, 1870-04-20
OUR PUBLIC LAHDS.
Their Ovcrsccr, Joseph =. WILSON,
His Report Tor 160U-Cnrious Fem
auEos Of tho LaAnd SystcIa-Thc E1AiI.
way and Othcr Grabs.

His Report Tor 1681-Curious F6f
auEos Of tho Land dSystcIu-Thc fs1A1
; way and Other Grnbs.
t1kox QUE OWE CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON, April II
Ofice-holders may be divided into throc
four c11sses-
Tho nrst " the careless ofioe-loller, VT
commits his Affairs to his Chief Clark; Il
Chief Clerk hands them over 10 the secor
cICk, and so They drop down, until they rcae
aging OF thieves. This has been tho case II
Tie last twenty yoa:s with Indian Buseau.
Next, you have the opinionated otica-holla
like Mr.. Boutwell,. who directs Ills mind to oz,
OF two things, concentrates lis whole ouergit
upon them, md lets the rest go to pot.
The Legal ofics-ho1der ID Tho third speciei
who reduces al questions TO propositions :
law; and While be il generally apt to he righi
is often inaperfecty informed. Attorney Ger
er1 Hoar znd. parhAps, General Coz are q
this class.
he1t, wo havo tho fussy, ErbtlinS, or enc,
getic onice-to1der, like General CsPnon, Ill
Mullet, OF Admiral Porter.
| TEE LAID coAanss1oxE1.
After pas6nE these classes, you como to in
dividuals who arc entirely and solely them
Aelvcs. Such il Joseph 8. Wilson, Commis
sioneE Of the Geaeral Land Office. Wilson bo
longs to family Of Federl oftice-hokle1s, VII,
have worked up from allow beginnines, aut
they e1pIsy in their suocess tho benafits Of !,
permanent civil service. Mr.. Wilson'S fathe,
Was, If am not mistaken, an Irishmau aud ;
porter or body servant about the Patent otIico
He worked all ct his days under the CnitcG
States Government, and put his sons in lt1,n1
ble plaeea under the same jealous employer
One OF them has been En- Auditor Of the Tteaa
uT SECOND one has kept about the Depart
Eent Of the Interior for nearly his whole life
while the third generation Of boys went into
the army md the navy. This family il tlorer
fore rare e1cmplihcat,on Of the oil govern.
neut oficiala, such Il azo described in modern
English novels.
Ar. Joseph Wilson is study, aud, in some
respects, wonder. He is no politician in ans
caucus sense, and yet keepe his place, or neat
hts placc, through al political mutations by
reason OF bis unfalipS geni7lity and his OK
tzAoFdinary information and industry. And,
ty this means, he has 30 inwoven hiuaself with
the intricate and vast land systeu of tho
United States that no Secretary OF Tho Interio,
cares to Try the experiment Of displacing him,
His superior IN office il, in general, polii-
clan, aud he can have no fear that Wilson
wants to undermine him, snd, therefore, while
one titnc Or another, Affected the Patent Du-
! raAu, the Indian Bureau, tho Educational Du-
rem, the Agricultural Bureau, dc., tho Land
Office, IN its general management, has been
eteadfast Il the land itself.
The American land ayatem ia altogether the
most national and extensive department Of
our government. It is to us ~ huge in com
Es17tlre proportions az Ia the colonial estab-
lshment to tho English Government the
police system to the French, or the military
system to the Russians. What petty thing
xha American army! How little the Ameri-
cAn nayy! but how insignificant il even tho
Stato Department to tic immense work OF
managing, surveying, parceAing out, giving
away, and adjusting the titles, and providing
for the future regimen OF nea1ly the fourth
.834, ,993 400 scres in al the United States, loss
than one-third has been actually surveyed, Of
sos, SCI, ,GGs acres.
not counting Alsska, there aro ], ,00o, 900, ,0ou
Of nctcs Of underlined, undistulbed public land
0o0, 600 Of people q farm Of 106 acres apiece.
Last year there vere hid out 10s, 900 far1aa Of
this size. In addition to this, the immense
railroad, Indian, mineral and educational in.
terests Of the United States ato thoroughly
bound up IN this land system. Indeed, Il
Government WIS = department. Of the public
lands, for Il the republic we're properly intec
pr4ted the american people would be attend.
ing to themselves and their government to the
public real estate. And tho custodian and
overseel man Of this monstzouA nninhabitet
empire is the old gentleman whom have IN:
| troduced.
You will see him in one Of tho corner rooms
Of the great Doric cdidce in Washington, calIet
the rntent Office. lie Is 8 thick~set, square
shonldssed, ST G3y.hai1ed, Isa, rather puiry aae
half .shaFed md Z little leas thsn half- -cnmbed,
and bearing striking resemblance to some
persons you have seen who slept in thel
breeehcs and boots. Close to co yearH Of age
born in Washington, mau with \ literary ant
editorial rather th.n legal turn Of mind
men of the native American official a
ment. This square, i.rge, caspeted
book-atraWn office il where be spends tht
better part Of hia Lie. Two Uttlo carpete;
dens oren ont Of it, into which he rctieos, &c
cortling to tradition, to boil tea four times
day ever gas burner. While. he drinks til
Eleeps about Ave hours in the twenty-louy t
dream OF the public lands. Occasionally he i
brought out to eomo little party or other +
reaa an eeeay, or . lecture, for which he /
well qualified by dramatic and other enlo1s
ments. But, though it bo upon Cromwell, Q
King Charles the First, OF Marlborough, yo
i will always find that. in some way or other, III
lecture takes it's beginning OF eliminates In III
question Of the public lands. This versatile ol
, gentleman Is tho chief literary hand about th
!. government. II an tho strange and instructiv
mAps, messages, reports and essays that
prepared or supcrintenied we're to be put
= lished, the Government Printing Office woul
hare but one author. he wrote the introdut
, tion to the last census, giving history Of a
.. the censuEcs taken hy all the nations sine
Noah counrea tho animals At the door of th
,, cultural reports ard in tthe Smithsonian r +,
, porte. A good deal Of the correspondence {
, ,he State Department witl, foreign Alinisis::
count; for he Is always huntin
up information on some abstrls
. I you follow i out, you iii lind at list ii.
It is an e1balatfon Of the public land busines.
His early reports arc more remarkable fe
their strictly ofticisl contents. The preseI
| report Is not in1exed; and public Office
, ought to be fined half his salary. for issuing:
. Wilson's reports for the Last few years, III
read the seH-imposed and r.ga.ious part c
them, you will, perhaps, conclude that We har
+ no uoddle In tho public service that winks i
: 60 many directions. and Ia 80 thorough
= anxious to spread information. Tho STYLE c
his reports is often loose and h4sty. For e1
= ample, here are The first words Of the repo,
i "First. That system has ca.endod To a.
, the public lands in the States and Tet1itorie
, OF TIC republic, except Alaska and Wyoming
IN whien s ths public land system is not we'll il
? You perceive that here is aiisconnec:ed ser
. tence 4 The very beginning Of public repor
Of 406 pagcs-
This is no worse than the nasss Of our publ
reports, but instance it to show Whist loos
editorial work ia done over our public door
ments. The fatal facility and cheap access
! the Government Printing O:fico haA mado
: possible to toss in there heap OF disconnect
ed and nly-digested matter, much Of which
. as entirely lost az diamonds buried in som
: muddy BRAZILIAN river.
r OPEN roCR ErE.
, Let uS search ont Of this report some point
affecting our mighty land system,
Ont Of the seventeen States admitted to th
I Union since our independence, nearly min
have been fully surveyed. Only two State
ured out, and their land archives transfar1e
to the State authorities, namely: lows an
Missouri. This shows us how new We are yt
), ss M empire. The rtakes are not driven vhic
, define the desert from the gore1nmcnt-
The Whole Of this loose public domain is d
: vided into fifteen surveying depaz.ments
+ each With Surveyor general for its GOV
E e1nor, and he and his emall arroy OF deputie
rule IS in the days Of the early world, by ii
!. natural laud-m1rkB which nature has set uI
army Of surveyors. Every day. whils We 6
: about oU business, vEanStnG over cotne
1 lots, negotiating mortgages, and hlgglin
, over land BY the foot, this army Q
: pioneers has pitched it, fifteen cannpe, lik
90 many constitutions, in the blu
} desert, and Is buNly laying out Ii
. fa1ms Of men, and the torms Of empires, ye
, to be. Il You should 50 into New Mexico Q
arizona, after long and lonely travel 20
might. 1t last, conc to certain posts, blAze
trees, and other mA.ks, indicating that hrnnA
, sctnrs hsd been 1t some monstrous work i
these lonely and uninhabited plsccs. Follow
Ing out your Investigations, you would fa
that these marks we're apparently parts G
: some general system Of mathematical survo.