The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1891-09-11
ashington Letter.

WASHINGTON. ID. u. sept 0tns 1871
Ii business man was known to have
outstanding paper, payable on demand,
amounting to S27 900, 900 and only
1853, 565 of available cash on hand to
meet that paper would the commercial
world consider him solven2 Not much.
Well that is precisely the present condl-
ton of the United States Treasury.
There are more than $27. .OOo, 600 of the
four-and-a-half per cent bonds which
were not presented for extension, and
which now simply stand for notes paya-
on demand, and there Is, leaving out
the fractional silver coin and other
funds that cannot legally be paid out,
only SIS, ,579, ,565 on hand to pay them
with Secretary Foster is said to-have
a scheme by which he expects to bulldoze
certain of the larger national banks IN
to buying all of these bonds and present
ing them for extension, and 1t Is for
that purpose that he has announced an
indefinite extension of the time within
| which they may be extended at per
cent BUTT by no means certain that
he can succeed, and already since We'd
nesday on which day the interest ceased
| nearly IS, ,000, 900 worth of these bonds
! have been presented for redemption, and
| the most of them came from National
banks. That made big hole in the
available funds, and besides these bonds
there are big pension payments to be
made this month. On paper Secretary
Foster figures out cash balance of more
than $50, 900, 900, but he knows, as
well as every other business man famil-
lar with the affair of the Treasury, that
the amount mentioned above represents
every dollar which he can legally pay
| out.
Candidates for the vacancy on the
board of Interstate Commerce Commits
sioners, made by the death of Hon. W.
l.. Bragg, of Alabama, are becoming ex-
tremely plentiful around town, and Sec
retary Noble under whose province it is,
is a much sought man.
Col. l.. l.. Polk president of the Ma
tional Farmers Alliance, who is now
here, is being somewhat harshly criti-
cised by both friends and foes among
Southerners for the light and airy man
ner in which he disposes of the many
personal charges made against him by
the Raleigh NeWs and Observer,
and of the report that he contemplated
challenging the author of the charges to
fight duel. This is the way he speaks
of 1T: If anyone wants to fight duel
with me / have not been informed of it.
The thing is a lot of nonsense. Col.
Polk may think it a lot of nonsense
to be called ''poltroon and coward
but that isn't the way others regard it,
and according 10 the Southern idea it is
he that should want to fight duel with
the man who is so openly abusing him,
=. L II
onyone wants to fight a duel with him.
Men opposed to the code under any cir
cumstances say that Col. Polk should
have his assailant arrested for criminal
libel, but the enemies of Col. Polk say
that he dare not take that course be-
canse if he did the charges against him
would be proven in court. Thus the
matter stands, but there can be but lit
tie doubt that it is injuring Col. Folks
standing, and many are predicting that
it will result in his being deposed from
the Alliance presidency.
1t is considered certain that Congress
will order an investigation of the last
census, and it is equally certain that
some very queer things will be brought
out by the investigation. 1t is said by
those who have familiarized themselves
with the subject that all of the recent
census bulletins, purporting to give the
assessed valuation of property by States,
are wrong, and that most of them can
readily be shown to be erroneous, wheth-
er Intentional or through incompetence
or careleSsness does not matter, they are
wrong. For instance, the assessed yalu-
alton Of all property in South Carolina
Is given as nearly million and half
less than In 1880, while the report of
the Comptroller General of that State
shows an increace of seventeen millions,
and conservative estimates are that the
new State assessment to be made. this
year will add at least thirty millions to
the total assessed value of property in
the State. That is a specimen of Por-
ter's work; there are other States almost
as bad.
A gentleman just from Cape Nav
Point is authority for the statement that
Civil Service Commissioner Roosevelt
has not yet resigned, although he thinks
II extremely probable that Mr.. Harrison
may ask him to do so very shortly He
says that Roosevelt went to Mr.. Harri-
son and demanded in dIctatorial man
ner to know what action had been taken
on the report he made recently recon-
mcnding the dismissal of some twenty
five Federal officials in Baltimore, and
upon being informed that the report had
not been examined he flew into a rage
and told Mr.. Harrison that he wanted
him to understand that if these men
were not dismissed he (RoosevelO would
resign. That ended the interview and
Roosevelt has gone out to his western
ranch. This may or may not be true,
but certain tits that Roosevelt has brow
beat Mr.. Harrison more than once, and
his calling Mr.. Wanamaker liar is a
matter of public record, bat for some
reason Mr.. Harrison has lacked the
nerve to demand his resignation. N.