used, and it may easily be cut within the law and stored for sale, for it is not provided even that it shall be for use by the person cutting it. The law itself gives every license for felling the forests, and even amendment only authorizes restraint to be exercised by the Secretary of the Interior. Experience has shown that it is very difficult to preserve the public timber under laws providing direct penalties for trespasses, and it can not be doubted punishment will be much less certain for violations of Departmental regulations. Besides this, the statute imposes much more upon the executive officer than he should be required to assume. Already the applications for permits are so numerous as to have demanded a special force in the General Land Office to attend to them, and as people learn the value of these privileges the pressure for them will constantly increase, until, unless the law is repealed or modified, there will be little timber left to protect. The states indicated are not very abundantly supplied at best, and with the increased value of forest products it will take but a small percentage of their population to exhaust every possible claim. It would seem to be much better that the statute should be so made as itself to prevent this result than that so important a matter should be left to the Secretary. This officer changes with each administration, and, so long as there is anything to give, he will find it difficult to refuse to some that which has already been granted to others.

TIMBER RESERVATIONS.

In the meantime an available method to postpone the worst results is indicated in section 24 of the original act (26 U. S. Stats., p. 1103), as follows:

That the President of the United States may, from time to time, set apart and reserve, in any State or Territory having public land bearing forests, in any part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as public reservations, and the President shall, by public proclamation, declare the establishment of such reservations and the limits thereof.

If this authority is freely exercised it will anticipate many applica tions for licenses to cut timber, and it is urgently recommended that Congress take proper action to have the reservations that are proclaimed by the President, established as national public parks or granted to the states to be preserved unimpaired and used for the benefit of the public only. Under this law, on March 30 and September 10, 1891, you proclaimed a reserve about the Yellowstone National Park that should be made a part of that most interesting and valuable possession; and on October 16, 1891, you proclaimed the reserve of the White River Plateau in Colorado, embracing the head waters of the White, Grand, and Yampa rivers.

It will be remembered that on January 20, 1890, you transmitted to the Senate and House of Representatives a letter of Prof. T. C. Mendenhall, chairman of a committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and president of that association, and also a memorial prepared by the committee, relating to the preservation of

the forests upon the public domain, and you then earnestly recom mended that adequate legislation might be provided, to the end that the rapid and needless destruction of our great forest areas may be prevented. This recommendation has been partially complied with, but attended by the provisions in the act already commented upon.

The memorial mentioned is reprinted as an appendix (C) to this report, and attention is called anew to its valuable opinions and wise suggestions.

The American Forestry Association, and those interested in forestry, have petitioned to have other reserves made, and the Commissioner of the General Land Office and the Director of the Geological Survey are making investigations upon which to base further recommendations for your consideration. Besides the reasons already presented for your favorable action, it is to be considered also that these parks will preserve the fauna, fish and flora of our country, and become resorts for the people seeking instruction and recreation, at the same time that they subserve the important agricultural and economic purposes already indicated. The laws should authorize details from the army, in the discretion of the President, to guard the reserves made from early spring to late autumn, or the employment by the Secretary of a police force under a superintendent; and there should be penalties against the violation of any of the rules and regulations made to govern the reserves, to be enforced in any court of competent jurisdiction. It is earnestly believed that if these feasures are now prosecuted systematically and thoroughly, posterity will look upon the action as that to which the country then owes much of its prosperity and safety.

POPULATION SEEKING SETTLEMENTS.

In connection with the facts already presented in regard to opening the country for settlement, preserving its streams, and improving its condition, it is appropriate to note that the census taken in 1890, under the supervision of this Department and the Census Bureau, concerning which 118 bulletins of the Superintendent have already been issued, shows the population of the United States and Territories to have been in that year 62,622,500, being an increase of 24.86 per cent over that of the year 1880, and that the assessed valuation of property was $24,249,589,804, being an increase of 43.46 per cent over that of 1880. The increase in value, $7,346,596,261, is as much as was the true value of all property as returned by the United States census in 1850, which was $7,135,780,228, and if it be found upon further and complete inquiry that the same relation existed in 1890 between assessed valuation and true valuation as there did in 1880, the absolute wealth of the United States may be estimated at $62,610,000,000, or nearly $1,000 per capita as against $514 per capita in 1860; $780 in 1870, and $870 in 1880. (Census Bulletin No. 104.) In this unprecedented increase of population and still more extraordinary advance in values of property may be found the cause of the great demand for new homes and the concentration of so many

thousands upon the places where vacant lands may be found. This demand will increase with each succeeding year, and it is submitted that there should be no relaxation in such administration of the government as will give a fair field for the development of the nation.

This summary of the more important phases of the work achieved by the Interior Department during the last year has been called first to your attention; but the reports relating to the various bureaus, territories, institutions, parks, etc., are full of interest and now demand separate consideration.

PUBLIC LANDS.

The Commissioner of the General Land Office in his report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, covers an administration of nine months under his predecessor and three under himself, and presents many valuable facts and suggestions in regard to the public domain. He shows clearly the marked benefit to the people caused by the change of policy on the advent of this administration, when it found the business of the office was being conducted upon unwarranted assumptions against the honesty or good faith of the settlers upon the public domain. Then the working force of the Bureau was largely employed in efforts to establish fraud, land patents were reluctantly issued, contests were invited and increased greatly in number, heavy expenses were incurred by homesteaders, and the pioneer was to a great degree deprived of the benefits of good government.

The beneficial results of changes made have been noted in a previous portion of this report, but the contrast is tellingly presented by the Commissioner in the following table:

Comparative statement of agricultural and other patents issued by the General Land Office during the fiscal years ending June 30, 1886 and 1887, and the fiscal years ending June 30, 1890 and 1891.

Comparative statement of agricultural and other patents issued by the General Land Office during the fiscal years ending June 30, 1886 and 1887, etc.-Continued.

The disposition of the former accumulation of business in the land office has been rendered somewhat easier by the provisions of section 7 of an act approved March 3, 1891, entitled "An act to repeal the timber-culture law, and for other purposes" (26 U. S. Stats., p. 1095). Technical rules and mere suspicion of fraud will not be allowed longer to long suspend final entries; while on the other hand, by decision as to the proper construction of this law and instructions thereunder, it is believed the interests of the government are duly protected. In accordance with the provisions of this section entries have been acted upon and confirmed, up to June 30, 1891, as follows, viz:

Number of final entries passed to patent where transfer was made prior to
March 1, 1888

Number of final entries passed to patent in other cases under the proviso,
where no action had been taken by this office within two years from date
of entry....

Subsequent to June 30, 1891, and up to September 1, 1891, there were
passed to patent of the first class above mentioned
Of the second class....

64

524

588

51

1,437

1,488

Total of both classes passed to patent up to September 1, 1891.

2,076

DISPOSAL OF PUBLIC LANDS.

During the last year 2,143,090.78 acres were disposed of by cash sales; 8,214,140.93 by miscellaneous entries, and 120,468.61 acres of Indian lands, aggregating 10,477,700.32 acres. The total cash receipts from various sources for the year amounted to $5,429,220.14.

The number of agricultural patents issued during the year were 114,360, which, allowing 160 acres to each patent, would embrace an aggregate of 18,297,600 acres.

There were patented for the benefit of railroad companies under Congressional grants during the year 3,088,679.23 acres.

INT 91-VOL I—II

SWAMP LAND PATENTS.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, an area of 408,127.55 acres was patented to the states, an increase of 298,775.66 acres over the fiscal year last preceding.

STATE SELECTIONS APPROVED FOR EDUCATIONAL AND OTHER PURPOSES.

The approvals during the year under the different grants to the several states for educational purposes and under the saline grant, having the effect of a patent, embraced an area of 756,172.91 acres.

INDIAN AND MISCELLANEOUS PATENTS.

The area of the land patented during the year on private land claims, donations, and Indian allotments, or selections in severalty, and scrip locations finally approved, amounted to 244,600.74 acres.

The patents issued during the year, contrasted with those issued during the previous year, are as follows:

Recapitulation of patents issued, as stated in the foregoing.

The appropriation (approved August 30, 1890) for the survey and resurvey of the public lands for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, was $425,000, of which sum $40,000 was authorized by the act to be applied to the examination of surveys, etc., and the balance was apportioned as shown in the following table: