,556 12 18 72 31,590 15 18 36 26,857 15 20 60 24,325 15 22 84 20, 967 15 24 108 19,831 20 21 12 16,860 20 24 48 15,270 20 27. 84 10, 929 20 30 120 420 6Go Total In- crease i)er annum. 90 days 1 year 2 years 3 years and over 90 days 1 year 2 years 3 years and over 90 days 1 year 2 years 3 years and over \ . 90 days 1 year 2 years 3 years and over Total. 22,191,780 Average annual increase per pensioner Approximate increase in disbursements for pensions: First year Second year Third year Fourth year Fifth year $52.76 10,650,000.00 30,500,000.00 19,500,000.00 17,500,000.00 16,000,000.00 This bill (S. 4320), modified by divisions of six months' periods of service, is the one adopted by the committee as a substitute for H. R. 1. The thirteenth proposition submitted is as follows: Thirteenth proposition. Age. 90 days. 1 year. 2 years. 3 years. 4 years. 62 years 66 years 70 years 76 years $12 15 18 21 $15 18 21 24 $18 21 24 27 $21 24 27 30 6 PENSIONS FOB CEETAIN DEFINED SOLDIEES. The report on the thirteenth proposition is as follows: Report on thirteenth proposition. Ago. Length of service. 1 year 2 years 3 years and over . 90 days 1 year 2 years 3 years and over . 90 days 1 year 2 years 3 years and over . 90 days 1 year 2 years 3 years and over. Total Number of pen- sioners. Present Proposed Amnual increase rate. rate. per pen- 27,807 $12 $15 $36 25,186 12 18 72 27,921 12 21 108 36,966 12 15 36 31,427 12 18 72 28,465 12 21 108 31,556 12 24 144 31,590 15 18 36 26,857 15 21 72 24,325 15 24 108 26,967 15 27 144 19,831 20 21 12 10, 860 20 24 48 15,270 20 27 84 16, 929 20 30 12:) 387,957 Total In- crease per annum. $1,001,052 1,813,392 3,015,468 1,330,776 2,262,744 3,074,220 4,544,004 1,137,240 1,933,704 2,627,100 3,883,248 237,972 809,280 1,282,680 2,031,480 30,984,420 Average annual increase per pensioner $79. 87 Approximate increase in disbursements for pensions; First vear 15, 974. OTO. 00 Secon d year 4 1 . 000 . 000. 00 Third year 27.000,000.00 A hearing was had on all of the general pension bills on January 22, 1912, at wliich hearing the members of the committee on pensions of the Grand Army of the Repubhc testified. Prior to the giving of their testimony they had met and by resolution declared themselves in favor of the thirteenth proposition, and the testimony of each and all of these members supported the idea of the double standard. From the hearings and from a very considerable correspondence with veterans of the Civil War, it developed that while nearly all preferred the double standard, a very large number preferred to have divisions of six months rather than one year, as contemplated in these propositions. The tables were therefore rearranged in accord- ance with this idea and the eleventh proposition, as rearranged, was submitted as proposition No. 16, and is as follows: Sirffmlh proposition {eleventh modififfT). Age; 90 days. 6 months. 1 year. IJ years. 2 years. 2i years. 3 years and over. 62 $13.00 15.00 18.00 21.00 $13. 50 15.50 19.00 22.50 $14.00 16.00 20.00 24.00 $14.50 16.50 21.00 25.50 $15.00 17.00 22.00 27.00 $15.50 17.50 23.00 28.50 $16.00 66 18,00 70 24.00 75 30.00 PENSIONS FOR CERTAIN DEFINED SOLDIERS, The report on the sixteenth proposition is as follows: Proposition No. 16. Ago. Length of service. 90 days G months 1 year U years 2 years 2\ years 3 years and over. 90 days 6 months 1 year IJ years 2 years 2.J jears 3 vears and ovor. QO'days 6 months 1 year U years 2'years 2 J years 3 years and over. 90 days 6 moriths 1 year Ij" years 2 years 2i years 3 years and over. Total Number of pensioners. •120,9(>o Present rate. $12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 Proposed rate. S13.00 13.50 14.00 14.50 15.00 15.50 16.00 15.00 15.50 16.00 16.50 17.00 17.50 18.00 18.00 19.00 20.00 21.00 22.00 23.00 24.00 21.00 22.50 24.00 25.50 27.00 28.50 30.00 Annual increase per pen- sioner. Total increase per annum. $12.00 18.00 24.00 30.00 36.00 42.00 48.00 36. 00 42.00 48.00 54.00 00.00 66.00 72.00 36.00 48.00 60.00 72.00 84. 00 96.00 108. 00 12.00 30.00 48.00 66. 00 84.00 102. 00 120.00 $114,876.00 416,430.00 361,032.00 382,920.00 262,584.00 751,464.00 1,340,208.00 389,484.00 1,098,132.00 816,096.00 779,004.00 494,580.00 1,334,052.00 2,272,032.00 333,756.00 1,075,440.00 874,140.00 889,992.00 593,376.00 1,663,488.00 2,920,428.00 69,648.00 420,810.00 437,808.00 510, 774. 00 371,448.00 1,106,496.00 2,031,480.00 24,112,578.00 Average annual increase per pensioner $57. 27 Approximate increase in disbursements for pensions: First vear 11.454.000.00 Second year 33. 000. 000. 00 Third vear 21.000.000.00 Fourth year 19,200.000.00 Fifth year 17,400,000.00 The thirteenth proposition as rearranged was submitted as the eighteenth proposition and is as follows: Eighteenth proposition {thirteenth modified). A^n. 90 days. 6 months. lyear. IJ years. 2 years. 2\ years. 3 years and over. 62 $12.00 14.00 16.00 20.00 $13. 50 15.50 17.50 21.50 $15.00 17.00 19.00 23.00 $16. 50 18.50 20.50 24.50 $18.00 20.00 22.00 26.00 $19.50 21.50 23.50 28.00 $21. 00 60 23.00 70 25.00 76 30.00 8 PENSIONS FOR CEETATN DEFINED SOLDIERS. The report on the eighteenth proposition is as follows: Proposition No. 18. Age. Length of service. Number of pensioners. Present rate. Proposed rate. Annual increase per pen- sioner. Total in- crease per annum. 6 months 1 year IJ years 2 years 2^ years 3 years and over . 90 days 6 months 1 year IJ years 2 years 2i years 3 years and over. 90 days 6 months 1 year 1^ years 2"years 21 years... 3 years and over. 6 months 1 year 1 J years , 2 years , 2J years , 3 years and over. 23, 135 15,043 12,764 7,294 17,892 27, 921 10,819 26, 146 17,002 14,426 8,243 20, 222 31,556 9,271 22, 405 14,569 12,361 7,064 17,328 27,041 14,027 9,121 7,739 4,422 10,848 16,929 $12. 00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 $13. 50 15.00 16.50 18.00 19.50 21.00 14.00 15.50 17.00 18.50 20.00 21.50 23.00 16.00 17.50 19.00 20.50 22.00 23.50 25.00 21.50 23.00 24.50 26. 00 28.00 30.00 $18. 00 36.00 54.00 72.00 90.00 108. 00 24.00 42.00 60.00 78.00 96.00 114.00 132. 00 12.00 30.00 48.00 66.00 84.00 100. 00 120. 00 18.00 36.00 54.00 72.00 96.00 120. 00 $416, 541, 689, 525, 1,610, 3,015, 259, 1,098, 1,020, 1,125, 791, 2,305, 4,165, 111, 672, 699, 815, 593, 1,767, 3,244, 252, 328, 417, 318, 1,041, 2,031, 430.00 548.00 256.00 168.00 280.00 468.00 656. 00 132. 00 120. 00 228. 00 328. 00 308.00 392.00 252. 00 150.00 312. 00 826.00 376. 00 456. 00 920. 00 486. 00 356.00 906.00 384.00 408.00 480.00 Total. 405, 588 29,857,026.00 Average increase per pensioner Approximate increase in disbursements for pensions: First year Second year Third year Fourth year Fifth year $73.61 14,722,000.00 40,373,907.00 26, 184, 034. 00 24, 000, 000. OO 22,000,000.00 PENSIONS FOE CEKTAIN DEFINED SOLDIEKS. y The report on the added cost to the pension appropriation, by rea- son of enactment of H. R. 1 as it passed the House, is as follows: Lenj,'th of service. Number of pensioners. Present rate per month. Proposed rate per month. Annual increase per pen- sioner. Total in- ■ crease ■per annum. 143 205 $6 8 $15 15 $108 84 $15,444 17,220 1S5 10 15 CO 11,100 20,422 12 15 36 735,192 702 14 15 12 8,424 124 18.3 6 8 20 20 168 144 20, 832 26,352 165 10 20 120 19, 800 18,234 12 20 96 1,750,464 627 14 20 72 45,144 8,255 15 20 60 495,300 189 16 20 48 9,072 1,908 17 20 36 68,688 206 305 6 8 25 25 228 204 46,968 62, 220 275 10 25 180 49,500 30,391 12 25 156 4,740,996 1,044 14 25 132 137, 808 13,758 15 25 120 1,650,960 315 16 25 108 34,020 3,180 17 25 96 305,280 8,971 20 25 60 538,260 182 22 25 36 6,552 3, 893 24 25 12 46,716 1,169 1,732 6 8 30 30 28S 264 336,672 457,248 1,.564 10 30 240 375,360 172,621 12 30 216 37,285,136 5,9.J2 14 30 192 1,138,944 78, 148 15 30 180 14,066,640 1,787 16 30 168 300,216 18,063 17 30 156 2,817,828 '52,351 20 30 120 6,282,120 1,036 22 30 96 99,456 22,113 24 30 72 1,592,136 958 25 30 60 57, 480 Total 471,3.36 75,651,548 ' Includes 1,398 survivors of the War with Mexico. $160. 50 Average mcrease per annum per ixinsioner is Approximate increase in disbursements for pensions: First year 32,000,000.00 Second year 86,500,000.00 Third year 59,000,000.00 Fourth year 54,500,000.00 Fifthyear 50,000,000.00 Sixth year 45,500,000.00 The last official estimate of national income and expense for the year ending June 30, 1913, gives us a balance of income over expense, exclusive of Panama Canal disbursements, of about $30,000,000. Assuming that we will be able to maintain the relation of income to expense during the following year, with the practice of a little more rigid economy we could probably expend $33,000,000 in addition to the present cost of pensions for the year ending June 30, 1914, without the necessity of issuing bonds to cover the increased expenses. Your committee adopted the sixteenth proposition rather than the eighteenth because of our belief that we could increase our appropria- tion $33,000,000 without a bond issue. The cause of the second year's appropriation being so much greater than either the first or the third is that the bureau under ordinary conditions will handle about 200,000 appfications a year; and it is 10 PENSIONS FOR CERTAIN DEFINED SOLDIERS. safe to say that 400,000 would be filed within the first year, and there- fore the second year would carry the arrears of about 200,000. Of course, this depends upon what time in the year the bill becomes a law. We believe that if we can pass this amended bill before the summer months the bureau will be able to handle more than 200,000 cases the first year. We will thereby increase the estimated additional cost for the first year several million dollars and decrease the second year's estimate an equivalent amount, and thus keep clearly within our income. Your committee, in reporting a bill which shall carry an additional average annual appropriation lor pensions during the next five years of $20,410,000 per year in the place of House bill 1 , which would require an additional average expenditure of $56,600,000 per annum, and which ignores what we regard as a very proper element in granting pensions, the disabilities of age, are animated by a desire to at afl times maintain a strong sentiment on the part of the public toward this increase, and further future increases oi pensions, and which senti- ment might, to some extent, at least, be jeopardized by advancing pension appropriations in a single bill, so rapidly as to necessitate a bond issue to meet its requirements. We believe that the interests of the soldiers will be better subserved, and that we shall in the end accomplish more for the comfort of the veterans of the Civil War if we shall advance step by step, keeping within the Government's income under economic administration. The provisions relating to the Mexican War veterans are the same as those contained in the House bill. The majority of your committee supported another amendment which recognizes the right of pension attorneys to represent their clients in cases where it was thought proper that a soldier claimant should be entitled to legal service, as indicated in section 3. The amendment is carefully guarded so that in no case can anything but a nominal charge be made. We believe that this amendment will in many instances be beneficial, and that in no case can it operate to do an injustice to any veteran. The majority of the committee deemed it advisable to further amend our general legislation with reference to publication of names of pensioners on the rolls as indicated in the foregoing amendment, section 4. As amended the committee report the bill favorably and recom- mend that it pass. Senate Report No. 355, Part 2, Sixty-second Congress, Second Session. SEE VICE PENSION. Fkbuiaky 14, 1912.— Ordered to be printed. Mr. Curtis (for himself, Mr. Brown, Mr. Shively, Mr. Poindexter, and Mr. Johnson), from the Committee on Pensions, submitted the following- VIEWS OF A MINORITY. [To accompany H. R. 1.] We, the undersigned, being a minority of the Senate Committee on Pensions, present this report after a careful consideration of the various pension bills or propositions which were presented to the committee. We hope each Senator will duly consider the two propositions pending before the Senate, to wit: House bill 1, better known as the Sherwood bill, and the Senate proposition, known as the Smoot sub- stitute, believing if they do the}^ will vote down the substitute and pass the Sherwood bill. There are many reasons why we favor the Sherwood bill. In the first place it does partial justice to a large number of Union soldiers who served one year and over, by giving them a dollar-u-day pension, and it will give an increase to a very large number of men who served less than one year, while the substitute will give a dollar a day to only those soldiers who have arrived at the age of 75 years and who had a service of three years and over. Under the Sherwood bill most of the pension examining boards could be done away with and fewer special examiners would be required. Under the Sherwood bill, after the new certificates are issued no expense will be incurred for the issuance of new certificates to those drawing })ension under it, but under the substitute new certificates must be issued as the pensioners below 75 years of age advance in years. The opposition to the Sherwood bill is based upon the ground that it will carry a large appropriation, but we do not believe it just to the Union soldiers to measure their service in dollars and cents. We believe they are entitled to liberal pensions regardless of the size of the appropriation. U 12 PENSIONS FOR CERTAIN DEFINED SOLDIERS. But, after carefully considering the subject, we believe the esti- mates of the Pension Bureau as to the cost of the Sherwood bill are too high, because they are based on a report over 20 years old, while the figures given by Mr. Sherwood are based upon data taken from the records of the War Department. We believe that if the Sherwood bill is enacted into law many of those whose pensions will be increased to $30 per month and who are now inmates of soldiers' homes will return to their own homes and firesides. We believe its enactment into law will greitly decrease the requests for the introduction of private pension bills. While the substitute gives increases to each of the pensioners, yet we do not believe such increases are as large and substantial as they should be under all the circumstanceSe We ask j^ou, in considering this question, to remember the debt this Nation owes to the Union soldier; to remember that of that grand army of brave men who offered their lives to preserve the Union it is estimated that at least 36,000 will answer the last roll call this year, and to remember, further, that if anything is going to be done for them, now is the time to do it. We recommend the defeat of the substitute reported by a majority of the committee and ask for the passage of House bill 1, known as the Sherwood bill. All of which is respectfully submitted. Charles Curtis. NoRRis Brown. Benj. F. Shively. Miles Poindexter. Charles F. Johnson. Senate Report No. 355, Part 3, Sixty-second Congress, Second Session. SERVICE PENSION. February 19, 1912. — Ordered to be printed. Mr. Bryan, from the Committee on Pensions, submitted the following VIEWS. [To accompany H. R. 1.] This bill enjoys the unusual distinction of not having the support of a majority of the committee which reports it. Of the 14 members comprising- the committee 5 have signed a minority report because they prefer the House bill, and the Senator from Oklahoma, Mr. Gore, and myself are recorded as being opposed to both the bill reported by the committee and the House bill. The House bill recognizes service only. The bill reported by the committee combines age with length of service. The majority report complains that a service pension "smacks too much of the idea of hire." In the views of the minority, favoring the Sherwood bill, the idea of measuring military service by money is condemned. Yet that is exactlv the thing both bills, when analyzed, undertake to do. The central idea running through the hearings and through both reports is that we are engaged in paying a debt. If we owe the soldiers of the Civil War a debt that can be paid in money, then the theory of the Sherwood bill is correct. If mere enlistment for 90 days, regardless of actual service, to be more highly rewarded by "national gratitude" if the soldier enlisted at the age of '25 instead of at 20, ought to be the test, then the bill reported may be conceded to be correct in principle. Both of these ideas have already found expression in our pension legislation- -singly and in combination. It can not truthfully be said, measured by either or both of these standards, that this Government has failed in its obligation. Mr. Sanuiel S. Burdett, Past Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, at the hearing before your Committee on Pen- sions made this statement: "If nothing else in our favor were ever done in our day, it never could be said, to-day or in any to-morrow, that the people of the United States were ungrateful to those who served them." 13 14 PENSIONS FOR CERTAIN DEFINED SOLDIERS. So, therefore, it is not the purpose of either the Sherwood bill or the bill reported, to establish any new principle. It is not a question of principle or of " national gratitude." It is purelj"^ a question of more money. A member of the legislative committee of the Grand Army of the Republic accurately expressed the ^'principle" involved in this bill in the following apt language : Of course, I think you will all concede, gentlemen, that No. 13 is a little better holdout than No. 11. Of course, I should favor that myself. It was unanimous with the committee of which I have the honor to be a member. If $150,000,000 per annum is not a sufficient expression of appreci- ation, would an additional annual appropriation of $25,000,000 make it so? If not, how much would? Confessedly, the only restraining influence upon the committee is the revenues of the Government, and so this bill is proposed upon the assumption that all these large professions about the reduction of our present tarifl^' laws are not meant to be kept. This bill undertakes to reconcile two irreconcilable elements, viz, age and length of service. Its incongruities are well illustrated by the statement of former Congressman Gardner, of Michigan, as follows: There were over 600,000, as I recall — I could refer to it specifically if necessary — that served three months or less — 90-day militia. * * * j pay to you what 1 know to be a fact. While many of these men fought, and fought well, the great body of them simply went to man the forts, to release the three-year men that went to the front and did the shooting. That is a fact, gentlemen. Lots of these men never got the polish off their shoes. It is no disparagement to them. They did all they were called upon to do. They wore paper collars and ate soft bread. It was no fault of theirs. Ohio had how many regiments of that kind. Col. McElroy, that never lost a man? Mr. McElroy. Oh, quite a number of them never saw any fighting, and never heard a cannon. Mr. Gardner. Many of them never fired a gun. I say to you, gentlemen — and 1 am willing to defend this proposition before any Grand Army gathering in the country — that the man who went to war and served only 90 days and received no permanent disability from wounds or anything resulting from his service is not en- titled to rank with the man who served two, three, or four years at the front. It is refreshing that if the bill must pass as reported the names of the pensioners will be made public. It is to be hoped that an aroused public sentiment may hereafter save t6 the meritorious and the needy pensioners the humiliation of making common cause with the undeserv- ing whose military service was at best nominal. If we would take thought of the people who have to pay pensions as well as of those who receive them, if we would limit payment to those who suffered injury because of service in the war and who are there- fore entitled to governmental aid, we would remedy the injustices now perpetrated in the name of patriotism. N. F. Bryan. omoRn flfl„s