val House bill No. 1471, entitled "An act
increasing the pension of Andrew J. Hill."

This bill doubles the pension which the person named therein has been
receiving for a number of years. It appears from the report of the
committee to which the bill was referred that a claim made by him for
increased pension has been lately rejected by the Pension Bureau "on the
ground that the claimant is now receiving a pension commensurate with
the degree of disability found to exist."

The policy of frequently reversing by special enactment the decisions
of the Bureau invested by law with the examination of pension claims,
fully equipped for such examination, and which ought not to be suspected
of any lack of liberality to our veteran soldiers, is exceedingly
questionable. It may well be doubted if a committee of Congress has a
better opportunity than such an agency to judge of the merits of these
claims. If, however, there is any lack of power in the Pension Bureau
for a full investigation, it should be supplied; if the system adopted
is inadequate to do full justice to claimants, it should be corrected,
and if there is a want of sympathy and consideration for the defenders
of our Government the Bureau should be reorganized.

The disposition to concede the most generous treatment to the disabled,
aged, and needy among our veterans ought not to be restrained; and it
must be admitted that in some cases justice and equity can not be done
nor the charitable tendencies of the Government in favor of worthy
objects of its care indulged under fixed rules. These conditions
sometimes justify a resort to special legislation, but I am convinced
that the interposition by special enactment in the granting of pensions
should be rare and exceptional. In the nature of things if this is
lightly done and upon slight occasion, an invitation is offered for the
presentation of claims to Congress which upon their merits could not
survive the test of an examination by the Pension Bureau, and whose
only hope of success depends upon sympathy, often misdirected, instead
of right and justice. The instrumentality organized by law for the
determination of pension claims is thus often overruled and discredited,
and there is danger that in the end popular prejudice will be created
against those who are worthily entitled to the bounty of the Government.

There has lately been presented to me, on the same day, for approval,
nearly 240 special bills granting and