The St. Johns herald., 1891-04-09
WASHINGTON CLAIM AGENTS. The San Francisco 'EEXaminer" Estab- fishes a Claim Agency in
 Washington.

1 l uC OdIl pIdIlCISCO EAdlIluGI
 frequently in receipt of complaint 1 from it's subscribers in all parts o
 the Coast States and Territories tha
 legitimate claims against the Gov
 ernment for Indian depredationt
 and land, postal and pension claim.
 intrusted to the care of various at
 torneys and claim agents have not
 been properly prosecuted, or, if so
 that the charges of the agents CT at'
 torneys for fees and alleged ex-
 penses have been so great as to leave
 little or nothing for the claimants
 We have been frequently urged to
 make war upon these rapacious at
 torneys, but for many reasons it is
 almost impossible to do so in such
 a manner as to benefit our subscri-
 bcrs. We might possibly succeed in driving a dishonest or over-greedy
 attorney out of the field, but his
 place would be immediately taken
 by another, and the fight would be endless and its results practically
 useless. We have therefore decided, as the best means of curing the evil, to establish in Washington a
 Bureau of Claims, which will take charge of all such matters and push them to a speedy and, in all cases where it is possible, successful is- sue. MT. John Wedderburn. our Washington correspondent, and up to the time of his death Secretary to the late Senator Hearst, in which position he has had much experi- ence in presenting and pushing such claims, will have charge of this bureau and will employ all nec- essary legal and clerical assistance ot the first grade, making only such charge for their services as will cov- CT the actual cost and pay him a reasonable price for the time do- voted to the work. Mir. Wedder- burn is known to every member of the Pacific Coast congressional del to whom inquiries as to his standing and reliability can be ad- dressed. The necessity for the es- tablishment of such a bureau is we'll shown by the following peti- tion, which has been extensively circulated in northern California
 To the Hon. the Senate of the United States in Congress Assem- bled-Gentlemen: The undersigned petitioners would most respectfully that we are claimants against the Government for losses sustained by Indian depredations committed in in Humboldt county, California, at different times since 1850; that we were induced to en- ploy an attorney here to properly prepare said claims, and another at Washington by power of attorney to prosecute them there; that we have paid our attorney here for outall papers in said claims besides being at considerable ex- pense in attending with witnesses the Government commission here that examined our claims that now our attorneys at Washington Messrs.-) are asking us to sign a contract giving them one-third of whatever may be recovered from the Government as their fee, be- sides requiring us to pay all accru- ing costs tsforprosecuting said claims. This we consider an extravagant and unreasonable charge. There fore we pray your honorable body to so amend the bill now pending be- fore you tor settling these claims that it will embody a clause allow ing attorneys such fees and com missions for attending to said claims as shall be deemed just and and your petitioners will ever be most thankful.
 Parties having claims of any kind against the Government, will address all letters to The Examiner