If the claimant in this case ought to be paid, so ought all others
similarly situated; and that there are many such can not be doubted.
Besides, there are strong reasons for believing that the amount of
damage in this case has been greatly overestimated. If this be true,
it furnishes an illustration of the danger of trusting entirely to
_ex parte_ testimony in such matters.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 7, 1872_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I have the honor to return herewith Senate bill No. 569, an act entitled
"An act for the relief of Thomas B. Wallace, of Lexington, in the State
of Missouri," without my approval.
This claim, for which $11,250 are appropriated by this bill, is of the
same nature and character as the claim of Dr. J. Milton Best, which was
returned to the Senate on the 1st instant without my signature.
The same reasons which prompted the return of that bill for
reconsideration apply in this case, which also is a claim for
compensation on account of the ravages of war, and comes under the same
general principle of both international and municipal law, that all
property is held subject not only to be taken by the Government for
public uses, in which case, under the Constitution of the United States,
the owner is entitled to just compensation, but also subject to be
temporarily occupied, or even actually destroyed, in times of great
public danger, and when the public safety demands it; and in the latter
case governments do not admit a legal obligation on their part to
compensate the owner.
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