Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1894-12-06

treasury recommend the transfer of the Wort.
ment. 1 heartily concur in this recommendation,
Excluding Alaska and a very small area be.
our coast has been completed The photographic
work, which must be done over and over again
nv reason of the shifting and varying depths of
water consequent upon the action of streams and
tides, has heretofore been done under the direc,
ton of naval officers, in subordnaton to the
SUPERINTENDENT of the coast survey. There seems
to be no good reason why the Navy department.
should not have entire charge hereafter of sucb
Work, and especially the photographic Office
of the Navy department is i; now and has been
maps entirely similar to those prepared by the
| feel it my imperative duty to call attention
to the recommendation of the secretary in regard
to the personnel of the line of the navy. The
stagnation of promotion in this. the vital branch
of the service, is so great to seriously impair
it's efficiency consider IT Of ,a the utmost i'm
should before the eve of retirement be permitted
to reach grade emitting them to active and
III The system adopted a few years ago regulating
the employment of labor at the Navy yards is
rigidly upheld and has fully demonstrated its
usefulness and expediency. 1t is within the do
main of civil service reform inasnluch work
men are employed through Board of Labor Sc
lected at each navy yard, and are given work
without reference to politics and in the order
Of their to Pg and ns aas
having former navy yard experience. Amend
to- the rules regulating the system. Through its
opera ton the work at our navy yards has been
vastly improved in efficiency ana the opportunity
TO willing and competent applicants it is hoped
that if this system continues to be strictly adj
hered to- there will soon be as natural cOnse.
nuence such an equalization of party benefit as
viii remove all temptation to relax or abandon it.
Public Land Undisposed OF.
The report of the secretary of the interior ex.
hibits the situation of the numerous and inter.
with his department l commend this report
and the valuable recommendations Of the sesre-
tary to the careful attention of congress. The
public land disposed of during the year amounted
to 10, 4o6. 1o0.77 acres including 2sS76,o9 of
domain still remaining amounts to little more
than SOC, 900, 900 acres, excluding however, about
500 900 acres in Alaska. as well as military
reservations and railroad and other selections of
lands yet unadjudicated The total cash re-
2S5 70 including 81 .03 received from sale
of Indian lands. Thirty-fve thousand patents
were issued for agricultural lands and 100 pat
ents were issued to Indians allotments of
their holdings in seyeraIty the lands allotted he
Rod of enty-fve years after patent. There
were certified and patented on account of railroad
and wagon road grants during the year s65,-
$50 45 acres of land, and at the close of the
year 20 900 600 acres We're embraced in the lists
of selections made by railroad and wagon road
lions of swamp lands and that taken as indem-
viding for the same in 1S49 amount to nearly
or quite so. 500. GOO acres, OF which $1,000 Geo
acres were patented during the last year.
Nearly $4,000 acres of school and education
close $50 1863 81 acres remained unadjusted.
It appears that the appropriation for the cur
TS yfar on of thee public and % f
thereon is much less than those for previous
fse AND o fpf sum a M San ss
been appropriated during a number of years past
on this has been aHn of !" the
in the particular service mentioned. and | hope
it will not be crippled by insufficient appropria-
secretary that adequate protection be provided
for forest reserves and that comprehensive
fnrn ctpyy o,-ctnI hn imam o1Jr1t n1
Such keepers and superintendents are
necessary to protect the forests already reserved
there should be an abandonment of the policy
sanctioned by present laws under which the
rapidly losing title to immense tracts of land
covered, with timber which should be properly
reserved permanent sources of timber supply.
The suggestion that change he made in the
is especa ES'" Worhy " of consdsrapon H anu
satisfied that these surveys should he made by
G2aps 90 nd Of Nn cnm p ni
sioner of the General Land office.
An exceedingly important recommendation Of
the secretary relates to the manner in which
contests and litigated cases growing out of eff
forts to obtain government land are determined.
versies depend in all their stages is taken be-
fore the local registers and receivers, and yet
these officers have no power TO subpoena VII
nesses or to enforce their attendance to testify.
These cases, numbering 5000 or 1000 annually,
sent by the local officers to the commissioner
of the General Land office for his action. The
exigencies of his other duties oblise him to act
ceivers without an opportunity of thorough
personal examination. Nearly 1000 of these
cases are appealed annually from the commits
sioner to the secretary of the interior. Burdened
with other important administrative duties, ms
perfunctory and based upon examination of
others, though this determination of the secrte ,
tary operates as final adjudication upon rights
of very great Importance l concur in the
opinion that the commissioner of the General
deciding litigated land cases: that non-parti-
san court should be created to pass on sucn
should be final, at least far as the decisions
of the department are now final. The proposed
"ns of aw De n aer of 10 f
to the Supreme court of the United States OF
bia Tor decision. The creation of such tri,,
bunal would expedite the disposal Of cases and
insure decisions of more satisfactory cnaraG,
ter. The registers and receivers who originally
hear and decide the disputes should be vested
with authority to compel witnesses to attend
Though the condition of the Indians shows a
steady and healthy progress their siu9ti tam IS
too to whom a' aoments al Of land have e been made
found to be unable dsincined to follow
anase fhe nd THIS IS esp
the Cheyennes and Arapahoes; who as 1t ap,
instances never been located upon their alot-
ments, and in some cases do not even Know low
deteriorated. They are not selfsupportng, and
they live in camps and spend their it, time not ~
ments of reservation lands to Indians in sever.
atty should be made sparingly, or at least
slowly and with the utmost caution. In THESE
days when white asriculturalsts and stock
raisers of experience and intelligence find thgr
lot hard one, we ought not to expect III,
dans, unless far advanced in civilization ana
habits of industry, TO support themselves on '1S
small tracts of land usually allotted to them. IL
the self-supporting scheme by allotment 1ailS
the wretched pauperism of the allotees Wicn
of regulated dependence. It is evident that the the
evil consequences of fll-advsed allotment are are
intensified in cases where the first step CANNOT
be retraced on account of the purchase by the
government of reservation lands remaining alle I
allotments made and the disposition OF sucn
remaining lands to settlers purchasers IRON
the government
am convinced that the proper solution OF the
Indian problem and the of every step
taken in that direction depend to a very ia Tse
extent upon the intelligence and honesty OF t9s
reservation agents and the interest they have IL
their work. An agent fitted for his place ear Eis
DO much toward preparing the Indians under ms i
charge for citizenship and allotment of tbenI
lands and his advice as to any matter cohcelfft
ing their welfare will not mislead. An Tnns
agent will make effort to advance the Indians