The government announces the payment of $226,000,000 so far to disabled war veterans in compensation claims together with the death claims of the dependents of those who made the supreme sacrifice. Disability disbursements amount to $192,000,000, in round figures.
The increase in the number of claims field with the bureau has exceeded any estimate. The number of claims filed from the inception of the bureau to May 1919 was 209,700, while on June 1, 1921, the number in file was 631,980, showing an increase during that period of 422,280. The number of awards for death and disability for the first period was 41,073; the number of awards at the end of the second period was 323,342. For the first period the ratio was one claim pending to every two filed. For the second period, the ratio was one claimed pending to every eight claims filed.
The complaint has been common among service men that there is so much red tape in the offices at Washington that thousands of men who ought to have their compensations are being made to suffer because of inattention to their claims. That was the basis for the contention that the investigation of claims and the award of compensation should not be centralized in Washington, but that the country should be districted with a view of reaching these men as speedily as possible. And there is much merit to that contention. There are instances of need right here in this community because the claims sent in by the service men have not yet been reached in the congestion at Washington. It is obvious that this is a work that, out of the very nature of the case, would demand just as much speeding up as can be given it and the elimination of a lot of red tape and tomfoolery is essential to this end.
From the editorial page of the Charlotte News, Sunday morning, July 3, 1921
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