The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1909-11-29
BALLINGfR
REPORTS

Washington, Nov. 29.-The MANUAL
report TO the President of the Secre-
tary OF the Interior, has been made
public, and extracts from il are Civ
en- below:
This report covers a portion or the
time under the administration of my
predecessor, MIR. Garfield, who, by
his earnest and disinterested servfc-
es. contributed greatly to the ad-
vancement of the department in or
ganiZation and efficiency of admins
tration.
Retirement Fund for Government
Employees.
No policy within the reach of tle
Executive can humanaly solve the
difficulties involved in the discharge
of superannuated clerks. The Depart
ment of the Interior in all its bureaus
in Washington is laboring under
great disadvantage in trying to intro
duce modern business methods and
to keep pace with the increasing vol
ume of work, because of its inability
TO retire members of the clerical and
laboring force after they have become
incapacitated by age or other causes.
Intermittent efforts have been made
10 secure congressional aid to retire
them upon a basis that will recognize
their long service and protect them
against want. An involuntary retire
ment and sustenance statute, by
which all persons after arriving at
a prescribed age, or for other reasons,
should be required TO stand an exam
ination before a competent board as
TO physical and mental ability, with a
fund created by national appropria-
tion-in the first instance, and main
tanned by some equitable system of
cont Jblttion from salarieI-would
seem TO me TO be advisable.
Public Lands.
The proper use and disposition of
the public lands have been questions
involving no little Legislative as we'll
as administrative difficulty from the
beginning of their history. They were
during the earliest administrations,
reated as a national asset for the
liquidation of the public debt and as
source of reward for our soldiers
and sailors. Not until the discovery
of gold on the Pacific slope did the
policy change for one of exploit alton,
by which our citizens We're eucour-
aged TO develop the mineral and agri-
cultural resources of the public do
main ON condition of receiving Limit
ed areas at a nominal cost For sim
! liar reasons, railway and wagon, road
grants were literally donated by Con
/ gress in order to add facilities for the
opening up of these almost inacces-
| sible regions
All of the principal land statutes
wore enacted over twenty-five years
ago: tle homestead act. the pre-emp-
ion and the timber-culture act fer the
| coal land and The mining acts for the
| aid of the industrious prospectOr
were among tie earlier acts of this
nature
The literal and rapid disposition
| Of the public lands under these stat
utes and the lax methods of admins
| tration which for a long time prevail
| I'd naturally provoked tie feeling
that the public domain was legitimate
prey for the INSCRIPTIONS aid that
| il was no crime to violate or circu-n-
vent the land laws II is to be re-
sretted that We. as a naion, were so
| tardy to realize the Importance of
| preventing so large a measure of our
| natural resources passing into the
| hands of land pirates and speculaf ors
/ with nc view to development looking
TO the national welfare. II may be
safely said that millions of acres of
timber and other lands have been un-
! lawfully obtained, and IL is also true
that actions to recover such lands
/ have in most instances long
\ feen barred by the statute of limifa
| tiCns The principal awakening 10
| 0''r wGsteful course came under your
! predecessors administration. The
! bold and vigorous prosecutions OF
| land frauds. through Secret aries
Hitchcock and Garfield, have re-
| 4 salUtarv respect for thR Law. and
| - public mind has rapidly grasped
| be Importance of sSfeguarding ths
| further disposition of our natural re
orrccs in the public lands in tbs in
~~esf Of The public good as against
| priva.e greed. Notwithstanding this
il is necessary to continue with ut
| ~ef ~iscr. through all available sour
css. the scoring Of infor7'a ION oi
violations of the public land laws and
10 follow such violations with rigird
prosecutions
In this present policy of conserving
the natural resources of the public
domain, while development is the key
note. toe best thought of the day II
not development shall be by nationa
agencies. but that wise utilization
shall be secured through private en-
terprisse under national supervision
and control Therefore. II materia
progress IL to be made in securing
the best use of our remaining publ,
lands. Congress must be called upol
: to enact remedial legislation
As regards new iegisIarion. tn,
present coal-land laws respecting Ia,
States and Territories. as well a.
Alaska. should be supplanted by a-
4. act fully meeting existing as well a
, future conditions The inducenenfl
for much of the crime and frald