Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1916-06-23

V1lZf1xM-S3& In q former ART gallery. IN Otne
F4 words the old abode of the Corcora
gallery. Seventeenth street and Penn
sylvania avenue, Washington, D. c.. houses tn
United States court of claims and there nearly
day of the courts sessions eminent counsel endeavo
to score bullseye and thereby win for themselve
and their clients coin of the realm In all the wa
from few thousands to many millions of dollars
is mighty absorbing and always alluring game, be
cause, rule, the stakes high Competitor
are numerous because, If hit is made the pay i
sure.
At the present writing ninety-nine million
Tin fresh crinkly notes of Uncle Sam worth 100 pc
cent of each 100 cents) are involved That is. case
are now pending in the court of claims calling 70
$98 730,115.70
A judgment by the court of claims, unless reverse
by the United States Supreme court, is as good a
cash. 1t follows that the prize of prizes in legal cir
ces today is sort of fairly well substantiatet
claim against the United States government In
Vulnerable such claims are discovered and made Th
cases now pending number more than ten thousand
Needless to say II all any considerable part o
this ninetynine million dollars is paid it will com
out of the United States treasury. e. out of tn
pockets of the people of the United States Their,
fore. this firing line the people have their repre-
sentatives, the same consisting of a numerous
staff of attorneys retained upon salaries by Uncle
Sam. Nominally their chief is the attorney gen.
eral. but the attorney general in person is en-
crossed with greater matters-the construction
and enforcement Of the greater laws. particularly
the antitrust laws. He has very little time to
devote to routine"
The gentleman in actual charge, therefore is
the assistant attorney general in charge of the
defense of suits against the United States" I'm
der the present administration this gentleman is
Mr.. Huston Thompson of Denver, Colo former
classmate at Princeton of President Wilson Mr
Thompson holds one of the many big submerged
Jobs in the government service.
This Denver man. the records show, has injected
unCtar htot IA late hfo Lob
the office he found the dockets of the court of
claims cluttered up with some twenty-odd thou
| sand cases. Now the total is 10,705 cases.
The claims run all the way from few thousand
dollars into the millions. They originate for the
most part in the numerous contracts made by all
departments of the government for the building OF
batteships, cruisers, and other vessels; the
ton of public buildings; dredging and improve
ment of rivers and harbors; the building and main
tenance of dams, locks. and seawals; reclamation
projects; construction OF dry docks; contracts for
army supplies; contracts with mail contractors
and railroad companies for carrying mails; claims
for the alleged and infringement of patented
devices; and suits where 1t is commended that
implied contract exists.
In amount the socaled "Divisor case is the
largest. The railroads attacking the validity
of executive order issued in 1907 which bases
compensation for carrying the mails upon a divi
sion of the total weight by seven rather than by
six. It is a contention that seven-day week
rather than sx-day week was meant in the
statute covering railway mail pay. If the govern
ment loses this it must pay to the railroads
over $40.000,000.
One of the highest dams in the world has pro-
duced one Of the biggest law suits in the world
AS is shown by the accompanying picture. this
dam is bigger proposition. far as height goes,
than the United States capitol building with its
enormous dome at Washington. D. c.. 1t is the
dam which stores water for the Shoshone frriga
ton project in Wyoming
The contestants are endeavorng to collect
than 100000 in addition to the s1,33S, 900 allowed
under the terms of the contract interpreted by
the United States reclamation service. The orig
inal contractors went into bankruptcy after the
first years work on the job and the bonding COM
pany behind the contractors took over the con-
tract An unprecedented spring flood in the Sho
shone river, accompanied by of saw logs
from mill operated mile above the site
of the dam. washed out the temporary works +
which had been stalled preparatory to the con-
struction of the present concrete dam.
/ 1t is also alleged that the government made re-
quirements not specified in the terms Of the orig
inal contract which necesstated the removal of
the foundation of the dam IL feet upstream. 1t is
sought to fasten on the government responsibility
for the of saw logs and 1t Is contended that
the requirements of the government engineers
were unusual and unnecessarily strict.
The contentious Of the United States on the
other hand, are that neither contractor appre-
ciated the peculiar difficulties of the work under
taken; that the plant and material brought the
ground for the performance of the work
spicuously inadeQuate; that the engineers
poyed by the contractors were incompetent and
inefficient and qualified by training and expert
ence for the undertaking of such work. and, In
short that all of the difficulties encountered grew
out of the negligence. inefhc:ency and improper
methods of the contractors.
The claims growing out OF naval matters are
numerous and large. There is device used in
manufacturing torpedoes which is known as
"superheater" 1t is centrivance whereby fuel
Ia burned in the compressed air driving the motor