The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1882-04-08
Washington Letter.
The LONG SESSION. MISSISSIPPI RIVER
IMPROVEMENTS. CABINET CHANGES. -
THE INDIAN IN WASHINGTON.
From our Regular Correponde,t.]


WASHINGTON, D. c.. March 2Sth, 1852.
There are many members of Congress
who think the present session will not
continue longer than until the middle of
June, but how every member can make
his halt dozen cut and dried set speeches
by that time, no one has attempted to
explain.
To day the question Of reclaiming the
Potomac flats will come up in the House.
1t is a subject of vital importance to
every one who lives in Washington, or,
it might be said, who visits this city,
since these swamps are the source of the
malaria which has given Washington
such bad name.
An effort will be made to dissociate
the Mississippi river improvement bill
from the River and Harbor appropria-
ton bill, for the reason that the latter
bill is kind Of an omnibus into which
every member tries to get some appro-
priatiOn for his district, the result being
that the great water way is, to an ex>
tent, crowded out of the vehicle.
There have been moro cabinet rumors
and speculations during the past week
than at any time since the first week of
President Arthur's administration It
is believed, l might say known, that
Senator Teller will be named and con-
frmed Secretary of the Interior. Nearly
every body says that Mr. Chandler will
be called to take charge of the Naval
portfolio. But there are some who re-
fuse to believe their ears in this report
1t is quite probable that the President
may nominate him for reasons known
to himself, and guessed by others, but
it is difficult to understand how MIR.
Chandler can be confirmed by the SEN
ate when this body, few months ago,
refused to confirm his nomination by|
Garfield as Assistant Attorney>General.
AS was to ho expected, there is some
dissatisfaction at 10 removal of Seere-'
tary Kirkwood fom the, ,~fnteficr De-
partment, bEit kn that Presi-
dent ArthEl has from the first intended
to have cabinet of his own selection,
and that this removal must sooner or
later Eke place. The new Secretary is
expected to give play to the extreme
western ideas, as far as law will permit
him, in the administration of Indian
affairs. Extreme western ideas, it may
be remarked, are the exact antithesis of
Quaker or Fennimore Cooper's views of
the noble savage. We see a great deal
of these unesthetic wards of the Nation
here in Washington. They are brought
on by Indian Agents professedly to talk
over some business matters with the
Secretary of the Interior, but the real
secret of their presence here is in fact
that the lazy agents become tired of the
of post life, and make any ex>
cuse for a picnic excursion, at govern
ment expense to Washington. They
bring with them a number of hideous
old chiefs, who lounge about the hotel
during the day and frequent bawdy
houses at night. They have one or two
big talks with the Secretary, in which,
prompted by the agent. they ask him to
give them wagons, farming utensils, and
schools. Then they go back to Uncle
Sans free ration dispensary on the
plains, while the religious press all over
the country rejoices at the evidence of
their christianisation in the fact that
they have asked for plows and school
houses. If there is anything an Indian
really detests, it is a plow or a school
house, and, as long as the government
supports him in idleness, he will have
no use for either.