The Colorado statesman., 1923-06-30
HARD TO COLLECT
FROM UNCLE SAM
REQUIRES LOTS OF RED TAPE
TO GET CLAIMS BEFORE
THE PROPER COURT.
MUST HAVE SENATE'S O. X.
Compensation Claims Dating Back to
Revolutionary Days Still Are Before
the United States Court Of Claims
Noted Case Is Cited.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK

BY EDWARD 3. CLARK
Washlngton,-It seems that q mis-
take was made when recently it was
printed that no longer is the Court of
Claims of the United States called upon
to pass Judgment upon demands made
Tor compensation for losses to private
citizens due to action taken by the
government which existed in the revo-
lutionary days. There are, 1t Is said,
few such claim cases still pending
and which one day or another will
reach the decision point.
Readers of Mark Twain ought to re-
member his story Of the great beef
claim, and of the course of the pro-
ceedings before the lawmakers in
Washington. In the ordinary pro-
cedure person having claim against
the United States government must get
the permission of congress to present
1t to the court. Sometimes permission
Is not granted and then it is under
stood the claimant has no recourse ex-
cept to pocket his loss and to swallow
his disappointment.
Stranger Than Fiction.
When man goes digging after truth
In the records of congress he finds
some things which are perhaps strang-
er than the romances Of the fiction
writer's. The tracing of the right to
recompense from the government for
sacrifices made by ancestors by pres
ent-day people is one of the hardest
tasks known to lawyers. The trails
get confused time after time, and so
1t happens that some people who may
have legitimate claims against Uncle
Sam are unable to collect them be-
cause somewhere in the chain connect
ing the present with the past, link
Is lost.
1t was not long ago that an adverse
report on a Revolutionary claim was
made by the senate committee which
has charge of such matters. The
claim was for the payment of thirty
loan certificates said to have been Is
sued by Richard Ralph Randall May
10, 1779.
The certificates were for $500 conti-
mental money; specie value, S47.73.
Congress was asked over a century ago
to pay the original of the certificates
with interest to a Randall descendant
who died in 1870. The first claimant
left son William who, when he was
an old man, advertised for the original
certificates which had been lost, and
then he memorialized congress Tor
their payment. This claim later was
presented number of times but with
out success. The last time that the
|
recently, the committee of the senate
In its adverse report, said:
"The fact that the certificates never
were found, that the original holder did
not present them for payment, that his
son waited many years before asking
the aid of congress and the further
fact that early congresses nearer to
| the transaction refused to consider the
claim; in fact the doubt. insincerity
and great antiquity of this claim, Of
fers sufficient reason for not waivlng
the statute of limitations in its favor"
Decision Not Final.
Now it would seem that this finally
would dispose of this particular case,
but from the new life that has been
given 1t from time to time makes 1t
seem certain that again some day the
claim will be re-entered in congress
and payment asked for the face value
of the certificates and for the interest
on $780, perhaps compounded from the
year 1779 to the present date, which
will amount to quite a tidy sum.
Claims growing out of the war be-
tween the states are of course more
numerous than those growing out of
the war of the Revolution, because the
one war is nearer than the other, and
because many of the active claimants
are living. The senate not long ago
gave the Shawnee Indians of Kansas
the right to go to the proper United
States court to have their claims ad-
justed for indemnity for losses sus-
tanned by them during the Civil war.
1t was claimed that these Shawnee
Indians remained peaceful during the
trouble between the states, did not
commit any depredations and yet on
the supposition that they had done so,
Union soldiers seized the Indians pro-
visions, household goods, cattle, horses
and hogs, and used them without rem
dering any payment therefor. 1t was
claimed also that this was done while
many of the Shawnees were serving in
the Union army. 1t has been said that
tie Civil war Is nearer to us than the
Revolutionary war, but the length of
time that 1t sometimes takes to have
claim adjusted or even to start 1t on
the way to adjustment may be known
when II Is said that this Shawnee mat
ter was pending one way or another
for about half a century. Recently
much has been written about the suit
Just brought by the Sioux Indians for
$780, 600.
Taft In His Element.