The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-12-14

GENERAL LAND orvrus.


\ RRPORr or THE sECRRTARY Oh
THE INTERlOR.
4 80 aENERAL LAND oFvIUB. 4I ~
The business Of the Department Of the Int
sior has lost much Of its usual interest throogt
the Interruption Of commercial and sgricultura
pureuits by the war. The Gsnerald Land Office
especially, shows the result Of this decline
The army has swallowed up almost entirely the
class of enterprising men who are usually the
purchasers Of Government lands, and sales in
the Northern States are almost suspended. On
the S0th OF September last, there vas an aggre-
gate Of l34, ,2l6,340 acres of land surveyed and
ready for sale. During the fifteen months end
ing September 30, 1861, the Department dis
posed of 5,2S7, ,532. acres. OF this amount over
two millions acres have been located with boun.
! y land warrants; one and a half millions sold
tor cash, producing 1925, ,299; and about mill.
ion granted to Louisiana, Michigan and Mime
sofa, for railroad purposes. The war has thus
reduced the receipts Of the Office TO point but
little above the expenditures of the Department
its net income during the year being but $200,.
600. The bounty land warrants and scrip
issued up to September 80, 1851, cover an az
gregate Of 7l,7l7,l72 acres. The Ian Is have
been distributed thus
| aa 9iJz Acres.
TO revolutionary services ......... g 200, ,612
For services in the British war; -. a $50, l20
For Canadian volunteers, ........ 7275O
For services in the Mexican war, &c, 81 l3s, ,e7O
Yet TO be located on warrants and
| scrip already issued, ............ 7,454,72
The report questions the propriety of issuing
bounty land warrants to the volunteers now in
| the national army. A warrant of 100 acres to
each volunteer would absorb over loo, 900
4 80 IL -. ~
ket at fifty cents per acre. and an attempt to re.
alize on their warrants would depress the sold.
iers grants to even much lower value. Spec
nlators would buy up lands largely under such
circumstances, and would be the chief gamers
| by the public benefactions. The Secretary,
therefore, recommends that the volunteers be
paid either in cash or by government securities,
1t is suggested that in Hen of the mineral lands
OF California and New Mexico being free, the
Government shall make them a source Of reye.
nue. by lcvying a charge for the privilege of
| working the minee. The Report makes strange
statement respecting the commission appointed
to run and mark the boundary line between the
territories Of the United States and the State Of
California" Fifty.fve thonsend dollars was ap-
propriated for the work by Congress and $37,-
Dol OF the amount placed at the disposal of
| Sylvester Mowry, the Commissioner for the Uni
| ted States. The Secretary finds, however, that
| the whole of the latter sum and twenty thous-
| and dollars more had been expended. and the
work only just begun. The running Of the
boundary lines between the U. s. territories and
Texas has beenlcompleted.
| 10 Es,h a. INDIAN AFFAIRS.
Indian affairs are in q very unsatisfactory
| state. The Cherokees, Chickasaws, and Choc-
taws have suspended all intercourse with the
agents OF the Federal Government, the Southern
agents who we're in Office on the 4th of March
having employed their influence in melting those
tribes to revolt The Department has no off.
cial advices confrmatory of the newspaper re-
ports that portion of the natives had been or
ganized as military force. The withdrawal of
the Federal troops and the employment of
threats by the rebel agents, coupled with prom
ises that the Confederate government would as
sumo the responsibilities of their annuities, have
been the chief means of inducing their revolt
The payment of annnities to these tribes has
been suspended; but the Secretary recommends
| that Congress shall make the usual appropria-
tons, so as to provide the fuliment of the trca.
ty stipulations If it should afterwards be found
expedent to pay the annuiiies The tribes on
| the Pacific slopes have shown symptoms of tur-
bulence The withdrawal of troops from New
Mexico has given license for the committal of
depredatiOns by some of the tribes in that ter.
| ritory. The tribes in Kansas and Nebraska are
| loyal and progressing in civilization. The Ii.
| sence to trade with the Indians have been so
| shamelessly abused by cheating the natives and
| selling them goods at a profit of three to four
hundred per cent. that the Secretary recon-
mends that all such licenses be revoked, and the
Indians supplied with goods and implements on.
ly through the agents Of the Department
THE PATENT OFFICE.
| NO Department shows more severely the ef.
| fects OF the war on our industries than the Pa
tent Office. Instead of being source of reve-
nue., the expenditures Of the Department from
November to Sept. 80. 1851, exceeded its re-
ceipts by $S2,7S5 This has necessitated the
discharge of thirty clerks, and the reduction of
salaries OF those retained. The report COM
plains that the Clerks Of the United States Dis.
trict Courts fail to forward copies of works
copyrighted at their Offices the object of collect
ing in one library copies of all the copyright
literary productions Of the country being there.
by defeated. To remedy this, it is proposed
that the sole power of granting copyrights be
delegated to the Commissioner of Patents
PENSION OFFICE.
The number OF pensions during the year has
diminished 575, and the payments $43, ,246. On
the SOth of June there were 10,709 pensioners
on the roll, requiring an aggregate payment oi
$957,772. The pension laws have been constru
ed rs authorizing the payment of pensions to
invalids and the widows and children of soldiers
who have been wounded or killed during the ex
listing insurrection Pensioners in the Rebel
States, who have taken up arms against the Gov.
ernment' are deprived Of the payment of theil
pensions.
RIGHTH CENSUS
The report promises that digest of the long
expected census shall shortly appear. The re
suit, it is said, will prove the last decade to
have been period Of the most substantial pro
gress realized in the history of the country. II
is strongly urged on Congress that, to supply
public want generally felt, a bureau of stats
tics and agriculture shall be added to the De
partment of the Interior, which has the recon
mendation of not adding to the expenditure o
the Office. NJ
! .f, AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE.
By an order Of last May, the execution Of ths
law for the suppression of the slave trade wa
confided to this Department. The Secretar,
convened the Marshals of all the loyal Atlantic
States at New York, and explained to them al
the devices of the traffic. The result Of thi:
energy has been the capture and condemnation
OF five vessels. One person has been convicted
as the Captain of SLAYER, and sentenced Il
death-the first instance Of capital conviction
on record; and another has been found guilty o
fitting out SLAYER at Boston Within littl,
more than year, 4,50O Africans, recaptured b.
Jul OsoicoEns udSc Dcon taken intO tue hepuOn
OF Liberia, through the agency of the American
Colonization Society.
MISCELLANEOUS
The report on the Judiciary complains Of tn
great Inconvenience from the want of sutabl
e court house, owned by the Government, in tn
city of New York, and recommends that BuI
tons Theatre be bought for that purpose at tn
price of S215, 900.
An extension Of the Capitol grounds, the erec
tion OF new jail in the city of Washington
and the formation of q street railroad throug
Pennsylvania Avenue, are the principal recon
mendations of the Commissioner of Publ
. Buildings tor sat
Under the new arrangement for the Congre.
slonal printing, saving of fifty per cent ha
: been effected on the work for the Executive d,
partments; and in the binding, reduction {
about 81 900 per month.
: fvas
|. In the Wheeling Convention, the n, me TX,
]; nawha" proposed to be applied to the new Sta,
vas stricken out of the ordinance, after Ion
discussion, by vote Of 80 to IA. The maiori,
r claimed that the name was distastefnl to the
y constituents, In the northern part of the de
Q State, and they were under instructions