Chapter XXXIX

THE PENSION BUREAU—HOW GOVERNMENT PAYS ITS SERVANTS.

Sneering at Red Tape—The Division of Labor—Scrutinizing
Petitions—A Heavy Paper Jacket—Invalids, Widows, and Minors—The
Examiner of Pensions—How Claims are Entertained and Tested—What
is Recorded in the Thirty Enormous Volumes—How Many Genuine
Cases are Refused—One of the Inconveniences of Ignorance—The
Claim Agent Gobbles up the Lion’s Share—An Extensive
Correspondence—How Claims are Mystified, and Money is
Wasted—Seventy-five Thousand Claims Pending—The Reward of
Fourteen Days’ Service—The Sum Total of What the Government has
Paid in Pensions—The Largest and the Smallest Pension
Office—The Miscellaneous Branch—Investigating Frauds—A Poor
“Dependent” Woman with Forty Thousand Dollars—How “Honest and
Respectable” People Defraud the Government—The Medical
Division—Examining Invalids—The Restoration-Desk—The
Appeal-Desk—The Final-Desk—The Work that Has Been Done—One
Hundred and Fifty Thousand People Grumbling—The Wrath of a
Pugnacious Captain, 418