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REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF PENSIONS.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

BUREAU OF PENSIONS,

Washington, D. C., September 15, 1911.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report, showing the operations of the Bureau of Pensions for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911:

GENERAL STATEMENT.

In Exhibit 1 will be found the gains and losses to the roll and also the amounts disbursed to each class of pensioners during the year.

Gains and losses in pension roll during the fiscal year 1911.

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The number of survivors of the Civil War on the pension roll at the close of the fiscal year was 529,884. The number of survivors whose names were dropped from the roll during the year on account of death was 35,243. There were more than 2,000 certificates issued during the year to survivors of the Civil War who had never been pensioned before. The net reduction during the year in the number of survivors on the roll was only 32,731.

The number of individuals in the military and naval service of the United States during the Civil War is estimated at 2,213,365. It is believed that only about 25 per cent of those who rendered service in the Civil War are now living. The death rate of the survivors is now slightly in excess of 6 per cent per annum. The average age of the survivors is now about 70 years.

11355°-INT 1911-VOL 1- -11

161

In the following summary is shown the number of pensioners on the roll at the close of the fiscal years 1911 and 1910, together with the net gain or loss in each class during the year:

Pensioners on the roll June 30, 1911, and June 30, 1910.

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The number of soldiers and sailors on the pension roll at the close of the year was 570,050, the number of dependents and widows was 321,642, and the number of Army nurses was 406.

In Exhibit 2 will be found the number and amount of first payments in each class of new certificates issued during the year. The total amount of first payments made during the year was $4,842,925.60 on 93,632 issues. The number of pension certificates issued during the year upon which the first payment had not yet been made at the close of the year was 4,578, upon which the amount accrued was $245,566 83.

The amount paid as attorneys' fees upon new issues was $163,610.06. The following table shows the first payments made on new certificates each year during the last five years:

First payments made during the last five fiscal years.

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In Exhibit 3 is shown the appropriations and disbursements for the fiscal year 1911 and the unexpended balances at the close of the year, a summary of which is as follows:

Appropriations and disbursements for fiscal year ended June 30, 1911.

Appropriation for pensions....

Repayments to the appropriation....

Total amount available for pensions...

Amount disbursed......

Unexpended balance....

Appropriation for medical examinations...

Repayments to the appropriation..

Total amount available.....

Amount expended and authorized..

Unexpended balance.........

Appropriation for salaries and clerk hire, pension agencies..
Amount disbursed....

Unexpended balance......

Appropriation for rent and contingent expenses of agencies.....
Amount expended and outstanding obligations....

Unexpended balance.....

$157, 500, 000, 00 7,359. 74

157, 507, 359. 74

157, 325, 160. 35

182, 199. 39

250,000. 00

3.00

250, 003. 00

206, 768. 33

43, 234. 67

472, 000. 00

456, 507. 15

15, 492.85

34, 500. 00

24, 472. 02

10, 027.98

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Appropriation for salaries, per diem and expenses, special examiners.

Amount expended..

Unexpended balance.........

1, 331. 05

1,526, 120. 00

1,509, 689.96

16, 430. 04

306, 000. 00

283, 219. 34

22, 780. 66

Summary of unexpended balances, exclusive of pensions, covered into the Treasury at the close of the fiscal year 1911.

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In Exhibit 4 is shown the amount disbursed for pensions, salaries, clerk hire, and contingent expenses at each of the pension agencies. It also shows the amount disbursed by the pension agency, New York, N. Y., for rent, and that disbursed by the pension agency in Washington, D. C., for fees of examining surgeons. It will be observed that the amount expended at the smaller agencies for clerk hire is much larger in proportion to the number of pensioners paid than at the larger agencies. It is not possible to conduct a small agency with the same degree of economy as it is a large agency. This same fact has been fully demonstrated in the conduct of large business enterprises.

In the agency at Concord, N. H., the amount required for clerk hire per annum is about 52 cents per pensioner, while at the Topeka (Kans.) agency the amount is only about 37 cents per pensioner. The two agencies are cited not as any criticism on the conduct of the smaller agency. If the agency at Concord, N. H., paid as large a number of pensioners as the one at Topeka, Kans., the cost per pensioner at the Concord agency would undoubtedly be no greater than at the Topeka agency. The average salary paid the clerks at the Concord agency is about $900 per annum, while at the Topeka agency the average salary paid the clerks is about $1,200 per annum. In the large agencies much saving has been effected by the introduction of labor-saving devices, which are not practicable in the smaller agencies. In a number of the larger agencies addressing machines have been installed for addressing envelopes and preparing vouchers. One clerk, by the use of an addressing machine, can

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