The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-10-25

ASt pS thS iact that urge uIuOuHtS dIc always collected, while the smaller amounts, or sailors shares, are often not worth looking after"
 Many of the uncalled-for claims in the treasury are as small as ten cents, Hundreds range between ten and
 twenty-five cents. These were for sailors on vessels which captured or de-
 stroyed vessels of the enemy, The awards to officers of these same ves- sels ran into dollars and hundreds of
 dollars. "The man behind the gun," as ne IS now often spoken of, received in
 bounty from the United States twenty
 nVe or fifty cents, while the man com
 mandlng his vessel drew hundreds of
 dollars as his share. Auditor Morris
 comments upon this as reason for the abolition of the law, which, he says, is
 untalr. "The man behind the gum at
 santiago, for instance will draw only
 few dollars for his splendid aim and
 telling shots, while the captain of his
 vessel may get several thousand.
 It is thought that most of the un-
 claimed money in the treasury will nev-
 CT be paid. The men to whom it is due
 are dead or have forgotten that some
 thing was coming to them. If claim at
 torneys could get possession of the
 names of the men to whom the money
 IS due they might lessen the cash ac- count in the treasury, but they are una
 ble to do this.
 Auditor Norris view is that the law
 was passed at time when Uncle Sam
 desired to encourage the men of small
 and weak navy. A theory advanced in some quarters is that prize and boun-
 ty law was enacted because the soldiers or victorious army were allowed to plunder and loot after a victory, thus
 securing money and valuables at the conclusion Of their work This was not possible for seamen, and they were put
 on somewhat of a footing with the sol-
 diers. The advance of civilization,
 Auditor Morris holds, ought to do away with such ancient laws.
 As his share in the victories of the
 civil war, Vice-Admiral Farragut was
 paid total of $140,SS5. The man who
 received the next highest sum was Cap
 tain s. P. Lee. His share in various captures was $129,264 Rear Admiral
 Porter received $125, ,91o, while Rear Admiral Dupont was paid $5939S. Among others who received snug sums were the following: Lieutenant w. B. Gushing, $57,564; Commander J. J. AL my, $44,3S4 Commodore Bailey, $41, ,755; Commander William Budd, 3S,318; Commodore w. w. McKean, s37,3s1; Acting Master W. l.. Howorth, $35, ,361 :; Captain B. F. Sands, $32,4S5; Acting Assistant Paymaster F. H. Swan, $31,- 102; Rear-Admiral S. L. Breeze, $21, ,971; Acting Ensign T. S. Gay, $2S,710; Third Assistant Engineer William Stotes- burg, $23, 925; Third Assistant Engineer | c. l.. Steever $23,925; Captain D. Me
 Dougal, $21 ,00O
 From this amount down hundreds of 1 officers received goodly sums Rear
 Admiral S. H. Stringham received $10-
 S06; Lieutenant Commander Jouett, I $1S,412; and Commodore Charles | Wilkes, s13,539.
 Frequently ships captured from the | Confederates were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The richest cap- | lures were those containing cotton, ! which went to high price before the ! close of the war. The James Adger
 captured Confederate ships valued at
 over one hundred thousand dollars. | The Kama, who captured seventeen ships | from April, 1862, to January 1865. and | 1he officers who commanded her natu-
 rally reaped rich rewards. The Kenne- 1 bee was another fortunate Union ship, l capturing many Confederate vessels. l One of these, the Gray Jacket, was val
 ued by the courts at $167510. Tn July, 1 1862, the Magnolia captured the Mem- 1 phis, valued at S255, ,457 The Quaker 1 City captured or took part in the cap-
 ture of twenty vessels, valued at many l thousands. Some of the vessels which l did the most fighting were not ranked l among the fortunate in the matter of ! rich captures. The sums which went to 1 the Queen of the West Brooklyn. Con- l necticut, Grand Gulf, De Sota and Sup- 1 ply were large.
 l The Alabama, destroyed by the Rear i sarge, was valued by the courts at l S190,000, and every person on board the l victorious Kearsarge was awarded a l goodly sum. Every man but one who l took part in that fight has received his
 bounty or prize money The name of
 this one man is not known. His claim l was never presented.
 | Congress will be called upon to ap- 1 PIopllate tiie illoHey to pay tHe UouH- l ties arising out of the Santiago and Manila fights Auditor Morris holds that the money now in the treasury was specifically appropriated, and can not be touched to pay the newly arising claims. It is thought probable that a
 fight will be made to abolish the laws existing after the claims arising from i the Spanish-American war have been paid.-Washingto Star.