WILLIAM H. HESTER.

Claims injury to eyes by sand blowing into them in a storm in 1885. It is conceded in the report of the committee to which this bill was referred that the claim was largely supported by perjury and forgery, but that claimant was believed to be innocent. The evidencein the Pension Office clearly establishes the whole case to be fraudulent and sustained wholly by perjury.

ROYAL J. HIAR.

Alleged disease not result of army service. Rejected March, 1885, by Commissioner

Clarke.

ELLEN SHEA.

Soldier never claimed pension. No record of any disability. In 1884 lost his life in snow-slide in Colorado. Not a result of Army service. Rejected January, 1885, by Commissioner Clarke.

FARNAREN BALL.

Soldier died in 1872 from overdose of laudanum. Not entitled to pension. Rejected by Commissioner Black in 1885.

ELIZABETH BURR.

Husband enlisted for and served one hundred days in 1864. Never applied for pension. Died April, 1867, of dropsy. Thirteen years afterward his widow claimed pension on ground that the dropsy was contracted in service. Ciaim rejected by Pension Office as not sustained by evidence.

CHARLES GLAMANN.

Served to July, 1865. No record of injury or sickness except an attack of remittent fever. Fifteen years later claimed pension, alleging he was accidentally struck and injured in left arm with a half brick by a comrade, doubtless result of personal altercation.

MARY F. HARKINS.

Husband pensioned for wound in right foot; died seventeen years after his discharge "from rupture of the heart." Widow's claim for pension, on ground that death was the result of the wound in foot, was properly rejected by the Pension Bureau on ground that the death cause was not the result of the wound. Rejected in 1884 by Commissioner Dudley.

ELLEN SEXTON.

Her husband, discharged 1864 for disability arising from vicious indulgence, died in 1875of consumption. The cause of his death is not due to the Government service.

DOLLY BLAZER.

Husband mustered out June, 1865; never applied for pension, and died thirteen years afterward of yellow fever. Disapproved for reason that his death was not due to his military service. Rejected in 1886 by Commissioner Black.

ELIJAH MARTIN.

Vetoed because the proposed beneficiary is dead.

VIRTUE SMITH.

Husband was pensioned in 1867 for wound. Pension twice increased. Held Government clerkship sixteen years, and died in 1880, aged 64, of consumption. Up to 1877 was in excellent physical condition. His death was not related to his military service.

LIEUT. JAMES G. W. HARDY.

While traveling in recruiting service, 1864, placed his arm outside railroad car window, when it was struck by something outside, and one of the bones broken. Had no right of action against railroad company. His fracture was not properly adjusted for ten months,. during which time he remained in service. Pension Office rejected his claim. His injury was evidently the result of his carelessness.

MARY MINOR HOXEY.

Husband was pensioned, 1871, for wounds, and in 1879 was allowed arrearages from time of his discharge. He died December, 1881, of consumption, while drawing pension of $17 per month. In 1884 his widow was allowed pension at same rate (also for two minor children, now attained the age of sixteen years), and still receives it, the same as allowed to all widows of her class. The bill proposed an increase of her pension, which would be unjust to other claimants equally meritorious.

JOHN A. TURLEY.

Interfered in altercation on steamboat, under charge of an officer, and falling struck his head fatally. The bill proposed to pension his widow therefor. His death, however, was not the result of his military service.

MARY ANN DOUGHERTY.

Her widow's pension, secured in 1878, through fraudulent testimony and much false swearing on her part, and stopped upon discovering her husband was alive and himself drawing a pension. The bill in this case now proposes to grant her pension for injury she alleged to have received while making cartridges in United States arsenal. Records show no such woman was ever employed there.

POLLY H. SMITH.

Husband, in 1870, after sixteen years' service, was placed on retired list as officer on account of incapacity arising from fistula, developed in 1868. Fifteen years after his retirement, while attempting to raise a trunk to his shoulder, he suddenly died of heart disease. It is not seen how cause of his death can be connected with his service or incapacity therefrom.

JOEL B. MORTON.

Claimed pension for death of his son, Calvin Morton, in Custer massacre, 1876. The casualty records of the massacre, though very complete, contain no mention of such a soldier. Pension Bureau now searching for proof of son's service, which, if obtained, will secure claimant justice under general law. War Department records show Morton was alive and drawing pay two years after his death as claimed by this bill.

JULIA WELCH.

Her widow's pension claim having been rejected by Pension Bureau because soldier died from disease which bore no relation to any complaint contracted by him in Army, the veto upholds such rejection as correct. Rejected in 1886 by Commissioner Black.

MARY ANN LANG.

Husband was pensioned for wound in nose and died February, 1881, of dropsy. Widow's claim, filed 1884, was rejected on ground that soldier's fatal disease was not the result of his military service. Reputable medical evidence shows that soldier died of liver trouble from long and excessive drinking of beer and liquor; drinking harder towards the last of his life, though warned by his family physician. The medical referee of Pension Bureau, to whom appeal was taken for reversal of rejection by Pension Bureau, sustained the rejection. Rejected in 1886 by Commissioner Black.

NATHANIEL D. CHASE.

His claim in Pension Office begun June, 1864, renewed 1870, reopened 1880, and now pending, awaits further information and evidence to substantiate it. The Pension Bureau is competent to judge of his pensionability. Rejected in 1864 by Commissioner Barrett, and in 1882 by Commissioner Dudley.

HARRIET E. COOPER.

Her husband, a major, resigned 1863, on account of business affairs. Was afterward pensioned for rheumatism, and died twenty years afterward from chronic alcoholism, according to his attending physician's testimony, upon which rejection of her claim by Pension Office was based. The veto sustains action of Pension Office, which the bill endeavors to set aside.

WILLIAM M. CAMPBELL, JR.

Enlisted August 5, 1862, mustered out July 16, 1865, was a deserter for one year and seven months, and arrested and court-martialed. He alleges that in February, 1862, he contracted mumps from impure virus in vaccination. As he was not in United States service at that time, proposed bill "seems neither to have law nor meritorious equity to support it." Rejected in 1880 by Commissioner Bentley.

VAN BUREN BROWN.

Eighteen years after discharge claimed pension, alleging various disabilities. His case, full of uncertainty and contradiction, was very thoroughly examined by Pension Bureau, rejected, subsequently reopened, re-examined, and again rejected. Three medical examinations failed to disclose any pensionable disability. Rejected by Commissioner Black in 1885 and 1887.

SARAH E. M'CALEB.

Her husband was discharged June, 1865. Died 1878 by suicide. No ground for pension shown. Rejected in 1883 by Commissioner Dudley.

Alleges comrade put powder in his pipe, which exploded and injured his eyes; no record thereof or of any disability, although served two and a half years thereafter, when regiment was mustered out June, 1865. Never made claim until twenty-two years later.

ANNA MERTZ.

Her husband, who served as captain, resigned June, 1863. December 1, 1884, more than twenty years after his discharge, died from an overdose of morphine self-administerd.

JOHANNA LOEWINGER.

Husband pensioned for chronic diarrhea, died July, 1876. A coroner's inquest found verdict of suicide by cutting his throat with a razor. His death was not caused by his military service.

STEPHEN SCHIEDEL.

Served from October, 1861, to October, 1864, without record of injury or disability._Sixteen years after discharge claimed pension, alleging injury to back and shoulder in June, 1862. Medical examinations disclosed injury to hand and arm and some rheumatic trouble, all incurred since discharge, but do not sustain the injury for which he claimed pension. Death not result of military service.

ELISHA GRISWOLD.

Was discharged February, 1866. Filed claim 1880, alleging that while in prison in January, 1866, he fell from a swing and hurt his head and shoulder. No record of injury. Not result of army service. After this claim was rejected, in March, 1888, he filed another, alleging diarrhea and malarial poisoning.

CHARLES GLAMANN.

Served from September, 1864, to July, 1865; was injured in left arm by a brick thrown by a comrade in a personal altercation.

BRIDGET FOLEY.

Husband enlisted in August, 1862, and was discharged when he reached Washington for rheumatism contracted before he enlisted. He never applied for a pension, but died in 1873 of consumption. Cause of death had no relation to army service.

TOBIAS BANEY.

Enlisted February, 1865, and was discharged in January, 1866. Claim for disability from palpitation of the heart. This case has been repeatedly examined by the Pension Bureau since 1878 and always rejected as unworthy. No reason why that Bureau's conclusion should not stand in this case as in others.

AMANDA F. DECK.

Husband was pensioned for a wound received in shoulder in an Indian fight in 1864. He was killed in 1883 in a personal difficulty not connected with his Army service.

THOMAS SHANNON.

Soldier in regular Army. While on leave at Rio Grande, Texas, in 1872, was injured by an explosion of powder at a 4th of July celebration. Rejected by Commissioner Baker.

THERESA HERBST.

Husband was in the Union Army and captured by the Confederates at Gettysburgh. He then joined the rebel army and fought in its ranks for ten months, when he was taken prisoner by the Union forces. He died of heart disease in 1868. The President says:

"I will take no part in putting a name upon our pension-roll which represents a Union soldier found fighting against the cause he swore he would uphold; it would have been a sad condition of affairs if every captured Union soldier had deemed himself justified in fighting against his Government rather than to undergo the privations of capture."

JOHN F. BALLIER.

Claimant is now drawing under general law the full amount fixed by this bill.

WOODFORD M. HOUCHIN.

Disability is no wise attributable to Army service. The claim has been thoroughly examined and rejected by Commissioners Bentley, Dudley and Black.

MARY FITZMORRIS.

The claimant is now receiving under general law the precise sum named in this bill.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT.

A REMARKABLE SHOWING OF INCREASED AND MORE EFFICIENT SERVICE AT LOWER COST.

The Railway Mail, the Star Route and the Steamboat Branches all Show Increased Efficiency and Extraordinary Expansion-Decline in the Number of Depredations and Defaulters Among Postmasters and Other Postal Employes.

The impulse from sound business methods and honest administration of public affairs inculcated and enforced by the President in every branch of the Govern mental service, is demonstrated in every part of the great postal establishment. Perfunctory processes, chronic evils, favoritism in contracts, indifference to peculation and fraud have given way to inspection, reform in method, and rigorous enforcement of law.

While the service has been extended far beyond precedent in the history of the Department for any similar period of time, and indeed for any period of double the time, the revenues have in like proportion increased, and the proportionate cost has in like manner decreased.

Expedition and accuracy have reached a degree of progress never before attained. The standard of competency of all employes is higher than ever before, and the complaints of the service are fewer than ever before. Just complaints receive more efficient attention than ever before, and depredations and frauds are fewer in number than ever known.

The truth of all these averments needs no other demonstration than the record herewith submitted.

I.

INCREASE OF EFFICIENCY AT REDUCED COMPARATIVE COST.

A SHOWING OF CAREFUL, PRUDENT AND STILL PROGRESSIVE MANAGEMENT IN EVERY BRANCH OF THE POSTAL SERVICE.

With all the enormous extension of the Railway Mail Service, with an increase of the number of postoffices of nearly eight thousand, with the money order business reaching the sum of nearly $150,000,000, with the introduction of the parcel post system (initiated by this administration) with foreign countries, with the cost of foreign mail service doubled, with the free delivery offices more than doubled, with the additional cost of the new special delivery service, with a practical renewal of equipment throughout the service, and finally with an added expenditure of over five millions, besides the proper use of moneys before wasted by improper manage. ment and fraud, the Department shows a deficiency of but little over two millions at the close of the fiscal year 1888, as compared with a deficiency of upwards of seven millions for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1885.

This has been done, too, under a policy which has been steadily followed, to afford, within the limits of the appropriations, the best service that money could procure, and to extend that service wherever needed. What proper methods have done may be seen from the following tables: