Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-25

'WV\N wv work already mapped
Nll out The greater part
VI of this work is in
the ulrection or special Observation-Disclosures
tlon Tor private relief Private relief bills
nave burdened the calendars of Congress
to the exclusion Of much public business
for many years. They have become such
nuisance that public men have discussed
| frequently the possibility of creating a.
court which would have Jurisdiction of
claims Tor private relief and excluding
tnem from Congressional consideration
When one stops to consider the fact that
! Congress has to make petty laws for the
government of the District of Columbia
and to pass on the claim of the Widow
Brady for damage done to her potato patch
during the war. he will understand better
why 1t is that Congress can sit for eight
OF zen months without completing much
puf-c business.
Most of the claims before Congress are
of ancient date. A great number date back
TO the war. There is one claim which was
reported to the Senate recently which was
really inaugurated in 1857. but which was
not presented to Congress until 1873: but
the claimant has not ceased to press his
business on Congress for twenty years His
Dill has been reported in the Senate many
times and is now on the calendar. If ii
does not get a speedy hearing ne NAV as
well abandon his hopes of getting justice
at the hands of the Fifty-third Congress
A Patient Ciaimant.
Thefe Is a modest ex-postmaster out in
California who has been waiting since 1876
to obtain relief at the hands of Congress-
and who comes forward with a petition
which has received again the approval of
the committee claims of the Senate,
m ha Of
Your petitioner has heretofore applied
for relief, but owing to the great amount
of business to be transacted by your re-
spective bodies. his small and humble pc
tition has been crowded aside. so that
other and more pressing matters of Con-
gress might be considered"
1t would be interesting to hear the pri-
vate opinion which this petitioner has of
the Congress which has kept him waiting
for nearly eighteen Years for 1885, and this
In the face of favorable reports from the
committees of both houses and the GER
tainty that II the bill could have a fair
consideration ii would pass. The Califor-
MAN is named j. NJ. Billings and his home
Is IN Santa Clara. Santa Clara county. He
was postmaster of Santa Clara from 1871
to 1881. He is now nearly seventy years old
and he says that he needs this relief to
help support him. His claim is for plumber
taken by some unknown urglars, in the
form OF stamps nonev-order funds etc
Accompanying the petition are aiIida Wits
which would be funny If they did not con-
Germ SO serious matter. one is the AT
ndavit of the assistant in the post office
who deposes that she saw the hole that
the robbers made in the roof to gain an en-
trance" Another deposition says that at
the time of the robbery the town of Santa
Clara was infested with "a band of desper-
ate robbers who made frequent burglaries
in the town." Another says that the post
office robbery was lin fact. the largest rob-
berry ever committed in our town" Another
affidavit, which lacks the element of humor
altogether, says that Billings was crippled
financially by having to make up this loss
to the government and that he has never
recovered from it. Congress has appropri-
ated many thousands of dollars in large
sums for the relief of postmasters else
where, but the old postmaster of Santa
Clara has waited seventeen years for his
money and he is still waiting.
There is certain pathos in the case of
Wllilam ii. Ward who wants to have the
Court of Claims pass on his claim against
the government, but who has been denied
any consideration at the hands of Congress
for twenty years. In the meantime the
government has used his invention freely |
and is still using it, Ward got out patents
in November. 1857, for a bullet making ma
chine, and in December of the same year
a patent for machine for molding shells.
THESE machines were the result Of sixteen |
years of costly experiment. The bullet ma
chine cost the inventor $40, TO- and the
shell molding machine so, H. as Ward was
Isl.
Inc patents issued to him were the iirst of
the ciasS-they were of the kind known as |
foundation" patents, which represent more |
LABOR than the average patent and usually |
greater expenditure of money. The ma |
cnines were of value only to governments
Inc United States government saw their |
value Immediately anu, as all the congress |
slonal committees report, took possession |
or them without consulting Ward and used |
them. During the war of the rebellion tn,
chief OF ordnance gave orders for the con- |
structton of bullet machines without regard !
to patents and the machine usel inrricgei
the foundation patents Ct Ward. But all |
the satisfaction Ward got from the chief |
OF ordnance was the auvice that he apply |
TO Congress for relief II is interesting to |
note that N ards appeal was first rna,ie 10 1
capt. tafterwaru AdmiraD Dahlgren, and /
tnat this is the same ADMIRAL DahIgren VINO |
made claim against the government fer |
the use or an invention OF his in the Navy |
Department during the war and whose |
widow recovered S2.JUO0J in the Court of /
Claims. to which her claim was referred by |
congress. The admiral inventor and the |
citizen inventor have very different stand |
ing IN the eyes of Congress.
No Redress Here.
ward tried to get some redress in the |
courts. Failing there he applied to Con-
Eress for RELIEF, and the House of Repre- |
sentatives more than once passed the bill |
making an appropriation to reimburse him. |
THESE bills the Senate would not pass; but !
the Senate committee after some years |
agreed to report a bill referring the claim
to the Court of Claims for adjudication. |
Worn out with waiting. Ward agreed to |
this. So u bill was reported to the Senate /
1t failed OF consideration. Then another |
bill reported to another Congress, but /
1t too failed to get hearing a vote So
year after year the claim has been renew
Ell. ward, who lived in Auburn, n. Y, at |
the time his invention was patented, and |
wno afterward lived at Pittsburg, has come |
to Alexandria, and there he watches and |
waits for Congress to afford him some re-
lief.
A claim which has come down as an in |
heritarce from husband to wife and which |
is now on the Senate calendar is the claim !
of Margaret Kennedy, widow of John Ken |
nedy, deceased. John Kennedy was d loyal |
citizen of the District of Columbia who |
owned 70 IL acres of land on the Eastern |
Rrarch of the Potomac at the breaking out |
of the war. The government took possess |
sion of his land and erected Fort Sedgwick |
upon 1t. Around the fort rifle pits and |
other excavations were made, covering
nearly half the ground. BY this act Mr.
Kennedy suffered danage in about 5000 |
for fruit trees destroyed, S., 800 for forest |
trees and $1,000 for fencing, TO say nothing |
CT the loss of flowers and shrubs Mr.
fence was used for fuel by the |
soldiers. A congressional committee has
valued the material taken from Mr. Ken
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