Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-11
One Of the People
One Of the People
Judge Jones Of Claims Court
IS Heading Home to Texas
BY George Kennedy

BY George Kennedy
Chief Judge Marvin Jones Of
the Court Of Claims is closing
shop and heading for Texas.
It's been q pretty good year for
Uncle Sam In his court. Claims
totaling some 500 million were
adjudicated and $l4 million in
judgments ordered paid. That's
much better than last year when
one Judgment for Indians in
Utah totaled $50 million.
The judge has more reason for
going back than most Texans.
In the hottest summer weather,
they all seem to prefer the Lone
Star State to New England
beaches. His reason is his mother.
who at 90, is in Amarillo. Seven
Of her II children are living.
Known for His Stories.
The Court of Claims, in the
ornate building at Seventeenth
street and Pennsylvania avenue
NV. which w. w. Corcoran
built before the Civil War for his
first art gallery, is where the
citizen can petition for what he
feels is his just due. Govern
ments additionally have been
unwilling to be sued. 1t is not a
court that makes much news I'M
less the amounts are so large as
to attract attention, or the cir
cumstances are very unusual.
Judge Jones, who was chair
man Of the Agricultural Commit
tee of the House during the days
of the Agricultural Adjustment
Administration. and Food Adj
ministrator during World War
II, is probably better known for
his after dinner speeches than
for his opinions. His accounts
of Texas justice in the frontier
counties at the turn of the CEN
fury have q way Of causing un-
comfortable laughter.
illustrates Courts Problems.
AS to the problems of his own
court, he illustrates them with a
story of a hog market in the
Texas panhandle.
"They had no scales" he says,
"and if there's one thing farmer
| wants to know when he sells his
hog, it's how much does the hog
weigh.
$50 they rugged up a scale
with q fence rail, of which there
was plentitude Whereabouts.
They tied the hog on one end
and there was a big bucket on
the other end. They would fill
the bucket with stones until the
rail balanced perfectly. Then
they would guess the weight Of
the stones and that was the
weight of the hog"
When the ensuing laughter
subsidies, he says, you think
that's funny. But their problem
was easy compared with some OF
the ones put up to the judges Of
the Claims Court. Take Tor in
stance the case of the yacht
Mayflower, used by four Presi-
dents and sold back to private
ownership by President Hoover
It was requisitioned by the Navy
during the war and dispute
over what should be paid for it
was brought to our court. One
experts report said it was worth
$4,000. Another maritime ex-
pert said 1t was worth $3.50, 900.
All we ha dto do was to arrive
at the true valuation from this
expert testimony"
Jeep Opinion Recalled.
But the lawyers in his court
feel that Marvin Jones, the
writer, will be remembered for
his prose long after his quips are
forgotten. He has a way of put
ting things.
Their favorite item of Jones'
lana is the opinion in the case Of
the Union Pacific Railroad which
petitioned to have the jeep de-
clared a passenger vehicle. There
is q marked advance in freight
rates for transporting passen-
ger cars over trucks. The Army
called the jeep a truck and paid
the lower rate. AS many Ameri-
can railroads had been trans
porting thousands Of jeeps dur
ing the war, the amount involved
was considerable.
The first sentence of Judge
Jones' opinion read:
1.-The jeep, having been every
where else, is now in court"
After reviewing the evidence
he went on to say:
when / was a boy, calves be-
Ing more numerous and cheaper
than ponies. we undertook to
substitute by using q calf named
Bobby. We built a wagon-en-
tirely homemade-using a crack
er box for q bed and four un-
matched wheels. After several
run-aways and wrecks we had
the calf trained so we could not
only do light hauling but could