The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-06-29
LANDS HIGHER PRICED
OFFICIALS OF THE INTERIOR DE-
PARTMENT HIGHLY GRAFT
FLED AT INCREASE.
Rural Route Mail Carriers May Have
to Wear Regulation Uniforms
in Future.

WASHINGTON, D. c., June 29.-Of-
ficials of the interior department are
highly gratified at the high prices that
have been obtained for public lands
sold within the last two or three years,
either at public auction or under seal
and again that better prices are OBJ
tanned in this way than for lands of
like character disposed of under the
public land laws. Indian reservation
lands sold to the highest bidder bring
prices commensurate with their real
value, ana from four to a dozen times
what these same lands would bring if
taken up under the land laws. This
manner of dispOsing of reservation
lands has passed beyond the expert
ment stage: it has been positively
shown that public sales are conducted
if the department could have its way,
some such plan would be adopted for
disposing of all the remaining public
lands. especially those valuable for
their timber. 1t is desired to do away
with the timber and stone act, which
permits Of fraudulent operations in
spite of departmental vigilance, and no
better substitute is known than the
public sale method. 1t would insure
prices ranging from s. to $50 or even
500 per acre, where $3.50 is the min
imum price now received regardless of
the value of the land.
The postOffice department is consid-
ering the possibility of adopting a reg
ulation requiring rural free delivery
that now worn by carriers in the cities.
The matter has not been disposed of,
and probably will hang fire for some
time. While it is desirable, from many
standpOints, to have the rural carriers
uniformed, there are objections to en-
forcing such a regulation. In the first
place, it is thought by some officials
that it would impose a hardship on the
carriers. at least those of them who
draw the minimum salary. But to this
objection, it is stated that the car
riers must clothe themselves anyway,
and that they can doubtless secure
uniforms for about what they would
/ otherwise pay for apparel. 1t is not
| improba BILE that in the end the depart
| ment will prescribe a uniform for its
rural carriers, and will require them
all to supply themselves. If this is
done. uniforms will probably be offered
at low rates. by large contractors in
| the large cities, and will be placed
within reach of carriers, even in re-
mote districts.
Eighty earthquakes a year. or one
about every four days, is what has
occurred in the Philippines on an aver
age for the past seventeen years. This
| fact is brought out in a bulletin of the
census office on volcanoes and seismic
disturbances in the Philippine islands.
These subjects are learnedly discuss
| ed through so pages of a special bull
letin, which conveys much interesting
to the average layman. Some pOr-
tions of the islands are more suscep-
| tible to earthquakes than others. Ma
Mia is located in a region where they
are a frequent occurrence. The largest
islands feel the greatest shocks, while
some of the smaller islands are practi-
cally free from these disturbances.
| The archipelago boasts of eleven ac-
| tive and the same number of dormant
| volcanoes Some are located on iso-
lated islands; others occur on LuZOr
and Minandanao, the largest islands OF
the group. Near Manila is one active
and two dormant volcanoes, which are
minuetly described in the bulletin
The census bulletin is historical, as
we'll as descriptive.