Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1897-03-27

pose of ascertaining the merits of Ger,
tain claims and to report to congress
whether they should be paid or re;
pudinted. But the policy of the man,
ayers of the house has been to mini
mize appropriations and make every
thing subservient to a record for econ
omy. AS consequence those who are
unfortunate enough to be creditors of
the United States must either abandon
their just claims or expect to begin
period of lobbying and waiting which
may continue indefinitely.
Some congressman have persistently
called attention to the delinquency OF
the government, but the rank and fila
have been whipped into blind and un,
questioning following of leadership
which shows to all claimants the fu4
tility of hoping for relief from congress.
On the day when the private calendar
was taken up for consideration. Mr..
Walker, Of Massachusetts, declared that
certain obnoxious bill for the promo
tion and retirement of a hospital stew
ard as second lieutenant of cavalry
had been placed at the head of the cal
endar to prevent the consideration Of
meritorious bills. He said:
This case is put here under the pc
culiar circumstances which exist in or
der that justice shall not be done to men
who are robbed of their just claims by
the government of the United States
their just claims have been reported
favorably and unanimously by the COM
mittee to whom this duty is assigned.
This bill was put here to be kept here,
and to be discussed the day out, so that
women may still continue to haunt the
halls of congress in the hope that it
will deal justly with their fathers and
husbands private claims to money hon
estly due them. 1t is an outrage and a
disgrace to this house and the lead
ers to put in such claims as this, to be
discussed all day, so that these other
claims shall not be considered"
Referring to Mr.. Walkers remarks,
Mr.. Talbert, of South Carolina, said:
II am glad to see revival going on
among gentlemen on the other side of
the house. l am glad to see that the
scales have been stricken from their
eyes, and that they have begun to see
the outrages that are being perpetrated
upon the taxpayers of this country"
Mr.. Mahon, of Pennsylvania, said:
II want to say this about the court of
claims: That this court holds claim
ants to stricter accountability, a
stricter compliance with the rules of
evidence than any other court in the
United States. l say, either you ought
to stand by the court and pay the judg-
ments which it renders, or should abol-
ish your court. My experience is that
the greatest robber in this country is
the nation itself. Our government is
continually robbing private citizens of
their property and refusing to reim-
burse them. Now, say that the time
has come for this congress either to pay
those findings of the court of claims
or to abolish that court and let the peo-
pie of this country know that congress
does not propose to pay their claims
whether they are found to be just or
not.
"These bills that we now have in the
committee on war claims, those find
ings of the court of claims and other
claims, are about 1900 in number. They
do not accumulate. They come in con-
gress after congress. The bills are
printed, and the reports are printed
and if you so and investigate you will
find that you have spent about $340,00C