The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-15
VOLUNTEERS PAY
CAPTAINS DID NOT FURNISH NEG.
 ESSARY DATA.
Ben Carter Talks of Failure of Ala bama Soldiers in Spanish-Amer- ican War to Get Extra
 Money.

Birmingham, June 14.-(Special)-- Extra pay due from the United States to the Alabama soldiers of the Spanish war is hung up by the failure of the commanding officers of eight compa- nies to furnish the necessary data. This information was obtained this morning by a reporter from MT. Ben Carter of Washington. D. C., formerly of .his city, who Is here for a few days partly to look after this and some other fea- lures of the claim of the State against the government for moneys.
 The additional pay I have under taken to collect for the Alabama vol- unteers.@ said MT. Carter to the News man, Ifs for the preparation period ter minating with the muster of most of the men into the United States army and the rejection of the others for physical disability. The State was or iginally liable to the men for this pay notwithstanding that the United States by way of bounty. had paid them for practically the same period; but, through a series of acts of Congress, the indebtedness has been assumed by the national government.
 The claims must be prosecuted in the names of the States, whose officers dis tribute the money to the men as soon as 1t is received There is no record at Washington or at the State Capitol of the initial date of the services in question and 1t is necessary to have these dates supplied by the late com manding officers of the companies on copies of the official rolls of their com panies which have been sent to them. Nearly a year ago l mailed these rolls to the Alabama officers.
 Of course 1t costs the late captains or lieutenants some trouble to write in the necessary dates, but, except as to eight companies the work was cheer fully done last summer and fall. In those eight cases both Governor Jelks, by whom I am employed. and have time and again written to the late company officers and requested that they complete their rolls in the way described and send them on to me, but to this time, for whatever reasons, they have not complied, and l am trying to arrange with the Governor and Hon. J. Kirk Jackson. nis Secretary, some plan to obtain the lacking data.
 The Treasury Department will not consider the claim piecemeal and of course the Governor does not want to collect for twenty eight companies and abandon all claim for pay of the re- maining eight.
 The Treasury officials could not have considered the Alabama claim be- fore last April If all thu proof had been in. The first case prepared since the last act of Congress was passed was Virginia's. I prosecuted that case also and I obtained from the Auditor for the War Department an allowance of only a little over $11.000, but 1 ap- pealed to the Comptroller of the Treas ury and he increased the allowance to something over $61.000. The Auditor insisted on making that sort or test case on some points, and until the Comptroller's decision was rendered in March last, would not take up any oth- CT case. He is ready now, however to settle the Alabama claim as soon as the proof is closed.
 There Is not so much collectable for Alabama as for Virginia, since that State had one more regiment than this.
 Tt Is only fair to say that the proofs have been furnished for all the companies of the lst regiment of the Alabama volunteers, which came large fly from Birmingham and vicinity