The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1907-02-15
FROM CLAIMANTS
FROM The SOUTH
WILLIAMS BILL AS TO CAPTURED
PROPERTY FUND
FAvoRAsLY COMMENTED ON
Believed by Those Who Have Examin-
cd It TO Be Best Measure Yet Pre-
scented to Congress on the Subject.

troduced by Representative Johi
r Sharp Williams to. give the Court o
: Claims Jurisdiction Of claims for cap
tured and abandoned property so't
and It's proceeds placed In the Treas
ury of the United States, has attract
ed favorable attention as removins
some of the obstacles which ahve ap
parently heretofore stood most in the
way of restoring a fund of $4,000. 90l
to the rightful claimants.
The bill contains important features
of difference from similar measures
which have been introduced on the
subject from time to time. ~,
/ It gives jurisdiction to the Court of
Claims Notwithstanding any former
suit to recover the proceeds Of proper
ty seized by the Government during
the Civil War may have been dismiss
ed for want Of jurisdiction. with the
proviso that no proof shall be required
of the loyalty of the claimant, or Of
the original owner of the property
seized. or taken by the United State at
the time of the seizure. Any testi
mony, affidavits, reports of officers,
or other papers in the departments or
In the courts, shall be considered
competent evidence. All judgments
are to be paid out of the captured and
abandoned property fund
An important section, which marks
the difference between the Williams
bill and those of prior introduction, Is
the following:
"That all sales, tranfers or assign
ments of any claim against said fund
heretofore or hereafter made except
such as have occurred in the due admin
istratlon of decedents estates, and all
contracts heretofore made for fees |
and allowances to claimants attor- |
neys are hereby declared null and void, |
and all warrants issued by the Secre-
tary of the Treasury in payment of
such judgments shall be made payable
to the claimants or his lawful heirs.
executors or administrators, or trans
ferred under administration proceed
ings, except so much thereof as shall
be allowed claimants attorneys by |
the court for prosecuting such claims;
and the Court of Claims, in rendering
judgments under this act shall, in
each case, fix the amount of compen-
;ation to the attorney or attorneys
the claim in said court"
How to get at the 100000 fuad ia, Z
Ten from Southern owners during the +
var and the restoration of the cotton |
ak have been problems that have
exed and sorely tried the patience of 4
Southern members of Congress for Z
many years. The courts and even
Northern Republican statesmen have
acknowledged the justice of the claims,
ut it is the Republican Northern
tatesmen who have delayed doing !,
he acts of justice.
In the Fifty-eighth Congress. It was =
fought that the captured and iaban-
Oned property fund would be distrib-
ted, as it was believed that one of !,
lie bills to that effect would pass and
) approved; but it got wedged in a
enate Committee pigeon. hole and
ere it rested. -
An act of Congress in 1863 is re- -
,onsible for the captured and 'aban- ~
med property fund The design of ~
e act was to seize and sell property -
lich consisted mainly of cotton and "a
rpentine, which it was suspected was ~
be converted into money for the 10
Treasury. In 1867 Con -
ess passed an act to refund the pro- 60
eds of the sale of the seized prop ~
ty, provided proof of loyalty could
made, to all claimants who brought
it within a certain length of time,
0 years being the limit. or
N the meantime President Andrew toi
lnson issued his amnesty proclama- Wv
n, which included nearly all classes A'u
Southern people and excluding on ita
a few A test suit set up that the IS
nesty proclamation operated as a inc
don which removed all faint of qua
a
loyalty. This contention the United ~
ties Supreme Court sustained. with I'M
opinion that the captured and IN
ndoned property fund was held by Wh
Treasury in trust. But before the
mant could get the benefit of this L
ision the tfme-limit fixed by the Rec
of 1867 had expired. ago
has always been believed among ed,
Sc of Southern members who have of
IN attention to the subject that the eve
that an intensely partisan and sec cut
al Republican Congress in 1867. fror
m most voters in the seeding dex
tes had not yet been restored to shal
~. H. h.