The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-09-04
THE ALABAMA COMMISSION.

THE ALABAMA COMMISSION.
| 4 Decision That Csuses Many ON the Pay
Roll to Mourn-List Of the Alleged lllsg-
ally Employed.
WASHINGTON, August 26.-The First
Comptroller of the Treasury to-day made .
ruling that is likely 70 embarrass the
Court of Commissioners Of Alabama Claims
| for some time to come. 1t is in effect that
the employment Of persons borne on the
rolls of the court is entirely without war
| rant of Law, and that no payments can 10
! yally be made from the Treasury on that
account in the future. Mr.. Andrew II.
Allen, Disbursing Agent of the Treasury,
! recently made reqnisitioD Oh the Secretary
Of the Treasury for $1,000 to meet the cur
rent expenses of the court In the usual
course Of business the acquisitions came be-
fore the First Comptroller and he decided
to make an investigation of the affairs of
the court before authorizing the Issue Of
/ the necessary warrants. His conclusions
are summarized in the following stat ment
prepared By him for publication:
The Court of Commissioners Of Alabama
Claims was created in 1874 to hear proof Of
claims to be paid out Of the Sl5.50G, 900
awarded by the Geneva Commission, and
was continued by various acts until Deem
Der 81, 1877. 1t is constituted OF five judges
with an annual salary of $4,000 each. a
clerk at $4,000, stenOgrapher at $500,
and an attorney to represent the United
sc, HD.- -. .f. a
for the rent of courtroom. furniture, sta
tionery, fuel and other necessary incidental
expenses, all Of which were to be paid out
of the fund before judgments were paid.
The court was recognized in 1882 with the
same officers and salaries as before, except
that the number of judges was reduced
to three. The Comptroller, in his in
vestigatiOn of the case, found that
outside of the aforementioned officers,
there were on the pay rolls the names Of
assistant counsel for the United States,
clerks to that counsel, experts. clerks to the
experts, messengers and wat,iimen, whose
aggregate salaries amounted to about SAL
500 per year, He also found III the quar-
terly returns that there had been paid to
other assistant counsel over $4,000 for the
quarter ended December 81, 1884. $1,000
for the quarter ended March 81, 1855, be-
side other alleged illegal payments. He
says he finds no law authorizing such pay
ments, and, after: consulting with the Acting
Secretary OF the Treasury and with the
Solicitor of the Treasury he has decided to
stop all future payments of the same
The following is a list of employees on
the regular pay rolls of the court who are
affected by the COmptrOller's decision: j.
j. Goodrich, Expert in Insurance. at an
annual salary of $4,000; Walker Blaine,
Assistant COu nsel for the United States,
$500; William Z. HuxfOrd. Deputy Clerk.
$500; Andrew II. Allen, Disbursing
Agent. $1,000; Eugene Ross, Clerk to the
Counsel for the United States, $1,000;
Frank ID. Lunt, First Assistant to the EX-
pert in Insurance, $4,000: Asa =. French,
Clerk to the Judge So 900: Elmer E. Tilden,
Second Assistant to the Expert i'm Insur
ance, Sl,SOO; EnOch G. Goodwin, Third As
sistant to tho same. s 500: Henry O'COnnor,
jr.. clerk i'm the clerks office. $1,000: Fred
Chaplin, clerk in the clerks Office, Sl,500
Amos ID. Allen, clerk in the clerks Office.
S1,4O0; George COrvil, clerk to the expert
in insurance, S1,4OO; William Haywood,
clerk to the counsel for the United States,
S1,4O0; a. B. Nichols clerk i'm tine clerk
office, Sl,250; John Martin, messenger,
$40: w. II. Forrest, janitor. S72O; c. w.
Townley and Felix MuldOOn, watchmen,
S72O each; A. l.. jackson and a. l.. Alex
andel. messengers, at $500 each; w. p.
Churchill and Hugh Griffin, messengers, at
$500: Anne BOylein, servant, at IS per
month.
The following is a list of persons who
have been employed as assistant counsel
III special cases: Charles Hamlin, Alex
ander ii. Hobbs Godfrey Morse, Charles c.
Suydam. William E. Spear, John T. Whita-
ker, Hamilton Fish, Jr., Charles I. Bonney,
William II. Morrow, George &. Freling-
huysen, James ii. Hevenin. George NJ.
Ze,lers. Edmund J. Moffatt. Wallace II.
White. Samuel Park, Thomas j. Cobb and
b. p. Carpenter. The Comptroller says that
all the above named employees have been
paid ont of the provisions of the organic
act authorizing the payment of rent, sta
tionary, printing and other necessary
Incidental expenses. The accounts
of the Dsbursing Agent have
been settled up to March 81 last, and the
salaries of all persons on the pay rolls have
been paid up to June 30. The acquisitions
which have just been refused were for ex-
penseS, including salaries for the month OF
July. The Comptroller says the accounts
of the Dsbursing Agent for the quarter
ending August 81, when received will be
disallOwei. The salaries of the Judges and
other officers of the court, who are named
in the organic act. are not affected by his
ruling. The Comptroller says also that the
Secretary of State, who has jurisdiction
over the court, is in accord with him in his
view of the law, aud has sanctioned the
action taken by him.