Mr. BUCKALEW. Mr. President, I am entirely convinced that the sooner we investigate and determine claims connected with the late wat and growing out of it the better for the Treasury; that upon pure business princi. ples of public administration, instead of push:ing claims away from us, pushing them out of sight, delaying them, refusing to examine them ourselves or to have them examined by any competent authority, we should proceed promptly to determine the principles upon which the Government will make payment for claims connected with the late war; and havin established those principles we should procee to investigate all cases and determine them. I am entirely convinced in my own mind that by delaying the investigation and decision of these claims we shall eventually pay 2 or 3 times as much as we would now, and probably we shall make payment at a time when by reason of a contracted currency and of other circumstances the burden will be practically greater upon the Treasury than it would be now if we met these cases. Then, sir, there is another consideration. By the lapse of time that evidence on behalf of the Government which is now attainable will be destroyed or lost. These claims will grow stronger, however, so far as the affirmative is concerned when they are Presented to us. The claimants will carefully Preserve all the evidence of their own favor; and some years hence, when they come forward before congress or before the Court of Claims, they will E. able to make out an irresistible argument in favor of their demands, whereas evidence on the part of the Government will be lost. Men who know anything about a particular transaction now might be called upon to testify in behalf of the Government; but those men will have died, they will be dispersed. Men connected with your military service who are still within reach, who can now enlighten you upon the subject of these claims, will be dispersed all over the country, to the Pacific coast, to remote States of the North, and you will be unable to obtain that evidence which is necessary to defend the Government and to defend the Treasury against unjust or inflated claims hereafter. Therefore, sir, in my opinion, upon pure business principles, it is the policy o the Government to meet this whole subject at once, to meet it F. I am not in favor of paying doubt ful claims; much less am I in favor of paying stale claims; but I know how it is in all legislative bodies composed of men who have hu man sympathies, and who are appealed to by claimants, in many cases I think successfully, when claims ought to be resisted; and I apprehend danger to the Treasury, danger to the public interests from this policy of pushing away from us these cases, refusing to look at them now while they are fresh and while we can command the whole subject and view it in an intelligent manner and settle proper rules, deferring the evil day, pushing it away from us and leaving to future years the investigation and decision of these cases. For my part, I am for meeting all just responsibilities of the Government at this time, for establishing rigid rules of exclusion to shut out fraudulent and evil claims from the Treasury; establishin some rules now, before Congress is. to in individual cases, and gives way step after step until the Treasury shall eventually be i. down with enormous masses of claims, which if met now would be rejected, and rejected for ever.