Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-06-24
COL. HOUSE ON PRIVATE CLAIMS IN CON-
GRESS


having been unable to obtain copies of
the bill upon the subject reported
from the Judiciary committee by Mr..
Bowman, OF Massachusetts,, or that re-
ported by Col. House from the COM
mittee on claims as a substitute for it.
The latter however is sufficiently des-
cribed in the bill before us.
The purpose of his bill is described
in his e;lordium, namely, to give hon
est claimants chance to have their
claims heard, and to relieve Congress
from the burden of their considera-
ton"
He might have added Il third pur-
pose which the bill in fact does con
template and provide for, namely, to
detect and summarily dispose of the
fraudulent claimants" thing which
is needed forty times as often as any
of the others.
No one who does not read the Con-
gressional Record (and few but edit
ors are so afflicted) can be aware OF
the enormous amount of time and
work occupied in Congress by the
promotion and discussion of private
claims Efforts have been made
again and again to relieve Congress OF
this vast incubus, and give it thereby
more time for its appropriate work.
The first solid movement towards this
was the act establishing a Court Of
Claims, passed in 1856 and amended
in 1868. Judge Richardson, in 1881,
reported that 1856 cases of claims
against the United States and 342
against the District of Columbia had
been disposed of in the court. How
then do the tables of Congress still
continue to be loaded down with
claims more heavily than ever now in
1882?
Col. House has touched the difficulty
as with the point of a needle. The Court
of Claims has only jurisdiction over
claims founded on La1O of Congress,
the regulation Of at Executive department
or on contracts cypress or implied Nth
| the government"
Only a small proportion of the
claims before Congress come under
this category, whereas 1--WE are using
the words of Col. House }
Whereas the great mass of claims
that are now before Congress are of Il
character to which the fixed rules of
law are inapplicable, and which, there
| fore, no court can well decide. They
are cases founded upon no legal right,
but upon what the parties claim is
simple justice on the part of the Gov
eminent toward its citizens. They
are therefore addressed to the sense
of justice, the generosity, if you please,
and the discretion OF Congress. Each
claimant asks relief upon the peculiar
| facts and circumstances of his individ-
ual case.
His remedy is TO extend the juris-
diction of the court to such claims
with the power OF making final dis
position OF them.
The subject is of immense impor-
lance but necessarily rather dry read
ing in its details; but when he comes
to treat the Southern claims scare
which has done duty in 50 many Rad
ical speeches and campaigns, he gets
his opportunity and is John F. House
| all over:
There is no subject that ever came before
Congress with respect To which there seems
| to have been more widespread and gener-
al miSapprehension among the Northern
people than this matter of the payments of
war claims by Congress. Southern Repre-
sentatiVes have been held up before the
Northern people as eager to make raids up
on the Treasury TO pay this class OF claim
ants amounts equal to, If not exceeding,
the national debt. THIS absurd and untoun-
ded charge has been made to do duty IN
more than one political campaign, and has
been freely made by men To whose iuelll-
gence and information feel L would be
paying a poor compliment if were to say
they really believe what they asserted. l
have seen my own name paraded IN CAM
paign literature, together with the names of
other Southern Representatives, with the
bills and memorials which we had several
ly introduced into Congress, with the
amounts claimed, and the aggregate held up
before the people as the measure OF the in
roads they might expect upon the Treasury
from this direction in case the Democratic
party should come into power. Now, what
are the plain and simple facts i'll reference
TO this matter.
will take my own case, not because l
wish to talk about myself but because my
case represents cases OF other Southern
members. When 1 entered Congress L
found great many war claims pending
| from my district; all, or the ut.oSt of them
having been introduced by Republican
| members from my State. Ny constituents
/ gl,.aSp mr.
| petitions and have them referred to the
! proper committee. They claimed to have
| meritorlOus cases. All they asked of me rs
| their Representative was to see that thelr
| cases got before the committee, where they
| could he Investigated. Of course l knew
| nothing OF the merits of their cases. That
| was the business of the committee TO whom
| they were referred TO ascertain and deter
mine. No member of Congress could be
justified IN denying constituent request
| SO reasonable and proper in itself. For II
he should refuse to perform such q service
| as this he would deny to his constituent
! the right to have his claim Investigated at
| all.
| OF course | never undertook to read the
VOluminOuS papers that frequently accom-
panied those claims, and certainly never
| addressed n committee of this House urging
| IA favorable report on such claims, as 1t
| would have been improper for Inc to do so.
l have at times, on receiving letters rom
my constituents, gone to the chairman OF
| the committee having charge of the claims
| and requested him to have the same inVes-
| tigated and reported to the House. Wheth-
er that report would be favorable or adverse,
| of course l did not and could not know.
\ Now, this il the whole OF the wild ana eN-
| traVagant charges that have caused so
| many well-mcaning people of the North TO
be troubled in their dreams. The idea that
| there ever was among the masses of the
| Southern people any general anxiety or
concern about the payment OF such claims
which constituted n public opinion on the
| subject is so thoroughly absurd rs to Danish
| all respect for the mind that could conceive
/ 1t or entertain it seriously. 1t requires but
n moments reflection to expose the Stiffness
and abSurdity of Such a fancy. Not one IN
ten thousand of the people of the south
| ever applied to Congress for the payment OF
war losses.
| Now, why the other nine thousand nine
hundred and ninety-nine who have never
asked Congress for a dollar, but who lost rs
much by the war perhaps as the one who
has applied, should suffer themselves to be
| broken of their rests by anxious sOlicitude
| to see that solitary claimant succeed, espec-
| tally when he fought on the other side, is
just one of those thing, as Lord Dundreary
| would say, which mo fellah can find out. !"
/ know there are those who believe that
| there are no loyal claimants south OF the
Ohio river. This is Il mistake. There are
men in the SOuth-nOt great many, IL Is
| true, comparatively speaking, but still quite
! n number-whO we've rs loyal as any man IN
| the North, and perhaps more SO, as their
| Sur OundingS required an exhibition OF
| moral courage in adhcring to their cOnNlc-
| tons which the Northern man was not
! called upon to display. But dismiss TINS
| subject of southern war claims with the
| hope that hereafter claimants geOgraphl-
! cal locality viii be no bar to Il Just and inn
| partial hearing before the American Con-
! greSS, and that the campaign materlal on
! the subject of these claims he allowed 10 de-
cay amid the debris and rubbish of past POI
! llLlgal conflicts,