Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1861-03-20
The Interior Department and the
Present Secretary.

The Washington correspondent of the Cincin-
natl Commercial thus refers to the extent and
responsibility of the Interior Department, the
fitness of Mr.. SMITH for the position of Secre-
tary, and the influences which determined his
selection
Next comes the new Secretary of the Depart
ment of the Interior, Caleb B. Smith, Esq. of
Indiana. This Office, created at a later period
than any other in the Government, is one of ex-
traordnary extent and responsibility. 1t was first
filled by Hon. Thomas Ewing, of Ohio-since
whose term the business of the Office and the du-
ties connected Herewith have been greatly in
creased. The Secretary of the Interior has un-
der his special charge and discretion, less than
five distinct departments of the public service,
with all the receipts, disbursements and patron
age connected with them To his supervision and
management are committed
lst. The Public Lands, of enormous extent
and value, whose survey, management and sale,
together with the Bounty Land warrants and scrip
business, involve vast amount OF care and OF
money. The Land Bureau is under the immedi-
ate management of the Commissioner of the
General Land Office, who holds under the Secre-
tary of the Interior, and accounts to him di-
rectly
ID. The Pension Office, to which is committed
tine examination and adjudication and adjustment
of all claims for pensions and bounty lands
arising under the laws regulating pensions foi
military and naval service in the Revolutionary
and subsequent wars.
3D. The Indian Bureau, which has charge oi
all matters connected with the Indians, appropri
ations to them under treaties, &c.
4th. The Census Bureau, involving the entire
care of the decennial census of the United States
and the supervision of regulations and disburse
ments relating thereto.
The Patent Office, whose enormous and widely
extending business is alone sufficient in impor
tance and amount to demand the entire attention
of an administrative officer of the first order o
ability. This department involves the execution
and application of the entire patent Laws of the
United States; the collection and publication o
statistics relating to agriculture; the collection
and distribution of seeds, plants and cuttings, anC
the charge of all matters connected with oul
copyright system. The Commissioner of Pat
ents, who acts under the direction of the Secre
tary Of the Interior, holds an Office which il
reckoned second in importance to none under
seat in the Cabinet itself.
Besides all these FIVE divisions, the Department
of the Interior has the supervision of all its
shals, clerks and attorneys, the management o
all the vast mining interests of the United State
on both sides of the Rocky Mountains; the charg,
of all the public buildings of the United States
the affairs of the pententary, hospital and insan,
asylum of the District of Columbia; and the con
the United States, including three wagon road
leading to the Pacific coast
So vast and complicated an office as this run
ming far beyond any other in the service of tn
Government, in the extent and variety of tn
business submitted to its control, would seem 4
demand an officer of rare administrative facul
ties, whose capacity and integrity should b
wholly above suspicion, Whether Mr.. Linco
has or has not made a mistake in calling Smit
In tho head NJ this rosDonSihla nanartmant tim
and experience will determine. Suffice it no,
to say, that the choice of Hon. Caleb b. Smit
for this particular office, has surprised the Pres
dents best friends here as well as elswhert
There is abundant reason to believe that il wa
done in fulfillment of an unfortunate pledg
made in Mr.. Lincolns behalf at the time Q
the nomination at Chicago. If he has since bee
lei to regret this, in consequence of the urgen
and multiplied remonstrances which have bee
poured in upon him, he has kept his own counse
Mr. Smith was with Mr.. Lincoln in Congress, an
il is supposed old associations NAV have cor
trbuted to influence him in adhering to hir
through all opposition. But the chief cause G
the tenacity with which the name of Caleb
Smith was held on to for the Department of til
Interior, was the pledge before mentioned. In
diana was to have place in the Cabinet; tina
place was the Interior Department; and Caleb
Smith was the man for the place. The Pos
Office Department was not the place wanted fc
Indiana, for it would not suit that gentleman; nc
was Hon. Schuyler Colfax, who was urged
half the North, as conspicuously fitted for tn
Post Office Department-the man whom Indian
politicians wanted in the Cabinet
The result is before the country; and it is to b
hoped that considerations of the undeniable d;
trust which attends such nomination in man
quarters. and a sense of the vigilant criticisl
with which his official acts will be regarded, ma
lead the Secretary of the Interior to steer clea
of the breakers which have SO disastrousl
wrecked all his former ventures in posts of rt
sponsibility. Should this be the result, the cour
try will have no reason to regret his present Ell,
vation to power.