Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-09-24
SOUTHERN WAR CL4IMs.

The Republican papers return to the
charge, and continue to allege that it is the
purpose of those who control the action of
the Democratic party, in the event of its as
cendancy to open wide the doors of the treas
ury and pay all claims of Southern people
who suffered loss during the war, whether
the claimants were loyal or disloyal to the
government. This lie has so often been re-
futed that it would appear work of super
erogation to again deny it. The facts con-
Trajectory of the assertion are so numerous
and so positive that it looks as if the ma
ligners of the Democratic party were animal
ed only by the most mendacious motives.
The truth of the matter is that the great
bulk of the Southern claims thus far allowed
have been passed upon by Republican Con-
crosses. From the forty second to the forty
sixth Congress nearly five million dollars
were allowed by the Southern claims com.
mission, and appropriations for their pay
ment made by Congress. This does not in
clude the amounts allowed directly by Con-
gress by means of special acts, which would
swell the sum given to over hundred mill
ion dollars. Every law or decision of the
courts under and by which Southern claims
have been paid, and by which payment is
now claimed, was originated and enacted by
Republican Congress and interpreted by a
Republican Judiciary, as all the Offices of the
government since the close of the war up to
the opening of the forty-fourth Congress
were held and controlled by the Republican
party. The records of Congress show that
prior to 1876 the Republican Congress voted
to Southern claimants the enormous sum of
one hundred and seventeen millions of dol
lars.
Since the accession to power of the Dem.
ocratic party the payment of Southern
claims has practically ceased. The two
Democratic chairmen of the committee on
war claims, Mr.. Eden, of Illinois, and Gen.
Bragg, of Wisconsin, set their faces reso-
lutely against the payment of such claims.
They held that ample time had already been
given to those justly entitled to compensation
for war losses to file their claims, together
with the requisite proofs of their loyalty, and
they have refused to consider or have re.
ported adversely upon nine tenths of the
claims submitted to them. The records oi
Congress also show that Senator Hill OF
Georgia, Representative Davis of North
Carolina, and many other Southern states.
men, have made speeches in Congress against
the recognition by the government of such
claims, and most all the Southern representa-.
tives acquiesced in their statements. The
payment of Southern claims was a
Republican device intended to subserve
partisan interests, and that only, and if there
are loop-hoIes in the law whereby the claims
of disloyal persons can be recognized it is
the fault of the Republican party which
framed and enacted the laws.
There is not the slightest Danger that the
Democratic party will deplete the treasury
by allowing the claims of disloyai persons
The party is on record as opposed to suct
policy. All claims upon the treasury must be
fully supported not only by proofs of loss
but by proofs of the loyalty of the claimants
else they will be rejected. The Republican
charge that any contrary course is to be pur
sued IS mere bugaboo designed to frighter
the timid. Those who make the accusation
do not believe it TO be true, and the facts
that ara Of rac3ld certainly disprove il
fuliy