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A 1925 REVIEW

 

 

 

 

 

OF THE

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

HUBERT WORK, Secretary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

 

 

 

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

 

 

 

 

 
 
THE
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
A REVIEW FOR 1925

HUBERT WORK, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR

 

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1925
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INTERIOR DEPARTMENT FUNCTIONS

The Interior Department was established March 3, 1849, and is
education, and home branch of the Government.

GENERAL LAND OrricE.—Originally organized as a bureau of the Treasury Department
in 1812 and transferred to the Interior Department in 1849, the General Land Office has
control of the public lands, including their survey, handling applications for homesteads
and Indian allotments, desert land and mining claims, and mineral leases. Has jurisdic-
tion over granting railroad and other rights of way and easements on public lands and
adjusting State and railroad land grants.

BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.—Originally organized as a bureau of the War Department
and transferred to the Interior Department in 1849. Acts as the official guardian of the
Indians; promotes their health and physical welfare; directs the education of Indian
children ; encourages their native arts and crafts; reclaims their lands and develops the
natural resources in timber and minerals; supervises their funds; adjusts heirship mat-
ters and handles all Indian affairs of the Government.

BUREAU oF PBENSIONS.—Originally organized as a bureau of the War Department and
made a part of the Interior Department in 1849. Handles the pension claims and pays
pensions for all the wars of the United States except the World War. Administers the
civil service retirement act, handling and paying annuities to retired employees of the
Government.

BurpAU oF EbpucATioN.—Established in 1867 and became a bureau of the Interior
Department in 1869. Furthers education by the compilation and dissemination of data
covering education in the United States and foreign countries; conducts university, col-
lege, and school surveys, including experiments in education; operates Goverment schools
for the natives of Alaska, and has supervision of the development of the reindeer industry
of the Territory.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.—Established in 1879. Makes topographic and geological maps of
the United States and Alaska; studies the surface and underground water resources ;
prepares and distributes reports on gold, silver, petroleum, and other mineral deposits;
and through a conservation branch classifies public lands and supervises engineering
phases of mineral leasing.

 

BUREAU OF RECLAMATION.—Established in 1902 for the purpose of developing agricul-
tural possibilities of the arid and semiarid regions of the United States. This bureau
constructs and operates irrigation works: collects annual payments from water users for
cost of irrigation; promotes knowledge of irrigation methods, suitability of crops, avail-
ability of markets, and improvement of farm homes.

NATIONAL PARK SERvIiCE.—Established in 1916, this bureau conserves the natural
beauties and unique characteristics of the national parks and monuments under its control
and promotes their use for the health and recreation of the people. It also protects and
restores ruins of ancient civilization and the flora and fauna of the parks.

 

ALASKA RATLROAD.—Construction authorized by Congress in 1914 and completed in
1923 at a cost of $60,000,000. This Government owned and operated road extends for
a distance of 467 miles into the interior of Alaska, transporting passengers, freight,
express, and mail.

St. Enizaseras Hosprran.— Established in 1852, this is a class A institution for the
treatment of mental diseases of the Army, Navy, and District of Columbia. The daily
average number of patients treated is 4,200 and its average number of employees is

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HowArp UNIVERSITY.— Established in 1871, this is an institution of higher education
of the colored youth of the Nation in liberal arts and sciences, medicine, law, and re-
ligion. The enrollment of students is over 2,000 annually, with 273 graduates every year.

FreepMEN’S HospiTAL.— Established in 1862, this hospital provides medical and surgical
treatment for the colored race, its patients including indigent residents of the District
of Columbia, residents of the several States, emergency cases, and regular pay patients.
It cares for approximately 4,318 indoor patients and 10,984 outdoor patients annually.

TRRRITORIES.—Alaska and Hawaii are directly represented by the Secretary of the
Interior in the official family of the President, many of various Federal activities in
these Territories being under his supervision.

(1x)
CONTENTS

Coordination of Government activities ______________
Conservation. «0 ss Leona ae a
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Patent Office committee... .. 0 5. Sl.

Trachoma among the Indians... ____

Pueblo: landedisputes. - ooo on 00 ae

Alaska jurisdiction
The Alaska Railroad
Reclamation

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1925
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ennessee and North Carolina

 

A view of the proposed Smoky Mountain National Park in
A REVIEW OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE
INTERIOR FOR 1925

Coordination Efficiency and economy are inseparable. Fach is
of Government necessary to the other, and knowledge of detail
Activities. is essential to good administration.

Several bureaus of the Government performing similar functions
are destructive of both efficiency and economy. There is duplication
of effort combined with waste in expenditures.

Coordination is the crux of both efliciency and economy in the
operation of the Government. Bureaus must employ the minimum
number of employees to do the task assigned them and the activities
of the different bureaus and branches should be correlated. All
duplicating units should be eliminated.

Such a policy was adopted two years ago in the administration of
the Interior Department and was continued in force during the past
year. The several bureaus and divisions of the department were
found to be duplicating functions of others. There were separate
units handling business relating to the purchase of supplies, account-
ing and auditing, contracts, engineering, drafting, editing, motor ve-
hicles, mimeographing and multigraphing, personnel, inspection, map
making, photographing, addressogmphing, photostating, and traffic.
Duplicated law officers, boards of review, disbursing officers, and law
libraries also existed in the different bureaus. Progress toward co-
ordinating some of these activities has been made, resulting in
savings in operating costs and the abolishment of surplus positions.
A summary of some of the more prominent savings effected in the
Interior Department during the year follows:

$1,101,000 in the Bureau of Reclamation through the curtailment of expendi-
tures on irrigation projects and other savings.

$555,000 in the General Land Office by the reorganization of the personnel
and the business methods of the bureau.

$325,000 in the Bureau of Indian Affairs by the abolishment of several Indian
agencies, curtailment of field and office forces.

$124,800 in the operating expenses of the St. Blizabeths Hospital through the
reduction of the cost of maintaining residents.

$89,000 in the Pension Bureau through the coordination of work.

$47,500 in the Bureau of Education in the purchase of supplies for Alaskan
activities.

$41,000 in the Geological Survey by the discontinuance of the 23 positions
and the coordination of administrative overhead costs.

(1)
2

$34,000 in the Bureau of Mines through the return of unexpended appropria-
tions to investigate the utilization of lignite and peat.

$22 000 in the handling of war mineral relief claims against the Government.

$6,500 by improved supervision of packing, routing, billing, and shipments
and other traffic matters of the Interior Department.

$6,000 through the consolidation of the mimeographing, multigraphing, and
addressographing plants of the different bureaus.

Appropriations for the Interior Department for the fiscal year
1926 are $29,558,963 less than for 1925, $76,641,914 less than for
1923, and approximately $9,000,000 will be returned to the Treasury
as an unexpended balance out of the appropriations for the depart-
ment’s operations in 1925.

There is, however, a limitation to the coordination of governmental
activities by the executive branch. Many of the duplicated func-
tions of the various bureaus are provided by legislation, leaving
little administrative option in merging similar services or shifting
them from one bureau to the other in the same department or to
other departments. There should be more latitude allowed by law
in the administration of the executive departments.

Further increased efficiency and economy may be accomplished by
withdrawing functions performed by the Federal Government in
States and transferring them to the States where they may be done
as well, if not better, than by the Government in Washington.
Many of them are now performed jointly between Federal and State
administrations. They could be wholly done by the State adminis-
trations, which maintain duplication units and staffs in miniature of
the same organizations of the National Government. Authority
should be centralized in Washington but responsibility for operation
decentralized in States wherever possible.

: A new policy of conservation has been conceived
Conservation. during the past year under the leadership of
President Coolidge. For three centuries the great natural resources
of the country have been seized and put to individual use which
was too often wasteful and destructive. This has created a situa-
tion which makes it difficult for people to realize the necessity or
importance of organizing for future development along the lines
of permanence or economy.

Economy is simply a factor in the larger question of conservation.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and new conditions call for new
remedies. As a people and a Nation we have completed an epoch of
free utilization of our natural resources, but we now stand on the
threshold of a new era which, if we are to adapt ourselves to future
conditions, make it necessary for us to direct our thoughts and acts
toward thrift.
3

The National Government has been making definite progress to-
ward economy without parsimony. Conservation of time and Fed-
eral income which is being brought about by intensive studies of
Government activities is the foundation of an economy, national in
scope. Conserving the income of every citizen by reducing the taxes,
even of those who pay no taxes directly, is being accomplished by
this administration. This policy sounds the keynote in the utiliza-
tion of our remaining natural resources. Conservation should no
longer mean locking up these resources by nonuse, but to encourage
their wise use. There is fundamentally as much difference between
penuriousness and thrift as there is between extravagance and thrift,
and in defining conservation the administration recognizes this dis-
tinction. It realizes that nothing costs too much if it is worth it.

Fifteen years ago the country was disturbed by a wordy war be-
tween extremists discussing conservation. The line of dissention
was drawn between those in the East, which had already cut its tim-
ber, had seen the rapid depletion of its limited oil deposits, and was
abandoning exhausted farms; and those in the West, where the land’s
fertility had been demonstrated, where the great forests were yet un-
touched, and the mineral deposits were described as inexhaustible.
The East sought to lock up through legislation the wealth of the
West for use of succeeding generations. The pioneer, believing that
the richness of the West was his by right of discovery and access to
it had been earned by the hardships incident to developing a new
country, resented what he called strong-armed action of the majority
of numbers. :

Not since then until now has the President and the three depart-
ments of his Cabinet, which largely administer the Government’s
activities in the West, had the same conception of the term conserva-
tion, and if, as the old Chinese proverb puts it, “ One look is better
than a thousand words,” these men must look out from the West
rather than into it from the outside. President Coolidge has selected
four of his Cabinet from the West. Conservation means to them the
same thing—use without waste, of our natural resources, and their
intelligent distribution as to time.

The working slogan of this administration is efficiency, which,
applied to our natural resources, means their wise use as well as
preservation for future needs. The administration believes in a
sound conservation policy, in the custodial care of our national
wealth in timber, minerals, and water power. Our economic growth
has been advanced only by the liberal and often reckless utilization
of natural resources. Its future expansion will depend upon a more
thorough and intelligent conversion of our remaining natural wealth
to industrial necessities. Nothing can justify reckless use of our
people’s inheritance from nature or other encroachments upon the
4

capital of our future generations while the Federal Government is
rapidly reducing its indebtedness, cities, counties, and States are
mortgaging themselves for the next generation to pay. Debt is a
distressing inheritance. In furthering a conservation policy exten-
sion of governmental studies should be organized to discover and
employ our natural resources and to advise States upon their proper
use along sound economic lines against misappropriation and waste.
Conservation should be understood in its broadest sense. Authorita-
tive teaching should be centralized in the Federal Government, but
responsibility for its application should be decentralized to States.

Conservation should no longer be limited to hermetically sealing
up the resources of nature, wherever found in this country, but
should be interpreted to mean the perpetuation of the human family
by the intelligent use of that which nature has provided for it.
Water power should be harnessed to supplement man power and to
save coal. Oil should be located and released from its natural storage
with relation to immediate needs weighed against anticipated future
necessities. Ripe timber should be harvested and the young forests
protected.

Conserving the fertility of the soil, however, is of far greater
moment. The farmer’s place in conservation is fundamental, for all
branches of human industry eventually trace back to the farm. No
other single product compares in value to the farm crop. Other
nations have gone blindly on and exhausted their soils of that
inherent fertility stored up through millions of years of sunshine,
rain, and decaying vegetation. Now their soils serve only as a base
and must be fed each year with its food to produce human food, the
sun and rain and labor supplementing the fertilizer in the soil.
It has become necessary to adopt these same processes in the eastern
United States, where wasteful agricultural development has some-
times prevailed. The West has this priceless inherent asset of che
soil and should preserve it, for it is fundamental to its mental, social,
and economic integrity.

Exhaustion of the soil’s fertility was not stressed in the conserva-
tion policy of the past. It advised the cutting of the ripe timber,
which destroyed much that was growing. It compelled drilling for
oil, if a neighbor found it, and did not warn against exhausting the
soil by tenantry, which threatens to cover the West, like the Kast,
with abandoned farms. Exhaustion of the natural sources of food
supply mean the weakening of the race. The people of the United
States can not pass on blindly to a point where one season’s drought
would put a prosperous nation to want. The fertility of our soil
must be conserved or restored along with the other natural resources
or our boasted civilization will fail.
5

The most pressing study of the Government at this time is this
larger conception of conservation. While it is too big for any one
branch of the Government alone to develop in its fullness in time to
meet pressing exigencies, nevertheless it should have centralized
departmental authority. The Government would then have a cor-
relating nucleus for forming an organized movement to accomplish
something worth while looking into the future in the interest of
those who are to follow us. An advanced step has already been
taken through the recent organization of a * Conservation Branch”
in the Interior Department, mention of which is made in a subse-
quent discussion on mineral leasing, to put this new policy into
effect with regard to the remaining public domain of the United
States. The protection of the public estate from wasteful develop-
ment is but one phase of this larger conception of conservation. It
must be extended to every natural resource in this country.

A Federal The average citizen's impression of an executive
University ‘department of the Federal Governmnt. is an or-
for the People. ganization dealing exclusively with the adminis-
tration of public affairs. :

Such an impression with regard to the Department of the Interior
is erroneous. The function of this department, with its 12 or more
bureaus and services, is not wholly administrative. Its mission is
largely educational, many of its activities being devoted to the dis-
covery and dissemination of knowledge.

The Interior Department, therefore, has been characterized as a
great Federal university for the people. Its “curriculum” covers
many fields of learning. Its “faculty” includes hundreds of scien-
tists, professional men, and specialists in many branches of educa-
tion. Its student body is the people of the United States.

Similar to American colleges or institutions of higher learning,
the Interior Department has many schools of instruction. It has
schools of education, botany, engineering, geology, geography, an-
thropology, zoology, psychiatry, chemistry, and research. Propa-
gation of knowledge on these subjects by the various bureaus and
branches of the department comprises their major duties in many
instances.

The Bureau of Education, which is a national clearing house for
general educational information, surveys all fields of education,

State, county, and local; conducts conferences on problems of edu-
cation by field trips and lectures of staff specialists; publishes leaf-
lets and bulletins on education; issues School Life, a monthly edu-
cational periodical, and, biennially, a statistical and textual survey
of education; administers a system of 85 schools for the natives of

61573°—25——2
6

Alaska; maintains the largest exclusive educational library in the
world ; and promotes an annual American education week, bringing
public attention to the schools and their needs.

Other branches of the Interior Department with educational
functions include the Indian Bureau, which administers a system of
996 schools for the Indians, giving them training in health, elemen-
tary studies, self-support, and citizenship; Howard University, the
leading institution of higher learning for negroes in the United
States, with 2,500 students; and Freedmen’s and St. Elizabeths
Hospitals, both of which maintain training schools for nurses.

A school of zoology for the benefit of the public is maintained by
the Interior Department in the national parks, which contain
specimen of the wild-animal life of the Western Hemisphere. Here
are preserved for the study of scientists and the edification of the
American people deer, buffalo, elk, bear, and other wild game, now
almost extinct, of the plain, forest, and mountain. There are also
sanctuaries of bird life for the use of ornithologists.

Through the Bureau of Education, which originally introduced
reindeer in Alaska and where there are now over 350,000, the natives
of that Territory are taught how to raise them to supply food, cloth-
ing, and transportation.

In the field of anthropology the Bureau of Indian Affairs, with
its guardianship over 100 tribes of American Indians, coffers unusual
opportunities for the study of the customs, language, religion, and
history of these aboriginal people. Through the Bureau of Educa-
tion, with its protectorship over the Eskimos, Indians, and Aleuts of
Alaska, similar opportunities are presented for the study of these
primitive races of the Arctic regions, while through the National
Park Service there are preserves for study and observation, ancient
cliff dwellings, habitations, relics of prehistoric people, monuments
containing hieroglyphics, mosaics, implements, and other handiwork
of bygone ages for students of anthropology, history, and ethnology.

A school of engineering is provided by the Interior Department
through the Bureau of Reclamation, which disseminates information
on engineering problems involved in land irrigation, location and
construction of dams, principles of hydraulics, conditions of soil,
and general questions of land economics. This bureau prepares and
prints drawings and specifications for the information of bidders on
work, which are frequently used by students of engineering; pub-
lishes treatises on such subjects as “Hydraulics and Excavation
Tables,” “ Measurements of Irrigation Water,” and “ High Pressure
Reservoir Outlets,” which in some instances are pioneering engineer-
ing textbooks, while others of its publications on engineering are
cited as school texts used by teachers and children in the graded
7

schools. Other instruction in engineering is furnished by the Geo-
logical Survey, which gathers and publishes information concerning
the flow of the principal streams in the country, thus contributing to
the solution of the problems of irrigation, power, and flood control.

The department’s school of chemistry is maintained by the Geo-
logical Survey with its staff of chemists engaged in making analyses
in connection with this bureau’s various scientific activities. This bu-
reau collects rock specimens in its surveys in the field, which are
the subject of chemical analysis; makes a special study of minerals
found in the United States in its chemical laboratories; gauges and
analyses the waters of streams to determine their quality and suit-
ability for manufacturing and other purposes; and publishes the
results of its chemical studies for the benefit of scientists, schools,
and the general public. ;

A school of psychiatry is found in St. Elizabeths Hospital, an
institution under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department, where
facilities are offered for instruction in psychiatry, neurology, and
kindred branches which are not excelled elsewhere in this country.
This hospital likewise gives instructions by its staff to students of
the Army Medical School, the Navy School, the United States Vet-
erans’ Bureau, George Washington, Georgetown, Catholic, and How-
ard Universities; offers opportunities for training social workers;
maintains a mental hygiene clinic; trains nurses; keeps the medical
profession in touch with advances in psychiatry by numerous papers
presented to medical society groups, and informs the public by popu-
lar and semipopular lectures before national bodies. Standard mono-
graphs on nervous and mental diseases, psychology, and allied
subjects are published as educational works.

Three bureaus of the Interior Department make up its school of
geography. The Geological Survey is making a master map which
will show the topography of the entire United States in a form of
inestimable value to scientists, engineers, and the traveling public,
and is now publishing sections of this map, which are distributed by
the thousands every year, many going to schools for textual use.
The General Land Office is surveying the public domain and securing
geographical information available in no other way, and distributes
authoritative maps of the United States and Alaska showing national
parks and monuments, Indian, military, bird, and game reservations,
national forests, canals, routes of principal explorers, and other geo-
graphical and historical data. The Bureau of Reclamation prepares
maps and other cartographic data in relation to the development of
reclamation projects in the West.

A school of geology is maintained through the Geological Survey
which conducts field investigations on the subject of educational
8

value. This bureau makes topographic maps locating natural fea-
tures and boundaries and shows the contour of the earth’s surface
with points of height above sea level; studies surface and under-
ground resources and their wisest use, and makes surveys for de-
posits of precious and useful minerals; studies the age and correla-
tion of rock strata, identifies fossil plants and animals, and maps the
areas of the glacial epoch; and prints the results of its investigations
for the use of scientists, engineers, colleges, schools, and the public.
Natural geophysical laboratories, where scientists may study geyser
formations and processes of erosion, are preserved in the national
parks. The Hawaii National Park is one of the world’s greatest
geophysical laboratories.

The department’s school of research includes the official records of
the Pension Bureau, where among its official records is a mass of
data relating to the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War,
and Civil War, and where a library is maintained for the use of
students of genealogical and historical research. The General Land
Office records contain historic information of titles and land grants
{o many men prominent in American history, and the entire story of
the pioneer movement to the West in its files is available to students
of history. The Bureau of Education is constantly making and
publishing original studies in elementary, secondary, and higher
education, while the Geological Survey confines its activities largely
to original investigations and research in the field which it occupies.

During the World War the Government was con-
fronted with a serious shortage of materials for the
manufacture of munitions and other necessities for
the prosecution of the struggle. There was in particular an inade-
quate supply of manganese, pyrites, chrome, and tungsten.

In order to meet this emergency, the United States was compelled
to encourage and stimulate the production of these minerals by
private enterprise. Many new mines were opened and considerable
capital invested. At the close of the war the demand for these
minerals in most instances completely disappeared. Many corpora-
tions and citizens found themselves with investments on their hands
made at the behest of the Government upon which it was impossible
for them to realize.

Congress took cognizance of this situation in March, 1919, by
enacting the war minerals relief law, which authorized the Secretary
of the Interior to admit for relief such claims as should be filed to
and including June 2, 1919, and to make fair and equitable cash
awards, The sum of $8,500,000 was appropriated for this purpose.

War Minerals
Relief.
9

The Secretary of the Interior organized a War Minerals Relief
Commission, with the necessary clerical force to handle this work.

A total of 1,258 claims were filed with the commission. Hearings
on these claims were given and claimants were permitted to submit
evidence regarding expenditures and to file such other legal proof
as they desired. Awards were made in accordance with merit. In
November, 1921, Congress amended the law so as to enable the
Secretary to expedite the settlements.

The work continued until May, 1923, when there were 537 claims
remaining unsettled. At this time the Secretary of the Interior
abolished the commission and the work was transferred to the
solicitor’s office of the Interior Department. The annual pay roll
at that time amounted to $36,000, with 13 employees. Within a
short period the number of outstanding claims were reduced to 36
and the employees decreased to 4. Later but 1 employee was re-
tained. On September 15 of this year all claims on hand but one
were settled and practically the entire work of war minerals relief
disposed of. A final report will be made to Congress when it con-
venes at the coming session giving the details of administration.

But for appeals to the courts and delays due to awaiting decisions
from the United States Supreme Court, the work would have been
completed long ago. It is estimated that of the fund originally
appropriated approximately $1,000,000 will remain in the Federal
Treasury unexpended.

Conservation of the oil resources of the United
States has become a subject of national importance.
Under the present leasing and royalty practices it
is impossible to conserve oil under the ground if a neighboring
owner desires to gain possession of the deposits. He simply drills
several wells and drains the oil from the property contiguous to
his own.

Although at the present time there is said to be an overproduction
of petroleum, the supply is maintained only by the drilling of many
thousand new wells every year. Failure to bring in new producing
wells for a two-year period would, in the opinion of Government
scientists, so reduce the supply as to slow down industry and bring
about a serious situation. With the development of aircraft and its
dependency on petroleum products, the national defense is involved,
as the supremacy of nations in the future may be determined by the
possession of available, oil supplies. The Government itself is also
directly interested through its control over the public domain, in-
cluding Indian lands, which still contain large undeveloped reserves
of oil. In compliance with the general leasing law, large areas of

Oil Conserva-
tion Board.
10

public lands have already been leased, the Government receiving
royalties on all oil produced. Oil from public and Indian lands
represent approximately one-tenth of the Nation's entire petroleum
production.

To meet this situation the President during the past year created
the Federal Oil Conservation Board, consisting of the Secretaries
of War, Navy, Interior, and Commerce, to cooperate with the oil
industry in devising, if possible, a national policy for conservation
of the country’s oil reserves and for more efficient methods of pro-
duction, distribution, and refining of oil products so as to prevent
waste in the present and future petroleum supply. The Secretary of
the Interior was selected as chairman of this board.

An inquiry into every phase of the oil industry was inaugurated.
Questionnaires asking specific data were directed to the heads of
oil corporations and others, and more than 300 members of the
industry were invited to submit their views. Information was sought
regarding overproduction of oil, expense of storage, dumping of
surplus on the fuel market, transportation through pipe lines, dis-
tribution, refining, foreign exploration, development of new pools,
and suggestions for preventing waste, etc.

While the industry was furnishing data within its own sphere the
board conducted a survey bearing on the Government’s responsibility
to the petroleum situation. The War Department, the Navy Depart-
ment, the United States Shipping Board, the Federal Trade Com-
mission, the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
and the General Land Office supplied full details regarding their
connection with oil production and consumption. The legal aspects
were also investigated through a general counsel serving on the
board.

A report embracing all phases of the country’s oil problem will be
submitted by the board to the President and Congress.

The United States is one of the world’s greatest
proprietors of coal and oil lands. It also owns
large deposits of oil, shale, sodium and potash salts,
phosphate, and other minerals.

For many years a public agitation was waged in this country over
the question of whether these hidden minerals should be developed.
Through the passage of the mineral leasing act in 1920, a definite
policy was adopted providing for the leasing of certain classes of
the mineral lands and deposits belonging to the Government to
private enterprise.

The terms of this law limit the amount of land that may be leased
to any individual, provide that the capital needed to meet the cost

Mineral
Leasing.
11

of development and operation must be furnished by him, and that
the Government shall receive a substantial royalty on all mineral
produced in addition to bonuses and rentals. Another feature of
this act was the provision for the disposition of the receipts from
the leasing of the mineral lands. The State government receives
3714 per cent of the amount accrued from public lands within its
border, the reclamation fund receives 5214 per cent, and the remain-
ing 10 per cent goes to the United States Government.

Administration of the mineral leasing law was placed under the
jurisdiction of the Interior Department by Congress, this depart-
ment already having supervision over the public domain. Under
the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, procedure to accom-
plish the economical and effective administration of the law was
placed in the several bureaus, the General Land Office being the
office of record, the Geological Survey furnishing technical advice,
and the Bureau of Mines supervising operations.

Many citizens took advantage of the enactment of this legislation.
Not only were the oil and gas and coal lands and deposits made
the subject of intensive exploration, but also the sodium, phosphate,
and oil-shale deposits received considerable attention. Prospecting
permits authorized under the law were first issued to applicants,
and upon satisfactory proof being presented of an actual discovery
of the mineral involved leases were then issued, the Government to
be paid a stipulated royalty from the total production. The devel-
opment which followed was concentrated in most instances in the
oil fields located on the public domain, the total number of barrels
produced up to the end of the last fiscal year being 118,333,594, the
royalties being 21,884,217 barrels, or $32,938,494. Approximately
$12,000,000 additional have been realized from oil bonuses and leases
on public lands containing minerals of other character during the
past five years.

With the transfer at the end of the last fiscal year of the Bureau
of Mines from the Interior to the Commerce Department the divi-
sion in this bureau having supervision over mineral leasing activi-
ties was retained in the Interior Department, and a new organization
unit known as the “ Conservation Branch” was created in the Geo-
logical Survey. This branch was given the engineering control of
all mineral leasing, as well as the classification of the public lands
as to minerals. Its creation was for the purpose of placing every
possible safeguard around the leasing of the Nation’s estate and of
employing sound economic and practical methods in handling these
natural resources.

A similar leasing system has been authorized by Congress with
reference to the Indian reservations scattered throughout the West-
ern States. The Government as the guardian of the Indians has
12

supervision over the mineral leasing of Indian lands. In the case
of these lands all royalties derived from their development through
leasing are paid to the Indians. On the Osage Reservation, in
Oklahoma, the richest oil field ever known has been developed, and
bonuses running as high as a million dollars or more have been paid
for a lease on a 160-acre tract. Sale of leases on this reservation is
conducted by public auction, the leases being awarded to the highest
bidder. Royalties from the oil produced on the Osage Reservation
also run into millions annually and have made these Indians the
wealthiest people per capita in the world.

The Department of the Interior came into exist-
ence in 1849. Ever since its establishment Congress
in creating new governmental bureaus has placed a
number of them under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department
regardless of whether their functions correlated with the activities
of the department. The result of this practice during the last 75
years has been that the Interior Department has had a heterogeneity
of public duties to perform, most of which had no relation or
connection with each other. In addition, some of these newly-
created bureaus placed in the Interior Department were charged
with the performance of services similar to and in some cases almost
identical with the functions of bureaus in other departments of the
Federal Government. This developed duplication, unnecessary
waste, and expense to the taxpayers.

During the past year a survey of this situation was made in the
Interior Department by the Secretary, whereupon it was found that
by transferring the Bureau of Mines, the Patent Office, and the
Mineral Resources Division of the Geological Survey to the Depart-
ment of Commerce from the Department of the Interior improved
public service would accrue and the duplicated functions eliminated
at a considerable saving in cost of operation.

Under the organic law creating the Department of Commerce the
President has limited authority to transfer at his discretion sci-
entific or statistical bureaus located in other departments to the Com-
merce Department. Thus it was unnecessary to await congressional
approval, and, through an Executive order issued by the President
upon the joint recommendation of the Secretaries of Interior and
Commerce, the Patent Office, Bureau of Mines, and Mineral Statistics
Division of the Geological Survey were taken from the Interior De-
partment and placed under the control of the Commerce Depart-
ment.

The underlying reason for the Patent Office’s transfer is to be found
in the fact that the Department of Commerce’s function is the de-
velopment of American industrial prosperity and the promotion of

The Transfer
of Bureaus.
13

foreign and domestic commerce. The Patent Office deals exclusively
with the issuance of patents on inventions used in the various Amer-
ican industries and commercial enterprises, so that the transfer of
this bureau to the Commerce Department will lead to a coordination
of its activities with others of that department in the development
of domestic trade. The Patent Office also maintained relations with
foreign nations in regard to patents issued by them, with the result
that the Commerce Department, already dealing with similar ques-
tions in the promotion of trade in foreign nations through its many
commercial agents abroad, was enabled to consolidate and facilitate
this phase of the bureau’s functions.

The object in shifting the Bureau of Mines and the Minerals Sta-
tistics Division of the Geological Survey was to put to an end an
overlapping of functions. Investigations showed that the labora-
tories of the Department of Commerce were carrying on researches
in the use of gasoline and lubricating oil in gas engines while the
Bureau of Mines in the Interior Department carried on research
generally into gasoline and petroleum products. The laboratories
of the Department of Commerce also were inquiring into the quality
of materials for manufacture of porcelain, whereas the Bureau of
Mines laboratories carried on research into raw materials for porce-
lain manufacture. The Department of Commerce laboratories were
investigating into the qualities of fuel, whereas the Bureau of Mines
laboratories tested fuel as to its qualities. The Department of Com-
merce contains a division for service in domestic distribution and
foreign trade in mineral products; the Bureau of Mines carried on
work of economic character of much the same implication.

The Department of Commerce provided statistics of mineral pro-
duction every 10 years, in some cases every 2 years, whereas the
Department of the Interior provided statistics of mineral produc-
tion every year and in many cases every month. The Department
of Commerce recruited statistics on production of explosives every
two years, while the Bureau of Mines procured statistics on their
production at other regular intervals. The Department of Com-
merce carried on investigations into safety appliances in various
industries, while the Bureau of Mines carried on the same as ap-
plied to the mining industry. The Department of Commerce car-
ried on research into the tensile strength of wire rope generally for
all industries, whereas the Bureau of Mines investigated the strength
of wire ropes for the mining industry. The Department of Com-
merce maintained economic research in use of raw materials for
manufacture, a large portion of which are minerals, while the
Bureau of Mines investigated the production of raw materials for
manufacturing purposes.

61573°—25 3

 
14

Although consistent and constant efforts had been made to ad-
just these activities so as to avoid actual duplication, it was practi-
cally impossible to accomplish effective results with the bureaus
located in different departments and under the supervision of differ-
ent branches of the Government. Their transfer will not only se-
cure a more economic administration but more efficient relationship
with the public.

Prior to the transfer of the Patent Office from the
Department of the Interior to the Department of
Commerce a committee composed of leading repre-
sentatives of the patent bar associations and industrial organiza-
tions, including the engineering profession, was organized for the
purpose of surveying the procedure, simplifying the methods, and
expediting the business of this bureau.

The Patent Office for several years has been far behind in its work.
A tremendous increase in applications for patents began shortly
after the close of the World War and has continued ever since.
Although the force of employees was increased on two occasions by
Congress no relief was afforded the public, the office being still in
arrears. Applications for patents were not acted upon until six or
seven months after the date of filing.

This committee began its work over nine months ago. Serving
without compensation in a spirit of public service, its members
inaugurated a thorough review of the various functions of the
bureau. In all institutions where methods of procedure have grad-
ually developed the general tendency is toward a complicated pro-
cedure. This applies particularly to work involving both technical
and legal questions, as is the case in the Patent Office. It was neces-
sary for the members of the committee, therefore, to concentrate their
efforts on this phase of the work of handling patents.

A tentative report was submitted to the Secretary of the Interior
containing recommendations for changes connected with the prac-
tice by patent attorneys at the Patent Office. The committee then
proceeded with its study of the prevailing mode of procedure and
business methods. The Bureau of Efficiency, an independent govern-
mental agency, joined the committee in the inquiry. Sources of
delay in examining into applications, unnecessary red tape in the
expediting of patents, and other complicated methods responsible for
the failure of the bureau to give prompt public service are expected
to be eliminated.

With the transfer of the Patent Office from the Interior Depart-
ment to the Commerce Department the committee was authorized to
continue its survey. Its report, including recommendations, when

Patent Office
Committee.
15

completed will be made to the Secretary of Commerce instead of the
Secretary of the Interior, who originally organized the committee.
The expedition of the business of the Patent Office through the
simplification of its methods of procedure will be of great value in
the developing of industrial life in the United States, as the pros-
perity and success of thousands of business enterprises are directly
dependent on patents or pending patents before the Patent Office.

Trachoma Trachoma, an infectious eye disease, ultimately
Jinnny the causing blindness if untreated, has been prevalent
ndians.

among the Indians living on western reservations
for many years. It has had a demoralizing effect on the Indian
population, notwithstanding the efforts heretofore of the Indian
medical service to combat it.

 

 

Indian families encamped in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains

During the past year the Government concentrated on its eradica-
tion, particularly in the southwestern States, where, because of the
vast area of the reservations and the isolated living conditions of
the Indians, the contagion had widespread prevalence. Through
cooperation between the Indian Office, the American Medical Asso-
ciation, and the various State boards of health, surveys have been
made to determine the medical needs and status of the disease. The
16

aid of trachoma specialists of national repute has been secured with-
out compensation. Through lectures and demonstrations to Govern-
ment physicians on duty at Indian reservations these specialists have
instructed them in the proper method of performing operations and
in the most efficacious treatment of trachoma. A special health-
education program was also inaugurated in Indian schools to teach
the youth of the race in a systematic manner the way to preserve
their health.

Traveling medical units composed of physicians, nurses, and
attendants were organized and supplied with the necessary operat-
ing and other equipment for the establishment of temporary field
hospitals. These units journeyed from one Indian village or settle-
ment to another, separated by long distances. On the Navajo Indian
Reservation, the largest under jurisdiction of the Government, lying
in the States of Arizona and New Mexico, every resident Indian is
to be examined at clinics held by these traveling units.

The campaign includes a plan proposed by the American Medical
Association to teach the Indians how trachoma is transmitted and
the best means of avoiding infection. The first weeks of May and
October of each year have been designated as “educational trachoma
week” on the reservations. At this time physicians will deliver
lectures daily to groups of Indians, and special courses of instruction
on trachoma will be given in the Indian schools. The Indian pupils
of the higher grades will also prepare papers on the disease. Mis-
sionaries on the reservations will cooperate during this week in
spreading information about the dangers of trachoma and how to
prevent contraction.

More than 88,111 Indians in the Southwest have peen examined
so far, of which 7,236 were found afflicted with trachoma. Of this
number 4,285 underwent trachoma operations and 2,863 others were
treated for trachoma without operation. In addition to the work of
the physicians in the southwestern trachoma campaign special phy-
sicians have been districted in other sections of the country. The
trachoma work performed by them during the year 1925 covered
13,858 examinations, which discovered 1,953 cases of trachoma. They
performed 718 operations and otherwise treated 1,217 cases.

One of the interesting phases of the campaign is the readiness
with which Indians, both old and young, come to the clinics. Nat-
vrally averse to the white man’s medicine, the Indians apparently
abandoned their prejudices and without the slightest reluctance
consent to being treated for trachoma. The result is that much
progress is being made toward eradication of this infectious disease
among the tribes everywhere.
17

For over half a century titles to the lands of the
Pueblo Indians in New Mexico have been in dispute.
An almost continuous agitation between the Indians
and settlers has existed since 1848.

These Indians were originally discovered by Coronado and the
first Spanish explorers in 1541. They were found living in villages
called pueblos. These same villages or pueblos are now occupied by
their descendants. There are about 20 of them in New Mexico at
the present time, with a total Indian population of between 6.500
and 8,000. Each pueblo consists of about 17,000 acres of land,
making a total of 340,000 acres.

The rights of the Indians to the lands they occupied were recog-
nized by the Spanish conquerors from early days. The first decree
of record concerning them was issued by Spain March 21, 1551.
Upon the termination of Spanish sovereignty in this territory the
Pueblo Indians came under the jurisdiction of the Government of
Mexico, which gave them many political and civil rights. All of
the land grants made to the Indians have been held in a type of
communal occupancy and ownership. The relationship of the inhab-
itants of this territory and the Government of the United States
was established by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, and in
1859 Congress confirmed the Spanish grants to the Indians.

From the earliest times the Pueblos had invited Spaniards and
other non-Indians to settle among them and assist in the cultivation
of their lands. This situation resulted in conflicts as to ownership
and right to possession of the lands between the Indians and these
settlers. There are now approximately 3,000 claimants to lands
within the Pueblo grants, the non-Indians with their families com-
prising about 12,000 persons. Their claims to lands vary in size
from tracts the size of a town lot to several acres.

For many years the Pueblo Indians have contested the validity
of these claims. The bitter controversy that has been waged has
spread to citizens in all parts of the United States. With popular
opinion aroused, Congress last year took action to settle the com-
plicated question of titles and to secure for the Indians all the lands
to which they are equitably entitled.

Through an act passed by the National Legislature, a board was
created consisting of the Attorney General, the Secretary of the
Interior, and a third member, appointed by the President. This
board, with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Interior
acting through representatives, has already established headquarters
at Santa Fe, N. Mex., and has started investigations and delibera-
tions. Conflicting claims of the Indians and non-Indians are being

61572°— 281

Pueblo Land
Disputes.
18

adjudicated. In instances where a claim is decided against the
Pueblos the action of the board must be unanimous.

Proceedings of the board are progressing satisfactorily. With the
completion of its work the conflicting titles to the lands of the
Pueblo Indians will be definitely and judicially settled after many
years of dispute.

Alaska was purchased from the Russian Empire in
1867 for the comparatively insignificant sum of
$7,200,000. The amount was paid in gold.

This vast region, one-fifth as large as the entire surface of the
continental United States, has been administered as a Territory ever
since it came into this country’s possession.

Expenditures for Federal administration in Alaska amounted to
$10,467,064 last year and was divided between 9 of the 10 executive
departments, with 25 bureaus participating. Based on the entire
population of Alaska, it cost $190 per capita to govern Alaska.
There are approximately 3,300 Government employees. Thus more
than one-tenth of Alaska’s white population at present is in the
Government employ in some capacity or other. The functions per-
formed number 135 and consist of every conceivable phase of Gov-
ernment supervision and jurisdiction.

The Department of the Interior has supervision over its Terri-
torial government, including the governor, its public lands, mining
claims, town sites, manufacturing sites, hot springs and cemeteries
on public lands, Indian allotments, wharf sites, homesteads, coal
leases, oil leases, the Alaska Railroad, national parks and monu-
ments, schools for natives, including education in the protection of
their health, the propagation of the reindeer, the topographic and
geographic survey of its lands, the suppression of traffic in intoxicat-
ing liquors, and the protection of its game.

The Department of Agriculture exercises supervision over Its
national forests, fur-bearing animal life, weather bureaus, public
roads, migratory birds, and agricultural development through the
operation of five experimental stations. The Department of Com-
merce functions through the Bureau of Fisheries in the protection
of its fish industry; and the Coast and Geodetic Survey enforces its
maritime laws and the Bureau of Lighthouses maintains lighthouse
service and other aids to navigation.

The War Department operates the cable and telegraphic lines in
Alaska, maintains Army posts and military reserves, and, through
its engineering corps, provides for the improvement of its rivers
and harbors and other navigable streams, as well as the construc-
tion of trails and roads through the Alaskan Road Commission.
The Navy Department has control of the radio stations of Alaska,

Alaska
Jurisdiction.
19

of which there is one at every important town: operates a naval
patrol along its coasts; mines coal from its naval coal reserves; and
has an immense naval oil reserve over which it exercises jurisdiction.

The Treasury Department has likewise a heterogenous variety of
functions to perform in Alaska, including the collection of customs,
the guarding of the coasts from smuggling through the Revenue
Cutter Service and its Coast Guard Patrol, the collection of Federal
taxes, the construction and custody of public buildings, the super-
vision of national banks, the registry of ships, the maintenance of
quarantine stations and hospitals, and the protection of its public
health.

The Department of Justice maintains courts in four judicial dis-
tricts, with marshals to arrest violators of the IFederal and criminal
laws and to bring them into courts for trials, it legal machinery
including the custody of jails and courthouses of the Territory.
The Department of Labor has charge of immigration in Alaska.
The Post Office Department operates the mail service, postal routes,
and post offices. The Federal Water Power Commission functions
upon all water-power rights in Alaska.

It is apparent that such a complexity of Government activities
contributes to ineffective administration and extravagance in expendi-
tures. A multiplication of Government bureaus responsible to sepa-
rate departments also contributes to the overlapping of functions.
A complete coordination of allied functions would avoid lost motion
and confusion and save an immense sum of the taxpayers’ money.

The Government’s activities in Alaska should be covered into one
department and under one Secretary of the President’s Cabinet.

Th : Construction and operation of a railroad by the

ce Aluska

Ratloand overnment for the development of the Territory
of Alaska was authorized by Congress in 1914.

Immediately after the passage of the act the President established

the Alaskan Engineering Commission to build the road and placed

it under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior.

The route of the road was finally selected in 1915, commencing at
Seward and extending 467 miles into the interior as far as Fair-
banks. Construction was started in 1915 by Army engineers and
continued for eight years. In 1923 it was announced that the road
had been completed at a cost of %$60.000.000. The designation of
the Alaskan Engineering Commission was changed to the Alaska
Railroad and operation along the entire route was commenced for
the first time.

It soon became apparent that the road was not a profitable enter-
prise. It was evident that it was not going to pay expenses and
there was a heavy deficit. Last winter a complete survey of the
20

physical condition of the road and the commercial possibilities of
the Territory contributory to it was made by an expert in railroad
construction and operation. The result of this survey showed that,
compared with the privately owned railroads in the States, the
Alaska Railroad in many places was but a temporary structure
built on freezing and thawing soil and over shifting, rapid streams.
It also showed that the freight and passenger traffic was limited and
that many years would elapse before the railroad would be a
financial success.

Business principles have been applied to the operation of the
Alaska Railroad. An experienced railroad operator loaned to the

 

 

 

One of the steel bridges on the right of way of the Alaska Railroad

Government by the Pennsylvania Railroad has been appointed gen-
eral manager. The practice of operating trains for passenger service
only has been abandoned and mixed trains have been substituted
requiring the hauling of freight cars where it is possible to main-
tain the schedule. Dining and sleeping car service has also been
discontinued. In the freight service the operation of three freight
trains in each direction every week regardless of the tonnage offered
for shipment has been stopped. Under a new policy freight trains
are operated along the road only when sufficient tonnage is avail-
able to justify the cost of running them.

The greatest problem in connection with the road, however, is the
annual drain on the Federal Treasury due to heavy maintenance of
21

way expenses. To correct this situation, eliminate temporary struc-
tures requiring constant attention, and supplant them with perma-
nent structures a six-year program covering expenditures of approxi-
mately $11,878,000 has been proposed. This program includes re-
construction of the roadbed in many places, substituting steel
bridges for wooden trestles, construction of a tunnel, and other
replacements necessary to put the physical condition of the Alaska
Railroad on a basis so that its yearly mantenance of way costs will
be reduced to the minimum.

The policy of reclaiming arid and semiarid lands
by the Federal Government came into existence with
the passage of the reclamation act in 1902. To date the Govern-
ment has spent $200,000,000 on works to irrigate more than 2,000,000
acres of land which support almost a half million people.

It was believed that if the Government built dams and canals agri-
culture would follow; that settlers would take up the lands and
carry out the costly and difficult task of clearing off the sagebrush.
leveling the surface, providing farm buildings, implements, and live-
stock, and doing all those things that are necessary to change the
desert into productive farms.

The Government made generous terms for the repayment of the
cost of the works. The settlers were to pay annually the cost of
operating and maintaining the dams and canals. The cost of con-
struction was to be repaid to the Government at first in 10 annual
installments, which was later increased to 20 annual installments.
These liberal terms of payment for a water right—20 years without
interest—made this domain a fruitful field for the land speculator
and the result was a rapid and disastrous inflation of prices on land
in private ownership.

More than two-thirds of the lands under works constructed by the
Government were privately owned when construction started. The
political pressure to have works built in the different States fre-
quently determined the location of many of the projects. As a result
canals were built to water unfit land and where the cost of develop-
ment was more than agriculture could stand. A survey recently con-
ducted by a fact-finding committee. on Federal reclamation showed
that an amount estimated at $26,000,000 had been expended for the
irrigation of worthless and unfertile lands, much of which had been
abandoned by settlers.

Designed as a home-making institution, Federal reclamation as
carried out in the past has been defective. There was no selection
of settlers based on experience and qualifications, and the opinion
prevailed that the reclamation act did not permit the employment

Reclamation.
22

 

 

—

wm

 

 

Topographic engineers surveying rapids at Marble Canyon on the Colorado River
23

of people to give practical advice on the preparation of the land for
cultivation or instruct the beginner, to whom conditions were new,
as to what crops to plant and when to plant them. The Reclamation
Service was primarily a construction agency with the social and
human requirements omitted from its administration.

The consequence was that some of the land was acquired by people
who had never been farmers and never expected to be, while the real
farmer, who took his family into this new domain with his money
and experience, had a faith and confidence in the Government that
it would not have spent immense sums to build these irrigation
works unless it was to create conditions under which he could make
a living.

Settlers who entered on these projects under the impression that
they were obtaining a farm practically free of cost found that it
cost thousands of dollars to do the preparatory work. Lacking
the capital themselves, there was no credit agency from which they
could obtain money on terms suited to the undertaking. They
could only borrow on short-time payments and at high interest
rates. Eight and 12 per cent is being paid on many projects for
money borrowed to level the land, build homes, and buy implements
and livestock.

When he tried and failed, the settler’s faith in our institutions
was weakened, and a suecession of such failures has eliminated
blame from the individual and fastened it onto the system or condi-
tions under which he attempted to create a home. Instead of being
the open door to farm ownership, many of these Government proj-
ects have been the scene of heart-breaking experiences to settlers and
their families, leading to failure and loss of their land and lifetime
savings. There are at the present time 6,000 unoccupied farms of
varying size on Government projects.

The financial difficulties of irrigation farmers led to a practice
of not paying the Government for the service it rendered in pro-
viding water, because postponement of that payment did not increase
the debt, which bore no interest. Congress was also appealed to
repeatedly and laws were passed authorizing deferred payments or
giving blanket relief to all water users on a project. Under these
moratoriums delinquent payments on operation and maintenance
were added to construction costs. These measures gave no perma-
nent relief to the struggling settler who had met his payments.
They often did enable the well-to-do landowner to avoid making
his payments.

The survey of the fact finders showed that only one of the projects
had met its obligations as they fell due, and in addition to the fail-
ure to pay construction costs about 3314 per cent, or approximately
$5,688,000, of operation and maintenance costs, payable annually,
24

remained unpaid, including $1,060,000 current costs not yet assessed
against the water users and $1,194,000 operation and maintenance
charges to be repaid as construction.

Two years ago a program was inaugurated for the reconstruction
of the Federal reclamation policy. A change in the law was en-
acted by Congress a year ago to provide for a different method of
repayment of construction charges to the Government. Instead of
paying an arbitrary amount annually based on 20-year installments
regardless of the productivity of the irrigation farms, provision is
made for payments of a percentage of the gross value of the crops
produced. The percentage was fixed at 5 per cent of a 10-year
average. The question of eliminating from the projects the immense
areas of land unfit for cultivation was met through the classification
of the soils on all the projects. This has not yet been completed, but
recommendations are to be presented to Congress for reducing the
size of projects containing infertile lands and allowing settlers
occupying worthless farms to exchange them for productive ones.
Most of the projects are now being operated by the Government, but
the new reclamation law provides that the farmers through their own
water users’ associations or irrigation districts may take over the
operation of the projects.

The essential part of the Federal reclamation policy of the future
is a program of land settlement and farm development. Unless
settlers can be attracted to the projects and are able to remain on
them, there is no reason for building them, and the Government
will not be reimbursed for their costs. The Government can con-
struct irrigation projects, but it can not draft settlers. One solu-
tion of the settlement problem is cooperation between the Federal
Government and the States in which projects are located, the States
to assume the responsibility of settlement. In authorizing appro-
priations for the construction of several new projects and additions
to old projects last year Congress inserted a provision in the law for
the first time stipulating that the States shall settle them.

Any new settlement policy must be based on the selection of settlers
who have had experience in farming and who have sufficient capital
to underwrite advances made by the Government. Financial aid to
settlers at a low rate of interest for the clearing of the land, im-
provement of the farms, and purchase of necessary equipment is also
paramount to success. Until these problems of land settlement and
farm development of the old projects can be solved the consensus of
opinion is that the construction of new works should be deferred.
The first intention of reclamation was to build homes. Ownership
of homes by the settlers on the old projects should be assured before
new projects involving the expenditure of additional millions are
attempted. Securing settlers is of all reclamation problems the most
difficult.
25

The Rio Grande rises in Colorado, flows south
through that State and New Mexico to the north
boundary of Texas. I‘rom a point about 4 miles
above El Paso, Tex., it forms the boundary between the United
States and Mexico. Although the country through which the Rio
Grande flows is fertile, rainfall is meager and erratic and crops
can not be raised profitably without irrigation.

For many years a system of canals and ditches has been operated
on the Mexican side, taking water from the river for the irrigation
of Mexican lands. A scarcity of water in 1896 prompted the
Republic of Mexico to file a complaint that the Mexicans were being
deprived of their water rights, and this question of the use of the
water and rights of the Rio Grande was referred to the International
Boundary Commission for investigation. In the same year the
commission submitted a report recommending the erection of an
international dam and in some way prevent the building of any
large reservoirs along the Rio Grande above El Paso pending its
construction.

In order to comply with this recommendation the Secretary of the
Interior issued an order suspending all applications for rights of
way for dams, canals, or reservoirs over public lands situated on the
river or its tributaries in Colorado and New Mexico, notwithstanding
an existing law providing for the granting of such rights of way.
Several modifications in this order were made by succeeding Secre-
taries until 1906, when a convention between the United States
and Mexico definitely provided for the equitable distribution of the
waters of the Rio Grande for irrigation. One article of this conven-
tion stipulated that after the completion of a dam near Engle,
N. Mex., and as soon as water was available, the United States
should deliver a total of 60,000 acre-feet of water annually to the
canal system operated by the Mexicans. Another article provided
that in case of an extraordinary drought or serious accident the
amount of water to be delivered to the Mexicans should be dimin-
ished.

In 1907 the Secretary of the Interior again renewed the order to
the effect that no further rights of way over public lands along the
river should be granted which involved storage of waters on the
upper Rio Grande and its tributaries. The reason given for the
continuation of the embargo was to protect the water supply of the
river pending the erection of the dam and the construction by the
Government of Elephant Butte Dam on the Rio Grande reclamation
project.

The Bureau of Reclamation of the Interior Department completed
the building of this dam, the largest irrigation structure in the

Rio Grande
Embargo.
26

United States, forming a reservoir with a capacity of 2,600,000 acre-
{eet, the storage being more than forty times the quantity required
to be delivered to Mexico. In addition to carrying out the treaty
obligations to Mexico this dam supplied suflicient water for the Rio
Grande Government project irrigating 155,000 acres in New Mexico
and Texas, its annual run-off available for average storage amount-
ing to approximately 1,200,000 acre-feet.

With the treaty rights of Mexico protected and with the Govern-
ment’s irrigation project amply supplied with water, the order of the
Secretary of the Interior suspending the law of Congress and estab-
lishing an embargo against the granting of rights of way over public
lands still remained in effect. Last year the question was brought to
an issue by the application of the Vega Sylvester Reservoir for a
right of way over public land contiguous to the Rio Grande in
Colorado.

The final decision made was that the Secretary of the Interior
has no authority to lay an embargo of this character, much less con-
tinue it after the claimed emergency had passed, since there is no
power vested in him to suspend laws of Congress. It was also em-
phasized that water must be appropriated under State laws and that
the granting of a right of way over public land did not constitute a
water right, but merely the right to use public lands.

As a result the order of previous Secretaries of the Interior was
canceled, the Rio Grande embargo was lifted, and in the future
rights of way over public lands along this river will be granted in
accordance with the law.

iy us Three-quarters of a century ago the public domain
RE of the United States comprised practically all of
"the Western States and the greater portion of the

Southern States.

To bring about the settlement of this vast territory the Govern-
ment enacted homestead laws offering generous inducements to its
citizens to establish homes. The great pioneer movement, extending
over five decades, ensued.

Machinery for handling the rush of homesteaders was established
by the Government. The area was divided into land districts, with
centrally located land offices where applications to enter public land
could be made under the homestead and other laws and public-land
business generally could be transacted. The personnel of these
offices consisted of a register and receiver and the necessary clerical
force.

Public lands rapidly passed from Government to private owner-
ship under the land laws, which were liberalized from time to time
27

by Congress. Twenty years ago practically all the fertile and pro-
ductive public land had been turned over to its citizens by the
United States. A wilderness had been subdued.

Reduction in the number of applications to enter lands has, of
course, followed the disposal of the most fertile and productive
tracts. Not including Alaska and areas reserved for forests and
other purposes, the public domain has now been reduced to approxi-
mately 186,000,000 acres. Receipts from the disposal of public
lands decreased 85 per cent during the past 20 years.

Notwithstanding this situation, an inquiry conducted last year
showed that the Government was maintaining practically the same
number of local land offices throughout the country as when the
receipts were large and an active demand existed for public lands.
Steps were taken to consolidate and discontinue many of them. It
was found that the amount of public land within the borders of four
States did not warrant the expense of maintaining any offices and
the last office in these was abolished. A number of other States
having more than one land office, the surplus was eliminated and
consolidated with the remaining offices. Forty local land offices in
all were abolished, resulting in the discontinuance of the services of
147 local officials and employees, with an estimated annual saving
of $273,000.

Further changes were effected in the local land offices through
legislation by Congress enacted on the recommendation of the Inte-
rior Department. Instead of having a register and receiver in
charge of the offices a single official was deemed sufficient, and
beginning with the present fiscal year the services of all receivers
were discontinued. Positions of 22 of these officials were abolished,
the annual reduction in operating costs amounting to $50,000.

Reorganization of the public-land administration has expedited
the business of this branch of the Government. Already increased
efficiency has been evidenced.

Abolishing For a number of years the work of surveying the
Surveyors public lands has been administered by two inde-
General.

pendent but coordinate agencies operating under
the Commissioner of the General Land Office—one, known as the
Field Surveying Service, headed by the Supervisor of Surveys, with
headquarters at Denver, Colo., and the other, consisting of 12 sur-
veyors general, with offices located in each of the principal public-
land States of the West.

Through legislation enacted by Congress on the recommendation
of the General Land Office the offices of surveyors general were
28

abolished, effective June 30, 1925, and their activities, including
personnel, records, and equipment, were transferred to the Field
Surveying Service. An entire reorganization occurred. The service
now operates as a unit under the Supervisor of Surveys, subject to
- the general administrative control of the Commissioner of the Gen-
eral Land Office and Secretary of the Interior.

Elimination of the surveyors general and the consolidation of
their duties with the field-surveying branch has resulted in the
removal of conflict of authority. There has been also a simplifica-
tion of procedure and increased efficiency of service. Besides the
saving in the annual salaries of the surveyors general, other material
reductions were made in personnel and in operating expenses through
the unification of the duties of surveying officials and employees. The
approximate annual saving in salaries was $63,000.

Educational The National Park Service was created by Con-
Development in gress in 1916 and was organized in 1917 as a
National Parks. }upeau of the Department of the Interior. The
initial purpose of its establishment was to preserve some of the
principal scenic and natural wonders of America from destruction
and to afford outdoor recreational opportunities for the public.

For over a century and a half the American people have bent their
efforts toward the subjection of the wilderness, building themselves
homes and developing the natural resources of the country. Great
cities have sprung up and large industrial communities with con-
centrated populations have come into existence. The consequence
has been that Americans have led an indoor existence.

With the creation of these national playgrounds under the super-
vision of the Federal Government, a reaction against indoor life
ensued. Thousands of visitors went to the natural parks annually
for the purpose of enjoying the superb scenery and to take advantage
of the opportunities offered for outdoor recreation. The universal
use of the automobile accentuated this out-of-door movement.

It soon became evident that the people were not satisfied to visit
the national parks merely to view the landscape and the wonders of
nature. A desire for knowledge regarding them developed. Infor-
mation was sought concerning the birds, flowers, and trees along
the trail and roadside and the geological formations of the moun-
tains. This inspired a program for the development of national
parks as educational institutions.

Despite the fact that practically no funds were available, a plan
to provide facilities for the instruction and the supply of knowledge
to visitors was inaugurated by the National Park Service. There has
29

been enthusiastic cooperation from private individuals and universi-
ties in this educational program. Field trips headed by nature
guides competent to explain every subject of natural history ob-
served along the trailside are now being conducted. Camp-fire lec-
tures on birds, geology, and other phases of nature exemplified
in the parks are held regularly. Collections of materials within
the boundaries of the different parks are being assembled in
museums for the benefit of the visitors. Field courses in various
branches of natural history are also offered by the National Park
Service in cooperation with colleges during the summer season,
these institutions giving credits to students attending them.

Yosemite National Park, in California, offers an example of what
has been accomplished. In this park the Nature Guide Service was
started by private funds five years ago, the California State Kish
and Game Commission cooperating. The work was gradually taken
over by the Government and now the small organization serves two
out of every three visitors to Yosemite, taking them on field trips
and providing camp-fire talks at the large hotels and camps. This
year for the first time courses were offered of university grade in the
Yosemite Field School of Natural History, which was established to
give more training to persons desiring to know the out-of-doors more
intimately. While the public was thus being served the Yosemite
Park naturalist started collecting exhibit material that would eventu-
ally develop into a museum.

Similar developments have occurred in other parks. The service
has organized an educational branch under the direction of a chief
naturalist, and the outdoor educational program is to be extended
throughout the national park system. The slogan, “Learn to read
the roadside,” has been adopted to denote this new phase of Gov-
ernment activity,

Eastern The National Government operates 19 national
x Zonal parks for the benefit of the public. Last year more
arlks.

than a million and a half people visited them for
the purpose of communing with nature and taking advantage of
the opportunities afforded for outdoor recreation.

Of the 19 national parks 18 are located west of the Mississippi.
The geysers and buffalo of Yellowstone, the gorges of Grand Canyon,
the giant trees of Sequoia, the glaciers of Mount Rainier, the falls of
Yosemite, the prehistoric dwellings of Mesa Verde, the living vol-
cano of Lassen Peak, and the petrified forests of Arizona have at-
tracted hundreds of thousands and will continue to draw them west-
ward. In the East there is but one national park, the Lafayette,
30

located on the coast of Maine and donated to the Government from
private sources.

That the East, with its densely peopled communities and its con-
centrated, congested populations, is entitled to additional national
parks there is no doubt. A number of primeval spots exist that be-
cause of their inaccessibility still remain intact, untouched by mod-
ern civilization. In them may be found natural wonders and scenic
beauties similar to those contained in the western national parks.

During the past year a movement meeting with almost universal
popular approval was started for the establishment of two new na-
tional parks in the East. A committee of park experts made a sur-
vey of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Range. After spend-
ing eight months visiting the various proposed sites, it recommended
the Blue Ridge of Virginia as the most logical place for the creation
of the new eastern national park. The report, however, pointed out
that the Great Smokies region of North Carolina and Tennessee
excelled the Blue Ridge of Virginia in the height of its mountains,
depth of valleys, and ruggedness of the areas, but that development
would be difficult and expensive.

When the situation was presented to Congress favorable action
was taken on both the Great Smokies and the Blue Ridge, including
Mammouth Cave in Kentucky, appropriations being made to cover
the expenses of a commission to fix the boundaries, study the best
method of acquiring these areas, accept donations within them, and
secure options of land for national park purposes. This commis-
sion is now at work on the task. The State of Tennessee by action
of its legislature has already purchased 80,000 acres of the (Great
Smokies region to be presented to the Government for the establish-
ment of the national park there. North Carolina is expected to

take similar action.
An organization formed in Virginia is conducting a “buy-an-

acre” campaign throughout the State. It is anticipated before the
convening of Congress that sufficient funds will be raised for the
purchase of the greater part of the Blue Ridge to be donated to the
Government.

The two new national parks in the East, should they ultimately be
established, will provide outdoor recreational facilities for over
50,000,000 inhabitants. Forty million people live within a close radius
of the Blue Ridge of Virginia, and the Great Smokies of Tennessee
and North Carolina will be accessible to many millions more in the
South. Through a chain of improved highways running north and
south along the Appalachian Range the two areas may be joined and
operated to supplement each other,
31

Colorado The Colorado River is one of the great natural
River resources of the United States. It is 1,700 miles

Development. long, rises in the State of Colorado, flows through
Colorado, Utah, Arizona, forms for a considerable distance the
border between California and Nevada and Arizona, and continues
through the Republic of Mexico, emptying into the Gulf of Cali-
fornia. The territory to which its forces may be applied includes
an area larger than many nations.

Four important problems present themselves in connection with
the development of the river. They comprise the prevention of
floods, utilization of the waters for irrigation purposes, production
of electric energy, and water for domestic use for southwestern
municipalities.

The Colorado River Basin has been under observation, survey, and
study since the close of the Civil War. More than a million dollars
has been expended in its investigation by the various departments
of the Government. Its bibliography consists of 1,000 books, articles,
and maps. No less than 55 measures have been introduced in Con-
gress providing for various phases of its development. It has been
under consideration by practically every Congress for the last six
decades.

Among the suggestions for the river’s development is the proposal
for the construction of an immense dam at Boulder Canyon. It
combines in its purposes control of the floods, irrigation of arid lands
along the river, and power production. This project is of such
magnitude as to challenge the country’s ablest engineers and should
be the subject of the most deliberate review as to its physical
feasibility.

The proposed Boulder Dam will be the largest engineering struc-
ture of its kind ever attempted, the maximum development being
planned to raise the water surface 605 feet, a height higher than
that of the Washington Monument and more than two and one-
fourth times as much as the Don Pedro Dam in California, which
has the greatest lift of any in this country and probably in the
world. The dam would contain over 3,375,000 cubic yards of con-
crete, which is more than three times as much as the Assuan Dam
in Egypt, containing the greatest amount of masonry of any dam
previously built. The reservoir formed by the dam will be 120 miles
long and will have an area of 157,000 acres, which is one and one-half
times as much as that of Gatun Lake on the Panama Canal.

Included in this enterprise is the construction of what is known
as the all-American canal for the irrigation of the Imperial Valley
in California, At the present time the supply of water for this
32

valley is secured from a canal running through Mexico. The people
of the Imperial Valley have a feeling of insecurity and restiveness,
however, because of the excessive cost of repairs, and the canal being
beyond the control of our laws and customs it is subject to tampering
and is a possible source of international dispute. To correct this
situation it is proposed to build a canal running from the Colorado
River to the valley entirely on the American side of the border. A
“total of 400,000 acres are now irrigated in the Imperial Valley. In
the present irrigation district 100,000 acres are not irrigated, and
200,000 would be brought into the district under the proposed system,
making an ultimate irrigable area in the Imperial Valley of approxi-
mately 700,000 acres.

The total cost of the proposed Boulder Canyon project, including
the building of the dam, erection of a power plant, extension of
transmission lines, and construction of the all-American canal, is
estimated at $200,000,000. The actual expenditures necessary to com-
plete the work may run as high as one-half the cost of the Panama
(‘anal. Whether or not it is practical at any cost to divert through
tunnels in the Boulder Canyon walls such a body of water as flows
down the Colorado River long enough to build this huge structure,
whether a mass of masonry unapproached in size in the history of
engineering is practical, whether it is possible to give more than an
intelligent guess at the cost, are problems that must be definitely
settled in order to justify the Government in assuming such a heavy
financial obligation.

The necessity for flood control is obvious. To those familiar with
the behavior of the Colorado River it is believed that the Pescadero
Cut Off, an artificial deflection of the river completed two years ago
and now a security against floods, may not serve its purpose for
more than a total of 15 years. At the end of that period the basin
may become silted and filled, the amount of silt being deposited in it
annually amounting to 100,000 acre-feet. The river will then return
to its old channel again, threatening life and destroying property.
This temporary structure should not be permitted to delay perma-
nent structures for flood control.

Another phase of the development is the compact that has been
formulated between the States of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New
Mexico, and California, intended to regulate, control, and protect
the rights of the several States, including Arizona, to the distribu-
tion and use of the waters of the Colorado River and its tributaries
for domestic and agricultural purposes. This pact has not yet been
approved by Arizona, although the legislatures of the other States
have ratified it. It will be necessary for the State of Arizona to join
hefore the pact becomes binding on any of the signatories or before
further appropriation of water for any purpose on the lower basin
33

may be undertaken, otherwise litigation may be expected by those
fearing that their previously established rights to use of the water in
the river may be jeopardized.

The time has come for the determination of a definite Government
policy covering all phases of the development of the Colorado River
Basin. The whole subject is of national moment and should be
surveyed in a broad way.

The Red River oil field comprises the south half of
the Red River bed situated on the border between
the States of Texas and Oklahoma. Oil was first
discovered there in 1918. A rush of prospectors to obtain possession
of the field followed and it has been the subject of controversy for
the last six years.

A large number of individuals and companies located on the
lands under Federal placer mining laws. Others entered the area
under permits or leases granted by the State of Texas and under
other various claims and titles.

Ownership of the area was claimed by both Oklahoma and Texas.
With the drilling of wells and the actual production of oil the
greatest confusion over titles to the land prevailed among the claim-
ants. The Texas Rangers took possession of some of the land on
behalf of the State of Texas, while in some instances armed guards
stood guard over claims. Litigation followed not only between the
many claimants but between the States of Oklahoma and Texas over
the ownership of the field.

The Federal Government itself finally intervened and the Supreme
Court rendered a decision that the south half of the Red River bed
containing these rich oil deposits belonged to the United States, was
a part of its public domain, and that all the claimants were tres-
passers without any legal rights to the property. A receiver was
appointed by the Supreme Court to take charge and operate the
field. The receiver drilled many new wells, operated them, and dis-
posed of the oil. At the conclusion of the receivership the entire
field and its proceeds, amounting to approximately $2,866,000, less
deductions for operating expenses and disbursements for wells
drilled by the claimants, were turned over to the Secretary of the
Interior, who has supervision over the public domain.

In the meanwhile Congress took the position that the claimants
who originally settled and developed the field were entitled to con-
sideration. An act passed in March, 1923, authorized the Secretary
of the Interior to determine equitable claims of citizens and domestic
corporations who in good faith claimed and possessed the Red River
field and who had made expenditures for oil development. It pro-

Red River
Oil Field.
34

vided that in adjusting these claims the Secretary should award the
claimants either prospecting permits or leases, including the proceeds
of the impounded funds produced from wells on the particular
tracts awarded them. A royalty to the Government of 1214 per
cent was to be deducted, as well as costs of operation, litigation, and
other expenses.

In taking advantage of the terms of this act, approximately 182
claims were filed, the majority of which overlapped and were almost
hopelessly in conflict with each other. Last year the General Land
Office, after an examination of the claims, made recommendations
to the Secretary of the Interior. Later requests for an opportunity
to present oral arguments by the various claimants was granted.
The longest hearings in the history of the Interior Department were
held before a special committee appointed for that purpose. They
lasted for almost 30 days. Although the attendance at these hearings
was large, the failure of any claimants to appear did not prejudice
their claims in any way. This committee recently made its report.

In his final determination of the equitable claims made in Sep-
tember the Secretary gave consideration to the recommendations of
the General Land Office and the special committee as well as all
other testimony, affidavits, briefs, and oral arguments presented by
the claimants. The Secretary found that 18 of the 64 claims cover-
ing 730 acres of the producing area be recognized as equitable, and
that approximately $2,141,898 of the impounded oil produced on the
tracts awarded these claimants be distributed to them. The Secretary
also found that no equitable claims existed on 531 acres of the Red
River field upon which oil had been produced to the sum of approxi-
mately $405,593, and that, as the property belongs to the United
States, this amount be turned into the Federal Treasury.

In addition there were 112 conflicting claims on the remaining
south half of the river upon which no oil had been discovered. These
claims with the exception of 3 were rejected. The final disposition
of the Red River oil field has closed one of the most difficult problems
in land administration ever presented to the Government for solution.

The retirement law providing annuities for Gov-
ernment employees has been in effect for nearly
five years. It is administered by the Pension
Bureau of the Interior Department.

The terms of the law provide for the establishment of a retire-
ment fund, maintained by deductions withheld from the salaries of
Federal employees, out of which is paid annuities to the employees
upon reaching advanced age and upon retiring from the Govern-
ment service on account of total disability.

Retired
Employees.
35

Before the passage of the law it was expected that the accumula-
tions in the retirement fund would not be sufficient to meet the
annual drain upon it to make payments due the retired employees,
and the statute implies that in case of a deficit the fund is to be
augmented from the Federal Treasury. Annuities therefore were
fixed at a low amount. The average annual rate paid annuitants
under the present law is $544.64. ‘About one-third of the total of
11,689 annuitants receive a maximum of $720. Almost one-third
receive less than $432, while the lowest annuity now being paid is
$30.60.

The amount collected from Federal workers and placed in the
fund during the first fiscal year of its operation, 1921, was $12,586,
389. The balance at the end of the year, after all claims had been
met, was $9,672,842. This balance was increased to $33,586,193 for
the fiscal year of 1924, and there will be at least $44,665,778 in the
fund for the fiscal year of 1925, despite the greater drafts upon it by
reason of the increasing number of annuitants.

But the fund so far has not only been self-sustaining but a large
balance is now on hand. Experience has shown that the estimate of
the Board of Actuaries was too conservative. At the present rate of
accretion the actual time when Federal assistance will be required
will be considerably prolonged, although it is impossible to forecast
from data available the future date when the Government will be
called upon to assist in the maintenance of the fund. Indeed, lack
of statistics has handicapped the actuarial board from the start, but
it is gratifying to those interested in the welfare of Government em-
ployees that the Civil Service Commission, under authority of law
and with the cooperation of the Board of Actuaries, is now engaged
in the compilation of reliable statistics based on the personal history
and service records of all Government employees affected by the
retirement law. Upon the completion of this survey, the Board of
Actuaries will have an authentic foundation for its report and
recommendations upon the future demands upon the retirement
fund.

Upon renewing the appointments of the Board of Actuaries,
which expired at the close of the fiscal year 1925, the chief of the
Bureau of Efficiency, who is an expert in actuarial matters, was
added to the membership of the board, and it is expected that the
machinery of his bureau, as well as his experience in actuarial and
Government affairs, will be of particular value in making a valua-
tion of the fund.

It is believed that the annual rate paid the annuitants may be in-
creased without menacing the fund and without necessitating appro-
priations from the Government in the near future. More liberal
retirement annuities would relieve actual distress now existing in
36

many cases among retired Federal workers. For humanitarian rea-
sons, if for no other, the Government should provide a more suitable
retirement pay than the present annuity, which is often insufficient
to meet the necessities of existence.

From an administrative standpoint the effect of an increase in
annuities would operate to the benefit of the Government by lessen-
ing the pressure for retention in the service of employees who have
reached the retirement age and whose efficiency has been depleted by
old age, but whose resources do not permit them to face the future on
the present slender retirement pay with equanimity.

Hetch Hetchy is an uncompleted project for the
Hatch ly of domestic water and the development of
Heltah, supply of domestic water and the development o

hydroelectric energy for the city of San Francisco.
It is located on the Tuolumne River at the outlet of the Hetch
Hetchy Valley in northern California. Most of the area included
in the project is within the boundaries of the Yosemite National
Park and the Stanislaus National Forest, both the property of the
United States.

Construction of the project was prompted by an inadequate supply
of water for San Francisco. For many years the city has been con-
fronted with shortage for its future needs, and over 20 years ago
began to search for a site within a reasonable distance of its cor-
porate limits. No available site was found except the area situated
in the Yosemite Park and Stanislaus Forest in the Hetch Hetchy
Valley.

The city of San Francisco appealed to Congress for a right of
way to construct a dam, reservoir, aqueduct, conduits, and other
accessories within these Government-owned lands. In 1913 Congress
passed an act covering the grant. Its terms authorized the city and
county of San Francisco to build the Hetch Hetchy Dam and use
portions of the national park and forest not only for supplying
water for domestic purposes but for generating hydroelectric energy.
The act contained numerous provisions protecting the natural won-
ders of the park and other interests of the Government. One of
these provisions prohibited the city from selling or letting to any
corporation or individual, except a municipality or municipal water
or irrigation district, the right to sell or sublet the water or electric
energy. The act also contained a forfeiture clause. Its administra-
tion was placed under the Secretary of the Interior, who was charged
with notifying the Attorney General of any violation of its terms,
the Attorney General on the receipt of such notice to bring legal
action against the city in the Federal courts.
37

Work on the Hetch Hetchy project was started in 1914 and has
continued ever since. The city has expended approximately $55,000,-
000. Up to this time the storage dam at Hetch Hetchy Valley has
been completed as well as a diverting dam and outlet tunnel, 19 miles
of aqueduct tunnel and other works, but the construction has not
yet progressed sufficiently to provide domestic water. The city,
however, has recently finished a hydroelectric power plant connected
with the improvement where approximately 420,000,000 kilowatt
hours of hydroelectric energy is now being generated. A transmis-
sion line leading from this power house to a point near the limits
of San Francisco has also been built.

The value of the product of this power plant was established at
$7,606,536 annually. But the city found itself without a distributing
system to sell this electric energy to the people of San Francisco,
there being two other electric light and power companies operating
in the city. In order to market this output, a contract was recently
made between the city and the Pacific Gas & Electric Light Co., one
of the companies operating in the city, and under its terms the city
was to receive approximately $2,048,820, and the company claiming
to be acting as an agent was to distribute the electric energy to the
people of San Francisco over its own system.

After the contract was signed the question arose whether it was a
violation of the provision of the act, which prohibited the city from
selling or letting to any corporation or individual the right to sell or
sublet the water or electric energy generated at Hetch Hetchy. Be-
cause of the fact that the Secretary of the Interior was responsible
for enforcing the terms of the law, an appeal was made to him in
July, 1925, to formally approve the contract and to go on record to
the effect that no legal steps would be taken by the Government
against the city. In the meantime the transmission lines between
the plant and the company were connected and the distribution of
the electric energy through the company began.

In his decision on the question the Secretary pointed out that the
act does not require the Secretary of the Interior to approve or dis-
approve contracts such as the contract entered into between the city
and the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. He also called attention to the
fact that it is the duty of the city and county of San Francisco at all
times to comply with and observe on its part all the conditions speci-
fied in the act, and that it is the duty of the Secretary of the Interior,
in the event that conditions specified in the act are not reasonably
complied with or carried out, to report the facts, after notifying San
Francisco in writing, to the Attorney General for such suits or pro-
ceedings in the proper courts as the law and the facts in his opinion
warrant. The Secretary pointed out that he should not act at that
time, but must await such development of facts as would enable him
38

to determine with a certainty whether or not the act was being rea-
sonably carried out by the city and county of San Francisco. In con-
cluding he declared that the violation of the law, if any, is a fact
evidenced by acts, and he must necessarily await a reasonable time
until performance shall have indicated whether or not the acts of the
parties to the contract constitute such a violation of the law as would
make action on his part proper.
 

ORGANIZATION OF

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

 

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR

 

 

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

 

 

 

SOLICITOR

 

 

 

 

FIRST ASSISTANT SECRETARY

CHIEF INSPECTOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHIEF CLERK

 

 

 

ALASKA RAILROAD

 

 

 

ASSISTANT SECRETARY

 

 

 

 

 

 

OFFICE OF ALASKA
INFORMATION HAWAIL
MINERAL EDUCATIONAL GEOLOGICAL
GENERAL LAND BUREAU OF LEASING AND INDIAR AFFAIRS BUREAU OF NATIONAL PARK SURVEY BUREAU OF
OFFICE RECLAMATION (Geological Survey.) ELEEMOSYNARY PENSIONS SERVICE (Except Mineral EDUCATION
oB 9. INSTITUTIONS Leasing.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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