Evening star., 1924-08-24
Real Workers in the National Capital

acted, and it has resulted in an in
como OF from one to two million dol
lars every month.
Recently he has been much in the
public eye in connection with the oil
scandals. and 1t is a high tribute to
his character, record and testimony
before the Senate investigating COM
mittee that no breath of suspicion or
hint of Indictment has ever touched
him. In fact, If he ever leaves the
Federal service and starts land law
practice. he has the best possible ad-
vertising In the report OF Senator
Walsh on The leasing of the naval oil
reserves. when he said:
mo argument of the law was asked
by the Secretary from any one repre-
sentfng the Government, and the COM
mittee was told by Mr.. Finney, who
was present and who is as familiar
with the law in relation to the dis
position of public lands as any man
in America. that, in the first place,
such proceeding as that entertained
by the Secretary of the Interior is
wholly unknown in the practice of
the Land Department.; no precedent
for 1T was known by any one SO far
as the committee was able to learn;
and second, that both legal PROPOSE
tions upon which the argument of
Mr.. Sutro was founded are contro-
verted by Mr.. Ffnney. Your COM
mittee believes both to be unsound."
At an earlier stage of the investi
cation. Senator Kendrick. in referring
to Judge" Kinney. said: Il want to
say that as one who lives in a public
land state, this statement of mine is
not made just offhand. 1 have had
occasion to know that this public
servant (Mr. Finney) has had more
friends because of his fidelity to the
service of the people than any man
of my acquaintance in any depart
ment in Washington"
Job a Big One.
Some idea of the magnitude of the
present job of this former file clerk is
gained from consideration of the fact
that he is in direct supervision Of
some $500 employees on public work
affecting every State in the Union.
Five of the largest bureaus in the
department come directly under his
administration-the National Parks,
the General Land Office, the Bureau
Of Mines and the Reclamation Service
During his 80 years in the service
he has been all over the West in
connection with the Federal irriga-
ton, Indian reservation, national
parks and other activities of the In
terror Department. There are 19 ma
tionaI parks and 80 national monu-
ments. Last year 1.2S0,000 visitors
sojourned in these great public play
grounds Of enthralling and distinct
natural beauty, and about a quarter
of a million visitors to the national
monuments. In Yellowstone there is
herd of 500 buffaloes, active
geyser basins, a plateau more than
5000 feet above sea level, surrounded
by mountain peaks some 1000 feet
higher than the plain, remarkable
fossil forests, the giant and "cameo"
canyon, and the Grand Teton, which
rises cathedral like to an altitude
of 1871 feet.
The General Land Office, under
Judge" Finneys jurisdiction, has
charge Of 1S5.933,000 acres of public
land in the United States proper, with
37s. 165. 900 lin Alaska, making a total
of 564.000,000 acres in all, stretching
from Key West Fla, all the way to
Point Barrow, Alaska, the "farthest
north"
The Reclamation Service has 1,200,-
900 acres under irrigation, producing
crops to the value of $50.360,000 on
$4,000 farms
The Bureau of Mines has done a
remarkable work in mine safety pro-
visions. and recently climaxed this by
establishing cooperative relations
for mine safety with the English
Bureau of Mines, which had a special
delegation in this country studying
the American system.