Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-11


Government" by Frederic J. Hsskin. which viii
soon be offered to the readers of The Star on
most advantageous terms. See notice iater-l
VHE Department of the Interior
is little more than a collection
of unrelated governmental bu-
reaus. There is no relation
whatever between the work of
the pension bureau and that of the geo
logical survey. nor Is there any reason
why such widely divergent activities as
those of the patent office and the office
Of Indian affairs should be placed under
the control OF the same department.
When the Department of the Interior
was established il was intended that it
should have charge of all matters re-
lating to the internal affairs OF the coun-
try.
Its establishment grew out of the large
accession of territory following the Next
can war, and the consequent increase of
population, wealth and business The act
under which the Department of the In
terror was established was entitled. AN
act to establish the Home Department"
Since the establishment of the Depart
ment of Agriculture and the Department
OF Commerce and Labor there have been
many instances of duplication of depart
mental activities and divided jurisdiction
illustrated by the fact that the Depart
ments of Agriculture and of the Interior
have joint supervision of the lands in the
national forests, but the powers and du-
ties of each are clearly defined.
Former Secretary Richard A Ball1nger
declared in one of his official reports that
the Department of the Interior ought to
be consolidated with the Department of
Agriculture. He thought that the super
vision of the Capitol building and grounds
should be transferred to the supervising
architect of the Treasury, that the patent
office should go to the Department OF
Commerce and Labor and he pension
office to the War and Navy Departments.
The activities of the Secretary of the
Interior are now taken UP by the SUI
pervision of the affairs of the unrelated
bureaus which make up the department.
Holding first rank among these bureaus
is the general land office. Uncle Sam has
been. one of the most bountiful distrib-
uters of land in the history of the world.
From the time the government was
founded down to the present 1.S}5,OO,OOO
acres of land have come into his control
He has disposed of all of this to the
people of the United States except IOO.-
OOO,OOO acres.
AS a buyer of real estate Uncle Sam
has been a notable success The entire
amount of land received by him cost
him less than cents an acre. The great
Louisiana purchase" embracing some of
the finest land in the entire country and
now representing an aggregate value of
many billions of dollars, cost consddera-
bly, less than a nickel an acre. A large
proportion of the public lands has been
given away as free homesteads to those
who would settle and improve them. The
free homesteads consist of $50 acres.
A law was recently enacted by Con-
gress providing that a home6eader can.
secure a surface patent for his land
where il is underlaid with coal. This will
permit the farmers to go upon coal lands
and raise crops there while the govern
ment reserves the coal deposits which
may be found in the ground beneath.
This law will result in millions of acres
of public lands being utilized for farm
ing purposes which might otherwise lie
completely idle pending the utilization of
the coal beneath 1t.
The general land office also has charge
of national monuments, forest reserve
work and power site reserves. Among the
national monuments under its. control Is
the Rainbow bridge, natural arch re-
sembling a rainbow 800 feet high and 27S
feet in span, which lies in the southern
part of Utah. Another is the Sftka ma
tional monument. in Alaska, upon the
site of the decisive battle grounds of the
Russian conquest of Alaska in 1904. 1t
has numerous totem poles. which contain
the genealogical history of several clans
of Eskimos.
The pension Office is an important bu-
reau of the Interior Department. The
number of survivors of the civil war
now on the pension roll exceeds half a
million, but their names are being erased
by death at the rate of more than 5000
a year. The total number of pensioners
on the roll now approximates 100000.
The annual payments on account OF PEN
sions at the beginning of the fiscal year
1911 was SIS, 600. coo. The average value
of each pension per year was $171.90. The
total amount paid out for pensions at