The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1878-10-17
S35o,ooo, ZOO.
An Aggregate Of Southern War
Claims Already Presented.
And i'm Addition to the Southern De.
mand, During One Session of Con-
gress, Of 100000 900 for In
ternal Improvements.
from the New York Tribune.


much new matter which the tax-payine
North will not find reassuring reading
From this classification are excluded all
claims for depredations committed by
our troops, or from damages inflicted by
the Confederate Government upon loyal
citizens, or for emancipated slaves; or
in other words, the demands which form
large proportion of what are known as
Southern claims. This computation
groups together the claims for the re-
fund OF the cotton tax, for property
seized and sold under the Captured
and Abandoned Property act for cotton
seized contrary to law; for stores and
supplies and under this head come a
great horde of disloyal claimants who
were given an equal standing in the
courts with loyal claimants by Presi-
dent Johnson's proclamation, as
interpreted by the Supreme Court
for rent of buildings and lands
occupied in the rebel territory; for
property deliberately destroyed or
damaged as a military necessity; and
for slaves enlisted in the Union army
from the border States. And the total
sum demanded under these seven
classes is, at the very lowest estimate,
$350,00O,OO0 Let it be remembered
that this is only a partial representa-
ton of Southern war claims that it
includes none for depredations com
mitted by our troops. Let it be remem-
bered, also, that, in addition to all this,
the South has already demanded, dur
ing a single session of Congress, about
$500, 100000 for internal improvements.
Two such sums make startling total.
Let it be observed, also, that bill is
pending in Congress to enlarge the ju-
risdictior of the Court of Claims by re-
ferring to it all claims now urged before
different departments of the Govern
ment Heretofore rebel claims have
been barred because the time allowed
for presentation had expired. If this
bill passes, however, disloyal will stand
as well as loyal claimants before the
court, because President Johnson's
proclamation removed the disabilities
in this respect which treason had i'm
posed. 1t will then only be necessary
for claimants to prove that their prop
erty was taken, which they can usually
do by showing the receipts our army
officers gave them. vi.
The claims have been divided into
seven classes as follows: M t Gf.
l. Claims for refund of the tax upon
raw cotton amounting to cents per
pound levied and collected in 1866
and 1867 The legal basis of these
claims is, that the tax was substantially
an export tax, because no drawback was
allowed on cotton sent out of the coun-
try, and the tax was, therefore, contrary
to the spirit of the constitution. But
the argument chiefly relied upon to Sc
cure a refund of this tax is, that it was
discriminating tax laid upon an agri-
cultural product in it's natural state, and
most unjust in it's operation because,
the price of raw cotton being regulated
at Liverpool, the tax fell wholly upon
the producer. The amount involved is
about $50,000,000, and the claims are
chiefly held or controlled by syndicate
formed about eight years ago, by whom
the agitation in Congress has been
maintained. The motives which led to
the imposition of this tax were found in
the desire to pay off portion of the en-
ormous debt which had been left as a
legacy Of the war. To this end the in
dustries of the North were being taxed
to their utmost capacity, while the South
was contributing nothing, either to the
support of the Government, or the pay
ment of the public debt. All industries
in the South except agriculture had
been FRUSTRATED, and the special tax
which was placed upon cotton was
thought to be the least oppressive which
could be devised to give that section a
small share of the burden for the exist
ence of which it alone was responsible.
Nothing can now be urged in support of
these claims which was not apparent at
the time the tax was imposed; and the
only ground upon which the claimants
can hope to recover is found in the an
ticipated change in public sentiment
favorable to the South. up
2. Claims for the value of cotton.
sugar and tobacco seized and sold by
the United States under the so-called
Captured and Abandoned Property acts
of 1868 and 1864. Those acts provided
that any owner of such products so
seized and sold might file his petition
in the Court of Claims within two years
after the war closed; and, upon proof
of his loyalty to the Government during
the war, and his ownership of the prop
Ierty, he should be paid the net pro
ceeds of the sale. The time for fling
such petitions expired Aug. 20, 1868, and
has never been extended. AS most of the
owners of property seized and sold un-
der the acts were in fact disloyal during
the war, they did not avail themselves
of the right of petition to the Court of
Claims. But, after the time had ex-
PRED for presenting their claims, the
Supreme Court decided that the Presi-
dents general amnesty proclamation of
Dec. 25,a 1868, removed the faint and
disability of disloyalty from everybody