The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-12-11
Reform In Governmen. surveys.

| envy OF sciences, recommending an lmpoI-
tant and very necessary reform in the adj
| ministration of the government surveys, Is
to have the opposition OF a number OF per-
sons interested in the continuation OF the
present hodge-podge, wasteful and unsclen-
tiic system. Representatives and Senators
will be pulled and hauled about on the
question, and as most Of them know very
little OF the merits of what is very impor-
tant subject. and have probably little time
to look into it. we propose here to give them
some information which the Academys re-
port, for obvious reasons. fails to give.
The committee of the Academy, CON-
posed Of seven of the most eminent men of
science in the country-Messrs. 0. c. Marsh,
James d. Dana, William B. Rogers, j. S.
Newberry, w. p. Trowbridge, Simon New
comb and Alexander Agassiz state briefly
that the surveys Of mensuration are now
conducted by five different and indie
pendent organizations-the Coast and
Geodetic Survey. which is under the
Treasury Department the Geographical
Survey West of the One Hundredth
Meridian, under the War Department !;
the Hayden and the Powell surveys,
under the Interior Department, and,
finally, the surveys in the Land Office
They recommend that this work shall all be
placed under the charge of the United
States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and that
there shall be besides this United States
Geological Survey; that both these shall be
placed under the control of the Interior
Department, and that they shall furnish
for the Land Office all the information it
needs, both Of the lines and boundaries, and
of the geological and other features Of the
public domain.
There is not the least doubt that this is a
wise and proper scheme which Congress
ought to adopt as soon as possible. When
it is put in operation not only will
a considerable economy be effected but
some scandalous abuses will cease, and work
which is now done at a needless cost in an
imperfect manner not creditable to our
country or advantageous to science will
thereafter be performed in systematic,
orderly and accurate way. To make our
meaning plain it will be best to relate some
examples Of the working of the present sys-
tenn. In the first place, the three principal
ner to puzzle anybody except those engaged
in them. Lieutenant Wheeler's, in the
War Department, is called the Geographic
cal Survey Of Territories West of the One
Hundredth Meridian" Major Powell's is
called the Geographical and Geological
Survey Of the Rocky Mountains" and Dr.
Haydens is called the Geological and Geo.
graphical Survey Of the Territories" It is
the custom Of the chiefs and members of
these different parties to spend the summer
in the field and return to Washington in
the winter for the double purpose of work.
ing out their field notes and lobbying Con-
gress for . new appropriation, and every
session sees eminent men Of science hang
ing about the Hobbies at the Capitol button
holing Congressman and beseeching COM
mitteemen for the means to continue their
labors.
But this, unpleasant as it is, is really the
least Of the abuses incident to the present
system. Congress appropriates annually
from one hundred and fifty thousand to
two hundred thousand dollars for these
three parties This they spend in their
operations in the field, and thereupon fol-
lows far greater and for the most part I'M
justifable outlay in the preparation and
printing of costly books, which, when they
are completed, form for the most part only
pleasing and seductive gifts to Congress-
men, and find their way in numbers to the
shelves Of second hand bookstores If
these publications were valuable to scientific
men that would be sufficient excuse for
them but they are not, except to limited
extent In April of last year the HEBaLD
exposed this abuse and called on Congress
10 remedy it by such a consolidation as is
now proposed, and we then asked, Why
should each Of these expeditions publish
an independent account of the natural his
tory of its region, including descriptions Of
all the animals found, when, as is easily
seen, if one compares the different volumes,
they cover the same animals, with very few
exceptions? 1t would surely be better to
have only one systematic account and note
the few exceptional animals separately. If
Congress will ask for a list of the publica-
tions of the three surveys for the last half
dozen years, and will compare these often
extremely costly volumes, it will see that a
prodigious sum of money has been diverted
from worthy scientific objects to mere book
making work of a kind which can max only
trouble and confusion to scientific men, and
worse for q layman who seeks information.
We venture to say that the numerous and
bulky volumes, enough to form a consider
able library, which have been put forth by
these different expeditions. if properly ed
tied and condensed, as they would be
if the work were all controlled by one head,
could be compressed into a tenth Of the
space they now occupy and be hundred
times more usefnl and far less costly