Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1875.djvu/18

668 can dispose of, and thus action in many cases is suspended for months, involving much complaint, more or less just, on the part of claimants. The Commissioner, therefore, recommends the entire reorganization of the division, upon a basis similar to the special-service of the Post-Office and Treasury Departments, and that authority be given by law for the appointment of a regular corps of special agents, at least 30 in number, who shall receive a fixed annual salary, and, when traveling on such duty, shall be entitled to per-diem allowance for subsistence and their actual traveling-expenses.

Almost the entire clerical force of the Pension Office is employed in the Seaton House building, and all the records and files relating to claims for pension .and bounty-land are stored therein. The unsuitableness of this building for the purpose, and its insecurity as a place of deposit for valuable records and files, have been commented upon at length in the annual reports of my immediate predecessor. The building was rented four years ago for the use of the Pension Office, under a lease which expired on the 10th of August last, and its occupation is continued under a condition of the lease which allows the Government to occupy it from year to year, as may be required, at the same rent, viz, $10,000 per annum. Unavailing efforts were made to find a more suitable building before the expiration of said lease, and it has been found necessary to rent two additional buildings adjoining the Seaton House at an annual cost of $3,500. The whole amount, therefore, which is now paid for rent of buildings used by the Office is $13,500.

The Commissioner invites attention to the necessity for an addition to the present force of his Office, and to the propriety of a reorganization of such force, whereby higher rates than are now paid would be provided for those clerks who are employed in the more responsible positions therein. At the close of the last fiscal year, the number of original pension-claims on file, unadjudicated, was 66,107; an increase of 4,447 pending claims during the year. The whole number of original claims filed during said year was 18,704, and of claims for increased pension 18,563, a total of 37,267 claims; while during that period 27,118 claims of all classes were allowed, and 0,078 rejected; making a total number of 36,196 claims disposed of, or 1,071 less than the whole number received during the year.

The foregoing figures show the necessity for additional clerical force in the Office, if it is desired bf Congress that said force should be sufficient to not only dispose of the current business of the Office, but also the accumulations of past years, represented by the 66,107 pending claims above referred to, in addition to which there were 7,778 pending claims for increased pension. Many of these claims are doubtless meritorious, and it is only just to those who were disabled in the cause of our country during the late rebellion, and to their widows and