New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-04-04

once into tho husness of prosecuting claims against
the Government. of which they have obtained
knowledge in their Official capacity. A kindreu
scandal is the practicng as attorneys Oh so"b'
brothers and other relatives, before bureau ohcers'
whose decisions in important cases are supposed by
clients to be Influenced by these relatives. VINO
charge enormous fees for their services on account
of their pretended influence.
Numerous cases might be cited OF both kinds. An
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury resigned lew
years ago and went out of the Department WIN MS
arms full of cotton claims, ard he has since maze
fortune in collecting them. A chief clerk in one OF
the accounting offices of the Treasury disallowed
large claim not long ago while actingi in the absence
of his chief, and Immediately afterward resigned
and procured the allowance of the claim in his new
capacity of attorney. A large proportion, if not
majority of the claim agents at Washington are
former officials and clerks, whose original ousl-
ness capital was q knowledge of the rejected claims
in the Offices where they served, and of the means
necessary to be employed to get them allowed. In
the neighborhood of the Patent Office are the Offices
of dozen or more ex-COmmissioners, Chief Clerks,
and Examiners, who held their positions Just long
enough to learn how they could make more money
out of them. Two sons Of the chief of one OF the
most important bureaus in the Interior Department
are doing thriving business arguing cases before
their father and their chief reliance for business
when they begun was their relationship to the
officer who was to decide their They are said
to charge double or treble the fees of other attor-
neys, and although young and inexperienced men,
they are retained in important cases by old attor
neys, who know the value of their influence.
To remedy such indecent practices, of which these
are specimens, bill has been introduced by Repre-
sentative Smith of Virginia, which provides:
That no person employed in the civil service OF the
United States any OF the bureaus departments NJ
Washington shall be recognized agent attorney
for the prosecution OF claims patents before any
bureau or department in which such agent attorney
shall have been employed for the period of three years
after the employment of said agent attorney In said
bureau or department shall have ceased. whether by
resignation OF otherwise that person shall be en-
poyed 10 any bureau department OF the Government
of the United States who is member OF the same family
or near relative OF the appointing nominating power
OF said bureau department. that no person snail ne
recognized an agent attorney In any Of said bureaus
or departments the decision OF the matter In Issue
deyolves upon any member OF the family or near
relative of said agent attorney and that no person
shall he recognized agent attorney before any
bureau or department OF the Government of the United
States in any matter which filed and pending during
his employment therein
The penalty for violation Of the act IS a fine OF
$1,000, or imprisonment for one year, or both