1st Session

No. 267

PROVIDING AN ADDITIONAL SUM FOR PAYMENT OF CLAIMS UNDER ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE REIMBURSEMENT OF CERTAIN PERSONNEL OR FORMER PERSONNEL OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY AND MARINE CORPS FOR THE VALUE OF PERSONAL EFFECTS DESTROYED AS A RESULT OF FIRE AT THE MARINE BARRACKS, QUANTICO, VA., ON OCTOBER 27, 1938," APPROVED JUNE 19, 1939

MARCH 17, 1941.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed

Mr. KEOGH, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 3160]

The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 3160) to provide an additional sum for the payment of claims under the act entitled "An act to provide for the reimbursement of certain personnel or former personnel of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps for the value of personal effects destroyed as a result of a fire at the Marine Barracks, Quantico, Va., on October 27, 1938," approved June 19, 1939, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to provide an additional sum for the payment of claims under the act entitled "An act to provide for the reimbursement of certain personnel or former personnel of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps for the value of personal effects destroyed as a result of a fire at the Marine Barracks, Quantico, Va., on October 27, 1938, approved June 19,

1939.

This bill was introduced by Mr. McGehee, chairman of this committee, at the request of the Acting Secretary of the Navy, and the facts are fully set forth in a letter dated January 31, 1941, addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, which is appended hereto and made a part of this report.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, January 31, 1941.

The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

MY DEAR MR. SPEAKER: There is transmitted herewith a draft of a proposed bill to provide an additional sum for the payment of claims under the act entitled "An act to provide for the reimbursement of certain personnel or former personnel of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps for the value of personal effects destroyed as a result of a fire at the Marine Barracks, Quantico, Va., on October 27, 1938," approved June 19, 1939.

The purpose of this proposed legislation is to provide an appropriation of $597.84, or such part thereof as may be necessary, to pay claims of certain personnel or former personnel of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps, not provided for by Private Act No. 56, Seventy-sixth Congress, approved June 19, 1939, for the value of personal effects destroyed as a result of a fire at the Marine Barracks, Quantico, Va., on October 27, 1938.

Since the above claims were not included within the provisions of the above act, there is no authority of law for their settlement. It is, therefore, necessary that special legislation be enacted by the Congress.

The facts and circumstances are substantially as follows: At about 4:50 a. m., October 27, 1938, a fire was discovered in building No. 239, Marine Barracks, Quantico, Va., and had gained considerable headway inside the building before it was observed. The fire completely destroyed buildings Nos. 239 and 243 and property contained therein, including all Government property, recreation property, post-exchange property, records and files, and personal effects of Navy and Marine Corps personnel quartered therein. In many instances the personal property of those quartered in the buildings was destroyed while they were attempting to save the property of the United States or the lives of their associates. Before those members of the Marine Corps quartered in building No. 239 could escape from the fire two of them were seriously injured, with second-degree burns, which necessitated their being taken to the hospital immediately.

The property which forms the basis of the claims is made up of items of wearing apparel and other items used by the claimants in connection with their official duties in the naval service. The Navy Department is of the opinion that claimants should be reimbursed for the losses sustained.

The act of October 6, 1917 (U. S. C., title 34, sec. 981), does not apply to claims of this character, due to the fact that the circumstances resulting in the loss of the property for which claims are made do not constitute a marine disaster within the meaning of that act.

The board of investigation convened at the United States Marine Barracks, Quantico, Va., by order of the commanding general, found that the fire originated in the northeast section of building No. 239, that the cause of the fire is unknown, and that responsibility for the fire is undetermined.

These claims were submitted to the Navy Department Claims Board, which found the total value of the articles lost by the claimants to be $597.84, which amount is considered to be reasonable.

The additional cost to the Government should this proposed legislation be enacted will not exceed $597.84.

The Navy Department recommends the enactment of this proposed legis lation.

Sincerely yours,

JAMES FORRESTAL, Acting.

о

JOHN L. ALCOCK

MARCH 17, 1941.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed

Mr. McGEHEE, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 3773]

The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 3773) to confer jurisdiction on the Court of Claims of the United States to hear, determine, and render judgment upon the claim of John L. Alcock, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to confer jurisdiction on the Court of Claims to hear and determine the claim of John L. Alcock, by reason of the action of officers of the Signal Corps and/or the Spruce Production Division of the War Department in canceling contracts he had with the American mills for the production and shipment of 6,000,000 feet of lumber.

Similar bills have been recommended by this committee in the Congresses, and the facts are fully set forth in House Report No. 293, Seventy-sixth Congress, first session, which is appended hereto and made a part of this report.

[H. Rept. No. 293, 76th Cong., 1st sess.]

The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 1085) for the relief of John L. Alcock, having considered the same, report thereon with the recommendation that it do pass, with the following amendments:

Strike out all of section 1 of the bill and insert in lieu thereof the following: "That jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the Court of Claims of the United States to hear, determine, and render judgment on the claim of John L. Alcock, of Baltimore, Maryland, for loss and/or damage, if any, sustained by him by reason of the action of officers of the Signal Corps and/or the Spruce Production Division of the War Department in promulgating the order refusing to permit further shipments under his contracts and foreign orders for the shipment and delivery from February to December 1918, of six million feet of spruce and fir lumber for the use of the British Army in the prosecution of the World War, and by reason of their action in directing the canceling of his contracts with the American mills for the production and shipment of said six million feet of lumber. The Court of Claims shall hear, determine, and render judgment on the claim notwithstanding the executory character of such contracts and that there had been no delivery of title to claimant under his contracts with the American mills, and shall measure the losses and/or damages, if any, by the difference between what claimant would have received from the foreign purchasers on delivery of the lumber, free on board cars at the mills, and the amount he had agreed to pay the American mills free on board cars at mills."

Amend the title of the bill to read: "To confer jurisdiction on the Court of Claims of the United States to hear, determine, and render judgment upon the claim of John L. Alcock."

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The purpose of this bill is to confer jurisdiction on the Court of Claims to hear and determine the claim of John L. Alcock by reason of the action of officers of the Signal Corps and the Spruce Production Division of the War Department in canceling contracts he had with the American mills for the production and shipment of 6,000,000 feet of lumber.

A similar bill was passed by the House and also considered favorably by this committee in the Seventy-third Congress, and under date of February 16, 1934, the Secretary of War, in response to a request from the chairman of the committee, made a report on said bill, H. R. 7568. From the most cursory examination of this report it is apparent that the Secretary has proceeded upon a complete misapprehension of the facts as well as the law applicable thereto.

Upon analysis it appears that the Secretary's objections may be fairly stated as follows:

1. That the lumber covered by the claimant's contracts with the mills and resold by him was never brought into being, and therefore the contracts "were never put into execution."

2. That if the proposed bill was enacted into law it "would be in direct contravention of the existing law as established by the Supreme Court in Omnia Commercial Co., Inc. v. United States (261 U. §. 602–508–514), and other cases cited therein."

3. That if the relief proposed in H. R. 7568 be granted, "it would constitute a precedent too dangerous to even contemplate as it would open up untold tens of thousands of claims."

Answering the Secretary's objections seriatim we desire to point out:

(a) That before the claimant purchased the lumber in question from the mills, the Astoria Box Co. (the mills), of Portland, Oreg., applied to the responsible officers of the War Department then in complete charge of spruce production for the Government, for the authority to enter into a contract for the sale of such lumber from its stock.

After investigation and a demand that the applicant (the mills) and the person to whom the applicant proposed to sell the lumber (claimant herein) furnish a certificate from the British Ministry to insure transportation, which demand was complied with, export license No. R. A. C. 14-E-25566 and permit No. 4958 authorizing the shipment, the applicant (the mills) was given "Release No. 19" which authorized the applicant to sell and deliver from his stock the 6,000,000 feet of lumber covered by this claim. This release authorized the applicant (the mills) to ship 3,000,000 feet of G. list, and 3,000,000 feet of H. list spruce to John L. Alcock & Co., the claimant herein.

Upon the basis of this specific consent and authorization by the War Department, the claimant purchased from said mills the said 6,000,000 feet of lumber and agreed to pay therefor a specific price f. o. b. cars. Upon confirmation of this sale the claimant, Alcock, entered into a specific contract with buyers in England to sell said lumber at a specific price, c. i. f.

Approximately 700,000 feet were delivered by the mills and shipped by the claimant to his foreign buyers when the War Department by direct action canceled his contracts with the mills and took over for the use of the Government the total supply of such lumber, and thereafter cut for its own use 75,000,000 feet of spruce lumber.

The evidence conclusively shows that the lumber was in being and would have been sawed and delivered to claimant except for the cancelation of his contracts by the War Department, and the appropriation of such lumber to use of the Government. The mere fact that the War Department cut the lumber differently to meet its own specifications does not negative the fact that the lumber was in being. To insist upon such an argument would be both unfair and absurd.

(b) The Omnia Commercial Co. case, supra, has utterly no application. If the Secretary of War had taken occasion to examine the more recent case of International Paper Co. v. United States (282 U. S. 399), he would have there found a very illuminating and helpful distinction. This case is on all fours with the facts of the claim covered by this bill and the law as therein announced by the Supreme Court of the United States is binding and conclusive.

(c) The wisdom of the proposed bill rests entirely within the discretion of Congress. The passage of this bill can in no way "open up", as the Secretary says, "tens of thousands" of claims. Such foolish generalizations do not merit a reply. Congress is the sole judge as to whether or not it will afford this claimant a tribunal before whom a claim such as this may be legally asserted. It was the obvious intent of Congress to afford such relief to the claimant in Private, No. 226, Seventieth Congress, S. 3308, but unfortunately the language employed led the Court of Claims to the conclusion that "there is therefore no right of recovery under the jurisdictional act growing out of the unfilled portion of the orders in question." The proposed bill is therefore remedial in purpose and should be enacted in order that the claimant may be afforded a fair opportunity to establish his losses resulting through and by governmental action.

There is appended hereto, the report of the War Department to this committee, and the findings of the Court of Claims in this case.