Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1884.djvu/17

Rh XV in consequence of the control of coal-fields, which in this way is acquired and held with a comparatively small outlay of capital. The result is equally true as to timber lands. Experience has demonstrated that an effective remedy for these evils can only be found in the repeal of the laws under which they arise.

The difficulty of protecting the public lands from fraudulent entries under the pre-emption law can be readily understood by the statement of the Commissioner concerning the work of the special agents, twenty-five in number, appointed for the protection of the public land from fraudulent entries and illegal appropriation. The Commissioner says:

Thirty-five hundred and thirty-one alleged fraudulent entries of public lands, embracing an area of 500,000 acres, have been investigated and reported, principally in California, Colorado, Dakota, Minnesota, and New Mexico, and a lesser number in all other public land States and Territories; 680 entries have been canceled on final proceedings, 782 held for cancellation, and hearings have been ordered in 781 cases. About 5,000 entries have been suspended, awaiting investigation.

In a special report submitted May 15, 1884, in reply to a resolution of the Senate, I stated as follows:

"Beyond cases specifically examined, I have no doubt that much has been done in the way of prevention within the sphere of these operations. But the territory to be covered is so vast and the proportion of fraudulent entries found to exist is so large, that if it be the intention of Congress that the remaining public lands shall be protected from indiscriminate absorption through illegal and fraudulent appropriation, more adequate legislative measures will need to be adopted.

"The repeal of the pre-emption and timber-culture laws, which I have heretofore recommended, is one of the first essential steps in this direction. It is not possible, by any administrative action, to close the doors opened to abuses under these laws.

"This may equally be said in reference to the timber-land and desert-land laws and the commutation features of the homestead laws, and also of the provision allowing the filing of soldiers' homestead declarations by attorney, which latter provision is used to defraud both the soldier and the Government.

"If all laws for the disposal of public lands, except the homestead law, were repealed, and the latter amended as heretofore suggested, the great bulk of misappropriations would disappear from future entries.

"An examination of pending entries alleged and believed to be fraudulent would require a special agent to be constantly on duty in each of the principal land districts, and in some districts one such agent would be unable to cope with the work before him.

"If the system of examination in the field is to be effective, provision should be made for not less than one hundred special agents. The compensation of such agents, including guides, surveyors, and assistants, averages about $3,600 a year each, and additional expenses for the payment of witnesses and the cost of taking testimony on the part of the Government at hearings before local officers are also necessarily incurred. The total appropriation for the protection of the public lands the next fiscal year should not be less than $400,000, if efficient measures are desired. An addition of twenty-five clerks, who should be of the higher grades, would also be necessary in this office in directing the operations of special agents and examining and acting upon their reports.

"Further legislation is also requisite to authorize registers and receivers to subpoena witnesses and compel their attendance."

No increased appropriation having been made by Congress for the current fiscal year, I was confronted at the outset with the necessity of either withdrawing special agents from investigations in the field or of abandoning or suspending farther action upon investigations that had already been had, and as a result of which hearings