Comparative statement of the number of pensioners. Annual amount of pension and expenditure June 30, 1872, and June 30, 1873.
The following comparative statement will exhibit the number of pensioners with the annual amount of pension of each of the principal classes of pensioners, June 30, 1872, and June 30, 1873, together with the amount paid to each class during the fiscal year terminating on the above dates:
| June 30, 1872 | ||||
| Classes of Pensioners | Number. | Annual amount. | Paid to each class during the year ending June 30, 1872. | |
| Invalid, Army | 95,405 | $6,611,854 91 | $10,145,145 49 | |
| Invalid,„ Navy | 1, 449 | 136,545 00 | 149,442 85 | |
| Soldiers, war of 1812 | 17,100 | 1,641 600 00 | 1,977,415 84 | |
| Widows, Army | 113,518 | 14,530,778 39 | 17,266,156 62 | |
| Widows,„war of 1812 | 3,027 | 290,592,00 | 335,993,63 | |
| Widows,„Navy | 1,730 | 269,208 00 | 295,186 57 | |
| 232,229 | 25,480,578 30 | 30,169,341 00 | ||
| June 30,1873 | ||||
| Classes of Pensioners | Number. | Annual amount. | Paid to each class during the year ending June 30, 1873. | |
| Invalid, Army | 99, 804 | $90,627,240 89 | $10,564,825 51 | |
| Invalid,„Navy | 1,430 | 150,537 75 | 160,971 98 | |
| Soldiers, war of 1812 | 18,266 | 1,733,536 00 | 2,078,606 98 | |
| Widows, Army | 112,088 | 13,963,164 | 15, 395,640 15 | |
| Widows,„Navy | 1,770 | 290,550 00 | 302 936 71 | |
| Widows,„war of 1812 | 5,053 | 484,656 00 | 689,303 69 | |
| 238,411 | 26,250,284 23 | 29,185,289 62 | ||
While the general rule of annual increase which has characterized the yearly disbursements of pensions during the past ten years has been maintained in the payments to certain classes of pensioners dining the past year, the marked feature of the expenditures for the year 1872-73 has been the large decrease in disbursements to the great class of widow and dependent-relative pensioners.
The amount paid to Army invalids was $410,680.02 greater than the year before; to Navy invalids, $11,529.13; to Navy Widows, $7,750.14; to survivors of the war of 1812, $101,191.14, and to widows of soldiers of the war of 1812, $353,310.06, but, to more than offset this, the payments to Army widows and dependent relatives fell off $1,877,511.87, by which the total disbursements for pensions for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1873, were reduced to $29,185,289,62, being $984,051.38 less than the preceding year, ($30,169,341.) ******* Of the unexpended balance of the appropriation for Army pensions there was in the hands of the pension agents on the 30th of June $14,511. (See table appendix.)
Of the unexpended balance of the appropriation for Navy pensions there was in the hands of the pension agents on the 30th of June $14,511.(See appendix.)
These balances have been covered into the Treasury under act of July 12, 1870.
