Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1879.djvu/46

44 devised, and, when completed and in operation, will facilitate greatly the labors of the office.

It appears evident that the present force of the Pension Office is not adequate for the prompt disposition of the business before it, and I therefore concur in the Commissioner’s recommendation for an additional appropriation of $50,000, to be immediately available for the current year. The Commissioner suggests that the clerical force of the offices of the Adjutant-General and Surgeon-General is not sufficient to enable them to respond with promptness to the large number of callls made upon them.

The Commissioner again calls attention to the present defective system of setting claims, and renews his recommendation that the plan hitherto presented by him be adopted. In this connection he says:

The magnitude of the interests involved commends this system to the considerate attention of Congress. It is evident that the present system, based upon ex-parte testimony, exposes the government to fraud, and makes its detection very difficult. I therefore concur in the opinion expressed by the Commissioner that a change is essential for the better protection of the government in the payment of pensions.

The Commissioner reports the satisfactory condition of the pension agencies and calls attention to what he deems the inadequate compensation of the agents. In the passage of the act fixing their pay, many