The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-06-24

Jim dominate.
IN ~ 1t is in a queer place for a firing line
EEA in a former art gallery. In Other
- words, the old abode of the Corcora1
- gallery, Seventeenth street and Penn
sylvania avenue, Washington, D. c., now houses the
United States court of claims; and there nearly every
day of the courts sessions eminent counsel endeavol
to score a bull's-eye and thereby win for themselves
and their clients coin of the realm in sums all the way
from a few thousands to many millions of dollars. Il
is a mighty absorbing and always alluring game, be
cause, as a rule, the stakes are high. Competitors
are numerous because, If a hit is made, the pay is
sure.
Al the present writing some ninety-nine millions
lin fresh crinkly notes of Uncle Sam worth 100 pei
cent of each 100 cents) are involved. That is. cases
are now pending in the court of claims calling fol
$9S, 730,115.70.
A Judgment by the court of claims, unless reversed
by the United States Supreme court, is as good as
cash. 1t follows that the prize of prizes in legal cir
cles today is some sort of a fairly well substantiatet
claim against the United States government. In
Vulnerable such claims are discovered and made. The
cases now pending number more than ten thousand
Needless to say if all or any considerable part Of
this ninety-nine million dollars is paid it will come
put of the United States treasury. e., out of tn,
pockets of the people of the United States. There
fore, on 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
western hustle into his job. When he came into
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, 7O5 cases.
The claims run all the way from q 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
battleships, cruisers, and other vessels; the cree
ton of public %buildings; dredging and improve
ment of rivers and harbors; the building and main
tenance of dams, locks, and seawalls; reclamation
projects; construction of dry docks; contracts for
army supplies; contracts with mail contractors
and railroad companies for carrying mails; claims
for the alleged use and infringement of patented
devices; and suits where it is commended that an
implied contract exists.
In amount the so-called "Divisor case is the
largest. The railroads are attacking the validity
of an 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 a seven-day week
rather than a six-day week was meant in the
statute covering railway mail pay. II the govern
ment loses this case it must pay to the railroads
over SAC, 900, 900.
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 a bigger proposition, as far as height goes.
than the United States capitol building with it's
enormous dome at Washington, D. c. 1t is the
dam which stores water for the Shoshone irriga-
ton project in Wyoming.
The contestants are endeavoring to collect more
than $4,000 in addition to the 81, 1888, 900 allowed
under the terms of the contract as 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 food in the Sho-
shone river, accompanied by q run of saw logs
from q mill operated a mile or so 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 necessitated the removal of
the foundation of the dam 70 feet upstream. 1t is
sought to fasten on the government responsibility
for the run of saw logs and 1t is commended 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 on the
ground for the performance of the work was con-
spicuously inadequate; that the engineers en-
ployed by the contractors were incompetent and
inefficient and not qualified by training and expert
ence for the undertaking OF such a work; and. in
short, that ali of the difficulties encountered grew
out of the negligence. inefaciency and improper
methods of the contractors.
The claims growing out of naval matters are
numerous and large. There is a device used in
manufacturing t%orpedoes which is known as a
"superheater," 1t is a contrivance whereby fuel
is burned IN the compressed air driving the motor