228 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



this simple reason : Under that act all the claimant had 

 to do to get upon the roll was to prove that he was dis- 

 abled, that he had an honorable discharge, that he had 

 served ninety days or more in the Union army, and that 

 his disability was not caused by vicious habits of his own. 

 When this state of facts was established by the proofs, he 

 was put on the roll for the disabilities existing, not ex- 

 ceeding $12 a month. This made a simple and easy set- 

 tlement of many cases, and as every man who applies un- 

 der the old law would be entitled to apply under the new 

 law in lieu of the old, cases under the new law that did 

 not require any very technical examination were given 

 precedence, and, following that, claims of the same sol- 

 diers were adjusted under the old law. The man was 

 taken out of the poorhouse, or at least given relief, under 

 the act of 1890, and, following that, he was granted his 

 rating under the old law, if it exceeded $12 a month. 



That method of settling claims was adopted, and I 

 think it was wisely adopted. And there was no conceal- 

 ment about it. Openly and fairly the administration 

 adopted this course ; openly and fairly the commissioner 

 of pensions appeared before the committees of Congress 

 and asked additional allowance for clerk hire so that this 

 class of claims might be taken up and adjusted, and that 

 men who were not upon the pension roll at all, who had 

 applied under the act of June, 1890, should speedily have 

 their claims adjusted. And new claims were given pref- 

 erence over claims of increase. 



There is another feature of the act of 1890 which has 

 not been alluded to, and which ought to be fairly under- 

 stood by this House. The great mass of cases allowed 

 under the act of 1890 for disability were really allowed 

 for disability contracted in the service ; but owing to the 

 lapse of time, owing to the uncertainty and frailty of the 

 human memory, owing to the death of witnesses, it has 



