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FORMS USED IN DRAWING PENSIONS.

ARMY PENSIONS.

A. Deposition of invalid, with power of attorney. For pension certificates dated since October 11th, 1859.

A. Same as preceding, without power of attorney. For those who draw their own pensions.

B. Deposition of invalid, with power of attorney. For pensions that have been increased.

B. Same as preceding, without power of attorney. For those who draw their own pensions.

C. Deposition of invalid, with power of attorney. For pension certificates dated before October 11th, 1859.

The form A can be used in place of C, by neatly drawing lines over the printed clause in copy of pension certificate commencing "No sale, transfer, &c."

D. Deposition of invalid, with power of attorney, but has no part of pension certificate printed therein.

E. Deposition of widow of revolutionary soldier, with power of attorney, under acts February 2d and July 29th, 1848, and second section February 3d, 1853.

F. Deposition of a widow or mother under any act, with power of attorney, but no part of pension certificate printed therein.

G. Deposition of widow, with power of attorney, under first section act July 4th, 1836, July 21st, 1848, and first section February 3d, 1853.

H. Deposition of a widow or mother, with power of attorney, under acts June 3d, 1858, and July 14th, 1862.

H. Same as preceding, but no power of attorney. For those who draw their own pensions.

I. Deposition of guardian, with power of attorney; deposition of two witnesses that ward is living; certificate of clerk of court as to who is acting guardian; under first section July 4th, 1836, and July 21st, 1848.

J. Same as preceding, for child or sister, under first sec

tion February 3d, 1853, June 3d, 1858, and July 14th, 1862.

K. Same as preceding, for children and sisters, under first section February 3d, 1853, June 3d, 1858, and July 14th, 1862.

L. Additional evidence of identity as a pensioner.

M. Certificate of clerk of court as to who is acting guardian, being on forms I, J, K, T, and Y, will be rarely wanted.

N. Separate certificate of clerk of court as to the official signature and character of a magistrate.

O. Deposition, with power of attorney, for a widow, children, or administrator of a deceased pensioner under any act, and certificate of clerk of court as to death of pensioner. For drawing arrears.

P. Receipts for the payment of a pension-supplied in sheets or bound in a book.

Q. Letter to Pension Office, with date to which a pension was last paid in cases to be transferred.

R. Surgeon's certificate of biennial examination.

S. Deposition of a pensioner under any act, but no pow. er of attorney, and certificate of magistrate that a pension certificate is illegally withheld. When a power of attorney is wanted, it must be stated if for an invalid, widow, mother, or guardian.

T. Same as I, J, and K, but no part of pension certificate is printed therein, and can be used by guardians of minors or adults under any act.

NAVY PENSIONS.

W. Deposition of invalid. When a power of attorney is wanted, it should be stated, and is the same as the one on forms A, B, C, and D.

X. Deposition of widow or mother. When a power of attorney is wanted, it should be stated, and is the same as the one on forms E, F, G, and H.

Y. Deposition of guardian; deposition of two witnesses that a ward is living; certificate of clerk of court as to who is acting guardian. When power of attorney is wanted, it should be stated, and is the same as on forms I, J, K, and T.

ALSO,

Form for making application for transfer from one agency to another.

Form for making application for duplicate pension cer tificate.

Form for oath of allegiance.

CHAPTER X.

ATTORNEYS AND CLAIM AGENTS.

THE policy of the Executive Departments is, and has been, to discourage as far as possible the employment by claimants of attorneys to prosecute their claims. This policy might be defended, were the Departments to carry it fully out, and make the process of collection so simple and easy as to enable claimants of all classes to collect their claims themselves. It is, however, indefensible, because it is purely impossible for three fourths of the number of claimants to make out their own applications, much less prepare the proof necessary to sustain them. To require legal proof of certain facts is to necessitate the employment of a legal mind to prepare it; therefore, to say you must furnish legal proof, but you must not employ a lawyer to draw the papers, is to announce a proposition absurd on its face.

The reader who will take the trouble carefully to read this work, will perceive that there are numerous questions, arising out of the subjects treated herein, which absolutely require that the person preparing the claim should be acquainted, not only with the rules of the Department to which the application is addressed, but also with the principles of legal science and the rules of evidence. While it is quite possible for a person possessed of intelligence, who is not a lawyer, to prepare a large number of the cases treated of in this book, it is none the less true that the larger,

and by much the larger number of claimants, do not possess that amount of intelligence which would enable them to do so. There exists, therefore, a necessity for the employment of attorneys. It is perhaps true that in former times disreputable persons have swindled claimants while acting as their attorneys; but all classes and professions have in them individuals of bad character, and it is desirable that this branch of business should be rescued from the hands of those persons who would abuse the confidence placed in them.

In the country this class of practice goes into the hands of the general practitioner, but in the large cities the business of prosecuting claims is made a specialty. It is a matter of great congratulation that in the past two years many reputable and respectable lawyers have devoted themselves to this branch.

The act of Congress of July 17th, 1862,* provides that all persons acting as attorneys or claim agents shall subscribe and swear to the oath of allegiance, of which this is a copy:

FORM No. 49.
Oath.

I, Robert Sewell, of New York, do solemnly swear that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted, nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever under any authority or pretended authority, in hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power, or constitution, within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto. And I do further swear that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United

* Thirty-seventh Congress, session 2d, chap. 205.

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