it was created to promote.

It appears from the report of the Commissioner of Pensions that since
1860 789,063 original pension claims have been filed; 450,949 of these
have been allowed and inscribed on the pension roll; 72,539 have been
rejected and abandoned, being 13+ per cent of the whole number of claims
settled.

There are now pending for settlement 265,575 original pension claims,
227,040 of which were filed prior to July 1, 1880. These, when allowed,
will involve the payment of arrears from the date of discharge in case
of an invalid and from date of death or termination of a prior right in
all other cases.

From all the data obtainable it is estimated that 15 per cent of the
number of claims now pending will be rejected or abandoned. This would
show the probable rejection of 34,040 cases and the probable admission
of about 193,000 claims, all of which involve the payment of arrears of
pension.

With the present force employed, the number of adjudications remaining
the same and no new business intervening, this number of claims
(193,000) could be acted upon in a period of six years; and taking
January 1, 1884, as a near period from which to estimate in each case
an average amount of arrears, it is found that every case allowed would
require for the first payment upon it the sum of $1,350. Multiplying
this amount by the whole number of probable admissions gives
$250,000,000 as the sum required for first payment. This represents the
sum which must be paid upon claims which were filed before July 1, 1880,
and are now pending and entitled to the benefits of the arrears act.