Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-03-19

atoOu It-eitCllOl COilluiltSellldll
from the sixth district, and it is said
by those we'll informed in Washington
that he would haye won out In that
event he would have, undoubtedly.
been elected chairman of the state
committee.
AS the matter now stands Mr.. Clay
ton will, of course, not stand again
as candidate for committeeman
from the sixth district, as the civil
service rules would not permit him to
participate in active political work
The rules of the department do not,
however. prevent Mr. Clayton from
taking hand as citizen in political
conventions or in working in certain
political direction. Under the cir
cumstances, therefore, it is altogether
probable that Mr.. Clayton may be
seen and heard from time to time in
Iowa.
Washington. ID. c., March
IS - INSCRIPTIONS attorneys in
Washington are reported to
have been sending broadcast cir
cular letters calculated to deceive vet
Grams of the civil war, and the bureau
of the auditor for the war department,
of which Judge Edward p Seeds, of
Manchester. is deputy auditor. has is
sued warning to the said energetic
claim agents against continuance OF
the. methods that have been pursued
under penalty of having their names
brought to the attention of the depart
ment of Justice and disbarment pro-
ceedings instituted.
The fact that over 5000 claims have
been filed with the department within
the past few months indicates that the
circulars must have been mailed in
great numbers, and Unfortunately
as we'll, in view of the fact that in
probably majority of the cases no
money is due. At first it was suppos-
ed names We're supplied to claim
agents by employees in the department
but it is now believed the names are
taken from the rolls. the attorneys
trusting TO luck that some money may
be due the recipient or that they may
be able to secure fee
The following is an extract from a
circular recently issued by a Washing
ton claim agent:
I'VE hereby offer for contingent
fee of forty per cent cause the pay
ment of a debt of about $3.50, without
any advance expense to you beyond
that required in proving identity, u.s.
ually only notorial fees Payment will
be made direct to the payee and not
through our hands, in two or three
months after acceptance This debt
has been due for many years. and that
! it is unknown to the payee goes with
out saying. While this field is open
TO any. we occupy it alone. Payees in
this city have gladly paid our charges.
Our predecessors charged fifty per
cent This information we have has
cost us much time and labor"
What the treasury officials claim as
| the misleading feature is that the re-
cipient is made to believe that there is
no way to secure the amount due, if
any, except through the claim agent,
which, of course, is not true Any
old soldier believing he has a claim
against the government may have it
/ investigated and may obtain any mon.
\ ey due him without expense; the pay
ment of any fee is unnecessary and
the department has done all in its pow,
/ er TO familiarize old soldiers with this
fact. A Washington claim agent has
/ no advantage over the old soldier in
securing the payment of any just
| claim
Secretary Wilson, after exhaustive
experiments takes the view that the
/ gain in the yield of corn, as result
/ of irrigation in such states as Iowa
/ Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois; the
! NJ tIi, hal l,r
I expense.
The cost OF irrigation per acre, is
I approximately $3.50. The net gain ov
er the unirrigated land in yield of corr
/ was only 81 per acre. The net yield
/ in the production of watermeions. how
/ ever, over the land not irrigated was
! S5S per acre: potatoes $50 per acre
! muskmelons, $45 per acre 1t is also
/ said a good profit is obtained from il
| rigating meadow or hay land.
The printing clerk of the senate is
| preparing new edition of the compl
alton of the vetoes of the President. II
1 is interesting to note that in this com
/ pilation Iowa will again lead. either
1 OF the Hawkeye state being the first tt
4 suffer from veto of President Roose
| welt, the President having first exer
! cised his perogative in this respect
! when he disapproved Of the bill cor
recting the military record of the late
| John Glass, colored of Des Moines.
Colonel Hepburn. in speaking of the
| probable legislation to come up fol
consideration at the next session Of
congress. remarked that it would de
4 pend to considerable extent upor
| the effect of the laws relating to the
/ control of the trusts just passed. il
| it should appear that the laws now up
on the statute books are adequate tt
control the octupus. and Col Hepburn
is of the opinion that such is the case,
| and the machinery of the department
of justice, with its agents scattered
! throughout the country is operating
smoothly, then it is not likely that thu
| trust question will present itself in
! formidable way at the next session. If
however, the recently enacted legisla
| ton seems to fall short of expecta
lions in vital point it is very probable
/ that the trust question will come tt
the fore Immediately following the
converting of the Fifty-eighth con
4 gress. and drastic measures will be I'm