Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1878.djvu/29

Rh 1877, has proved satisfactory. Pensions are now paid at 18 agencies with equal promptness and less inconvenience than when the number was 58. A more uniform system of payment has been secured, at a reduction on salary account alone of $142,000.

The Commissioner reports an increased efficiency in the clerical force of his bureau, and attributes it to the comparatively few changes in the personnel of the office. Merit has been regarded as the basis of retention and promotion, and this has tended to dispel the feeling of uncertainty and insecurity in relation to the tenure of office.

The Commissioner makes the following recommendations:

1. The amendment of section 4702 Revised Statutes, by adding a proviso, that when a widow remarries the children entitled to pension should be paid from the date of last payment to their mother.

Under the law as it now stands the children are entitled from the date of remarriage, so that through concealment of the fact subsequent payments may be made, which, although used for the support of the children, cannot be deducted from the amount found due them under the present law.

2. Repeal of section 4717 Revised Statutes, which bars the admission of claims not prosecuted to successful issue within five years from the date of filing, without record evidence from the War or Navy Department of the injury or disease which resulted in the disability or death of the person on whose account the claim is made.

It is claimed that this section works great hardship to many claimants, in whose cases the records are alleged to be incomplete or not in accordance with the facts.

3. The amendment of section 4698½ Revised Statutes, which prescribes that no increase of an invalid pension, except in cases of “specific disabilities,” shall commence prior to the date of the medical examination upon which the claim is adjusted.

The application of this is attended by considerable confusion and often by injustice. It prevents an increase, in many cases covering a period wherein the disability was clearly in excess of the pension paid, or a low rate was allowed on the mistaken opinion of an examining surgeon or a misapprehension of the case by the Commissioner. The statute should be so amended as to extend to this class of claims the exception made in specific disability cases.

As the amendments commend themselves on the grounds of necessity and justice, I earnestly recommend them to the favorable consideration of Congress.

The report of the Commissioner of Patents shows a gratifying increase of the business of the office for the year ending June 30, 1878.

The number of original applications received for patents was 19,657; for design patents, 722; for reissue of patents, 627; for registration of trade-marks, 1,536; for registration of labels, 727; caveats filed, 2,737.