of the Spanish-American war. Total deafness of one ear en-
titles them to a higher allowance than was provided for entire
disability to perform manual labor at the close of the Civil war.
The system under the act of 1890 is not, however, applicable
to those engaged in the recent hostilities.

Though war with Spain pensions are granted under the
provisions of the general law, the pension bureau has classified
them separately. All claims for disabilities contracted in the
service since April 21, 1898, both in the volunteer and regular
army and in the navy, are being charged to the account of the
war with Spain. No date has yet been fixed as the termination
of this war for pensionable purposes, and all claims that are
filed come under that classification, provided the disability
was incurred since April 21, 1898, and without regard to the
location of the command at the time the disability was in-
curred. It follows then that those who have received, or may
hereafter receive, pensions on account of injuries in putting
down the Philippine insurrection after the ratification of the
treaty of peace with Spain are classified as war with Spain
pensioners.

An interesting comparison of the average annual value of
each pension on the roll, each general law pension, each act of
1890 pension and each Spanish war pension is made in the
following table:

The high annual value of Spanish war pensions in 1899

was due to the fact that the first allowances were made to those who were suffering from pronounced disabilities of a severe nature. Later on, pensions were granted to applicants whose disabilities were less serious in character. In many cases, claimants were accorded the benefit of the doubt as to the existence of a pensionable disability where the disabled state was due to sickness rather than to permanent injuries. The decrease is also largely due to the fact that, with a return to favorable surroundings, the physical condition of most of those who served in this war is constantly improving.

The commissioner of pensions has said that many of these pensioners will be ordered for re-examination at stated periods, and that when the disability shall have ceased to exist in a pensionable degree, the pensions must stop in accordance with the law.

There was a striking difference between the Civil war and the war with Spain. The former lasted four years and was characterized by desperate fighting and unprecedented casualties upon the battle field, in addition to an enormous number of deaths from disease in camp and prison. The war department estimates that, at one time or another, a total of 2,213365 men served in the union army. On the contrary, the war with Spain was short and characterized by few direct casualties from shot and shell. Very serious injuries, however, resulted from disease incident to camp life and exposure to unusual climatic conditions. Within one hundred days from the declaration of war, Spain was seeking peace, and the average term of service was only about six months. About 223,000 volunteer troops were called into service during the war. Since the treaty of peace, another volunteer army of over 39,000 officers and men has been used in our new possessions, and on June, 30, 1901, the regular army had reached a strength of 81,586 officers and men.

In 1872, Commissioner of Pensions Baker reported that about six per cent of the union soldiers had filed claims for impaired health or disability resulting from their service. In the valuable discussion of Spanish war pensions in his last report, Commissioner of Pensions Evans said that already claims amounting in number to about twenty per cent of the men enlisted for the Spanish war have been filed. This fact

he attributes to the importunities and persuasions of an army of attorneys, solicitors and drummers, who are eagerly seeking applications with the view of securing the twenty five dollar fee legally collectible for each claim allowed. He cites the case of a regiment which had a membership of fifty three commissioned officers and 937 enlisted men. It suffered no battle field casualties and but one officer and twenty two men died of disease while in service. There have already been filed 477 claims for pensions on account of service in this organization for disabilities alleged to have been contracted during the brief term of its existence.

Under the system adopted by the war department each volunteer soldier, upon his muster out, was required to state over his own signature whether he was then suffering from any disabilities. The great majority of volunteers stated that they had no disabilities. In this statement they were corroborated by the certificate of the commanding officer of each company and by that of an army surgeon, who was required to make a physical examination of each soldier mustered out. Yet thousands of applications for pensions have been filed on behalf of these identical men in which are set forth in great detail the dates and circumstances of origin of a number of disabilities incurred in service, with a statement that they have continued ever since. The names of the disabilities were usually suggested to the claimants by enterprising solicitors. In some cases, forty eight hours before executing his declaration for a pension, the claimant declared over his own signature that he had no disability of any kind; the commanding officer confirmed the declaration, and the surgeon examined the soldier and certified that he had no disability.

In gaining an adequate conception of the importance of our pension system, the following statistical information will be of value:

Paid for army pensions since July 1, 1865, $2,608,004,258.63 Paid for navy pensions since July 1, 1865,

Fees of examining surgeons,

Cost of disbursement and agencies,

Pension bureau, salaries,

Pension bureau, other expenses,

58,900,330.60

17,375,192.13

13,140,883.73

48,696,646.50

8,610,616.60

Total,

2,754,727,928.19

The outstanding principal of the public debt of the United States was, when at its highest point, in 1866, $2,773,000,000. The pension expenditures since the Civil war have already reached that amount, and are continuing at the rate of $140,000,000 per year. The comparative importance of pension disbursements before and after the Civil war is shown by the fact that the amount expended from July 1, 1790 to June 30, 1865, was but $96,445,000.

Within the space assigned to the present paper, it has been impossible to make more than passing comment upon the administrative evils of the pension system. Billions of dollars have been paid from the national treasury under methods which would not be tolerated in any business enterprise in the world. However well disposed the officers of the pension bureau may be, it is not now possible for them to render justice to claimants and to safeguard the interests of the government. In some of its aspects, the present system seems well adapted to facilitate fraud rather than to check it. The truth of these statements is abundantly attested by the published reports of a long succession of commissioners of pensions. In his last report, Commissioner Evans expresses emphatic concurrence in the protests of his predecessors against the wrongs of the system with whose administration they were charged. He makes a most earnest plea for reform, but the influences opposed to a business-like administration of the pension bureau are so strong at Washington that there is little hope that congress will authorize any change for the better.