The Jennings daily record. [volume] (Jennings, La.) 1900-1903, 1902-01-24
r,-rSy WAR CLAIMS.


Four hundred and ninety-ive per-
sons. firms and corporations want $751;
OOO 600 from the United States for
damages done to their property In
Cuba during the last insurrectlon
against Spain The last claims nave
been filed with the Cuban claims COM
mission and an examination OF them
shows that most of them THINK the
United States will pay high prices TOT
low commodities. The largest single
one is SALT, 69SS5, which was present
ed by a Cuban sugar company moor
porated under the laws of the state OF
New York From this sum the Claim
runs down to $1,000 or $4,000, althousn
such small amounts are the exception
the average claim, not counting those
filed on account of the disaster to the
battleship Maine, being between $zoo'-
600 and $25O,0OO Most OF the claim
ants evidently think Uncle sam IS
about the easiest picking the worio
ever knew The statements they nave
filed with the commission setting 1ortn
the damages they have suffered might
we'll rank as humorous literature. An
examination of some of them FURNISH
es more entertainment than MARX
Twain's" sketches. The Cuban mule
must have been a table delicacy be-
fore and during the late insurrection'
| Judging from the value placed on MIN
| by the patriots who wish to dip their
| hands into Uncle Sans pockets. Every
| COW must have made an American
| Jersey look mean if we are to accept
| the values placed on them Inc
fences separating one plantation from
another must have been silver plated.
| The huts which the native Workmen
| inhabited must have been furnlsneo
with Brussels carpets and mahogany
bedsteads and equipped with onyx
| mantelpieces and porcelain bath tubs
| although the CubanS were not notorl-
Gus for their bathing propensltles
And the sugar cane-it was the finest
quality, just ready to be harvested and
marketed at a handsome pront. IL
| must have contained chocolate creams
and bon bons, placed there by the
lavish hand of bountiful nature. But
valuable as were the crops, the beasts
of burden and the other adjuncts OF
a well-kept Cuban plantation, they
were cheap compared with other
things for which damages were claim
ed For example, man who was ar
rested during the insurrection because
he could not give a satisfactory &C
count of himself to the Spanish au-
thoritits calculates that the wear and
tear on his dignity and peace OF mind
could not be remedied or repaired fol
less than 100000. OF course the Span
ish prisons where American suspects
were lodged pending an Investigation
of their cases were not models Of com
fort and luxury, but many a respect
able citizen can be found who would
sleep there and keep cyufi sany With {
few Cuban rats and bats for less thai
So. 600 a night Many claims have beer
filed for alleged false Imprisonment
: and one for less than $4,000 is an ex
{ ceptiuu Here is an itemized state
! meut of claim filed by an American
citizen who was arrested because h
= was suspected of being in colluslol
l with the insurgents outside of Havan
r short time before the United State
l and Spain went to war: For I'm
= prisonment and refusal to hold com
5 munication with the American consul
= general $4,000; for mental and phys1
. cal suffering and indignities, S25,O0O
:. for permanent mental and physical IL
S iuries, $15,000;. for defamation
d character, $4,000; for extra expense u
q account of imprisonment TO OBTAIN IL
# lease, or cash expended, $1,000; tota
u 100000 A man with name decided
: ly Spanish, averring that he was ma
1t uralized in the city of New York, VIII
l. asks for $25 900 damages for the a
l. legged ruination of what must hay
s, been veritable Garden of Eden in tt
l. province of MantanZas, puts down b
Is mules at $3.50 each and every horse c
1T the plantation at the same figure
/, St. Louis Republic.