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In addition to this there are claims preferred against the government of
the District amounting, in the estimated aggregate reported by the board
of audit, to $3,147,787.48, of which the greater part will probably be
rejected. This sum can with no more propriety be included in the debt
account of the District government than can the thousands of claims
against the General Government be included as a portion of the national
debt. But the aggregate sum thus stated includes something more than the
funded debt chargeable exclusively to the District of Columbia. The act
of Congress of June 20, 1874, contemplates an apportionment between the
United States Government and the District of Columbia in respect of the
payment of the principal and interest of the 3.65 bonds. Therefore in
computing with precision the bonded debt of the District the aggregate
sums above stated as respects 3.65 bonds now issued, the outstanding
certificates of the board of audit, and the unadjusted claims pending
before that board should be reduced to the extent of the amount to be
apportioned to the United States Government in the manner indicated in
the act of Congress of June 20, 1874.
I especially invite your attention to the recommendations of the
commissioners of the sinking fund relative to the ambiguity of the act
of June 20, 1874, the interest on the District bonds, and the
consolidation of the indebtedness of the District.
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