Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1880-10-15

which he dismisses it as a " bug-bear.
But the question cannot be met by ridi-
cule or answered by toss of the head.
The proof of the design of rebel claim
ants is too easy of access. Said Senator
Vance the other day in Warren Coun-
ty, North Carolina:
No fellow-countrymen, the South asks no
bold aud no unfair thing when she demands
her rightful compensation for homes de-
stroyed, farms laid wuSte aud pillaged, prop
erty stolen, and slaves released by the Yankee
plunderers who lived upon us and then refused
us bounty. And IL is time thut the whole
North should understand this. II is time that
the North should understand that Il must
atone, as far as II can, for all the South has
suffered IN body, pocket or soul. Our time is
coming boys, and the long purgatory that we
have gone through will only make our para
disc the brighter when we get there.
The pigeon-holes at Washington TEEN
with bills having for their object the
opening of this question of Southern
war CLAIMS, and many of them are of a
nature not covered by General Han
cocks letter and promise He says
" the Government can never pay pen
sion or reward of any sort for waging
war upon its own existence" and also
that he would veto all legislation pro-
viding for the payment of claims of
any kind for losses or damages by per-
sons who were in rebellion. >"
We venture to say there are more
than $500, 900, 900 of claims in Wash
ington fled by those "not in rebell-
ion," but who were disloyal and whose
claims are barred by the law as it now
stands.
In the first place, General Hancock S
assurance does not cover the claim for
refunding of the cotton tax, which
amounts to $6S, ,000 600, and which was
paid, as a matter of course, by those
mot in rebellion" The same is true OF
the claim preferred by States; of many
of those presented by alleged owners OF
cotton found in Confederate storehouses
at the close of the war; of those for
supplies taken by our armies while in
the enemy's country, and so on through
the list.
1t is the experience of every person
who has had any thing whatever to do
with these claims, that there exists no
difficulty in always establishing the
loyalty of a claimant Evidence is
cheap, as the witnesses from Louisiana
and various Southern States abundantly
demonstrated a few months ago.
Loyalty having been established by TIE
oath of some person, and there 0eing
no one individually interested in de-
feating a claim, there is little TO hinder
its allowance if once the bars are let
down. The years that have elapsed
since the termination of the war have
scattered witnesses, events have been
forgotten, and it being nobody's busi-
ness the claim goes through.
Already efforts have been made to dc
away with the present statutory prohi.
bitions. Last winter Mr.. Wilson, OF
West Virginia, introduced bill declar-
ing that the loyalty of each citizen shall
be presumed until his or her disleyalty
shall be allirmatively proven, a very
good rule in general, but one whose
animus can be plainly seen in connec-
ton with these claims. Mr.. Reagan
also introduced bill doing away with
the loyalty test entirely. Mr.. Cuber-
son, of Texas; Mr.. O'Connor, of South
Carolina; MIR. Thompson, of Kentucky,
and others have bills pending in COM
mittees, all referring to this one ques-
ton, and providing for the abolition OF
the present safeguards against the pay
ment of Southern claims.
Instead of being bugbear," this
claim business is living reality, and,
in connection with the question OF
maintaining the purity of the ballot, is
the most important issue before the
people. General Hancock cannot
laugh it down, or dismiss all fear by in
adequate pledges and promises. The
way to stop this threatened flood is to
place a granite bar across its course in
the shape of a Constitutional amend
ment, whose legality no one will dare
to dispute or question. That Constitu-
tional provision will never be placed
there except through the efforts of the
Republican party. Chicago Inter
Ocean.