It is believed that this spectacle, which indicates lack of patriotism, is due to the solicitation of the pension agent, who received $20 for every pension secured. Now this condition of things is an outrage. The name of every man who receives a pension should be published. If he really deserves it, no other citizen will object; if not, he should be scorched by the community.

Is it any wonder that with such a raid upon the United States Treasury that the pension work is slow, and that many soldiers and widows of soldiers of the Civil War have not yet received their deserved pensions?

It seems to me the following extract from the report of the Commissioner of Pensions, in reference to illegalities connected with applications, may be of interest as showing the condition of affairs in 1902:

The 226 indictments tried, which resulted in convictions, were based upon the following charges:

False claim64
False certification26
False affidavit16
False personation5
Perjury40
Forgery18
Illegal fee26
Personating government officer21
Retaining pension certificate2
Prosecuting claims while a government officer4
Conspiracy2
Embezzlement1
Attempted bribery1

It has been the uniform practise not to recommend prosecution in any case unless the criminal intent of the parties was clearly shown; and in the cases of soldiers and their dependents, to resolve every doubt in their favor, and not to recommend prosecution where it was apparent that they had been drawn into a violation of the law by others. As a result of this practise, the majority of the convictions secured were against attorneys, agents, sub-agents, magistrates, and others responsible for the preparation and filing of false and fraudulent claims and evidence, and those who falsely personated soldiers or soldiers' widows.

Eugene F. Ware succeeded Mr. Evans as Commissioner of Pensions early in 1902. Mr. Ware is a Kansas man, prominent both in the literature and politics of that State for the last twenty-five years. He has stirred up matters in the Pension Bureau by making even the humblest clerk feel that good work will meet with promotion, and that no influence can keep inefficiency in that responsible place. He has also announced that no one who habitually uses intoxicants can be entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the aged and indigent soldiers, forlorn widows, and helpless children. The consequence is some have been dismissed for drunkenness, others have resigned, others have quit their cups. Mr. Ware comes from a state where prohibition has made the jail a useless building except for storing the great surplus of corn. One of his poems says:

The horse-thief went, the cowboy joined the church,

The justice of the peace is laughed to scorn;

The constable has tumbled from his perch,