Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1907-05-08
THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT.

The Interior Department is not one
OF the most romantic branches Of the
government business, but it is one of
The most important, and the report of
the secretary contains many items of
interest.
The secretary reports that 10, 43l, 1877
acres Of public lands were disposed of
during the year, of which LIZA, 341
acres were sold for cash. The others
went for miscellaneous entries, en-
bracing homesteads, land warrants,
scrip locations, state selections,
swamp lands, railroad and wagon
road selections, and Indian allotinents.
Two million three hundred and seven
ty-four thousand more acres were dis
posed of than during the previous
year. There remain Of the unappro-
priated public lands 799. 600, 600 acres.
of which nearly one-half are in
Alaska
The secretary reports that there
were 1924 cases Of depredations upon
public timber to the value of 1897, 600,
an increase of s213, 600 over the pre-
vious year. Settlement was made in
l72 cases and 10, 600 collected. Recon-.
mendations for civil suit were made
in sixty-three cases, and criminal pro.
secutions also in sixty. three cases. He
declares that 2,O91, 900 acres of public
land were enclosed unlawfully and
that in sixty-six of these cases the en-
closures have been removed and 338.
600 acres restored Proceedings in the
other cases are pending.
In speaking of Indian affairs the
secretary warmly commends the ad-
ministration of Commissioner Leupp
He points out that in the government
schools there is total enrolment of
Indian children of "a, 762 pupils. IT, 200
more than last year, but the average
attendance has decreased 1863. He
speaks of the construction of nineteen
new school buildings now going ON
and mentions that the support of
these schools has cost $3, 800, 600 for
the year, or more than one.third of
the appropriations for the Indians
and their affairs.
On the subject of pensions the Sec
retary says the roll has decreased dur.
ing the year from l 1,033, 4l5 to 9S5, ,97l.
-ls-rf4, 40, There were 34,974 new
names put on the rolls and AZ, ,444
taken off through death and other
causes. OF the names now on the
rolls 666, 6345 were actual soldiers and
sailors, the rest being widows and
other dependents. The decrease was
the largest in any year of the history
of the pension Office, and the number
of pensioners at the close of the year
was the smallest since 1897 There
was an unexpected balance OF $l,62l, :
600 for pensions, which was returned
to the treasury.
The secretary reports that there are
now twenty.three irrigation projects
of great magnitude under way in the
West in the effort to reclaim the arid
lands. The funds available for this
work from the sale of public lands
amount to more than $28. 900, 600, and
allotments amounting to $50, 900, 600
have been made.
On the subject of forest reserves the
secretary says that there have been
twenty-five additional reservations,
that the areas of three have been re-
duced, seventeen have been enlarged.
and two have been consolidated. The
increase in area during the year was
81, 306, 0Ol acres. The total number of
reserves is now LOG, and the aggregate
area is lC6, 500, 4s3 acres.
The secretary discusses the affairs
of the various territories and reports
them all in an excellent condition. 1t
is worthy of note that he finds that
ninety EIGHT per cent of the immigra-
tion into Hawaii was Japanese, and
that there was an increase of fifty
eight per cent in the number of Jap
anese children attending the schools
in the territory.
The secretary describes the con-
dition of the various national parks,
and among other interesting facts
states that the buffalo herd in the
Yellowstone Park continues to
hrive and now numbers fifty a
cry encouraging increase from the
twenty animals with which the herd
was started four years ago. "--North-
western Christian Advocate.
The program of the railroads rela-
tive to the 2-cent passenger fare laws
passed by thirteen or fourteen states
last winter does not include fight
against the Iowa law. 1t does include