| HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 57TH
CONGRESS, 1st Session ANDREW J FELT March 18, 1902 – Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed. Mr Calderhead, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, submitted the following REPORT (To accompany S. 2371) The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was
referred the
bill (S. 2371) granting a pension to Andrew J Felt,
have examined the same and adopt the Senate report thereon and
recomment that the bill do pass. [Senate Report No. 689, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session.] The
Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S.
2371) granting a pension to Andrew J Felt, have examined the same and
report: This bill proposes to grant a pension of $24 per
month to Andrew J Felt, late of Company B, Seventh Regiment Iowa
Volunteer Infantry. The military records show that Andrew J Felt served
from July 8, 1861, to December 30, 1862, when he was honorably
discharged; that he received treatment for diarrhea from October 31 to
November 2, 1861; that he was taken prisoner November 7, 1861, at
Belmont, Mo., and held as such until October 17, 1862, when he was
paroled, and that he was in hospital at Camp Parole, Maryland, and
Benton Barracks, Mo., under treatment for diarrhea from the time of his
parole until his discharge. Mr Felt is 67 years of age. On April 1,
1899, he made claim under the general law, alleging that about December
20, 1861, while at Memphis, Tenn., and afterwards while a prisoner of
war, he contracted rheumatism, disease of kidneys, and general
debility. This claim was rejected January 19, 1900, after a
medical examination held June 7, 1899, by a board of surgeons at
Seneca, Kans., on the ground that no pensionable degree of disability
was shown since date of filing claim. On April 30, 1900, Mr Felt made application to have
his claim reopened and reconsidered and for another medical
examination, and accompanied his application with the evidence of
several witnesses who had known him for many years. The
rejection, however, of the claim was adhered to September 21, 1900, on
the ground that the new evidence did not warrant the reopening of the
claim, because it did not outweigh the report of the former medical
examination. The only medical examination to which Mr Felt was
subjected was made at Seneca, Kans., June 7, 1899. It shows
no signs of rheumatism or kidney disease, but does show general
debility, which is rated at $8 per month. The certificate of
examination recites that: "Two of the board have known applicant
intimately for eighteen years last past, during which period he has
been unable to perform any manual labor. He was a skeleton
when discharged. His health has gradually improved from that
to the present time. Is emaciated and feeble." He then measured 5 feet 5 1/2 inches in height and
weighed but 115 pounds. The evidence of seven or eight witnesses, comrades
and neighbors, on file in his claim shows that Mr Felt was sound and
healthy when he entered the service and performed faithfully and
willingly all his duties until taken prisoner in November, 1861; that
on his release from prison he was nothing but skin and bones, greatly
debilitated, and in fact a physical wreck and has remained so with
little improvement to the present time. He has always complained of rheumatism and disease
of kidneys, but his trouble seems to have been, and now is, a general
breaking down of his system and a complete general debility, the result
of starvation and of the exposure and hardships of prison life.
During all the years since his discharge he has never been
physically able to perform any manual labor. This has been
his condition, as shown by the evidence of those who served with him in
the Army and by evidence of his close neighbors, and it is exemplified
in the findings and report of the examining surgeons as mentioned
above. Among the papers in Mr Felt's claim is a letter from
Senator Allison, from which the following extract is made: "Although I have not seen Mr Felt for a good many
years, he having lived in Kansas, I think, now for twenty-five years, I
knew him well after his return from the civil war and also before he
enlisted. He was well when he enlisted and always in bad
health after his return until he went to Kansas." While the action of the Pension Bureau in rejecting
the claim for rheumatism and disease of kidneys was probably correct,
it would seem that the claim for general debility as a result of prison
life was entitled to favorable consideration. The history of the case as disclosed by the papers
on file shows very clearly that Mr Felt has been debilitated,
physically prostrated, and not able to perform manual labor since his
release from prison after nearly a year's confinement, and your
committee are of opinion that he has fairly and justly established his
right to a pension at the rate provided by the general law for nearly
total incapacity to perform manual labor. The bill is reported back favorably with the recommendation that it pass. |