The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-09-02
MORE DEMOCRATIC ECONOMY.
Commissioner Sparks's Very Peculiar Meth
DDS of RefOrn.


Washington Special to Philadelphia Press.
Years ago, when Mortimer Thompson gained
a reputation as "Doesticks, " he had friend who
was his companion in all scrapes and whom he
called "Damphool" This administration ap-
pears to have several friends of that description,
but the principal one who could appropriately
answer to that cognomen is General Sparks. the
Commissioner of the General Land Office.
Sparks came into Office with the idea that every
body in the bureau over which he was placeds
from the messengers to the chiefs of divisions,
were rascals He believed that the public lands
had been recklessly parceled out without proper
investigation, and the first thing he did was TO
stop the issue of all land patents.
Filings, proofs and payments of every charac-
ter were to proceed as had been customary in
the district land Offices, and these were to be
reported in regular order to the General Land
Office, where they were in ordinary course to
pass the usual examinations as to their compll-
ance with the requirements of the statute and
If found to be legally correct, they were to be
approved for patent But just at this point they
were suspended. No patents were to issue upon
any such approved entries until they should be
further examined in the field by department
detective and reported by him to be in conformi
ty to law. This order applied both to future
cases and also to all entries previously made,
and whether not previously examined by
department detectives, and whether or not
previously approved for patent but not patented
The evident object of this order was to enable
-
those of Democratic proclivities, and to furnish
the new agents with an abundance Of work. A
singular feature of this order was that, while it
covered the States and Territories in the West
and Northwest, it was not at all operative in the
South. Under it's operations all the land patents
were hung up, and the special agents proceeded
to investigate and report as they were directed
In the meantime, however, the work of pre-
pairing the claims, which, on examination in the
office here, were found to be in conformity with
law for patent, went on, and the patents were
regularly made out for the proper signature, but
were held up unsigned. This work continued
for three months, and many thousand patents
accumulated awaiting signature.
Commissioner Sparks did not reach these ac-
cumulated cases until after the 4th of July, and
then it was discovered that all the work of a
large number of clerks in the land Office for the
previous three months was wholly useless, and
would have to be all done over again. The
records and patents were all made out in the
109th year of the independence of the United
States, whereas, after the 4th of July, 1885, they
were in the 10th year The law does not per-
NIT any erasure in the patents. and so they all
had to be DESTROYED. AS they are written upon
parchment, they are quite costly, and the amount
of waste occasioned by the delay and fooshness
of Mr. Commissioner Sparks is no inconsiderable
item.
AS if to try and make up for the reckless and
extravagant waste of stationary and time,
Sparks has issued rigid orders in regard to the
stationary used by the clerks in his bureau. Each
clerk must make a request in writing for each
sheet of paper, lead pencil, rubber band and pen
required. which are all charged to him and have
to be accounted for These individual requests
are handed to the chiefs of the division, who
consolidate them into weekly requistion on
the stationary clerk and then the articles, on
receipt by the chief distributed to the clerks
Such is method of Democratic economy.