New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-12-05
THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT.

Secretary Noble remarks IN opening MS
annual report the important features of which
are elsewhere presented this morning, that the
Interior Department has at this moment I'M
doubtedy reached It's greatest expansion. we
are glad 10 believe that this Is true. II has
become entirely too great machine OF gov
eminent already. American laws imposing
upon executive officers the duty of admins
traton generally and wisely leave much to the
discretion If the administrative authority. ms
: as it ought to be, but so vast and multi
fariouS are the concerns committed u inc IN
terror Department that over all the Territories
and indeed, over many OF the states, ana
ESPECIALLY those recently admitted, 1t Is little
else than the Government itself Ii Is crafty
ing TO know that the operations OF the General
Land Office will in the future rapidly contract
and that the work Of absorbing the Indian
reservations and of placing their former owners
upon farms in severalty is going forward so
lapidlv and is bringing such large bodies OF
Indians under State administration, rs 10 give
ground for the hope that the Indian Office will
also need in the near future grant OF power
and money much less considerable than at
present. 1t will be a matter for public con
graduation. too, when the relations Of the
have ceased. when their land grants have been
finally adjusted. and when the time OF Con-
prcSs and Of the Executive department Of the
Government will be less largely occupied in
tho consideration OF their rights, obligations
and opportunities.
Considering the character Of the work of the
Interior Department, its variety, extent, the
force employed upon it and the tremendous III
tcrcsts involved in its daily performance, the
record presented by Secretary Noble is simply
wonderful. II shows that the vast accumula-
ton OF business on hand when the Cleveland
Administration went out has been IN every
branch Of the Department disposed OF and that
all are now at work upon current business
1t shows that nearly 100000 entries in the
Land Office have been carefully and properly
acted upon. Six great forest reserves en-
Inacing an area of 3,252.2G0 acres have been
created and are now being guarded against
depreciation and fire. A system Of irrigation
has been advanced by the selection of sites
for reservoirs and by the construction OF canals
and bitches. The National parks have been
improved and all the grave questions in regard
to timber reservations, irrigation, the cstab-
lishmcnt of boundaries and the settlement OF
private land claims and claims for Indian
depredationS, left over by the last Admins
tration, have been Justly and finally settled
Equally notable is the Improvement in the work
of the Indian Bureau. The attendance OF In
dian children at school has greatly increased.
Five new reservation boarding schools have
been established and six others are in process
Of establishment. s. non-Icscrvation schools
have been put into operation and the character
| Of the work done and the discipline maintained
at all these institutions has undergone great
Improvement. Agreements have been ncgo-
tat, with fourteen Indian tribes providing for
the restoration 10 the public domain of nearly
u, 900 900 acres, and 10,000,O00 acres more
will be added when other agreements have
been ratified Nearly 5000 Indians have be
come citizens OF the United States by accepting
| allotmentS Of land, and patents b the number
of 1900 more will soon he issued. The tribes
and reservations are thoroughly broken up, and
the time is evidently near at hand when the
| Indian problem, II il exists at ALL will show
| itself in very different form from that with
which we have been so sadly familiar in the
past
Among the great transactions accomplished
| by TIE Interior Department during this Ad-
mintstraton has been the creation OF the new
| Territory Of Oklahoma, where population now
exists Of mere than 1873, 900. and property
has been accumulated valued at over $40, 900
600; where three railroads are in operation and
over twenty-five towns and villages have been
established The census has been taken for
! the decennial epoch of 1890 on a scale much
larger than ha, ever been known before. So
excellent, however, has been the work done
that the official count Of the population was
announced in less than four months after the
enumeration was completed. and Congress was
| furnished with the basis for the new app1rton
| mcnt nearly two years sooner than at any