The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-02-24


for moneys advanced in aiding in the
s11ppression OF the rebellion in the civil
/ var. claim of the state of Wyoming
! for protecting the Yellowstone Ma
| tional mark. $1,000. The remainder of
the state claims are for furnishing
! troops TO the general government in
aiding in suppressing the rebellion.
The French spoliatiOn claims, which
aggregate 81 600, COO, are claims against
! the government for losses incurred
through the depredations of French
prfvat eers in 1900. Under the acts OF
| March >. 1891. and March 3. 1899. French
/ spoliation claims are not payable il
/ held bv assignment or by insurance
/ companies. OF the claims now pending
/ over three-fifths are owned by insur-
ance companies. The French spolia-
/ ton claims properly payable by the
I government amount to upward OF $780,
/ 00O.
Claims under the Selfridge board
/ findings are for accounts against the
| government of builders of naval YES
/ sells during the civil war. Changes in
/ contracts on the part Of The govern
ment, the rapid rise in cost of material
and rates of labor during the war
| caused many contractors to lose heavily
| in carrying out their contracts with
the government in constructing war
vessels Under act of March 9, 1866,
| congress created the Selfridge hoard,
! consisting of Thomas o. SeIfridge.
| chief engineer. United States navy. and
other officers. with power 10 investf-
gate the claims of the contractors and
| determine the amounts. If any prop
erly due them. The findings of this
board. still unsettled by congress, ag-
gregate 100000.
For Personal Injuries.
The personal injury claims are few
in number and amount to but $4,000.
! These claims arose from injury and
| death of persons in the government
employ where death or injury was
caused by the carelessnsss of other en-
ployes.
The miscellaneous claims against the
government aggregate $l50OOO0 and are
for every variety of cause Imaginable.
| They include a large number of claims
for revenue taxes illegally collected
from owners of private dies by the
! revenue bureau, these claims. aggre-
eating s153,526.37. A large claim in
/ Guided in this classification is that of
Smithmeyer & Pelz, the architects of
/ the library of congress building, the
amount being S111,200.
!
States cannot be collected under usual
! forms of legal procedure. and, in fact,
il was not until 1855 that there was
any tribunal other than congress by
which claims against the government
might be adjudicated. The court of
! claims was created by the act of Feb.
/ "a, 1855, and was given jurisdiction
over certain claims brought against
! the government. Under the act il be-
/ comes the duty of the head of a de-
! partment of the government, when he
| finds the facts so complicated that he
is unable to determine the validity of
| any claim against the government re-
! ferred TO him for settlement, to certi-
fly the matter to the court of claims,
| where witnesses may be heard, argu-
ments made by counsel and findings
made of the law and facts.
The various committees OF congress
may also refer claims to the court OF
claims for findings in order to have an
| intelligent basis from Which 10 pro-
coed in making appropriations TO settle
! such claims. The court now consists
of five judges and large force OF
! clerks and attorneys. who are con-
| stantiy at work upon the hundreds Of
| cases referred to it. Owing to the con-
geSted condition of business before the
court and the prospect of greatly en-
larged duties being imposed upon il
an effort is being made to increase
the number of judges to nine.
1t will be noticed that the greater
part Of the claims ag9icEt the United
states are of long standing Many date
back to the earlier wars of the coun-
try, and many are the inheritance of
the civil war The individual claims
q n Of ,, :
the government is slow in settling
[ these claims is not the fault of the
claims committees of the house and
senate, but the fault must be laid al
the doors of congress itself. Every
session the claims committees pass
upon the hundreds of bills referred to
them, only to have their labOrs IN
needed by congress.
During President Cleveland's admin
istration congress included several mil
lion dollars in the general deficiency
bill for the payment of claims but the
president vetoed the bill. Since that
time the procedure has been to include
meritOTiOus claims in a general meas
ure called an omnibus bill" and IN
der this method a large number OF
claims have been adjusted and paid
The first. omnibus bill was passed By
the Fifty-fifth congress and carried
appropriations aggregating So, 14s,1tS.97
In the Fifty sixth congress the house
passed an omnibus bill carrying an ap-
preparation of s, 9S9. 0OS.63. The bill was
amended by the senate, but failed Il
pass that body, being shut out by the
time given to the cOnsidera ton of the
river and harbor bill, which failed tC
pass after a memorable all-night
speech against il on the closing day OF
. no - <I..14r
ter of Montana. The claims commit
tees of the senate and house are now
engaged in framing an omnibus bill
Which will include all the meritoriouS
claims before congress which have
been adjudicated by the court OF
claims and the various boards created
with power to pass upon claims i
congress viii view with favor the eff
forts of the committees to clear up the
Indebtedness OF the government il
these particulars the government will
stand better in the estimation Of Z
large number of its creditors than a
present.
While most of the bills introduced il
congress to pay claimants are meritor
iOus. or at least possess sufficient eduit,
10 warrant investigation. many ar
without merit from any point of view
and are simply the product of impaired
mental conditions or Of efforts to Sc
cure unjust advantage Of the govern
ment. Members of congress will intro
duce almost any and all bills request
ed. not with wrong intention. but sim
ply to be Obliging or through good
natured pOliteness. The claims com
mittees of both houses of congress hav,
been annoyed for several sessions b.
the persistency of a claimant with
claim against the government for $3.50
] 600 on the following novel grounds: H
contended that he had been forced I,
resign a government clerkship on ac
count of the prosecutions of his fellow
clerks. The mental anxiety thus occa