President Harrison encouraged a
spirit of broad liberality toward veterans of the Civil War.
During the campaign he said that it "was no time to be weighing
the claims of old soldiers with apothecary's scales," and he put
this principle of generous recognition into effect by appointing
as commissioner of pensions a robust partisan known as "Corporal"
Tanner. The report went abroad that on taking office he had
gleefully declared, "God help the surplus," and upon that maxim
he acted with unflinching vigor. It seemed, indeed, as if any
claim could count upon being allowed so long as it purported to
come from an old soldier. But Tanner's ambition was not satisfied
with an indulgent consideration of applications pending during
his time; he reopened old cases, rerated a large number of
pensioners, and increased the amount of their allowance. In some
cases, large sums were granted as arrears due on the basis of the
new rate. A number of officers of the pension bureau were thus
favored, for a man might receive a pension on the score of
disability though still able to hold office and draw its salary
and emoluments. For example, the sum of $4300 in arrears was
declared to be due to a member of the United States Senate,
Charles F. Manderson of Nebraska. Finally, "Corporal" Tanner's
extravagant management became so intolerable to the Secretary of
the Interior that he confronted President Harrison with the
choice of accepting his resignation or dismissing Tanner.
Pages:
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145