Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1872-12-12
The Alabama Claims.

Senator Mort ms bin tor The adjustment
and apportionmeut of the Alabama award.
authorizes the appointment by the Presi-
dent of three commissioners. AT an annual
salary OF $1,000. to hear and decide all
claims tor losses by the acts of rebel crnis-
ers. for whose escape the Geneva tribunal
held Great Britain responsible. Two coun-
sellers are also provided for, at a salary to
be fixed by the Secretary of State A.
sisiant Se -re,aries are to be appointed by
the commissioners. The commission is 10
organize in Washington. but may hold SEES
sioa> ia other cities. and i limited To two
wears. The awards are TO be raid in six
~ days from the day of finding. with in
terest at per cent per annum from the
date of the loss of property. except that
no interest is To be paid Till all the claims
are decided, when. If the fund is sufficient.
the interest will he paid in full and other
wise pro rata. The money when received
from England. is 10 be set apart as fund
for the payment Of claims.
The Washington correspondent of the
New York Journal Of Commerce says:
The Presidents recommendation that a
commission be appointed to examine into
claims under the award bv the Geneva
Tribunal. and TO adjudicaie upon them,
will no doubt cause a lengthy discussion
In Congress. There seems to be a dispo-
sition 10 distribute the money only among
the sufferers by los from the three vessels
named in the award-the Alabama. Flori.
da and Shenandoah and their tenders. 4
computation has established the fact that
there are about eleven million dollars Of
legitimate claims (inclnd,ng interest, A.
allowed by the Arbitraiors) on account of
these three vessels. That would leave n
large surplus. provided even that all those
claims be allowed for the sums demanded.
In TIL, computation claims. wherever trac-
cd. are excluded: tha, l.. claims where the
loser Of the vessel. Who has been paid the
Insurance. and the insurance company soih
maxi CLAIM Tor the loss.
When The matter comes up for refer
cuce 4 wide discussion a. to the proper
claimants will ensuc. II is urged un the
raTi of the nnderw riters that they should
Ice reimbursed for insurance losses. On
the other baud. some Congressman say the
underwriters exacled war premiums and
made large sums OF money by reason OF
the extraordinary high premiums demand
81. aud that they should be saddlcd with
IN losses. A. ia Y took the risks with mll
pay and In twlrd-sr of their danger AMI
following out this idea they are met by In
dNidiIal claimants. who believe they are
entitled to the money The least direct
LAY they paid war Insurance premiums
aud want a refund OF them. One firm
paid SlsO.0oo insurance on their vessels
aud lost one, The underwriters paid $50
600. The insured claim In that case $780,
900. and the underwriters claim $40 600
Others are cases where a vessel insured
for instance for $4,000 was worth $780,
900. The insured and underwriters in
such cases each claim $50, 900. Then
there are bona fde claims where all were
lost but they nearly all include 80 many
losses that might have happened" but
didn't happen. such as prospective profits
OF a whaling voyage that was not made
&c. that the amounts will drop largely
from the applications. In view of the
probability OF large margin OF difference
betw cen the amount that will be paid out
on the three vessels. the Congressional in
siructions 10 the proposed commission may
extend benefits Ia miscellaneous claimants,
but there will be considerable debai. over
the whole Thing.