More On Pensions

Apropos of our article on "Pensions" in last week's Courier we have had other points come to our attention in regard to the methods of claim agents. We have before us one of their flaming announcements which rcads : " Pensions. Any wound or injury, or any disease, however slight the disubility, entitles the soldier to a pension. Apply at once. There is no reason why you should delay. Thousands areyetentitled. Increase. The pension laws are uow more liberal than formerly, and those who are drawing pensions are entitled to better ratea. Desertion removed under new laws and all duea collected for technical deserters. Honorable Discharges procured." We have in mind the case of a worlhy applicant for a pension whose claim one of these ngents took with the understanding that he was to receive his pay when the claim was allowed. Aftera short delay the agent wrote for two dollars with which to pay postage and incidental expenses, this was forwarded, after a while anotuer demand for money was made with a like excuse and three dollars was sent. And now after a judicious delay, comes a circular which we quote from, to give our readers an idea of the agent's scheme : "While no one askle from the Conimissioner of Pensionabas power to ailvance a claim out of itsregularorder, an energetic and competent attorney can, by the exercise of goodjudgmentand a large amount of work, have a claim so complete by the time its turn is reached that nothing can be found wanting, and it must of nece&sity be at once dccided. To do this woik in advance of the oflicial lequirements is, of course, of great benefit to the claimant, but it requires that the cost ot the labor and material be advanced, and it would be unreasenable to expect the attorney to adopt the plan unless he were furnished with the requisite mcans to do so by the person who will thereby be benefited. To those who can pay our legal fee in ful!, and who desire their claims worked up in this marnier, we In good faith submit the following proposition : On receipt of the ful) amount due, to make $10, we will itnmediately stamp their claims special,ai use the money so received in employinga special force of educated and experiencecl men of good legal ability and thorough knowledge of the workingsof the Departuients to assist us in working up these paúl claims. Wc are not difi'erent from other men, and can therefore work more heartily after we have been made s'cure. The legal fee only is what we want- $10- and no more." While it is acknowledged that theCommissioner of Pensions only can advance a claim out of ita regular order, yet it is more than broadly hinted that it can be hurriedup if the claimant will come down with i little more money. This coupled with the first afflrmation, fchows they stand ready to teil an y inan who was in the army that hecan get a'penslon. Then if they first get their fee, they are safe, whether the man gets his pension or not. We wish it to be imderstood that we do not in the least oppose the granting of pensions to worthy and needy soldiers, but we wonld like to sec some method adopted toput a stop to Uie Wholesale raid on the treasury by every man who ever enlisted ia the United Steles Army. And the best way which oceurs to us is the publishinr of a list of all pensioners to be posted in the looalities wherein they live. By this means fraudulent claims could easijy be detected and cut away, thereby saving the government, we believe, many thousands of dollars, which now are worse than squandered ou claiía agents and criminal Impostora.