UNITED STATES EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION COMMISSION, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON WAR CLAIMS, House Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Reference is made to your request for the Commission's report upon the bill (H. R. 5515) for the relief of Mrs. Virgie B. Weaver. The bill provides: "That the provisions and limitations of sections 15 to 20, both inclusive, of the Act entitled 'An Act to provide compensation for the employees of the United States suffering injuries while in the performance of their duties, and for other purposes', approved September 7, 1916, as amended, are hereby waived in favor of Mrs. Virgie B. Weaver, Waco, Texas, a former employee of the United States of America at Camp McArthur, Texas, and the United States Employees' Compensation Commission is authorized to receive and consider her claim, under the remaining provisions of said Act, for injury and disability alleged to have been sustained in the latter part of 1917 or the early part of 1918 as a result of her employment in such capacity: Provided, That claim hereunder shall be filed within ninety days from the approval of this Act." The Commission has no record of having received from Mrs. Virgie B. Weaver any claim for compensation, nor is there any information in its files relative to any injury or disability sustained by her, as indicated in the bill or otherwise. The bill, H. R. 5515, is apparently designed to waive in favor of Mrs. Virgie B. Weaver the bar of time limitations in sections 15 to 20, both inclusive, of the Federal Employees' Compensation Act of September 7, 1916, and to leave the Commission free to determine the merits of her claim when filed and to afford such measure of relief as the facts when established may show her to be entitled to, under the provisions of the act of September 7, 1916. It is noted that there is no reference in the bill to the nature of the disability on account of which it is proposed to extend the relief. It is suggested that such a reference be included for the sake of the record and for proper identification of the case. It is noted also that there is no provision in the bill indicating when the benefits of the Compensation Act, if allowed, shall begin to accrue. If it is intended that the bill shall have no retroactive effect, this intention should be signified therein, as otherwise the proposed measure might, if enacted, be construed to require such benefits to begin to accrue from the date of the alleged injury about 21 years ago. Having no information relative to any injury sustained by Mrs. Weaver, the Commission is unable to make any recommendation with respect to the advisability of the enactment of the bill H. R. 5515. Very truly yours, JOHN M. MORIN, Acting Chairman. The following affidavit of Joe Harrell of the United States Army Medical Corps, with reference to the condition of the claimant, Mrs. Virgie B. Weaver, is also made a part of this report: STATE OF TEXAS, County of McLennan, ss: Before me, the undersigned authority, on this day personally appeared Joe Harrell known to me to be the person whose name is subscribed to foregoing instrument and after by me being placed on oath deposes and says: My name is Joe Harrell. I am a regular licensed and practicing physician. I formerly resided at Rosebud, Tex, where I was engaged in the general practice of medicine and surgery. I am now in the Medical Corps of the United States Army and located at Station Hospital, Fort Sam Houston, Tex. I have known Mrs. Virgie B. Weaver, who was formerly Mrs. Virgie B. Wilson, for approximately 15 years. While I was practicing at Rosebud, Tex., she consulted me in the spring of 1938, complaining of severe pain in the index finger of her right hand, From the history as given to me, which I believe to be true, and from physical and laboratory findings, I am convinced the diagnosis of her condition is: Causalgia, severe, index finger, right hand, due to injury incurred in 1917-18, when patient accidentally stuck a sewing needle in her index finger just at the root of the nail. I treated Mrs. Weaver on several occasions, and finally advised removal of the ail, and curettage of the matrix of the nail, in order to remove the disfigured nail and remove any scar tissue that might be pressing on the nerve tissue beneath the nail. I did this operation under local anesthesia soon afterward (summer, 1938), and the findings at operation coincided with my preoperative diagnosis and findings. This operation relieved the pain for approximately 6 months, but the pain has recurred and is becoming progressively worse. At present the entire_right hand is disabled, causes excruciating pain and will never be usable again. In my opinion the condition is due to the injury as stated. JOE HARRELL, M. D. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 19th day of April 1939. [SEAL] LILLIAN MOROK, Notary Public, McLennan County, Tex. O JOHN AUGUST JOHNSON JUNE 27, 1939.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed Mr. POAGE, from the Committee on War Claims, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 6010] The Committee on War Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 6010), having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. The purpose of this bill is to confer jurisdiction on the Court of Claims of the United States to hear the claim of John August Johnson of Rockford, Ill., and to render judgment against the United States for any compensation and damage that may be found justly due him by reason of the destruction by fire on October 4, 1923, of the dwelling house located on the farm lands of the claimant, situated near Camp Grant, Ill., while said farm lands were occupied by the War Depart ment. It will be noted that this bill is purely jurisdictional in character. Similar bills for this claimant have been introduced in previous Congresses, each time drawing adverse reports from the War Department. Your committee feels that in the consideration of this bill it is not necessary to go farther back than the report of the War Department under date of March 26, 1937, made with reference to H. R. 5346 introduced at the first session of the Seventy-first Congress. That report, although generally adverse, recommended to the committee that if the bill was to be considered favorably it should be amended by striking out all of the matter of line 8 and substituting in lieu thereof the following: the destruction by fire on October 4, 1923, of the dwelling house located on the farm lands of John August Johnson situated near Camp Grant, Illinois, while said farm lands were occupied by the War Department, and said claim shall not be considered as barred because of any existing statute of limitation with respect to suits against the United States, provided suit is brought within one year of the approval of this Act. Further, that same report concluded with the following paragraph: If the bill in question is amended as above recommended, the limitation as to the time of filing suit and the matter to be litigated will insure early action and will exclude claims which have already been fully paid and adjusted. The provision waiving the statute of limitations is considered essential to give the Court of Claims jurisdiction, as the claim is now barred by the statute of imitations. The previous bills in the interest of this claimant made no effort to embrace the amendment recommended by the War Department in that report. Even at the beginning of the current session of Congress the claimant in H. R. 579 adhered generally to the text of the previous bills introduced in his behalf, and the committee refused to give it favorable consideration. But in H. R. 6010, the bill accompanied by this report, cognizance is taken of the suggested War Department amendment in lines 9, 10, 11, and 12 to the extent of not claiming that the War Department had "the use, occupation, and possession" of said claimant's property and farm lands from July 1, 1917, to November 8, 1924. Hence, since the bill involves merely giving the claimant his day in court, based on the suggestion of the War Department report, your committee recommends its passage. The facts of the case are fully set forth in subjoined reports of the War Department and the letter of former Chairman Alfred F. Beiter, all of which are hereto appended and made a part of this report. Hon. ALFRED F. BEITER, Chairman, Committee on War Claims, House of Representatives. MARCH 26, 1937. DEAR MR. BEITER: Careful consideration has been given to your letter of March 13, 1937, enclosing a copy of H. R. 5346, to confer jurisdiction upon the Court of Claims of the United States to hear and determine the claim of John August Johnson of Rockford, Ill., for damages sustained by reason of the use and occupation by the War Department from July 1, 1917, to November 8, 1924, of his property situated near Camp Grant, Ill. A bill for the relief of John August Johnson was introduced in the Seventieth Congress, H. R. 12256. This bill authorized the payment of $74,615.85 in full settlement of all claims against the United States for damages sustained by reason of the use and occupation by the War Department of Mr. Jonhson's property situated near Camp Grant, Ill., from July 1, 1917, to November 8, 1924. By letter dated May 31, 1928, to the Hon. James G. Strong, chairman, Committee on War Claims, House of Representatives, the then Secretary of War, Hon. Dwight F. Davis, made an adverse report on this bill and at the same time transmitted the War Department file relative to Mr. Johnson's claim. This bill failed of passage. During the Seventy-first Congress a bill for the relief of John August Johnson was introduced, to wit: H. R. 9062, which conferred upon the Court of Claims of the United States jurisdiction to hear and determine his claim. This bill was substantially the same as the present bill, H. R. 5346. By letter dated May 10, 1930, to the Hon. James G. Strong, chairman, Committee on War Claims, House of Representatives, the then Acting Secretary of War, Hon. F. Trubee Davison, made a report in which he recommended that the bill then pending, H. R. 9062, and a similar bill, viz: H. R. 9061, for the relief of Charles Samuelson, be favorably acted upon provided each was amended so as to limit the jurisdiction of the Court of Claims to claims for damages which had not already been settled, adjudicated, or waived. This bill failed of passage in any form. During the Seventy-third Congress another bill for the relief of John August Johnson was introduced, H. R. 1838. The purpose of this bill was to confer jurisdiction on the Court of Claims of the United States to hear and determine the claim of Mr. Johnson, it being substantially the same as the present bill, H. R. 5346. By letter dated March 15, 1934, the then Secretary of War, Hon. George N. Dern, made an adverse report on the bill. The bill failed of passage. The War Department has been informally advised by the clerk of the War Claims Committee, House of Representatives, that the records and reports, heretofore furnished by the War Department are now in the files of the War Claims Committee. The War Department has consistently taken the position that all of the items of Mr. Johnson's claim for damages alleged to have been sustained by him by reason of the use, occupation, and possession by the War Department of his |