made worth anything; that is as to the value of it. A fire in a cranberry bog very often takes out elements in the soil that are necessary to the growth of cranberries; and the question is whether that land is thereafter suitable for cranberry culture. There are a small number of cranberry vines growing there now; but it is doubtful whether they will be of any value.

Mr. BOURKE. What is that land worth without cranberries?
Mr. EMLEY. It is not worth anything.
Mr. BOURKE. You could not get

dollar an acre for it?

Mr. EMLEY. No. I had just such land included in the marsh lands that I turned over to the Government at $5 an acre-scrub land. And there are hundreds and hundreds of acres of land within 5 miles of that that are not worth any more than that; and then there is other land that is valuable for cranberries. It takes certain conditions to make cranberry land. You have to have the bog; you have to have the soil; you have to flowage facilities, which means the water. There are so many things which come into consideration which makes it difficult to explain the thing, and that is the reason we tried to make some sort of an arrangement with this board to put the bog back into the condition it was in before; for the reason that the Government put it in that condition. It was done through carelessness; and why should we be responsible for the Government's carelessness.

Mr. SINCLAIR. Well, you should not be, if the proof of the Government's carelessness is apparent and is produced before us..

Mr. BOURKE. The board that sat at Camp Dix for the purpose of hearing the case made a favorable report, and they admit the carelessness of the Government's employee and that the fire was due to that cause?

Mr. EMLEY. They made a unanimous report; the president of the board told me a year or two afterwards, "It is an absolute shame that the Government has not done something for you." And there are several Army officers who have taken an interest in the matter. But you know they have to be careful about what they say; because the Articles of War forbid an Army officer from conveying information in claims against the Government except under orders. But the president of the board acted under the instructions and approval of the judge advocate of the First Division, in settling this matter in this way, as being the most just way. I have papers to that effect.

Mr. SINCLAIR. Suppose Congress should decide that you had a claim of merit, how small an amount would you be willing to accept? Mr. EMLEY. That is a question of compromise?

Mr. SINCLAIR. Yes.

Mr. EMLEY. As a matter of justice, or as a matter of moral equity, you might say, we want to make some concessions, on account of the fact that it has turned out not thoroughly to extent claimed after the first three years; and the question comes up now, as to what extent?

Mr. SINCLAIR. Yes.

Mr. EMLEY. That is your question. Now, you want me to tell you about the amount that these people would be willing to accept; is that the idea?

Mr. SINCLAIR. Yes.

Mr. EMLEY. Now, I will tell you. I have authority from the other parties interested. I represent them. Davis himself, who owned the other bog, is dead, and his wife is an invalid, and she has given me written authority to act in her name; and they will abide by what I say. And of course, my sister will do the same. This is a family bog, a family property, that has been in our possession for 50 years. And it has been a very profitable possession; and for that reason we have not considered selling it, and we are not considering it now.

When General Grant was a boy, his father sent him to sell a horse; and he was asked, "What did your father say to get for this horse?" And he said, "He told me to get $100 for him, and if you can not get $100 for him, get $75." So that I think I can go somewhat on that basis. We want to settle the thing up. This thing has been going along for seven years; and no doubt Mr. Bacharach is tired of it; and this Mrs. Davis is an invalid and may not live very long; and I told Mr. Bacharach she wants to get something finally this time; and she told me, "Do as you think best."

Now, I will tell you that I think we ought to have $7,000. But we will take $6,000.

Mr. SINCLAIR. That is for the whole three claims-for all of them? Mr. BOURKE. He asked if you mean that is $6,000 for all three claims?

Mr. EMLEY. No; I have not been talking about the Davis bog at all. I am talking about the Emley and Godfrey bog.

Mr. SINCLAIR. That is for the Emley and Godfrey bog?

Mr. EMLEY. Yes.

Mr. BOURKE. Now, how about the Davis claim?

Mr. EMLEY. How much did you put that down?

Mr. SINCLAIR. $6,000; that is about one-seventh off.

Mr. EMLEY. You understand that interest has been deducted; otherwise this would have represented $7,700. amount of Mrs. Davis's claim?

Mr. WHITEHEAD. It says here $1,807.60.

Now, what is the

Mr. EMLEY. And that will bring the Davis claim down to how much, if it was reduced one-sixth, as you say?

Mr. BOURKE. That would bring it down to about $1,500.

Mr. EMLEY. Well, she told me to do as I thought best.

Mr. SINCLAIR. Well, we are just asking that to get your idea of the probable settlement if Congress should decide on it.

Mr. EMLEY. That is, $6,000 for the Emley and Godfrey claim and $1,500 for the Davis claim.

Mr. BOURKE. About that; yes.

Mr. SINCLAIR. Yes. Well, I think we have heard about all that we need in these cases.

Mr. EMLEY. If there is anything I can say that I have not brought with me that would give you a better understanding of this claim I shall be glad to submit it.

Mr. SINCLAIR. I think you have covered it very well. If you will file those two statements and let them go in the record, I think we will have a pretty full statement of your case.

Mr. EMLEY. I am very much obliged to you for the courtesy you gentlemen have shown. We want to do the right thing about this. We want to make some concession. I wrote Mr. Bacharach that we wanted to do something, because we have not turned out exactly as

we thought it would, although they base their calculation on the best information they had at that time, and it seems to be correct and proper. But we are willing to settle on the way it turned out.

Mr. BOURKE. May I ask this question, Mr. Chairman? Those three bills are all on one subject, and I am wondering if it would be better to have all the claims in one bill, so as to have one complete bill?

Mr. SINCLAIR. We will consider that question in executive session. If we change them now, it would require amendments in the House, and that might take time.

Mr. BOURKE. In the case of Davis, he has since died. Could the committee change that to make it payable to the estate of Lee C. Davis?

Mr. SINCLAIR. It would go to the estate anyhow.

Mr. WHITEHEAD. I should think it would be well to put the words. 'personal representatives," which would include the administrator or the executor.

Mr. BOURKE. I can write the committee a note as to that.

Mr. EMLEY. Will you allow me to suggest that if you want to substantiate anything I have said, all you have to do is to consult the records in The Adjutant General's Department, with the exception of this report about the fire and the wind that I got from the Weather Bureau and from the State fire board, which never went before the department, because I did not know it was necessary. It seemed foolish to anticipate that they would ever dispute that the wind was blowing hard. And after the Secretary of War reported that there was no wind blowing on that day, then I got the fire warden and the Weather Bureau observers to make their report. Those are not on record in the War Department. They must be on file, however, somewhere in your committee.

Mr. SINCLAIR. Well, six or seven years after a thing happened, any kind of dispute may arise as to the facts.

Mr. BOURKE. These records and documents have been on file since 1922.

Mr. SINCLAIR. We are much obliged to you, and we will give the matter careful consideration.

(Thereupon, at 3 o'clock p. m., the subcommittee adjourned.)