Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-06-09
Questionable Appropriations.

my objections than would otherwise be
submitted.
Questionable Appropriations.
"This bill is In many of its features far re-
moved from legitimate deficiency bill, and
1t contains a number of appropriations
which seem to me to be exceedingly CUES
tionable Without noticing in detail many
of these items, shall refer to two of them
which, in my judgment, Justify my action
in the premises.
! THE bill appropriates Sl.027,3l4.o9 for Il
partial payment upon claims, which orig
mated In depredations upon our commerce
| by French cruisers and vessels during the
, closing years of the last century. They
, have become quite familiar to those having
congressional experience, as they have
been pressed for recognition and payment.
with occasional intervals Of repose, for
, nearly 100 years.
| 81 do not understand it to be asserted
that there exists any legal liability against
the government on account of its rela-
lions to these claims. At the term of the
supreme court, just finished, the chief
justice in an opinion concerning them and
the action of congress in appropriatlng
for their payment. said: We think that
payments thus prescribed to be made
were purposely brought within the cate
cory of payments by way of gratuity-pay-
ments of grace and not OF right.
Responsibility shifted.
"It Is, I believe, somewhat the fashion in
| interested quarters to speak Of the failure
by the government TO pay these claims as
such neglect as amounts to reputation by
the government and denial Of justice 10
/ citizens who have suffered. OF course the
| original claimants have for years been be-
| yond the reach Of relief, but as their de-
scendants in each generation become more
numerous the volume Of advocacy, impor-
| ff1tyl '
creases If injustice has been done in the
refusal of these claims, 1t began early In
the present century and may be charged
| against men then in public life more con-
yersant than we can be with the facts in
| volyed, and whose honesty and sense OF
! right ought to be secure from suspicion
! The president reviews the negative &C
| ton Of the congresses since 1902 and says
that the presumption against these claims
: arising from such unfavorable reports ard
| resolutions and from the failure of con-
| Sress to provide for their payment at
| time so near the events upon which they
are based, cannot be destroyed by the In
terested cry of injustice ana nesiect Oh the
rights of our citizens.
Notwithstanding persistent efforts to Sc
cure payment from the government and the
| importantly of those interested, no appro-
priation has ever been made for that pur'
i pose, except a little more than Sl3oO,O0O
which was placed in the general deficiency
| bill in the very last hours of the session Of
congress on March g. 1891 The list o.
| beneficiaries provided for In the bill on ac
| count of these claims includes 1852 who rep
resent the owners of ships and their car
| goes, and 1S6 who lost as insurers Of such
vessels and cargoes."
An Even Weaker Claim.
The president thinks the appropriations
to indemnify against insurance losses rest
upon even weaker grounds than the Other
| claims, and concludes:
"In the light of all the facts and circum
stances surrounding these spolatior
claims, as they are claimed, none Of them
in my opinion should be paid by the gov
crnment.
Another item in this bill, which seems tt
me especially Objectionable, is an appro
priation in favor of Charles P. Chouteau
survivor, etc., of $174. 1855, in full salts
faction of all claims arising out of the con
struction Of the iron-clad steam batter!
| Elijah.
History of Case.
1.-THE contract for the construction of thi
battery was made by the government will
Charles w. McCord during the war, ant
he was to be paid therefor the sum o
| Ease, 600 He was paid this sum, and $210, 81
for extras, and in May. 1866. gave his re
ceipt in full. The assignee of McCord, il
bankruptcy, assigned to Chouteau and hi
associates in 1868 all claims of McCort
against the United States for tn
precise extras for which lie lat
receipts in full two years before
Chouteau brought suit in the court o
claims for such extras and was defeated
! cannot gather from the facts have beef
able to gather concerning this appropria
ton that 1t is justified on any ground.
I'm 1891 my immediate predecessor vetoe
q bill allowing the matter to be examine
again by the court of claims.
"If the additional payment proposed i
this bill was made. the cost Of the batter
in question would be almost double that @
the contract price.
II have determined to submit this incom
plete presentation of my objection to thi
bill at once in order that the congress ma
act thereon without embarrassment, or tn
interruption of plans for an early adjorun
ment."
House Sustains Veto.
Speaker Reed laid before the hous
the presidents veto of the general de
fciency bill, and it was read. From tn
applause which swept over the hall a
the close of the reading it was appa1
ent that the message met nearly gen
eral approval.
Mr.. Cannon (rep., Ill.) stated that h
would move to pass the bill over tn
presidents veto, and, if that failed, the
he would ask the speaker to recogniz
,, him to move to suspend the rules an
pass deficiency bill, emitting from
the item objected to by the presiden1
, Serious Termination of a Quarrel.
Selma, Ala, June 6.-Friday night +;
II o'clock a difficulty occurred betwee
} Llewe]len Pitts and Ed Molot, bot
prominent men, in which the latter w;
shot and probably fatally wounde
Molot had been drinking and went I
the room of Pitts, where the difficult