The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-02-05
CLAIMS AGAINST
UNITED STATES
Some of Them Go Back to the Days
When the Country Was Strug-
Cling for Liberty.
TOTAL REACHES MILLIONS
THANKLESs JOB OF CLAIMS
COMMITTEE.
Especial to The Herald.l

Especial to The Herald)
Washington, Feb. 4-Uncle Sam has
large number Of debts which might be
ClaSsed as frreguler and which must be
adjudicated by congress and paid by leg
tslattve appropriation of funds If they
are found to be just and proper. The
claims falls upon the claims committee
OF congress. a short resume OF the work
OF one OF these oommittees-the claims
COMMITTEES II the senate-ln the F1Ity-
eighth congress, win demonstrate fairly
the extent OF this work.
Of the 1895 bills introduced IN the sen
ate during the Fifty-eighth congress, 2019
were referred TO the committee on claims
nearly 30 per cent Besides bills, the
eoInn1lttee receives all OF the reports OF
the court OF claims upon war claims,
French SpOltatiOn claims, and various
miscellaneous claims which have been re-
fsrred to that court by the senate for
findings Of fact under the provisions of
various acts Of congress, and all OF these
findings must receive the same care, at
tenuou and consideration that would be
accorded 70 any bill
Grouped Into One Bill.
From time 20 time these findings Of the
are deemed by the committee to warrant
favorable action, are grouped into an
omnibus claims bill for appropriation
Su ch q measure, carrying 81 go, S1G39 be
came a law in the Fifty-eighth congress.
One million one hundred and ninety-seven
thousand, two hundred and seyenty-two
dollars and sixty cents of this amount
was In settlement OF civil war claims,
upon favorable reports Of the court of
claims under the Bowman and Tucker
acts Seven hundred and fifty-tWo thOuS-
and, six hundred and sixty dollars and
nineU-three cents was paid on French
sPohaton claims for the illegal seizure
and condemnation of American vessels by
the French away back in the late seven
teen hundreds wherein the owners had
valid claims Of indemnity upon the
French government prior TO the radfica-
ton Of the convention between the United
States and the French republic, concluded
on Sept 50, 1900, in which treaty various
claims We're rellnQuiShed to France by
the United States government in part
consideration of the REIMBURSEMENT OF
certain national claims OF France against
the United states, There are many more
OF such claims still unsettled, though the
majority has been paid since the passage
of the French SpOhatiOn act of Jan. 20,
1888: and before many years the vessels
Polly Patty, Mehitable, Mary Ann and
Maria, with their owners and masters
of good old-fashiOned Yankee names such
a. SnearJeshuE Bourne, Alexander Proud
fit Liberty Kimberly. Abijah Hull and
George Makepeace, viii be matters of the
past.
Shortage of Clerks.
Notwithstanding the fact that the SEN
ate has committees appointed for the
consideration Of revolutionary war CLAIMS
and Indian depreciation claims, a great
many of these classes are referred to the
claims committee. And Notwithstanding
the volume of the committees business,
the law does not provide for a proportion
-ately larger number Of clerks to assist
in its business under the chairman's di-
TectiOn, than are allowed to many other
committees with much less business. Only
one -penslOns-receives more
bills than the claims committee, but per-
siOns has five clerical places besides the
assistance OF one expert detailed by the
pension bureau and on its payroll, for
The claims committee, with it's 2,079 bills
and other matters in the Fifty-eighth
congress, has the same number Of clerical
places-fOur-as has the pOstOffices and
pOstrOads committee, with eighty-tWO
bills in the Fifty-eighth congress, and as
the committee on finance with eighty-SiX
bills; and it has only one more place
than the committee on territories. with
thirty-t6ree bills in the F'ifty-eighth con-
gress; the committee on agriculture and
forestry, with seventeen bills; committee
on immi grafton, with eleven bills and
committee on the Philippines, with only
four bills.
But though the range of the committees
work is thus vast and far-reaching, il
does not cover everything that its name
suggests to those uniformed as to leg
islative business. For instance a modest
old lady called at the committee room
one afternoon and, after making sure OF
her bearings by inquiring whether she
had found the committee on claims. she
proceeded to tell the clerk that she wished
10 take up claim right away, and want
was referred to the general land office
for fullR particulars.
Many Freak Cases.
The filing cabinet of the claims com
n1tttee's papers is the restful repository
of many quaint and interesting docu-
nlents, carefully preserved as records of
the senate, not because of their value in
bringing about legislation, but because
their age would make it impossible to re-
place them by either original evidence
the original claimants, and in many cases
their direct descendants being long since
dead.
Every congress brings to the commit
tee on claims many freak cases which
have emanated from disordered brains OF
persons who feel, from cause or magma
tion, that the government has worsted
them in some way or other. Some OF the
OLD members Of the committee would
tell you, should you ask them, that il a
claimant against the government isn't
downright crazy when his claim is first
presented to congress, he will be, from
the worry and waiting, before IT is paid.
1t would be difficult to state correctly
the aggregate amount Of The claims
which are pending against the gov
eminent and before the claims commit
tee They probably reach the sum of
S10O00n. To sift through the thousands
OF claims, rejecting those without merit
and finally securing favorable action
upon the mer1toriOUs ones is the hercu-
lean and tEankless task Of the claims
committee.