The Central Nevadan. [volume] (Battle Mountain, Nev.) 1885-1907, 1886-01-21
TIE cOrRr OF cLAIms.
Kew Il MAS Created and the Work Il has
Done.

departments III Washington have an
idea Of tho work which the Court Il
CLAIM; does every year. the report
of the Attorney. General shows that
during the list year 200 suits were
tried by tins Court, in which the plain
tiiis claimed $l0.55z,743 This is a
laree number of suits and an immense
sum cf money, but the trials resulted
in judgment for the United Stalss, CT
the defendants, IN 2S Of these SUI rs, in
which the plaintiffs asked for $40, 224,-
"7i-a result which must be discour-
aging to these who assnme that they
have large claims against tho United
States. In addition to the above. 7G5
suits, claiming S2,260,i4l were. dis
missed far want Of jurisdiction. In
tso cases Judgments were recovered
on counter-claims in favor of the Unit
cd States for 81 .G3l ,078 These suits
do not include lhe claims against the
District ii Columbia, which are. quito
numerous aud intricate. During the
last year col claims were brought, un-
der wlilh more than $1,000, 600 is
asked, and ander the provisions Of
the Bowman Act Congress transmitted
dG.irg the year 394 claims, calling for
50, oO0. Geo. The French spoliaticn
claims, thus far numbering 81 ard
claiming $4,000. 0C0, have been re-
fc,red to the Court of Claims. Thus
it viii be seen that the Court Of Claims
docs an immense amount Of work in
tho course If syear and has 10 deal
with the most important questions
both of fact and law.
Prior to 1854 Congress, undertook to
pass upon all claims Of persons against
the United States. but with the growth
Of the country such claims rapidly ac.
curnuiated. and the wiscst men in
Congress found that its committees
could mt become Judicial bodies TO
determine The facts, ana if they could,
had net the time to devote to the in
vestigsiion Of cases which vas neces.
sary. The result was ,ha. in Decem-
ber. 1874 the Senate passed bill ere
atiug a Court fur the investi CATION OF
claims sgainat the United States. .
During The next February the House
passed he bill. This bill did not give
Ito court the power to adjudica.e
claims, but simply to collect the tes.l-
mepy and make recommendations to
Congress. II was soon found that the
mskirg OF the court sc-t OF sn agent
Of Congress did n IT yield the best re.
suits, consequently the law was SO
modified that The decisionsc cf the cou. I
ssre tinal except an appeal should be
taken to the Supreme Court Of The
United States. But in spite Ct tins
court Congress continued to lie brr.
dencd with numerous claims wherein
the petitioners appealed for special re-
lief shioh tie strict rules Of law cannot
afford them. These claims have been
presented to q single Congress 70 the
number Of foul or FIVE thousand. Dur
ing The last term THAI S. z. Bowman
"a! Massachusetts served in the House,
his attention was called 10 this evil
aad he sc. himself 70 he task of cor.
Iocting it. With iudeiatigabls perse-
yeranco he pressed his bill, which sent
al such claims 20 the Court Of Claims
for leai ing, t, be reported back to
Congress fer its' consideration. This
act was true refoi,n measure and 1t
~ now known as thu B0w.ai Act-a
tribute to the perseverance, Of the man
whose name it bears. To this court is
referred large number Of cases in.
solsing land claims requiring thorough
invest; CATION. One of the most i'm
porrant If these cases was the contro-
ye,sy over the 1T Springs Reserva-
ton in Arkansas. which had been pro-
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