| Show P I n iOl a Office 5 s Mal MalI MalIt C v It Comes on s largely iL From romp People ople Who Have H ve Strange Ideas About the Bureaus Bure s Purposes n ER S THERE T RE IS NO de PERHAPS P i of the government at t Washington that has a corre carre correspondence enc with wih the general public as s large 1 as that of f the United States pen len sion presided over over by H H Clay Cla Evans Evan In the last fiscal year there tere I were letters J te received receive by that tat bureau of which were j laneous letters and during the same period p letters letter were ere written write the small smal army anny c of clerks employed emp oyed 1 there ther for that tat purpose The correspond correspondents cats are among all aU sorts sort and condl condi c tons of ot men and live lve not only In this country co but all al over the world There are now pensioners living in hi the Co Comore Comore more islands Isle pf p Man Malta Mala Mau Mauri ri ritus Portuguese East Africa Sierra Leone and St St Helena to say nothing no hl of the larger and more populous coun countries tries and islands of the te seas se and there arts are ar claims still ti pending pen ing I Most of the correspondents correspondent have haYe the vaguest agest ideas i ea of the working methods I of the pension bureau There are ae mul multitudes I who send volumes volumes of illegible 1 manuscript overflowing with wit ardent de descriptions I of their own glorious deeds upon the fields felds of battle neglecting however to enclose a scrap of ot evidence in support thereof The office regret regretting regretting ting its is inability to accept the unsupported unsupported unsupported ported statements statement of these heroes po politely calls cals on them theta for the necessary evidence and continues to call cal with ith I unabated politeness until such testimony test testimony 1 mony many Is ls all aU collected or the applicants cease from troubling Often Otten the te applicants app cant aim their re requests rei requests quests ques directly at President McKinley Here Is a sample from Mississippi which betrays betras the bellet beliet that tat the president president dent has ha discovered d the thie the necessity of advertising in this age ge of ot business i competition Mr 11 r William Wilam McKinley dear Sir I lur ed By reading l one of your ad advertisement that Iny my one that Faught In n the YanKie Armie that that you would sAnd ind turn thim a Pension Well Wel sir I Faught In n the Armie Amle 2 years and an I got shot one ne time in the Armie but 1 did not stop top fighting But 3 days i WInt Fighting on I Will not try tr to tell tel you youal all al the Plaices that we wint to but I Ivill vill ivill wU tell ten you some of thim to let you 0 kno know enow no that I shore shor was wa in the te Armie Arnde Anie dear ear sir you can cn look on your Book find ind my name Well Wel I left home homeI I I wint whit down to Servaner Georgia Georgie left I f wint down to of f South went from thair to I r and anI a from thair to Rolie Role and thain we Johnson if I 1 make nc mistake it is Bin so long lone loni that I cant remember over little thing after we I him buM we wint to Richmon Ver enias and andio from thair we wint in camp and We left eft thal nd got on the te train tain and wint whit down dO to t the ohio R It and got on the Boat and nd wint w tt to louisvill and they all aU out I was wa not there tere I vas wa sick that day daJ and had bin binor I Ifor for or 1 weak wk so that is all aU I have hae to say In n this letter leter sp so rite rie soon and help me rue if f you yo u pleas 1 I no o it I is in your Power Many persons peron regard the pension of office flee fice as a a sort of bureau of information established in the interests of the en enIre entre tire Ire tre human race The following letter from fact act rom the Hoosier state state Illustrates this Sir SirI I would thank you ever so 10 much If you would please tell tel me tue if a colored man named Tom Smith is liv Ih Ing lag ng or dead and If you know where he resides if living gAs Ana Ans right away The extraordinary concern concer displayed by jy some of the est their neighbors neighbor should stray from the path I of righteousness Is worthy of a better cause One of these zealous workers sent this complaint of a certain cerain ap applicant applicant for tor pension in his vicinity I 1 let you OU know ko that Mr that ta has but b t in for Is not In it he Is Joust Jou t as a Wean as a enny own of ous otis and if he gets then hall hail Milwaukee can get it It J Shortly Short afterward the same writer wrier advised the office thus tu regarding the same claimant claimant I have to let you ou know kno that mister has but in for and ands is iR s getting examined to o Day he is Joust as as a I am He bordet by y ous and I Ilow know what he is he Is to lacey acey to do anney thing thing and andIs is Nothing but jut a he tolt toU me rue that he hat hato hatto hatto to o eat ent 2 bounts bount of Craves yesterday esterdy he waar aal geUng examined to toDay toDa toDay Day Da If I mor or If you to know mor let me know truley Here is a remarkable specimen of the some same se kind manifesting a u surprisingly intimate acquaintance with his neighbors author affairs on the part of its Sir i 1 will wi let you know knor that is getting to mutch pen peti pension pe sion slon he is fully funy a a well wel man he be can walk and run rn for tor three or six miles mUes and carry c rry a 0 load ori on on his back he knows knows about the time when youens would come C examine him then when he sees youns coming he junt into bed bd and squealed like a a hog anti and ad got gat his oman to fan fail him the while youns was M there thereto the e eto to see e him as soon as youns went vent wet away he junt out of o bed and went to his hi and he is a well wen man up to this da day F daI It I is fortunate that the man who who In Inscribed Inscribe scribed scribe the two following foOling complaints both referring to the same pensioner leans toward brevity In his style for forthe forthe forthe the effort efort required to decipher such Ruch an amazing a aing combination of bad ba spelling with wih poor poor P r penmanship and a a supreme disregard of punctuation and capital letters is a sufficient trial to the most experienced clerk The at Washington to the Dep I 1 think is a Drawing I of f i I 1 beleve he has hasbin hasbin hasbin bin a aiding aiding and as assisting slating the th wild enters caters cf rs In their vila vla ton of the government gO Laws The of ot the we think Is a Drawing DrawIng of an un he sed ed that he wood help the thc Wild Wid Caters Cers out of their Vii VU nation astion atan if it him all l he Had and andall andall i ial all al he Could get and we wish to Let i iOU you OU all al know that tat he lie said aid this is true i Can this and ad when we ve Came Cameto I Ito to the test t st we can more than I that tat S Yours Trula Another worthy worth citizen cU en resigned but cheerful fn In the consciousness of ot faith faithfully faithfully fully performing a duty gives abundant ant evidence that certain bertain lawless gYe char characters characters a in his vicinity are re e receiving r pen penI I shins for not hot contracted In Inthe int t the te military service serice He asserts as that tat i iad alit ad goe fishing 4 miles mies to the River every eVer day all sum summer men mer m r grape wine and a habets thus conveying a dark hint that grape wine and habets are responsible responsible responsible sible for Cor the pensioned ailments On Investigation such charges are often otten oft 11 proved to have no other foundation than personal malice or envy 1 Some of the addresses ad r es in the pension bureaus mail are even more than the letters themselves The pro promiscuous promiscuous American uSe vise of the prefix t i Mr has made it ft possible for to address his communication to Mr bIn 1 lr Pension Department Washington Wahington D Da Q ci which h Is not nidre original o how hoV however however ever eer than this superscription 1 U S Statutes Penchon Offic An envelope worthy of special re regard regard regard gard for Its unpleasant suggestiveness s reads Pinching Wash Washington WashIngton ington D B C and a no correspondent cor pon nt from South Carolina addresses the I present commissioner as an Mr Evans Governor of o the United States 1 One feels fe ls COnT to admire the th thI i cleverness c of el the no clerks I rightly r handed t ver er to th of pensions p letters addressed as fol folIo Io l Washington D C CIT CuU CU IT U S D O 0 te 0 o cor car And this Commissioner Clay Columbus 0 O OThe The Th commissioners title Is variously modified to Keeper Proprietor or Head H ad Man of ot the pension office Here H ie are some seine other odd expressions used In addressing Commissioner Ev Ex Evans ans S sn Clay Evans Pension General f Evans avans Co Soldiers Attorney Evans evans penchant agent Henry C Ivens General Agent Benson enson Buro Bura and even this jen hon ef of pen pensions alone alons jen Is Js presumably to be translated General and hon of ot stands for the Honorable Another man directs his request to in the plural evidently in Inthe the belle belief that their name is legion A correspondent from front Pennsylvania literally covered his hrs envelope with these directions ns Mr Evins off Washington Co D DC C Cco co Pension Office D B P and The of Burow are characteristic efforts It is evident that the man who In Inscribed inscribed inscribed scribed the following address addre s reproduced reproduced reproduced faithfully thereon a 8 portion of the printed notice on the government penalty envelope sent him by his con congressional gressional representative Bureau of Pension Washington D O C OM CM M 11 C Official Business Penalty for Private A singular superscription the import of which is still sun shrouded in mystery is f L s So t tAnd And yet it nut not more aston than this one Washington d c c to the department terror a 0 brief but novel method of express 8 lag Ing Pension Office Interior Depart Deport Deportment Department Department ment f The fact that all the business of Un Uncle Uncle i icle cle Sams executive departments la Is not transacted in one building would probably probably I ably be a source of wonder to the tb men who directed their th lr envelopes titus O tr S s Burea U TJ S Capitol Washington City of D C To the of Ware Washington D C To the Department of War and Mr The uThe Pension Office Carefully crowded into the corner oi 01 an odd looking envelope s the entire address Jeneral p oils oms Wash ington d c One feels Inclined to wonder what could have been the writers motive in leaving so 50 much blank space A California man recent ly Iy requested some Information from the of Anyone who feels inclined to wonder at the length of time that elapses elapse In Inmany inmany many cases the filing and set of a pension claim is respect fully requested to consider the ties made by the applicants themselves aa as well athe necessity of sitting sifting the evidence presented the work of gath gathering ering medical testimony of proving the identity of the claimants etc Many applicants on the rejection of their claims are firmly convinced that such action is the result of personal malice on the part of the commissioner of pensions or the Interference of their neighbors Others are constantly com eom complaining of the delay In issuing pension certificates If these people realized the fact that over certificates of all kinds were issued during the last fiscal year possibly they might gather a taint faint idea of the tremendous number of cases constantly being handled C Copyright 1301 by A L Bennon |
