Show UNCLE SAM IS SLACK in paying his debts and collecting judgments THE FEDERAL BILL president harrison in favor of it be wants the bill passed quickly the indians from our regular correspondent J washington june it appears that ducle samis not only negligent concerning his creditors but has been a little slack about his collections there being unpaid judgments due to the united states amounting to about 35 to the collection of which no pa nicular attention atte ution has been paid since 1867 but if steps are to be inaugurated with a view to collecting the debts due the government as seems likely now it be a good idea to take some mt agures at the same time and under the same appropriation for tabulating the unpaid claims and balances due to private citizens and giving them due notice to call upon the proper disbursing officer and get their money what is true oi creditors on the books of the departments part ments is true in a still greater debrea of the private claims that number the calendars of congress and upon which action is delayed from year to year until claimants die and are forgotten or are reduced to beggary and equally forgotten there is no valid reason for the neglect to provide by appropriation for the payment of claims that hav been approved congress has time ugh to spend weeks in the discussion of the tariff of the coinage question and of a dozen other measures that it has no time to take just and long pending claims from the calendar and vote their payment is too preposterous for belief when will congress make up its mind that the first duty it owes to the country in coining into power is to settle its a clounts with the humble petitioners petition ers whose proven and audited bills go over from session to session untouched and ignored president harrison has heretofore been given the credit of at least deprecating if not of actually opposing tl passage of the federal election bill that has been passed by the house it has been believed that he was statesman enough to discern the evil tendencies of the scheme and sufficiently patriotic to frown upon the centralizing and un Amo rican clique which has forced most of the republicans in the heuse into accepting the bill but he has latterly taken occasion to declare himself dundei the domination odthe reed wing of the party and in bayor of the bill the president now not only wants the bill passed but wants it done quickly sc that the cry of southern outrages may be used in the coming coheres dional campaign to fire the northern heart and distract attention from the record of the party in congress on silver and the growing dissentious dissent ions on the tariff question A gentleman who in the past has held very close official and personal relations with the president related the substance of an interview between him and the chief magistrate last week the interview inter yiew opened with a declaration by gen harrison that under no circumstances would he interfere eyen by the remotest suggestion outside of an official message with the action of congress then the president con linued if they pass the federal election bill I 1 will sign it as soon as it is presented to me for my consideration I 1 want them to pass that bill and I 1 dont care who knows it subsequently the president a way advised friends in both houses of congress to proceed as rapidly aa possibly with the final enactment of the bill so that it might become a question of discussion in the coming campaign no delegation of indians in washing ton of recent years has attracted the ate which is now bestowed on the moqui chiefs the chiefs are a bit modest and instead of sitting out on the veranda of the hotel to be starred at by the crowd of children that gathered whenever they appeared outside they went ont into the bacic yard and smoked cigarettes each of them wore moccasins ond they took them off and went bare footed except when in the street but despite the long strings of beads three of them wore around their necks they are all more or less ragged and today to day general morgan commissioner of indian affairs will each of them with a suit of store clothes the chiefs who are here say that they had heard that there were a great many white people but they did not believe it they had no idea that there were anywhere near as many white people as maquis the latter numbering about 2500 their trip here has left them in a state of dazed amazement jand the five chiefs have given up all ideas of hostility to the whites speaker aeed has donned a shirt girded up his loins with a eash I 1 and put on a pair of yellow shoes this i may be taken as an intimation that be has made up his mind not to adjourn congress as early as he announced he would at the beginning of the session in fact it looks as if mr aeed had prepared to stay here all summer L |