1st Session. No. 374. WILLIAM E. BOND. APRIL 3, 1874.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. EDEN, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the following REPORT: The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred House bill No. 283, have had the same under consideration, and beg leave to report ; That it appears from the evidence that the claimant was collector of internal revenue for the first district of North Carolina, from November, 1866, to June, 1869; and that during said time claimant, as such collector, took checks and drafts for the sum of $1,014.51 in payment of taxes due from one McMahan, who was in failing circumstances, and returned said taxes as collected and settled with the proper Department accordingly. Afterward one draft for $398.50 was protested for non-payment, and the claimant could not collect the money out of McMahan, and lost that amount. The evidence tends to show that if the collector had not taken the drafts the tax could not have been collected. In reply to an inquiry as to the propriety of paying this claim, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, under date of March 4, 1874, says: "In reply I would state that, pending the settlement of his accounts as late collector, William E. Bond presented a claim to this office for the amount above stated, which was disallowed, for the reason that a collector of internal revenue has no authority to receive in payment of taxes anything but current money, and if he takes checks or drafts, he does it solely at his own risk. This rule has been uniformly adhered to by the Department, as any deviation therefrom would result in great loss to the Government." Whatever hardship may result in individual cases from this rule, your committee deem the enforcement of the same, under all circumstances, of such importance that they are not willing to depart from the same in this instance; they therefore report the bill to the House with a recommendation that it do not pass. 1st Session. HENRY FULINWIDER. No. 375. APRIL 3, 1874.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. EDEN, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the following REPORT: [To accompany bill H. R. 289.] The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 289) for the relief of the heirs of Henry Fulinwider, deceased, have had the same under consideration, and beg leave to report: That the evidence shows that Henry Fulinwider was contractor to carry the mail on route number 7002, in the State of Alabama, at $65,000 per year, for and during the term commencing the 1st day of July, 1860, for and ending on the 30th day of June, A. D. 1862. It further appears that mail-service was performed on said route until the 31st day of May, 1861, when it was suspended by order of the PostmasterGeneral, on account of the insurrection then prevailing in the State of Alabama. It further appears that, on the 23d day of February, A. D. 1861, Henry Fulinwider died. The amount claimed, as the balance due under the contract, is $10,892.85; all of which is for service rendered after the death of Mr. Fulin wider, and all, or nearly all, of which accrued after the attempted secession of the State of Alabama, and when insurrection against the authority of the United States Government was prevailing in the region covered by said mail-route. There is no evidence before the committee showing by whom, or under what circumstances, the mail-service was performed after the death of Mr. Fulinwider; or whether the same was done under the authority of, and in subordination to, the Government of the United States, or under the assumed authority of the insurgent government then at war with the United States. Under the known circumstances then existing in that section, the presumption, in the absence of evidence on that point, is, that the postal service on the route at the time was rendered under the authority of the insurgent authorities, and that the revenues were paid to them. Your committee therefore report back the bill with the recommendation that it do not pass. 1st Session. No. 376. J. &. T. GREEN. APRIL 3, 1874.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. LAWRENCE, from the Committee on War-Claims, submitted the following REPORT: The Committee on War-Claims, to whom was referred the claim of J. & T. Green, of Jackson, Miss., submit the following report: That J. & T. Green, of Jackson, Miss., have presented a claim as follows: Account of property belonging to J. & T. Green, of Jackson, Miss., destroyed by order of the commanding general of the United States Army, and of money and bonds taken from their banking-house by the same authority: A.-PROPERTY DESTROYED. Cotton factory, including the main building, engine-room, and dressingroom, with engine, woolen and cotton preparation, carding, spinning, dressing, and weaving machinery complete W OB-Tools and findings for said factory, viz: carpenter and machinists' tools, steel, iron, brass, copper, dye-stuffs, calf and sheep skins, French leather, finished rollers, bobbins and spools, and factory overseer's tools WO B-Cotton yarn on spools, bobbins on warp and loom-beams and in looms, 19,600 pounds, at $1.30. WO B-7-8 Lowells, 4,650 yards, at $1.50 W O B-4-4 Lowells, 775 yards, at $1.75. W O B-4-4 woolen goods, 3,508 yards, at $3.50. Cotton, 730 bales, each 515 pounds, 375,950 pounds, at $1.20. 66 hogsheads of sugar in factory and warehouse, averaging 1,100 pounds $112,500 00 6,000 00 25, 480 00 6,975 00 1,356 25 12, 278 00 451, 140 00 325 00 2,600 00 36, 300 00 16 casks of rice in factory and warehouses, averaging 625 pounds per cask, 10,000 pounds, at 18 cents.... 1,800 00 Bacon in factory and warehouse, about 5,000 pounds, at 75 cents. 3,750 00 1,875 00 52 50 30 00 WO B-Lard in factory, two pork-barrels full, say 560 pounds, at $1 560 00 800 00 W O B-Southern machine-oil in dressing-room, three barrels, each 40 gallons, 120 gallons, at $5... |