The Evening critic., 1884-02-25
ALABAMA CLAIMS AGAIN.
Grievances Being Ventilated Before
the Committees of Congress.


Tho first class" claimants before the
Alabama Claims Commission arc vontilating
their grievances before the Judiciary Com
mittoes Of Congress. Congress has known
little of the workings of tho commission
and the facts are for tho first time being put
clearly aud fully before the committees
In careful analysis of the situation it is
shown that section Of the act of June g.,
1882, under which the court was reor-
ganized, provides
"That the frst.class shall be for claims d.
rectty resulting from damage done on the high
Gems by Confederate cruisers during the late
rebellion, Including vessels and cargoos at
lacked on The high seas, although the loss or
damage occurred ',githiR four miles OF the
Shore"
IL should be known by every child in
this country who has reached its tenth
year of age that by far tho larger portion OF
this planet Is covered with salt water,
and for practical purposes IL has been
marked of on maps, artificial globes, etc.,
in sections, and each section is named
such as the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf stream,
Gulf of Mexico, caribbean Sea, South Allan
tic Ocean, North and South Pacific Oceans,
Japan Sea, China Sea, Straits of Magellan and
other names, such as Hudson Bay, Baffin's
Chasa,1as,,a Ta,,,'a Tan,n;oo Reva and nm,
marons other bavs inIots sounds straits
and barhors ,,orie Cd ON mans and charts
and which as an entirety are properly called
the High Seas and 1t seems that every
body who Is not aware of it should know
this fact and also know that the bounda-
ries Of the high seas are naturally whore At
WAGES aropnd tbis nlanet and tbeinIets bova
barbors and straits where its tido waters
ebh and flow arc as mnch n nart and MARCEL
of tbo main bodv Of tho higb seas ne are the
arms, hands and fingers n mart Of The
human hodv and wbonever n vessel floats
ont bcvond The ,ow.yater mark from anv
shore where the tide ebbs and flows. she Inns
JeooJI,, onte,ed onto tho domoin of the
"I;oL se1s"
II will he noticod that tho secopd mention
of tbo nirase HIM Scno in section K is Inf a
rendition Tins: /" dUaoted on he hiah seas"
Tho law does mt saw on tho bigb scas
beyo,d lie 1e,i,oI line or bevond ibs marine
IcS0we mr. bovond nm ;n,o1jiay1, linz drawn
fonr miles rom tho shore !. bnt on tho con.
trnrv n saws nloinlv 1on the hioh seas
ond ,;tbort any nnal;6cat;ons ,yhat ovor
and the concludino naragranh that d,rectly
folio,ys viz TAIthnuyh tha Io,s mr. DAMAGE
nconrrod ,,,i,L;,,, sorr ,niies NJ tHa shnra J,
oiaarI,, s,oJ,,,Jas, fa,d not avnIndasS ali To-,
AVID do that rra1 n IN uxvh or nm fl,a
L;ah cons ond ,riJI;n mot ,,ithnntI fonr
,,iins TroY, tho share as c,oorlv os IL Z nos.
sihio fo, ,vords 20 ovrrnss IL aud ,bis IL t tho
;ntarnra.o,;a,, NJ ,,pon shoe yords &c AZ
s.atnta L,s ~, ~. ,bo In,ai a5,,;sars Of tho
oia;,,,atsS ,r 10 smSto;neS ,oss and dor,oao
on tbo higL cons and yhosa claims for
81 W. ~. -, H. ~ e az a.,
sucn ioss como uhuor Sno hcau VI 1ho VFSt
class.
1t was this plain legal Interpretation of
the act that induced tho parties who have
filed their claims to 20 searching over the
world for persons and papers to prove their
losses. Many of them were Obliged to
neglect or abandon their othor business for
that purpose. 1t has taken year and a
half of their time and the outlay of large
sums of money to find the necessary wit
nesses, and on account of the death of so
many persons and the destruction of pa
pers, it has proven a perplexing aud diff
cult task, and now, after having proven
their claims in compliance with tho law.
we may Judge of the surprise of those
first-class claimants at the arbitrary act of
the court in changing the word of the act
U;ncl,dinnu 20 tha1 Of ueroI,,J;na - o,d
noluui"s oh"o vi eo'"o"y, ahu
tnerepy rendering Judgments against all
claimants whose losses occurred Uithin four
miles of the shore-in direct conflict with
rho words of the statute and hcnce n nal
nahIo ,,;soorr;oaa or ;ns,;ca In n court fron,
Paoio iiiseaiiiaso vi Juee'o9 III oou.o l,oih
whence there il no appeal eXcep1 TO Con-
of the "imperfection of the human lam
guage' Ia phrase frequently used by the
Court that IL could not translate its own
language. Thus:
I'VE are unable to give our assent to this
this Sass Of We should certainly