Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1921-11-24


violence to United States ambassadors
and consuls elsewhere, there Is seen
new evidence Of the fact that certain
foreigners still are unable to differen.
tiate between the federal government
Of the United States and the indlvidu.
al governments of the states.
Ambassador Herrick, directly or In.
directly, had as much to do In an Off.
cial way with the trial and conviction
Of the two Italians who committed
murder in Massachusetts as he had or
has had 20 do with the market price
of pawpaws In southern Indiana. The
United States government us a gov.
eminent has had nothing to do with
the prosecution Of the two men, Sacco
and Vancetti, whose conviction for
murder in Braintree, Mass, has
aroused the ire Of the Reds here and
in Europe.
Even great governments Of the
world do not understand thoroughly
where the authority Of the United
States ends and the authority Of the
individual states begin. In 1882, or
thereabouts, some public officials In
the city Of New Orleans were killed
by assassins, several Of whom later
were shot and killed by an aroused
pOpulace. The Italian government In.
stantly made Representations to the
United States In the matter Of repara-
tions, because some of the men killed
in retaliation for their alleged acts
were Italian subjects.
How Italy Was Appeased.
It seemed to be an impossibility
for the United States. government to
make the Italian government under.
stand that the affair was "a state and
not u federal matter. The Italian gov.
ernment said: 2"This thing happened
in the United States and therefore
the United States government is re-
sponsible." Virtually the only answer
that could be made was, "The affair
happened In Louisiana and Louisiana
In such matters Is q sovereign state"
OF course Italy could not proceed
against Louisiana and SO Uncle Sam
took the, matter over and, without
smashing the Constitution, or invading
states rights, or making final admis-
sion that nothing could be done, took
some money out Of contingent fund
which happened to be in existence and
paid it over to the widows and chill.
dren OF the Italian subjects who had
been killed in the Crescent City fra.
cas-. This satisfied the Italian gov.
ernment, but 1t did nothing to change
the situation In the United States as
between the government and the states,
conditions which remain just where
they were.
There has been gradual develop.
ment of the practice Of throwing
bombs and Of sending internal ma
chimes through the mail. or by express,
to men marked for death. Prior to the
year 1870 little or nothing was known
of such deeds In the United States
In Europe bombs had been thrown on
occasion and sometimes they hit their
mark.
Claims Court Needs Relief.
The great war has. brought an
added amount of business to many
of the United States courts, but the
tribunal which fairly must stagger
under the weight Of accumulating
work is the United States court Of
claims which sits IN the city Of Wash.
ington. -t-
Comparatively little ever Is written
about the court Of claims, and yet
under its jurisdiction come many of
the most interesting suits at law
which the courts Of the country know.
It is understood that even today the
court of claims has cases before 1t
which have grown out of the RevOlu.
tionary war and Of the early Indian
wars in which the United States was
engaged.
1t was only recently that under q
blanket net of. congress the last French
spoliation claims were settled. These
grew out Of losses to American mer-
chants engaged In sea trade during
the time Of the troubles with France
In the closing days Of the Eighteenth
century.
The great war Is responsible for
the accumulation Of many cases be.
fore the United States court OF
claims. Any citizen Of the United
States who thinks that he suffered a
loss for which the government was
responsible is at liberty to enter a
suit in this court. even IL the amount
Of loss was trivial. The court, in
fact, can take up cases In which the
loss runs anywhere from one cent to
a billion dollars, although 1t Is moi
presumable that what might be called
nickel or 5O-cent cases ever will trou.
bic the turists
To-day there Is one case before the
court in which evidence is being taken
which Involves claim Tor damages
amounting to $125,OOO.OO0. This case
has to do with certain losses supposed
to have been sustained by reason OF
some trouble In which submarines and
torpedoes played part.