2d Session. WALTER LOMIS AND ABEL GAY. JANUARY 7, 1831. Read, and laid upon the table. Mr. McCoy, from the Committee of Claims, to which was referred the pe tition of Walter Lomis and Abel Gay, made the following REPORT: The Committee of Claims, to which were referred the petition and papers of Waller Lomis and Abel Gay, report: That the petitioners claim of the United States, under their contract for doing certain mason work on the Cumberland road, the sum of $41 71, and interest since the 6th of March, 1820, at which time they state that sum was found to be due to them on the books of the Treasury of the United States, and has been withheld from them. They also claim $356 for placing large coping stone on the walls built by them, and state that the agent of the United States, Jonas Thompson, after they entered into their contract with the United States, verbally promised to pay them $2 per foot for that work, which amounted to the sum stated above. They also claim 82 50 per rod for extra work in paving 749 rods of road under a contract with Daniel Lomis and I. L. Skinner, who were sub-contractors under Beard, Campbell, and McGiffin, amounting to $1,872 50. The committee enclosed the petition and papers to the Secretary of the Treasury, and have received from the Auditor's office a letter and statement of the account of Lomis & Gay with the United States, with other information pertinent to a decision on the case, to which the committee refer, (marked S,) and make part of this report. From this latter document it will be seen that, so far from Lomis & Gay being creditors on the books of the Treasury, there is a balance against them of $1,279 14. This sum was paid them by J. Thompson, late agent for the United States, on their contract for masonry, over and above what the same amounted to by measurement made by commissioners appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury; and, moreover, that the agent, Thompson, never did measure the greater portion of their work. The 2d item in their claim, for coping stone, is so clearly and fully expressed in their contract to be part of their work, to be paid for by the perch, that the committee can see no room to doubt that they have not been paid fully the contract price. The 3d item of the claim, for extra labor in paving the road, cannot be acknowledged as valid against the United States. They are contractors under sub-contracts, and must look to those they contracted with, unless Congress are willing to enter on special legislation for every individual who did a day's labor on that road. The committee think the claim ought to be rejected. JOSHUA SHAW. JANUARY 7, 1831. Read, and laid upon the table. Mr. DRAYTON, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to which was referred the case of Joshua Shaw, made the following REPORT: The Committee on Military Affairs, to which was referred the petition of Joshua Shaw, a citizen of Pennsylvania, report: That the petitioner represents himself to be the inventor of a new method of discharging cannon, by means of a lock acting on a primer of percussion or fulminating powder, for which he has obtained letters patent; and that, by the application of his discovery, the fire of artillery is rendered more certain, rapid, and effective, the quantity of powder required diminished, and the facility of working the gun much increased; whilst the matross is less exposed to injury, and perfect security is obtained against accidental explosion. He, therefore, prays that his patent right may be purchased by the United States, and that he may be allowed a reasonable compensation for the labor he has undergone, and the expense which he has necessarily incurred, in bringing his improvement to perfection. It appeared to the committee, by the concurrent testimony of officers of the highest respectability in the Navy and the Army of the United States, that the petitioner had not overrated his merits, and that he was justly entitled to the reputation of great ingenuity, judiciously applied to an important military object; but, as the only reward, which, under the Constitution, can be conferred upon him for his inventive labors, is the exclusive right of permitting them to be used at such price as he may think proper to demand for that privilege-a right already secured to him by his letters patent-the committee feel themselves constrained to refuse to him any pecuniary compensation, or to recommend that his patent should be purchased by the Government. They, therefore, submit the following resolution: Resolved, That the petitioner have leave to withdraw his petition and papers. 2d Session. MILEAGE OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. JANUARY 7, 1831. Read, and laid upon the table. Mr. HALL, from the Committee on Public Expenditures, to which the subject had been referred, made the following REPORT: The Committee on Public Expenditures, to which was referred a resolution of the House, relative to a uniform rule for estimating mileage of members of Congress, report: That the subject, upon investigation, seems attended with difficulties which render it impracticable to establish any rule which will operate entirely equal. That the existing law, if its plain and evident intention is carried into effect, will approximate sufficiently near equality to render any alteration unnecessary, unless a rule is adopted to make it the duty of the Secretary of the Senate, and Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives, with the aid of each member of either House, and Delegate of a Territory, assisted by the Postmaster General, to make an estimate, as nearly as possible, of the actual distance (in a direct line) of the residence of each Member, Senator, and Delegate, from the seat of Government; and that the mileage of Senators, Members, and Delegates, be computed according to such estimate. It did not seem expedient to the committee to adopt this principle in the shape of a bill; and it is believed that no other method would arrive at or approximate to equality so nearly as to render a change of the law materially beneficial. It seems evident to the committee that the intention of the law of 1818 is simply this, that each member is to be paid for the miles he does travel, and not for those he does not travel; but that the miles which he does travel, and for which he is to receive pay, are the miles usually or most generally travelled, from the neighborhood or part of the country in which he resides. This seems to be the obvious intention of the law; and it is not to be supposed that members of Congress were to have any greater or lesser privileges in traveling to and from the seat of Government than other people. And it is presumed, if due attention was paid to this principle, though there would still, from the very nature of things, be variations, yet, in the main, equality and justice might generally be as nearly arrived at as by any other mode of computation, unless, indeed, the restrictive principle, under the supervision of the members, the officers of the two Houses, and the Postmaster General, already alluded to, should be adopted. This, if equality is the object, is decidedly preferable; but, if retrenchment is the end in view, a reduction of the amount for every twenty miles, from what it now is, would be the remedy. But |