The secret investigation of pension claims by special agents operating at the residence of claimants has been abolished by the Commissioner and open investigation substituted, without, in his opinion, detriment to the interests of the government.
Under the authority of a law passed at the last session of Congress he has extended this method of investigation to a larger proportion of cases than heretofore.
He recommends that provision be made by Congress for the employment of a larger number of examiners upon this work, at a compensation of $1,400 per annum, and $4 per diem, and necessary traveling expenses, and that provision be made for the payment of the expenses of the applicant when required to accompany the special examiner, and also for the compelling of the attendance of witnesses and for the payment of their expenses.
It is recommended in the report that the fee of examining surgeons be increased to $2 for each examination, and that provision be made for their expenses and a per diem allowance when they are required to examine, at their homes, pensioners who are unable to travel.
The Commissioner states that under existing laws the compensation of pension agents averages about $2,500, and that this amount is altogether disproportionate to their labors and responsibilities. He recommends that provision be made for an increase of their compensation, and that they be required to aid in the detection of fraudulent pension claims.
The Commissioner calls attention to the necessity for more definite legislation for the following purposes: to define by what officer commutation for artificial limbs shall be paid; to define the jurisdiction of the accounting officer of the Treasury in the matter of allowance made by the Commissioner of Pensions; to give authority to grant pensions in certain cases to soldiers who left the service without a discharge; and to give authority to fix dates for the commencement of pensions, upon the presumption of a soldier's death, when proof of the fact and date cannot be obtained.
In the sundry civil bill, approved March 3, 1881, provision was made for the purchase of a suitable site, in the city of Washington, for the erection of a fire-proof building for the use of the Pension Office; and $250,000 was appropriated for the purpose. The purchase of the site and the approval of the plans for the building were placed under the supervision of the Secretary of War, Secretary of the Interior, and Quartermaster-General of the Army. While it is believed to have been the intention of Congress to provide in the sum named for the erection of the building, the wording of the act precluded such construction, and it was therefore deemed proper to defer action until the defect could be cured by additional legislation on the subject.
