Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-11
PUBLIC LAND FRAUDS
Secretary Hitchcock Submits
His Annual Report.
WORK DONE IN ONE YEAR
Many improvements and Savings in
Expenditures Noted.
PENSION AND INDIAN OFFICES
Asks for Fireproof Building for Ac-
commodation of Bureaus-Modi-
fcation Of Laws.

Ethan Allen Hitchcock has submitted his
last annual report to the President as Sec
rotary of the Interior
The annual report of the Department of
the Interior for the fiscal year ended June
so, 1905, is voluminous document, as usual,
and contains. also as usual, some very in
terestng matter in regard to a large num-
Der of important government enterprises. A
consideration of the activities of the depart
ment in the investigation of the public land
frauds in the west occupies a large part of
the report.
There has beer no diminution In the vol
ume of work coming into the department
during the period covered by this report,
says the Secretary by way of introduction.
"On the contrary, the past year has been
characterized by an increase"
The Secretary states that in the interest,
therefore. Of economy and efficiency of the
service, provision should be made by Cc>l-
gress at the earliest practica Bile date for
the erection of fireproof building for the
accommodation of the bureaus now occupy
ing rented buildings; and provision should
also at once be made for the additional
room necessary for the proper consideration
and dispatch of the business Of the patent
office.
In regard to the public frauds. Secretary
Hitchcock says:
1.-THE unusual activity in the public-land
service referred to in my last annual re-
port has not abated. The prosecution of
all persons conspiring to defraud the gov
eminent of it's public lands is being contin-
ued with vigor, as Is shown by the fact
that 400 persons have been indicted in the
various land states and territories for the
violation of the public-land laws, 50 have
been convicted and indictments are still
pending against 4O1. The laws enacted for
the protection of the lands should therefore
be rigidy enforced and this has been the
cardinal principle of my administration.
Inadequate Punishment by Courts.
ut is to be regretted, however, that the
efforts made to release 1t from the grip of
its despoilers have been met by every en-
barrassment that human ingenuity could
devise; powerful influences have been con-
cerned. and have not hesitated to agrees
sively exert every agency that could be
commanded to weaken the hand Of the law:
even local land-office officials have been SUBJ
servient to such influences, and the punish
ment imposed by the courts has, in many
cases, been so conspicuously inadequate as
to encourage rather than deter violations of
the law Whether this official stagnation is
due in any degree to local political inf1u-
ences to which these officials are more or
less indebted for their commissions and the
retention of their positions, is not important
to discuss at this time, it being sufficient to
state that it is a deplorable fact that such
action, or rather inaction is bringing re-
proach upon the public service besides en-
HANGING the difficulties which beset the ad-
ministration in any efforts that it may
make to rescue the public domain from Sc
rious peril.
Until, therefore, the opportunities afford
ed for the fraudulent acquisition Of public
lands by the timber and stone act, the des-
ert land acts and the communication clause Of
the homestead law are removed by the re-
ifoo nff hoe
government may expect to expend its money
and energy in apprehending and convicting
those seeking to defraud it out of it's public
lands accordingly renew the recommend
atoms that have consistently made for the
past five years. that the aforementioned
laws be repealed or modified"
Work in Land Office.
At the close of the preceding year there
were pending in the Office of the assistant
attorney general for the department 687
appeals from the general land office. Dur
ing the year 1910 appeals were received
and 1,674 were disposed of, leaving Enacted
upon at the date of the report 923 cases.
Three hundred and thirty-four motions for
review were acted upon, leaving pending at
the close of the year "a of said motions.
There were also received during the year
422 references for opinion, of which "a are
still pending. Three hundred and ninety
eight miscellaneous matters, including APP
ceived and disposed of during the year.
There were disposed of during the fiscal
year ended June 80, 1905. public lands ag-
gregating 19,431, 1S7.47 acres, showing an
Increase of 1874, $500 acres as compared
with the aggregate disposals for the pre-
ceding fiscal year. The total cash receipts
during the fiscal year from various sources,
including disposal of public land, amounted
to $6.52S, 477.38; and Indian lands, $685.
532 SO; from depredations on public lands,
SAT, 74O.23; from depredations on Indian
from sales of government property, $1O,-
542. IS, and for furnishing copies of records
and plats, $30.225; aggregate, 81. 5s5, 523 80;
an increase of 1851, 712.52 as compared with
the preceding fiscal year.
The total expenses of district land offices,
for salaries and commissions Of registers
and receivers, incidental expenses and ex-
penses of depositing public moneys during
the fiscal year ended June 80. 1885, were
$7SO417.SO, a decrease of $37, 921. 80, as COM
pared with the fiscal year ended June 80,
1905
Progress Of the Indians.
The Secretary speaks Of the work of the
Indian Office as follows:
Considerable progress has been made
by the Indians of the United States during
the past fiscal year toward civilization,
and there has been a material increase in
the number engaged in earning seif-sup-
port In the following summary of the
operations of the Office of Indian affairs the
aim has been merely to include therein
brief review of the most prominent fea-
lures of the work of the Indian service,
showing, however, that the work and the
administration of the service have been in
a marked degree successful.
According to the report during the field
season geologic parties were at work in all
parts of the country gathering data for the
great geologic atlas of the United States
and for reports on special subjects and
localities Special studies were made of
the granite quarries of Maine, the Gays of
Cape Cod, the cement resources of Vir-
ginia and Alabama, the iron ores of Vir-
ginia, the granite industry and copper re-
sources of the Appalachian region, the
Goldfield and other mining districts In
various parts of the west asphalt lands and
ozokerite deposits in Utah. and others too
numerous to mention In this report