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![handle is hein.usccsset/usconset31265 and id is 1 raw text is:
56TH CONGRESS, SENATE. REPORT
1st Session. No. 1.
BEVISION OF THE PENSION LAWS.
DECEMBER 13, 1899.-Ordered to be printed.
Mr. GALLINGER, from the Committee on Pensions, submitted the
following
REPORT.
[To accompany S. 1476, 1477, and 1478.]
On the 25th day of February, 1899, the Senate passed the following
resolution:
Resolved, That the Committee on Pensions is hereby authorized
and directed, by a subcommittee appointed for that purpose, to care-
fully examine, during the recess of Congress, all general laws on the
statute book granting pensions to soldiers, their survivors and depend-
ents, and to pursue such other inquiries in connection with the matter
of pension legislation as may be deemed advisable; report to be made
to the Senate, by bill or otherwise, at as early a day as practicable after
the assembling of the Fifty-sixth Congress, the expense incurred to be
paid from the contingent fund of the Senate.
Pursuant to that resolution the chairman of the committee visited
Washington twice during the summer months and made careful exami-
nation of all laws bearing on the subject of pensions, with a view of
determining what changes, if any, should be made in the existing
statutes. He discussed the matter with the officials of the Bureau of
Pensions, and carefully noted their views. It was evident that, while
the laws are broad and generous, much difficulty has arisen in their
administration because of the obscure phraseology of some of their
provisions, and the necessity for certain amendments was apparent.
Subsequently, to wit, on the 29th day of November, a subcommittee of
the Committee on Pensions, as provided in the resolution, consisting
of Senators Gallinger and Hansbrough, met in the city of Washington,
and took statements from the Secretary of the Interior, the Assistant
Secretary of the Interior, the Commissioner of Pensions, the First
Deputy Commissioner of Pensions, and Col. George H. Patrick, repre-
senting the Grand Army of the Republic. These statements, which
will be found exceedingly interesting and instructive, are printed in
connection with this report.
The officials who were interrogated all advocated the creation of a
nonpartisan commission to revise and codify the pension laws with a
view to making them more uniform and intelligible, thus rendering
their administration less difficult and free from existing perplexities.
It was also agreed on all hands that the wishes of the Grand Army of
the Republic to give a pensionable status to widows under the act of
June 27, 1890, who are in possession of an annual income not exceed-
ing $250, in addition to the proceeds of daily labor, and that in
estimating the pensionable status of soldiers under that act minor](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.usccsset/usconset31265&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)