Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1875-10-01
WASHINGTON.
Fat Job I'm Prospect MalCOntents-
Interior Department, sc.

Interior Department, &c.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29.-The Board |
of Health have determined that the |
wooden pavement, of which Washing |
ton has sixty four miles, emits gases
engendering zymotic diseases.
It appears that the committee from |
Misais 'ippi. headed by senator Bruce.
had in addition to other objects, the |
removal of Postmaster Pearce. of |
V'cksburg. and Attorney General Wells. |
Messrs. Pearce aud Wells are both |
here. and have assurances that their |
course is in accordance with the views |
of the AdminlstI alton, and that there |
will be no changes in the Federal
offices of the State.
1t is rumored that Dawson A. Cole |
man, a wealthy Pennsylvania coal !
dealer, is to supercede Delano.
The Commission on the Alabama
Claims met to-day, all the Judges
present The award for GoIconda, ag-
gregating Sl5. 900, with per cent. in
tt.rest since 1854, was allowed. They
then adjourned till TuesdAy
r G. Feldkamp has been appointed
appraiser of merchandise tJr Chicago.
Secretary Delano's Resignation Ac-
cepted.
WAsH1NaroN, Sept. 2G-The follow
ing IS a letter of the Hon. O. De'ano, re-
signing the Office of Secretary of the
Interior, with the Presidents lett er of
acceptance.
It may be stated, that on the evening
of the ID i'll it.. the date of the Presi-
dents letter, Mr.. Delano in company
with a friend, called on the President
at Elizabeth. n. j., to urge the &C
ceptance of this resignation
1t is probable that the President will
appoint his successor from Pennsyl-
vania, and that his name will be an
nounced Tomorrow.
WASHINGTON, July 5.
Mr.. President
/ have the honor to transmit with
this note my resignation Of the office of
Secretary of the Int 1rior. You lave
been aware for some time of my earnest
desire to retire from public life, and
you have understood the reasons in
connection with my private business
aud domestic affections, which have
produced and intensified this desire
last fall. In December I requested
you to accept my resignation. You
asked me not to insist upon it, and ex-
pressed desire that I should remain
in your Cabinet until the end of your
Administration, or as long as / found
it agreeable to do so. At your request
and solicitation / declined then to in
slst upon your acceptance of my resig- |
nation, assuring you, however, that / |
must resign during the early part of
the ensuing year. When that period |
arrived. and during the months of |
April and May, you advised me again |
not to resign, which advice agreed with |
my own Judgment. The reasons for |
this conclusion need not be stated here. |
Sin 50 you were called by your fellow |
citizens to perform the duty of Chief |
Magistrate you have invited me, with
out the solicitation of myself or friends |
SO far as [ know and believe, to take |
charge of two important and RESPONSE |
BILE public trusts-the Internal Revenue |
Bureau and the Interior Department. |
was Commissioner of Internal Revenue |
from March. 1869, to November, 1870 |
-aperiod of oneyear and eight months. |
The results of my administration you |
know, and they are not, / trust, en-
tirely unknown to my fellow-citizens. |
The difficulties of this position and the |
diligence, care and labor required of |
me in discharging its duties, you also |
understand, aud of these I trust the |
public has some correct appreciation
1 assumed the duties of the Interior
in November, 1870. and have discharg-
ed them to the best of my ability for a I
period of four years and eight months.
They have been laborioua, difficult and
delicate. They have embraced the
super vision of the General Land Office,
Indian Bureau, Pension and Patent
Offices, Bureau of Education, and a
of h1S
known to any except those connected
with the public service. The business
of the Land Office is very extensive,
and involved the adjustment and the
settlement of land growing out of the
railroad grants so literally and pro-
fusely made few years since, and the
Mexican and spanish grants made be-
fore we acquired California and New
Mexico, and also those growing out of
our mine rate laws and large mining
interests, to say nothing of those that
are under our homestead and pre-empt
systems. These cause the head of the
Department vast amount of judicial
labor aud responsibility, which is not
generally understood. The Indian
Bureau, as you know,is full of intricate,
delicate and vexatious questions grow
ing out of numerous Indian treaties,
and the inperfectly defined relations
existing between the Government and
the Indian races. The execution of
this service is greatly embarrassed by
the remote location where much of it
has to be performed, thus preventing
contact and personal supervision, as
we'll as by the want of salaries large
enough to command talent and charac-
ter equal to the duties and RESPONSE
bilities of the position. Many of the
duties of the head of the
are connected with the
and personal interests of in
dividuais, these intrests are often large
in amount. The Secretary in deciding
must necessarily rejec: the claims of
some of tho parties and thereby not
finds himself assaIled by
the misrepresentation and faIsehoods
Of the defeated claimants. / feel con-
fident that thorough and impartial
of the public service con-
nected with the execution and all the
bureaus attached to the Interior De-
partment will show to all candid and
men that it has never been
IN more prosperous or better condi-
ton than it is now, and I feel sure
that the most scrntinizing examination
will sustain the opinion here expressed,
md that it will also lead to the convic-
ion that great improvements have
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