Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-12-05
THE NATIONS ESTATE.
Annual Report Of the Commissioner Of
the General Land Office for
tho Year 1885.
4 Decrease In tho Receipts PROM che Dis
poshis Of Pabiir Lands wsah.
ings ~ Tho Lsnd Acts.
BgrAnTurSf of fifK fsfFniOR, }
GTNEuAL LAsD pTfict,

frlHNNAlf ~ fINNf.If z
WAsnisUftN q. Dec. T. }
SWi | have The honor 10 submit here
with the annual report Of the general land
office fer FISCAL year ending june 10, 1880.
Tho operations for this period were
chiefly under the prcyioSs adtplnistra-
ton assumed the duties of the Office
March ~, 1885, aud accordingly have but
three months and few days OF my own
supervision ot IL 20 account for This
brief period was insufficient TO enable
me 10 mOrc thnu realize the situation aud
% make u commencement toward such
reforms 40 soon perceived were impnrn-
tive In Tho public Interest, The need aud
Importance OF which have become more
and moro conspicuous with each days
added experience ! found that che mag
nlticeut estate Of the nation IN ~ public
lands had been 20 q wide extent wasted
under defective uud improvdent lawHand
through a laNity Of public administration
astonishing Ia business sense, u not
culpnblo In rocklossucgB Of official re-
sponaibllty
The widespread belief Of the people of
this country that thc land department has
been very largely conducted 70 the adj
vantage OF speculation mud monopoly,
private and corporate, rather than IN the
public interest, have found supported by
Developments IN every branch OF The scry.
leo. 10 seems That the prevailing ldca
running through this Office aud those
subordinate TO " was that the govern
ment had no distinctive rights 70 be- con.
sltlcrod and no special Interests 10 pros
tect hence, az between the government
aud spoilers Of tho public domain, the
government usually had the worst Of It.
! nm satisfied that thousands Of claims
without foundation In law or equity,
Involving millions OF acres Of public lind,
have been annually passed 10 patent upon
tho single proposition TINT nobody but
the government Ind any adverse Interest.
The vast machinery Of the land depart.
lncnt appears 10 have been devoted to the
chief result Of conveying the title Of the
United States 10 public lands
upon fraudulent entries under
strained constructions OF i'm,
perfect public lnud laws aud upon
Illegal claims under public and private
grants. shnll cndeuyOr IN this report
to point out some of the evidences which
Illustrate the truth Of these general state.
mcnts.
From the reports of the subordinate
divisions % this ONCE, IL appears TINT dur.
Ing the last fiscal year the snlca, entries,
nnd sclcclione Of public land underyutlour
nets Of congress relating thereto embrace
20, ll8, GG8.B7 acros, nud Of lndim lands
Rsl s602l nGroa, mHklnga toml Of 20,
DD0,6lB tt acres, being decrease, NJ
compared with The year 1885,, Of G,6B6,
G6Gil nerrH, and 90 in0rtnso over the
yenr sBB of 1865, is0 ~ acres
Tho receipts from tho disp0snls OF
public lands are 1885, II s0i lrom sale,
uf Indian lnnds, 1888 l89,62i total oI
As,Glp, 6ps SO, being decrease, as com
pared with The yoarl 1884 Of ~, l60, bag OF,
and with 1888 Of 80, 0sG, lG7 so, to which
Is 70 bc added as,s2l, 50 for certified
copies OF rocorda furnished by the gen.
crl land olliGc, mixing tho total receipts
for the year from all sources 9s,G2s,.
l20.lB,