People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1892 — A BUSY YEAR. [ARTICLE]

A BUSY YEAR.

Transaction* of the IMyertsMut of Jostle* a* Made Public by Attorney Ueaesal Miller’s Report. Washington, Deo. 9.—Attorney General W. H. H. Miller, in his annual report submitted to congress, says that during the fiscal year 18tf tbe expenses of his department aggregated During the fiscal year 2,009 civil , suits were terminated. In 1,018 of these judgments were for the United States; in 13fi against the United States, and 806 were either nolle prosequied, dismissed or discontinued. There were also terminated 18,724 criminal prosecutions; of these there were 11,480 convictions ard 3.092 acquittals. There wer# pending July X, 1892. 9,709 criminal prosecutions. The aggregate amount of the Judgments ren- | dered in favor of the United States in civil : salts during the last year was *270.509 92,and th* amount actually collected *67,223.56, while (20,793.45 was obtained during the year ■ on judgments rendered In former J years for the United States, and (102.135.62 was otherwise realized In civil suit. ; Th® agggregatc amount of fines, forfeitures and j penalties imposed during the year in criminal j prosecutions was 1682,271.95, and the amount | collected during the year was 1133,229.44, while (13,663 87 was realized on penalties imposed in former years. During the past fiscal year decisions wer* made in French spoliation cases in favor of the claimants aggregating 1889,064, and the total amount allowed up to this date, in 716 cases, I* 13,241,223. The total number of petitions which have been filed aggregate about *40,008,000. Up to November 1 8,595 claims had been filed under the Indian depredation claims aet, representing in all *63,151,069 The aggregate of such claims disposed of is *1,313,757. The amount of judgments recovered on such claims 1s a little more than 33 per cent of the demand. The increase in the number of southern war clainte is a subject that demands the immediate attention of congress. There have already been referred to tbe court of claims for investigation and findings between 9,000 claims for the taking of and injury of persons assuming to have been loyal during the civil war, the amount demanded aggregating nearly *400,000,000; Under the act of March 8, 1883. known as the Bowman act, 248 cases were disposed of during the year, the aggregate claims covered by said cases being 52,583 939. In 158 of these cases findings were made against the government and for an aggregate sum of *483,544 “The claims of this class growing out of th* alleged taking of supplies and other property during the war,” says the attorney general, “are assuming enormous proportions. They already aggregate nearly *400,000,000 and the department has reliable Information that a multitude of additional claims, aggregating very large sums, are being prepared to be filed am* pushed against the treasury. That a very large proportion of these claims have no just foundation either in fact or in law, being presented by persons, or the representatives of persons, who were not loyal to the government during the war, is every day made clear In the evidence evolved in their defense. Unless congress shall pnt some new barrier between the treasury and these claims, it is impossible to predict the amount the government may be called upon to pay thereon." , The report says that numerous prosecutions have been begun against trusts, combinations, etc., but these corporations have hedged themselves in with great care and skill so as t* avoid the law if possible. Cases now pending will determine tbe validity of the statute, and if declared valid the evidence already accumulated will be valuable. The cases against the Pacific railroads to compel them to maintain telegraph lines for governmental and commercial purposes have . been pushed with vigor, but delays have Deen obtained by the railroads. The attorney general says: "1 desire to renew the recommendation contained in my last report that section 1 of the aot of August 18, 1888, be amended by inserting the proviso in italics after the word ‘lnhabitant’ in the following sentence—namely: ‘and no civil suit shall ; be brought before either of said courts against | any person by any original process ;or proceedings in any other district than that whereof he is !su inhabitant,’ provided that any foreign | eorporation may be sued in any district where ; It may be found, process to be served as in like ; cases in the state where said suit or action is brought. Such an amendment would restore the law to what it was for a century prior to the aot of March 3, 1887, and would impose on these corporations a liability to be sued corresponding to the right they enjoy to sue plaintiffs, and to remove suits in which they ore defendants. In many localities these great corporations haA an unwarranted Influence among the people who are summoned as jurors in the state courts, and it is not just that the Southern Pacific company, which, though chartered in Kentucky, does not own any property in that state, and has no offices or officers there except a mere clerk, but which operates vast lines ot railroad in the state of California, where it holds and controls millions of dollars of property and holds its , directors meeting and maintains its general offices, shall he exempt from suit in the United States courts of California and the litigant be required to go to Kentucky to enforce his claims, and after obtaining a judgment there (if he is fortunate enough to find any person upon whom to obtain service) be compelled to go to California and sue there upon tne judgment or decree in state court?.” He recommends that provision be made for the construction of the three prisons abthorized by the Fifty-first congress. The total number of United States prisoners in custody during the year was 3,090 The number of convicts pardoned by the president during the year was seventy-one out of 505 applicants. Sentence was commuted in ninety-two eases. The only constitutional question of any importance decided against the government, the attorney general says, was the one raised in the Counselman case under the interstate commerce law. The attorney general renews the recommendations made in his last annual report for federal recognition of degress in the crime of murder, for remedial legislation for Alaska, for the correction of evils of the fee system, and for the allowance of writs of error in criminal cases. On this last-mentioned subject the attorney general says that as the law now stands it is in the power of a single district judge, by quashing an indictment, to defeat any criminal prosecution instituted by the government, and to annul as against the government any criminal statute enacted by congress, and there is no possible remedy or way to right the wrong.