The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-01
OF CLAIMS
SOUTH MAY DRAW MONEY FROM
 TREAsURy.
BiIl to Give Court Jurfsdiction 9m Claims for Captured and Aban- doned Property is Re-
 ported Favoxably.

Washington, Feb. 2ss-- Especial. )-- The bill to give the Court of Claims jnrisdietion of claims for captured and abandoned property has been reported favorabiy to the House.
 This is q measure which is of much interest to thousands of people In the Southern States The property was sold and the proceeds placed in the treasury of the United states. Under the act of March I2. 1883. known as the captured and abandoned property act. the Secretary of the Treasury was authorized to appoint special agents to collect captured and abandoned property in the States then in insur- rection.
 In their report the House War Claims Committee says among other things;
 Mine districts were established. and an agent appointed for each. A large amount of property in the States in fnsurrection was seized and the pro- ceeds. amounting to over sso.0o0,0eo reported to tho Secretary of the Treas pry. The money was treated as al trust fund under the control of the Secretary. Under joint resolution ap- proved March 30. 1868. 1t was provided that all moneys derived from the sale of captured and abandoned property which have not already been actually covered into the treasury. shall ifn-
 
 the United States The balance cov- cred into the treasury under this res- oiution was e2O.97l, 7s0.96."
 The payments that have been made to claimants under the findings of the courts the treasury officials state. amount to si0.943.43e.0s. Deducting that amount from the amount covered into the treasury under the resoiution of Congress passed March 90. 1888, 1t is found that the sum now in the treasury, and undisposed of, is S10,- O2e.S61.SS. The latter sum is, what Is due the claimants in the South. and as 1t begins to look as if Congress is at last going to make provision for the payment Senator Johnston says 1t will certainly be good news for the inter. ested parties down that way.
 Under the bill just reported claim- ants will have ample time in which to prove their claims and have them pass. ed upon by the Court of Claims. The House Committee after giving a his- tory of the whole matter and citing various decisions of the courts. as well as showing how Congress has procras- tinated, concludes its report as fol- lows:
 This Is the condition and state of the law bearing upon this subject at this time as construed and defined by the courts, and it seems apparent that If this captured and abandoned prop erty fund Is ever to be distributed to It's owners some additional Legislation ls necessary to that end. If the title of the owners of the property seized and sold under the captured and aban- aoned property acts has never been di- vested, if the Government holds the net proceeds of the property thus sold without any legal title thereto and as trustee for the owners. and If the Pres- ldent's proclamation of pardon and ann nesty, including restoration to civil and political right. was decision on the part of the Government which decided enirmativeiy the right of all owners of the property to the proceeds thereof in the Treasury, as the highest Judicial tribunal of the nation has decided, then In. equity and good conscience 1t ought not to retain the money. and the honor and dignity of the nation demand that some provision should be made by which the claimants of the fund may be enabled to enforce their rights there- to. For more than thirty years the Government has had the use of this money.
 For more than forty years the claimants have been appealing to Con- gress fos relief. and if Congress- in the discharge of more pressing duties has neglected this appeal. or if the rem edy 1t provided has proven inefiieacious the stronger the reason for gonaa ac. ton in this direction at the present time. The claimants are fast passing sway, leaving as an inheritance to,thefr children the prospect of litigation with their Government; and the wit. nesses upon whom the claimants must depend to establish their rights are be- ing scattered and lost sight of. and 1 to delay further is simply to rob and | deprive these parties of their rights, | some of whom are widows and orphans. | while others are colored, or men of | small means.
 That Congress has from time to time | felt the necessity for making some pro- vision for the disposition of this fund | is evident from the fact that at nearly | every session special acts have been ! enacted for the beHefit of claimants of | this fund. thus doing justice to some | at the expense of others; and 1t seems | to your committee that common jus- | tice demands thatla general law should | he enacted by which all claimants to | the fund may be relegated to some tri- | bunal where they can establish their | rights according to legal methods and | each receive that portion of the fund | to which he shows himself entitled. |"
 MAgA