GRANTING OF ARMY AND NAVY PENSIONS AND BOUNTY-LAND COMPILED, BY ORDER OF THE COMMISSIONER OF PENSIONS, UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, INTRODUCTION. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, PENSION OFFICE, SIR: You are hereby assigned to the special duty of preparing a digest of the laws, decisions, rulings, and orders, now in operation, governing the adjudication of pension claims. An efficient amanuensis will be detailed to assist you in the preparation of the work. Very respectfully, Mr. F. B. CURTIS. JOHN C. BLACK, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, PENSION OFFICE, Washington, D. C., December 4, 1885. SIR: On the day of its date I had the honor to receive the order above set forth. In obedience thereto this digest has been prepared, and it is now respectfully submitted for your consideration and approval. Acting under your verbal instructions Mr. William H. Webster, chief of the "Old War and Navy Division" of this office, has compiled all the laws, regulations, orders, decisions, and rulings appearing herein, which refer to bounty-land, old war and navy claims, and to him belongs all the credit for that portion of the work. there be The system of granting pensions and bounty-lands, in prescribed cases, has become so thoroughly incorporated into our policy, that, if any who desire, they can never expect to see its discontinuance. Originating in 1776, every change in it down to the present time has had for its object the embracing of more numerous classes, until now there is hardly a neighborhood in the United States which does not contain one or more persons directly interested in some of the benefits thus conferred. In most instances pensions have, at the commencement of each war, been promised for disabilities or death incurred in its prosecution; though as to Revolutionary soldiers and their widows, pensions, without regard to disabilities, were provided long after the rendition of the serv ice. Pensions for disabilities incurred in that war were provided by resolution of Congress, passed August 26, 1776, and in September of the same year the benefits of that resolution were extended back to include 3 all cases of disability from the commencement of hostilities, on the 19th of April, 1775. From that time until the present, Congress has gone on, step by step, completing the design of the pension system, which, though imperfect in detail, viewed as a whole, presents a grand and beautiful picture of the nation's justice, humanity, and gratitude to those of its defenders who, by reason of the casualties of war, were in any degree disabled for the continuance of those forms of labor or those duties of life which they abandoned at home for the purpose of taking up arms against its enemies. Bounty-lands, at first offered only for long terms of enlistment thereafter served out, have by subsequent enactments been extended to all who have borne arms in our foreign hostilities or Indian disturbances, even for almost the shortest possible periods of service, prior to March 3, 1855. It was the inevitable result that a fabric thus reared, not upon any preconceived plan, but in detached parts to meet temporary purposes and emergencies, should lack uniformity in its design and consistency in its details. Under the different bounty-land laws the amount of territory granted, the length of service required, as well as the class of beneficiaries provided for, have varied greatly from time to time. When the country was rich in its landed possessions, in the time of the Revolution, grants were made for a service during the entire war of from 1,000 acres to a major-general down to 100 acres for a private soldier, while for subsequent services from 40 to 160 acres only were allowed to all ranks, based, however, upon shorter periods of service. Under the earlier acts the only beneficiaries provided for were the soldiers themselves who rendered the service, while later laws extended such benefits, some to widows and children, without regard to the age of the children, others to minors, and again to those as far removed in relationship in the pen. sionable sense as fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. So contrariant are the rules governing the different classes of pensioners that an attempt to enumerate them would involve the preparation of a treatise on the subject. In many instances the intention of Congress has been defeated by the employment of inadequate or improper expressions in the laws themselves, or by too narrow and rigid a construction of them by the Department charged with their execution. Congress has interposed to remedy such inconveniences, until, frequently, the amendments have totally changed the operation of the original law. These amendments, in many cases, have been separated at wide intervals from the original acts to which they refer, and are often found attached to, or included in appropriation bills, or they appear in other places where an inexperienced person would never think of seeking them. Hence has arisen an obscurity which has enveloped the pension and bounty-land laws in a fog, through which no one can grope his way unless at such labor as few but professional persons would be willing to bestow upon the subject. The evils which have sprung from this condition of things have been too universally felt to require that they should be pointed out and dwelt upon. All classes of persons having just claims upon the bounty of the Government have been subjected to unjust discriminations necessarily incident to and growing out of the imperfections in the law to which reference has already been made. If this statement is true, and I believe a pains taking inquiry into the subject will demonstrate that it is, there is certainly one well-defined, logical, and irresistible conclusion to be drawn therefrom, and that is, that all the laws relating to pensions and bounty-land should be made the subject of a careful revision and codification. That work, in my opinion, should be done by a commission of not less than three or more than seven thoroughly competent men, whose appointment should be authorized by Congress. The result of the labors of such a commission would be to give us a system of laws comparatively free from errors, under the workings of which no person having a wellfounded claim for pension or bounty-land would be deprived of any of the benefits which Congress has provided, or intended to provide. The first edition of the "Digest," with the preparation of which, in 1881, Mr. Webster and myself had more or less to do, was intended not as a revision or codification of laws, decisions, &c., but simply an ar rangement of them in a form for convenient reference, and as a guide to the large force of new and inexperienced clerks who were appointed about that time. How well that work has served the purposes for which it was intended, those who are familiar with its history can state. It was known at the time it was prepared that it was not free from good ground for criticism. In the preface to that edition it was stated that it being the first compilation ever made of the decisions of the Secretary of the Interior relating to the adjudication of claims coming before the Pension Office, together with the laws of Congress, and the regulations, rulings, and orders of the Commissioner of Pensions thereunder, omissions and inaccuracies would unadvoidably occur, which time and experience would reveal, and which being thus revealed, could be more easily corrected in subsequent revisions of that work. While this compilation has undoubtedly resulted in the correction of many of the imperfections of the first edition, still, the lapse of time, accumulated experience, and changes in the law and practice will probably reveal additional ones in this; but a step in advance will have been taken, and the labors of those who in the future may undertake a further revision, will be made less difficult, and the results of their labor rendered more satisfactory. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. JOHN C. BLACK, Commissioner of Pensions. FRANK B. CURTIS. |