Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 December 1879 — THE PENSION OFFICF. [ARTICLE]

THE PENSION OFFICF.

Commissioner lientley's Annual Report. pon. J. A Bontley, Commissioner of Pensions, has completed his annual report to the Secretary of the Interior. It shows that on the 30th of June last there were 242,755 persons in the United States receiving pensions from the Government The pension-list is now larger than at any previous time. The present list is composed of 125,150 army invalid pensioners, 81,174 army widows, children, and depehdon! relatives, 1,844 navy invalids, 1,772 navy widows, etc., 11,021 surviving soldiers of the war of 1812, and 21,104 widows of deceased soldiers of that war. During the year 31,346 new names were added to the list, and 008 namos which had previously been dropped from the rolls, mainly from failure for three years to claim their pension*, were restored, and 13,407 were, for various reasons, dropped. The aggregate amount of one year’s pension to all pensioners on the rolls is #25,403,742.15, but the actual annual payments exceed that sum by several million dollars. This arises from the fact that nearly all the newly-admitted army and navy casos have several years’ accrued pension duo at the time of admission, which is paid at the first payment. During tho year the first payments to new pensioners amounted to #5,7(53,758, of which #4,375,147 was paid to army and navy invalids, widows, etc., and #7,388,(511 to survivors and widows of the war of 1812. The first payment to pensioners of the war of 1812 will rapidly fall off, while a material increase may be expected in tho army and navy cases for several years, owing to tlio removal of tho limitation npon the commencement of pensions by the acts of Jan. 25 and March 3, 1879. ' Tho above-named acts were passed aftor the cs'imatos for the pensions for the fiscal year ondiDg June 30, 1880, were submitted, and were not, therefore, taken into account when the appropriation was made, and there will bo a deficiency in the pension appropriation for the current fiscal year as nearly as can now be estimated as follows: #5,000,000 army pensions and #30,000 navy-pensions, which should be provided for, in order that the pensions for the June quarter may be promptly paid. Thero were on the 30th of June 13(5,645 unsettled claims for arrears, an increase over last yoar of 16,258. To them are to be added about 40,000 old claims which wore revived by the Arrears act of Jan. 25, 1879, or called up from the rejected files since that date, for further consideration, and theso, with the new claims filed since the close of the year in excess of th» number settled, added to ihe number shown by the record, will aggregate fuily 200,000. 'Since the passage of tlio Arrears act now invalid, widows’, minor children, and dependent re’atives’ claims have been filed at an unprecedented rate, tho invalid claims being more than double the rate of the receipts at any previous period except in 1866, and the widows’ class exceeded any year since 1867, and twice as numerous as any year since 1871. It is estimated that at tho closo of the year there will be not loss than 250,000 unsettled cases before the office.