AMERICA'S PENSION SYSTEM

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 7, 8 July 1922, Page 17

AMERICA'S PENSION SYSTEM

HANDLING STUPENDOUS SUMS

Mr. W. Gardiner, United States Commissioner of Pensions, has made an intereating statement on the pension system in operation in America. He states:—

The average citizen—and certainly the average taxpayer—knows that one of the many Government problems is that of pensions, 'and that there exists at Washington a Bureau of Pensions. The building that houses the bureau is one o£ the points of interest to the visiting tourist, but it is hardly likely that this casual visitor realises the magnitude of the business administered within its historic walls Yet more than 6,000,000,000 dollars have been disbursed for pensions and for maintenance of pension systems from 1790 to

The pensioners of the United States are subdivided into several classes. They include pensioners of the Revolution—the oldest class on the roll—of the war of 1812 of the early wars with the Indiana, of the Mexican War, of the Civil War, of the Spanish-American War and the subsequent insurrection in the Philippines, and of the world war, where services therein were rendered prior to October, 1917. There are also other pensioners of tho regular military and naval forces and a few unclassified pensioners. The pensioners aro not all soldiers, or even former soldiers. They represent widows, minor children, dependent persons, and army nurses. More than 3000 of them are scattered over wide areas outside the United States, from Tasmania to Mauritius, and from China to Norway -At Sf „e,?„ d of the fiscal year 1921 there wore 566,053 pensioners on the roll. The largest number of names in any one year was m 1903, when it totalled 999,446—a total that may be better understood if one thinks that it is only 554 less thau a million. In 1866, one year after the close of the Civil War, there were 126,722 oensioners. v

Losses to the pensions -roll are caused chiefly by death, but there are also other causes, such as remarriage of widows, minors attaining the age of 16 yars failure to claim for three years, and the like. Uams are made chiefly by original allowances, but also, in some cases, by the restoration of forfeited pensions. Since 1910 the loss of Civil War soldiers has averaged about 30,000 a year. Last June __f™\T 218>™.W them, as agates! <145,520 the preceding year, while the largest number of them on the roll was reached m 1898, with a total of 745,822 i "c S_sS* an}ount paid to pensioners between 1790 and 1921, a span of 131 years is 6,089,886,537.71 dollars? while Wie* S ? m?S* m,lance, of the pension system from 1886 has been 138,683,653.30 dollars. As the disbursement, have been made in sums ranging from a minimum of 2 dol-' lars a month to a maximum of 416.66 2-3 (the greatest number of pensioners received however, pensions of 30 dollars or 50, dollar), it is evident that a vast amount at careful clerical work and accauntine is necessary. ° .nl*. 11l, 110' 'A 9 Btal»ndo_B sums paid out annually or the number of persons served that makes the record of the work of the Bureau of Pensions remarkable, but the close scrutiny which must follow every application for a pension to ensure that, • £_?, ' • tl?° money will go, to the telde'd 1 recipient for the purposes in! hv° nthi,Vw. ay' 1920' *«c was approved by the Congress an Act to revfs» and equalise rates of pensions to certain soldiers sailors, and marines of the Mexican and Civil Wars including widows, former l^°T!;^ ependent Parenfcs aQd children, and certain army nurses. A few weeks later another Act was approved to pension soldiers and sailors of the SpaiiishAmencan War, including the PlnWne Wreotion and the relfef exped Hon i_

Since the organisation of the new retow 161? • dm, 3lon eighteen months ago 7076 claims for age annuity and 1261 claims for retirement on account of disability have been filed. This branch of the work is considered as being practically current. by ..^S % same period 80,500 applications for reiund have been filed by former employees who have become separated from, the service, because of resignation, dismissal, or necessary reduction of force, -the work of adjudicating this class of [claims is about four months in arrears An amendment to the Act which has already passed the Senate, and is now pending in the House. will, if enacted, facilitate tho adjudication,of claims for

A few figures on the pension situation will be- undoubtedly instructive. The number of certificates issued on acoount of all olaims allowed since the estabhshment of pensions system down to the end of the last fiscal year was 6,302,----836. Congress granted 59,124 pensions by special __sta aj nee 4th Marchf 1861 Of the total number of pensioners on the roll last June—s66,os3—by classes they are as follow:—Soldiers, 267,629; widow, 290,955; minors, 2163; helpless children, 919; other dependents, 4285; and nurses 102.

Sixty-four pension, were still being paid on account of the war of 1812, although more than a century has passed! sinoe the termination ot that war. All these, with one exception, were drawn by soldiers widows, there being now no survivor of the men who fought in that conflict.

There were still 2244 pensioners of the Mexican war, 73 years after it ended. Of these 109 were survivors, and 39 of them died during the fiscal year. In the past year, 24,775 Civil War veterans died. During that periodwidows who filed olaims for pension. numbered 14,753. From these figures some idea can be formed of tho number of widow olaims that will continuo to oome m as the veterans yet on the roll gradually pass away. In fact, during the year 1919, tho number of Civil War veterans' widows passed the number of veterans on the roll, and, at the close of the fiscal year, the number of widows w^ 281,225, as-against 218,775 veterans. , Even the brief war with Spain was noted on the pension roll by 39,282 entries on the date stated. By States,-Ohio led in the number of pensioners, with 56,960, Nevada holding last place with 270. Alaska had 43. Of the foreign countries or their dependencies, Canada led witli 1623, and sixteen places, from British Guiana to Egypt, Portugal Co Siam, had each one pensioner. Tho total amount of foreign disbursements was, for the fiscal year, 1,342,----022.37 dollars.

Subdivided by different wars, the totaldisbursements last year wore:—Civil War, 246,584,640 , dollars; war with Spain, 6,171,570 dollars; war -of 1812, 24,160 dollars; war with Mexico, 838,025 dollars; Indian wars, 1,565,962 dollars;regular establishment, 3,456,191 dollars; and World War, 25,394 dollurs. The average pension for each class was 477.74 dollars; 164.34 dollars, 356.63 dollars, 373.37 dollars, 203.71 dollars, 183.49 dollars, and 238.62 dollars, respectively.