The administration of the Pension Bureau has been characterized during the year by great diligence.  The total number of pensioners upon the roll on the 30th day of June, 1891, was 676,160.  There were allowed during the fiscal year ending at that time 250,565 cases.  Of this number 102,387 were allowed under the law of June 27, 1890.  The issuing of certificates has been proceeding at the rate of about 30,000 per month, about 75 per cent of these being cases under the new law.  The Commissioner expresses the opinion that he will be able to carefully adjudicate and allow 350,000 claims during the present fiscal year.  The appropriation for the payment of pensions for the fiscal year 1890-91 was $127,685,793.89 and the amount expended $118,530,649.25, leaving an unexpended surplus of $9,155,144.64.

The Commissioner is quite confident that there will be no call this year for a deficiency appropriation, notwithstanding the rapidity with which the work is being pushed.  The mistake which has been made by many in their exaggerated estimates of the cost of pensions is in not taking account of the diminished value of first payments under the recent legislation.  These payments under the general law have been for many years very large, as the pensions when allowed dated from the time of filing the claim, and most of these claims had been pending for years.  The first payments under the law of June, 1890, are relatively small, and as the per cent of these cases increases and that of the old cases diminishes the annual aggregate of first payments is largely reduced.  The Commissioner, under date of November 13, furnishes me with the statement that during the last four months 113,175 certificates were issued, 27,893 under the general law and 85,282 under the act of June 27, 1890.  The average first payment during these four months was $131.85, while the average first payment upon cases allowed during the year ending June 30, 1891, was $239.33, being a reduction in the average first payments during these four months of $107.48.

The estimate for pension expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, is $144,956,000, which, after a careful examination of the subject, the Commissioner is of the opinion will be sufficient.  While these disbursements to the disabled soldiers of the great Civil War are large, they do not realize the exaggerated estimates of those who oppose this beneficent legislation.  The Secretary of the Interior shows with great fullness the care that is taken to exclude fraudulent claims, and also the gratifying fact that the persons to whom these pensions are going are men who rendered not slight but substantial war service.

The report of the Commissioner of Railroads shows that the total debt of the subsidized railroads to the United States was on December 31, 1890, $112,512,613.06.  A large part of this debt is now fast approaching maturity, with no adequate provision for its payment.  Some policy for dealing with this debt with a view to its ultimate collection should be at once adopted.  It is very difficult, well-nigh impossible, for so large a body as the Congress to conduct the necessary negotiations and investigations.  I therefore recommend that provision be made for the appointment of a commission to agree upon and report a plan for dealing with this debt.