Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1881.djvu/17

Rh THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE.

I invite especial attention to that portion of the letter of the Commissioner of the General Land Office to me of date October 25, 1881, relating to the clerical force required for his office for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1883. The work of the office is much in arrears. It is very important to the many individuals whose interests are affected by its action that such action shall at all times be prompt and that delay in settling the questions before the office shall not occur. Such delay is not only unjust to the parties whose interests are involved, but tends to embarrass and hinder the work actually done by requiring a portion of the force now employed to answer the numerous letters of inquiry written by parties who are impatient at the (to them) unaccountable delay in having their business disposed of. If permitting the work to fall in arrears dispensed with doing it altogether, we might congratulate ourselves that we had saved the expense of doing it, although our failure to do it had worked great injury to those whose work the office was created to do and who share in the cost of maintaining it. But the work must and will be done sooner or later, and I submit that it is not only just and right, but it is in the long run cheaper to provide sufficient force to do it promptly.

I concur in the recommendation of the Commissioner that authority of law be given for the appointment of a deputy commissioner who shall assist him in the discharge of his duties and perform such other duties as may be prescribed.

I also concur in the recommendation of the Commissioner for the appointment of three inspectors of surveyor-general and district land offices. It is impossible for the Land Office with the means now provided to keep careful supervision over their offices, situated so far from the seat of government. The information received concerning them is usually ex parte and often contradictory, and in many cases is not received until it is too late to prevent much maladministration.

If surveyors-general and district land officers were aware that an agent of the government might at any time visit their respective offices, with authority to examine their books and papers, and by personal examination to ascertain their condition, it seems that great benefit would thereby result to the public service.

Said inspectors would also be of great assistance when hew land districts are created and offices opened, and when a change of officers occurs.

SURVEYS UNDER DEPOSIT SYSTEM.

For the reasons named in the report of the Commissioner (pages 6, 7, and 8), I recommend the repeal of the act of March 3, 1879, entitled "An act to amend section twenty-four hundred and three of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in relation to deposits for surveys." Under the