New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-01-03
PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE
INTERIOR.


,bo, that department il in comfortable condi-
ton The quantity of land sold at graduated prices
for the last fiscal year was $780, acres and the
amount received for il was 81 ,91s In the year
ending Sept 80 1875, 2s3 acres of land have been
snrveyed. the true boundary line between Alabama
and Florida has been established, and preparations
have been made by the correction of old surveys to
discontinue the Office of Surveyor-Genera in several
of the districts Thequantity Of land already subject
10 entry was so large that no new land has been
brought into the market:
'@s'4ASS acres
stsS will military scrip and land warrants esooO acres
Swnup Lands selected for Staes.... 74I0I46e2 arres
SIer,d ON donatiors for railroads &c. IL $500 acres
u,,jro total ISL 4Oa5O acres
This is an increase Of $685. acres over the pre-
vious year. of lands sold for cash. and decrease OF
on 2 acres located with scrip and warrants. The
quantity that will be entered the present hscal year
with land warrants will be much larger under the recent
bounty land law.
quarters of the present calendar year is about
acres being an increase of about S2625 acres IN cash
s47 442 O6 on that of the corresponding quarters OF
the preceding year.
soldiers of all the wars in which the United States has
been engaged n 81 $685. 4l2 For the satisfaction
of Virginia land warrants there have been taken
l46O 900 Recently scrip has been issued 10 sat
one and half sections in width each side of the Fox
Rverand the lakes through which passes was granted
10 the State of Wisconsin for improving the Fox and
Wisconsin rivers, and connecting them 10y canal
This grant included 260 433 acres. The Land-Ottce
under subsequent acts, gave Wisconsin width OF hive
sections and increased the length OF the grant so as to
make il 2s4 269 acres; but when the Company, which
succeeded to the rights of the State asks Tor the same
grant along the Wisconsin, the Department, Oddly
enough thinks the Company unreasonable, and rejects
the project of giving them $50, 900 acres more The
Secretary recommends that officers connected with the
sale and survey of the public lands should be prohibited
from becoming purchasers. The swamp-land grants
create considerable difficulty but in this as in other
instances, the Secretary advises a generous policy
The California Land Commission are making very good
time, and will not want any more money. new
(ommisson must be issued to adjust Indiana land
titles az the old one did not do ts work. The Pension
Office has done very heavy business, and clerks have
been detailed from the Land Office The number oil
appicatons under the recent act were, up to Nov 20
9p55.944 of which $4,000 had been examined, and
SO, ss2 allowed. The number of warrants issued
was 559l7, covering 6,s7s,sao acres. Inc SER.
tary thinks it strange that pensioners who caught
the fever in Mexico, and are drawing pen
sion only 30 long as they have the fever,
never get we'll He mildly advises that the Old prlncl-
ple of Indulgence be fallen back upon. He does not
ike the statutes of limiting prosecutions Tor perjury
and forgery in pension and land warrant cases TO two
years The pension roll mustered Ia, iss on the 3Oth
of June and the amount dsbursed for the year previ-
ous was 81, 5O5,ll2 The sums In the hands OF Pen
SION agents had then been cut down 10 s230 Os9 IRON
seAa d76 ON the 3lst of March, 1883. IL had been Gus
tomsrv for them under Appropriation clauses attached
TO pension bills to accumulate large amounts OF money
in their hands, which has only just been drained or
He advises that the Appropriate clauses be cut on ana
n osc bills placed the same footing as others. lie
recommends a revolution in the process OF auditing
nension accounts 80 to greater uniformity
The fed-work of the Mexican boundary line has been
complefed-twenty millions of acres have been ac-
ouired by it, the eastern portion of which is rich in
| wheat corn and tobacco, gold silver and copper,
while the west is desert. The Indians are friendly
and agricalturaly inclined. The Secretary ADVISES
that something be done for them; he recommends that
the northwest line be Out-the one which we did
not fight about because it was $40 40; some islands
between Vancouvers and the continent are desirable
The Patent Office is happily reorganlzed and the year
| work has been about 1000 patents. The Secretary
gives reasons for using part of the Patent-Oice
building for the Indian Bureau In the first place they
want it. and then the Patent Office clerks can bear
little crowding them thirdly, the Patent Fund DID rot
nav for the building. Another appropriation wanted
for the west wing of the Patent Ofhce building, and
the north part should be commenced. The curosltes
in the National Gallery in that building should be
cleared out TO make room for the display OF rejected
| models The appropriations for agricultural pur-
| poses" are dismissed in five lines. United States
| Court buildings are suggested in New-fork, Boston
and Baltimore Two hundred and twenty-three terms
are held in rs different places From May 4, lsio, 10
NAV 30 1885 the fees of the clerk at st. Josephs in
Louisiana amounted to Sl3 IS, and other places IN
| Louisiana are in the same condition. These dis
tricts should be abolished. The Department wants
fre-proof buildings, and they should be commenced
immediately as II will soon be crowded out of the
Patent-Ofice. The public grounds need protection
and a landscape gardener; the Leng Bndge over the
| Potomac needs replacing and the National Insane
| Asylum and Washington infirnary need money. The
Pententiary needs bars and hre-engine, and the
the Secretary himself two clerks. Ills chief clerk
needs So 900 year. Balances amounting to $3.50 246
have been carried to the surplus fund and it ia hoped
that the expenditures of the present tsscal year VIII
fb. a
dian tribes the Secretary holds stocks To the amount OF
saO9s $40 and the Department collects the interest
and pays it into the treasury gratis. The Secretary
! speaks as follows OF
| INDIAN RELATIONS.
In the Indian Bureau. everything has been done
which an able and honest discharge of duty could ac
complsh Its operations during the past year, have
been large and important, embracing very great ex
tent of country, and nearly AL the Indians within the
boundaries of the United States. With the eXcepto
of a few tribes the Indians have been well disposed
and anxious to cultivate and preserve friendly relations
! with us.
Several important treaties have been made, and
Others equally so viii soon be ready for submission "a
the Senate Those already in force are numerous and
| of varied character. Many of them contain cbjec
| tionabe provisions and stipulations, which the Gov
eminent was compelled to insert at the Indians own
urgent solicitation being the production of the yciou:
| influences which too often surround them on treaty
casons II therefore requires great care and wisdom
| 10 execute them properly. Every exerton has been
made TO effect this and though much has not beef
accomplished desirable, yet It is hoped better
| state of things has been introduced.
\, The late Commissioner of the General Land Office
was deputed To join the Superintendent of Indian AT
fairs in Wisconsin in order that his superior know-
edge Of the land system might be made available III
the settlement Of the various and complicated ques
tons involved with the Stockbridge and Munsee ln-
| dams. supplemental treaty was made with them,
which has since been disapproved by the Superntend-
ent, and, immediately aiterit was executed by the
aA ~,