Franklin Repository

The bill appropriating five hundred thousand dollars to the victims of rebel vandalism in Chambersburg, passed the Senate on Wednesday last by a vote of 18 to 12, as follows:

YEAS--Messrs. Bigham, Clymer, Connell, Donovan, Glatz, Graham, Haines, Hall, Hopkins, Householder, Landon, Latta, M'Conaughy, Nichols, Randall, Ridgway, Royer, and Fleming, Speaker--18.

NAYS--Messrs. Beardslee, Brown, Cowles, Dunlap, Hoge, James, Lowry, Montgomery, Shoemaker, Walls, White and Worthington--12.

NOT VOTING--Messrs. Champneys, Schall and Wallace--3.

The bill had passed the House the week previous by the decisive vote of 73 to 23, and it is now a law, as it was promptly approved by Gov. Curtin. The Appraisers are to be appointed by the court of Dauphin county, an adjourned meeting of which has been fixed by Judge Pearson on Monday next for the purpose. The Appraisers will probably commence their duties about week after next, and they are required to perform the duties assigned them within sixty days. The appropriation can be realized by our people some time in the latter part of April, or by the 1st of May at the latest.

It will be seen by reference to the provisions of the bill, which we give entire in another column, that it is very stringent in its penalty for presenting fraudulent claims. The second section provides that "if it shall be established that any person shall present a false statement, in part or in whole, for property either not destroyed, or in excess of just valuation with the intent to defraud, the petition of such person shall be dismissed without any allowance whatever." Each claim must be made out under oath, and in addition the claimant must make affidavit that he or she has not given aid, comfort, encouragement or information to traitors. The bill prescribes the oath, and of course all claims must conform strictly to it.

We have not seen the various valuations made out for the local committee in 1864, but it is well known that some of the bills were largely in excess of a just value of the property destroyed. Such claims, under the present law, will receive nothing unless they are revised and presented in a correct and just manner. Our citizens generally desire that justice should be done to all, and they will not allow fraud to be shielded before the Appraisers. In this, as in all other business transactions, people will find honesty to be the best policy. Many have doubtless honestly placed their valuations from different stand-points. Some have taken the original cost of the property destroyed; others have probably taken the cost of restoring it, and others have estimated according to the cash value at the time the property was destroyed. The last would seem to us to be the correct basis of valuation; but the Appraisers will doubtless give official notice to the people, when they assume their duties, how to state their claims, so as to secure a uniform basis of valuation.

DRAFT STATISTICS.--The following tables showing the operations of the several drafts in this county under the different calls for troops by the general government, will be preserved by many of our readers as a matter of reference. They exhibit the quotas of each township under the various calls, the number drafted, the number held to service, the number who put in substitutes, the number who were exempted and the number who failed to report. One of the tables also presents the amount paid by the different townships for bounties, and the last table shows the aggregate results of the drafts in the congressional district. In addition to these drafts, the State draft took some 700 men from this county in 1862. We subjoin the tables which are official and reliable:

ABOUT THE APPROPRIATION.--The committee of thirteen, appointed by a public meeting of the citizens in December last and charged with the general interests of the people in framing a bill and presenting the same to the legislature, met on Monday evening to devise measures to guard against fraud in the distribution of the appropriation generously made by the State. After mature deliberation, it was unanimously decided that two Attorneys should be employed to represent the people, examine witnesses and defend against claims which shall appear to be exorbitant in valuation. Messrs. Thomas B. Kennedy and Lyman S. Clark, Esqs., were selected as counsel to represent the citizens generally, and it will be the duty of every citizen who has knowledge of any fraudulent claims to communicate with those gentlemen and furnish them with the names of witnesses whose testimony can defeat fraud. It is the determination of the committee and of the counsel chosen to represent the people, to enforce strict justice in the valuation of property, and any citizen who shall make claim for property not possessed or not destroyed, or who shall make a fraudulent valuation, will find his petition dismissed without any award whatever.

The Appraisers will be appointed on Monday next, and will probably be here to enter upon their duties next week. Any person can present his own claim either in person or by attorney, and the proper form, with the oath prescribed by the law--which must be strictly followed--can be had at this office. We have carefully prepared the blank form in accordance with the act of assembly, so that any ordinary accountant can make out his own statement. All the claims must be adjudicated and returned to the Auditor General before the appropriation can be received, and claimants should be careful to have their statements properly presented so as to facilitate the labors of the Appraisers. It is most important to our people that the appropriation be received as early as possible.

COL. JOHN W. FORNEY was recently waited on and serenaded by an assemblage of Colored Men. He responded in a speech from which we extract as follows:

"The question is now whether, having been liberated here in the District of Columbia, and freed through all the Southern States--whether, having fought for your citizenship, you are to be permitted to remain in the lower grade which you occupied before the war began, save only that you are no longer to be kept, physically, in servitude; and that is the great question now before the American people. When the Rebellion closed I was not of those who believed that the Union party of this country would make the civil enfranchisement of manumitted millions part of their policy. In other words, I did not believe that we were strong enough to take ground in favor of what is popularly called universal suffrage. But I am now here to say that I am mistaken. I did not apprehend the full logic and duty of the case; and now, without turning back upon the past, I avow myself in favor of the trial of that great experiment which the statesmen would be a coward to postpone, and the philanthropist unworthy of his name if he did not meet it half way; and here, in the District of Columbia, we may safely meet the issue."

The following is a copy of the Chambersburg Relief bill, as it passed both branches of the legislature. It passed the House by a vote of 73 to 23, and the Senate by a vote of 18 to 12:

WHEREAS, The rebels, under the command of Gen. M'Causland, entered Chambersburg on the 30th of July, A. D. 1864, and sacked and burned the most valuable portion of the town, inflicting a loss of over two millions of dollars upon but a few hundred heads of families, consigning many to hopeless bankruptcy and seriously crippling the whole business energies of the people;

And whereas, Such desolation by a barbarous foe in but one locality of a great Commonwealth, with millions of population and boundless wealth, claims the generous consideration of the State, since peace has been won by the heroism and fidelity of all sections; therefore

SECTION 1. Be it enacted, &c. That the sum of five hundred thousand dollars be and the same is hereby appropriated, out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to the people of Chambersburg and vicinity, whose property was burned by the rebels on the 30th of July, A. D. 1864, to be paid to such sufferers pro rata, upon the valuation of their losses as hereinafter provided.

SECTION 2. That the court of common pleas of Dauphin county, at its first meeting after the passage of this bill, shall appoint three intelligent and disinterested appraisers, who shall not be residents of Franklin county, and such appraisers shall, within twenty days after their appointment, (having first been duly swore or affirmed to discharge their duties with fidelity,) proceed to Chambersburg and make just and true appraisement of the losses sustained by the people of Chambersburg and vicinity, by reason of the burning by the rebels on the 30th of July, A. D. 1864, and they shall continue to perform said duties until they have appraised the losses aforesaid of both real and personal estate, and upon each petition setting forth his, her or their losses, the said appraisers, or a majority of them, shall make award of the losses actually sustained. Each petition shall present a statement of losses under oath, and said appraisers shall require such additional proof of the correctness of the statement as they may deem necessary, by the examination of the claimant, or any other witnesses they may decide to call; Provided, however, That if any statement shall be presented for the benefit of an assignee, said assignee shall be required to prove to the satisfaction of the appraisers the actual cash value of the consideration paid to the assignor, and the amount so paid, if not in excess of the actual loss sustained, shall be the amount of the award; And provided farther, That if it shall be established that any person shall present a false statement, in part or in whole, for property either not possessed or not destroyed, or in excess of just valuations, with the intent to defraud, the petition of such person shall be dismissed without any allowance whatever; And provided further, That no petition shall be entertained from any corporation or from the county of Franklin for losses sustained; And Provided further, That each statement presented for adjudication shall be accompanied by an affidavit, made before some officer competent to administer oaths and affirmations under the laws of this State, stating that the claimant has never directly or indirectly, by word or act, given aid, comfort, countenance or encouragement to the traitors, whether in arms or otherwise, that he or she has never communicated, or attempted or taken means to communicate, to them, or any of them, any information which could in any way be of advantage to them.

SECTION 3. That said appraisers shall, as soon as they shall have finished their duties, make return to the Auditor General of all the petitions presented to them, with the awards thereon; and when such return has been filed, the said sum of five hundred thousand dollars shall be apportioned to said awards pro rata by the Auditor General, and his warrant shall be drawn upon the Treasurer in favor of the persons to whom the awards and appointment have been made, and the sums thus ascertained to be due respectively to sufferers shall be paid to them, or their heirs, executors, administrators or assigns, upon them receipting for the same, which receipts shall state the amount paid, and authorize the State to receive from the General Government said sums out of any money which may hereafter be appropriated by Congress to compensate them for losses sustained by the war.

SECTION 4. The said appraisers shall be paid the sum of five dollars each per day, when actually employed in the discharge of their duties, for a period not exceeding sixty days, and they shall be allowed one clerk who shall be paid the sum of three dollars per day, whose duty it shall be to keep a record of the testimony in each case, so that it may be transmitted to the Auditor General with the awards; and the salaries of said appraisers and clerk, together with necessary expenses for stationary and giving notice, and so forth, shall be paid out of the Treasury out of any money not otherwise appropriated, after approval by the proper accounting officers of the State.