Abstract

The Charges Against the Commissioner of Pensions

The case of a dependent mother nearly eighty years of age, whose son came back from the war a maimed soldier, to linger a few years in broken health, and then die of wounds and disease attributable solely to his military service. Her application has been before the Pension Bureau about two years; the claim has been sent back, they believe, seven times for additional information or evidence, and she still drags her weary steps around, getting fresh affidavits, and waiting in poverty and suffering the final action of the Bureau. People cite this case merely because it is an ordinary one. There have been claims which waited more than six years before they were finally allowed. There are said to be thousands which have been before the Bureau more than four years and are not yet disposed of. And there is hardly a person in the Northern States who does not know of some invalid soldier or dependent woman who has thus had to suffer and wait.