Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1875.djvu/16

666 of pensioned widows, mothers, and sisters. Special investigation by agents of the Office discloses the fact that many pensioners of this class are living in a state of cohabitation with men to whom, no doubt, they would be legally married were it not that by so doing they would forfeit, under existing laws, their right to pension. Under a liberal interpretation of the pension-laws, proof of such cohabitation, or of general recognition of the parties as husband and wife, is accepted, in the adjudication of claims of this description, as sufficient evidence of marriage, where no better can be furnished, and it seems only proper that such proof should be accepted as sufficient to establish the same relation in the case of a pensioner. A due regard for the interests of the Government and for the conservation of public morals appears to require such a modification of the law as will authorize a forfeiture of the pension of a widow, dependent mother, or sister, upon the discovery of proof of such cohabitation, and I therefore recommend suitable legislation to that end.

In the adjudication of claims of widows of colored soldiers, the provisions of section 4705 of the Revised Statutes are found to discriminate unjustly between white and colored claimants who resided at the time of their alleged marriage in those States wherein, prior to the late rebellion, marriages of colored people were recognized by law. The requirements of the general pension-law, in regard to evidence of marriage of white claimants of this class, are much more rigid than those of the section referred to, and, believing that white and colored claimants residing in the States referred to should be placed upon the same footing before the law, with regard to proof of marriage, the Commissioner recommends such an amendment to said section as will confine its provisions to those widows of colored soldiers who, at the time of their alleged marriage, resided in the late slave States.

The efforts of the medical division to secure just and equitable rates of pension have been unrelaxed. With each succeeding year it becomes more and more apparent that the amount of annual expenditures for pensions depends materially upon correct ratings of the disabilities of invalid pensioners. In the adjudication of claims for invalid pension, and for increase of the same, the medical questions involved are of the first importance, and, as their determination depends materially upon the reports of examining-surgeons, as revised by the medical division, it is obvious that men of the highest professional standing and of undoubted integrity should always be selected to fill such positions. Numerous changes have been made during the year in the roster of examining-surgeons,numbering 1,491 on the 30th of June last; but the Commissioner states that, notwithstanding his efforts to secure the best medical talent, it is impossible, under the present system, to secure such medical examinations and reports as are necessary to an intelligent adjudication of claims of invalids or those for increased pension. The following facts, hereinbefore referred to, have an important bearing in