The Pension building is situated on Judiciary Square, near G Street. It is the largest department building in Washington, being 400 feet from east to west and 200 from north to south, and 75 feet high.

The walls surround an interior courtyard, two galleries extend around this court, and from these galleries access is attained to the rooms on the second and third stories. The building cost half a million dollars; it is of mixed architecture, not beautiful in appearance, but the best lighted, heated, and ventilated department building in the city. It is sometimes called "the Meigs (name of architect) Barn," because its outline is not unlike a Pennsylvania red barn.

When the architect had finished escorting General Sheridan through the building, just after its completion, the former inquired enthusiastically, "Well, Sheridan, how do you like it?"

"I find only one fault," said the General, solemnly; "it is fireproof."

At the close of the year 1908 there were on the rolls 951,687 pensioners. During 1908 there were added 413,017, with a loss from death of 428,701, making a loss above all gains of 15,684.

The number of pensioners should grow less each year.

There remain on the rolls the names of no widows and but two daughters of Revolutionary soldiers. In the last report of the Commissioner of Pensions (1900) but one soldier of the War of 1812 survived. He was at that time (September 10, 1901) 101 years of age. Of the Mexican War, the names of 2,932 soldiers and 6,914 widows are still on the rolls; of the Indian wars (1832-1842), 1,820 survivors and 3,018 widows. The war with Spain left a legacy of 20,548 invalids, 1,145 widows, and 510 nurses, drawing pensions. Besides these there is the great army of Civil War pensioners.

If the government would, at least twice each year, publish in each county the names of persons receiving pensions, the amount paid, and the alleged cause of disability, it would bring the blush of shame to the face of many a liar who now draws a handsome sum from his government. The money is largely paid into the United States Treasury not by the rich of our country, but by the laboring class of men and women.

Patriotism which requires a lifelong stipend is of doubtful color.

Soldiers of the Spanish War at the time of their discharge were obliged to sign papers declaring any disability which existed. Then each soldier was examined by the surgeon and his company officers, and these again certified either to his perfect health or to his disability. It was found that the health of many had been greatly improved by exercise in the open air, free life, and plain diet.

Eleven years after the Civil War only six per cent. of the Union soldiers and sailors had applied for a pension; it was found only a little over three years had passed since the close of the one hundred days' war with Spain, yet more than twenty per cent. of the soldiers and sailors of that war had applied for pensions.

The great majority of those mustered out had declared over their own signatures, and that of the surgeon and commanding officer of the company to which they belonged, that they had no disability whatever. Yet thousands of these very men applied for pensions, and in their applications have set forth in minute detail the large number of disabilities acquired in the service. One man within forty-eight hours after his discharge as a sound man discovered ten physical ills, any one of which should suffice to secure the bounty of a generous government.

I submit the following extract from Commissioner Evans' last report:

A good object-lesson in this regard is furnished by the history of a volunteer regiment which was recognized as one of the "crack" regiments in service during the war with Spain. Its membership was notably a fine body of men, and its officers were men of experience and ability and skilled in military matters. Few regiments had as good a record for service as this one. It was at Camp Alger for a time, then at Camp Thomas, then at Tampa, Fla.; thence sailed for Santiago de Cuba, where it was placed in the trenches and did good service until it returned to Montauk. From there it was returned to the place of its enrolment, and at the expiration of a sixty days' furlough was mustered out of service.

This regiment had a membership of 53 commissioned officers and 937 enlisted men. There were no battle-field casualties, but 1 officer and 22 men died of disease while in the service. The published report of the medical officer on the muster out of this regiment shows that 1 per cent. of the men of the regiment were improved by military service; 5 per cent. were in as good physical condition as at time of enlistment; 24 per cent. were but slightly affected, and, as a rule, the troubles were not traceable to military service. Of the remainder (70 per cent.), or 528 men, the general condition was as follows:

Up to June 30, 1901, 477 claims for pension have been filed in this bureau on account of service in said regiment for disabilities alleged to have been contracted during the brief term of its existence.

I am fully convinced that a small pension of $6 or $8 per month for alleged obscure disability, such as diarrhea, piles, rheumatism, impaired hearing, bronchitis, etc., is conferring a misfortune upon a young man—in fact, a lifelong misfortune—for the reason that it puts him to a decided disadvantage in the race for a livelihood always thereafter in the way of securing employment.

The fact that he is drawing a "disability" pension puts him on the list as disabled and unable to perform the amount of labor that is expected of a sound man, and it seems like misplaced generosity on the part of our government to thus place a handicap upon the young ex-soldier in his search for employment, as it is well known that a large percentage of the young men that served in the war with Spain depend upon manual labor for a livelihood.

Mr. Eugene F. Ware, the late Commissioner, issued the following table to show the difference between the regulars and volunteers of the Spanish-American War:

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:

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:

His poem on John Brown, the hero of freedom, satisfies. The first three verses read as follows:

Mr. Ware was Commissioner of Pensions from May 10, 1902, to January 1, 1905. Then, much to the regret of President Roosevelt, he resigned. Mr. Vespasian Warner, of Clinton, Ill., was appointed Commissioner January 16, 1905. Mr. Warner had an honorable record as member of Congress from 1895 to the time of his appointment as Commissioner. During the last four years fewer complaints have come from the Pension Office than in former years.