The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-04-21
PHILIPPINE SERVICE.
Important Decisions by the Court of Clair

Important Decisions by the Court of Claims
The act of Jan. II. 1899, provides rs
follows:
That in lieu of granting leaves of alb
senca and furloughs to officers and en-
listed men belonging to companies ana
regiments of United States volunteers
prior to muster out of the service. all OIL
GERS and enlisted men belonging to yolun-
teer organizations hereafter mustered out
of the service who have served honestly
and faithfully beyond the limits of the
United States shall be paid two months
extra pay on muster-out discharge from
| the service.
! The question was whether this act in
cluded the 5000 volunteers organized I'M
der the act of March ,. 1899, for the sup
preston OF the instruction in the Philip
| pines?
The test cases claiming that it does in
| clude those volunteers came before the
Court of Claims in the eases of I'ierson
| and Clark. decided Dec >, 1901. pierson
was mustered ont with his regiment, while
| Clark was discharged at an earlier date.
! The Court of Claims decided that Person
! was entitled. and gave judgment in his
| favGr. but that Clark was not at the mus
| ter-out of the organization is essential to
create the right to extra pay.
| The Government appealed the PlerSon
| case to the Supreme Court. where. after
| two years delay, the Government aban-
| doned It's appeal and insisted that another
| test case must lie made before the Court
| Of Claims and brought up to the Supreme
| Court. The attorneys representing n NUM-
Der of the officers and men interested
| thareupon prepared and presented the case
| of Lieut.. Charles T. Reale, of the AID Inf
| The case came up for hearing before the
| Court of Claims Dee. Ii. last. ard was
| fully argued.
The representative of the Department
of Justice argued for the Government that
only the Spanish war volunteers were in
cluded in the act of Jan. II, 1899. as they
were the only volunteers in existence at the
time of its passage. He insisted that it
had no Application to the volunteers Or
-anZed to suppress the Philippine insur-
/ rection.
The attorneys. on the contrary. urged.
in accordance with a previous decision of
| the Court of Claims. that the act is gen
eral and comprehensive i'll its terms, and
! whenever their organizations should be
mustered out.
The attorney for the Government asked
| the court to include in its findings of facts
some proceedings in Congress connected
with the attempt TO amend the act of Jam
| II. 1899. as we'll a number of orders
of the War Department and some CORE
spondence between the War Department
the committees of Congress, and the De
partment of Justice This was objected TO
I -
documents. were wholly irrelevant to the
| construction OF the act, and that even if
| any OF them we're material, the Supreme
| Court would take notice of them without
| insertion in the findings of fact. e
| The fact that the attorney representing
| the Government had shifted the ground by
A dismissal Of the appeal taken by the
| Government in the pierSon case, and had
also unwarrantably delayed the hearing OF
| the Beale case came out on the hearing.
4 nF 1afy l.ntr .lnI t1,o
Beale case fayorably to the contentious of
| the claimant. and thereby sustained it's
| former decision in the Pierson case. the
| Treasury Department has abandoned the
| idea of further contending the question in
| the courts and accepts the Pierson and
Beale decisions as governing its practice.
As indicated above. the volunteers bene-
| fitted are those of the 18th u. s. Volunteer
Cavalry and 18th to 49th u. s. Volunteer
Infantry. organized in 1899 for Philippine
extra pay that the soldier served until the
| muster-out of his regiment.
/ Another case decided by the Court of
Claims on Dec. II. was that involving the
right of the widow and administrators of
| Capt. Ernest Dietz. Co. Il, LIST Ohio Vol
unteer Infantry. Spanish war, to receive
the extra pay allowed by act of May 26,
| 1900. Congress by the act of 1899, above
quoted. granted extra pay to "al officers
and enlisted men belonging to volunteer
4
the service" This act was prospective in
terms. Afterward it turned out that at
| the date of the passage Of that act some
OF the volunteer organizations had already
been mustered out without receiving the
| extra pay, but with as mertorious a title
| thereto as those mustered out after the
date of the act of Jan. ~, 1890 To re-
l1eve these meritOriOus cases, Congress by
the act of May 26, 1900. provided s.tbat
the act approved Jan. IL, 1899" "shall ex-
tend to-" among others, Officers and en-
listed men of volunteer organizations who
have served honestly and faithfully" etc.
| Capt. Dietz died on the 18th of Febru-
airy. 1900. 1t is claimed by the ATTORNEYS
representing the Government that the
claim did not survive him: in other words,
that the act of 1900 was i'm the nature of
n donation to the officers themselves, and
that nobody could take it if they were not
living to do so.
The attorneys representing the officers
claimed. on the other hand. that the claim
was one of ''the debts of the United
States as that term is defined by the
supreme Court in the noted sugar-bounty
decisions. and that as held i'm the case de-
cided under the sugar bounty, it constj.
tutes an asset of the estate even though
not recognized by Congress until some time
after the officers death
The case is interesting to many widows
and other heirs Of volunteer officers who
died without receiving the benefit of the
extra pay and who would be subjected to
much hardship il ii were insisted that the
death OF the officer deprived his family OF
all claim to the money.
APPLICATIONS UNDER RECENT ORDER.