Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-10-24

& 4Ez.z 81 s. IS S. "a a
~ Duplicates 0f claimn thus certi-
fAd to the Governor shall be filed IN
The Office Of the Secretary Of State, with
. view to having the amounts paid out
refunded by the general government.
IS. Said board is hereby authorized
10 employ competent clerk, whose
duty is shall be to keep a full and cor
rect record of all claims presented,
make true abstracts thereof for the use
of the board, execute all orders of the
board, and receive as compensation
such sum as the board may fix; which
compensation, together with the neces-
sary expenses of the board, shall be paid
In the same manner that other claims
are paid.
IS. The Governor shall transmit to
the next Legislature the report of the
said board, in order that provision may
be made for the payment Of said
claims.
r. This Act shall expire two years
from its passage"
The Board of Claims established by
this Act reported to the Legislature of
1870, claims aggregating s6,7S6.22,
which sum was appropriated by that
Legislature. The board afterwards re-
ported to the Legislature of 1871 claims
aggregating s19.474.6S, and then expir-
ed under the terms Of the Act creating
1t.
An examination of the act of 1859
leads to the conclusion that the Legis-
lature had in contemplation that the
entire claims
SHOULD BE CLOSED UP
within two years, that such money as
should be paid would be refunded by
the general government, and that no
money at all was to be paid until the
claims had been submitted to sue
ceeding Legislature. AT this late day
there is nothing at hand to show what
the Legislature Of 1870 thought about
the matter. 1t merely appropriated
$6,786.22 to pay the claims reported.
Whether these claims were of more
meritorious character and less ques-
tionable than those afterwards report
ed to the Legislature of 1871 is now
merely question of conjecture. When
1t is remembered that all these claims
were for services and materials furnish
ed in the State, and four CT five years
had already elapsed since the time they
npfn f,,rr hn1
pears somewhat singular that only
$6,7S6.22 of claims should be reported
by the board in its first year, and over
$4,000 in the second, when the end of
its legal existence was drawing near
II there had been general under
standing that the State was only to pay
such claims as it would be reimbursed
for by the general government, and
this interval had ben spent in futile eff
forts by the interested parties to have
these claims recognized in some shape
at Washington, the delay can be under
stood. Whatever may have been the
true character Of the claims included
In the $19,474.e8 reported, it is quite
evident that the Legislature of 1871, at
Eme wlNS everything connected with
them was comparatively fresh, when
any particular claim could have been
Investigated, did not consider that the
State was either morally or legally
bound to pay them, and was only will
ing to advance the amount of such
claims as had already received the
stamp of approval at Washington.
Look at it in any way you will, the
Act of the Legislature of 1871 was
A VIRTUAL DECLARATION
that such claims as were not recogniz-
ed at Washington, were unworthy of
payment and ought not to be paid; and
yet this Act passed the House by
vote Of 81 to II, and the Senate by
vote of II to none. 1t may also be
noted that the Senate at the time was
Republican, and that among those who
voted in favor of the bill boldly repud-
iating these claims were such Repub-
licans as Dayton, Of Barbour; C. w.
Scott, of Ritchie; C. W. Bishop and
John P. Jones, of Preston; Geo. C.
Sturgiss, of Monongalia A. N. Pricharc
OF Marion, and A. B. Clark. of Upshur.
That these claims should be kept
quiescent for twenty-seven years, dur
ing which time the general public
heard nothing of them either on the
stump or through the press, and then
QUIETLY TAKEN UP
and pushed through the Legislature in
the face Of an adverse report of the Sem
ate Committee on Finance, suggests
that far stronger influences were at
work than any possessed by the orig
tnal benefciaries. And that the DELHI
crate judgment of non-partisan Leg
fslature aequiesced in by all parties for
more than a quarter of century,
should be set aside at time when the
original claimants from the nature OF
things could be but little benefited by
the Act, leads strongly to the conclus-
fpy, hot oh ;, ba vic, 8