Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1884.djvu/16

of the surplus lands, properly used, would make the Crows self-supporting in a few years at the furthest.

THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE.

The report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office shows that sales, entries, and selections of public lands under various acts of Congress embrace 26,834,041.03 acres, and of Indian lands 697,128.97, aggregating 27,531,170, an increase over the year 1883 of 8,101,137.20. The receipts for disposal of public lands are $11,840,993.07; Indian lands, $938,137.26, or a total of $12,779,130.33, an increase over that of 1883 of $1,073,364.68, to which is to be added $10,276.76 received for certified copies of records, making a total of $12,789,405.09. The Commissioner reports the total number of entries, &c., to be as follows:

The total number of entries and filings made during the year is 286,832, aggregating 40,025,000 acres; an increase of 60,724 over the year 1883 and 128,588 over 1882.

The total number of entries and filings posted during the year is 327,186. These entries and filings constitute claims of record awaiting completion and adjudication. The increase in number of claims posted in 1884 is 75,501 over the year 1883 and 131,049 over the year 1882.

PRE-EMPTIONS.

Twenty-one thousand two hundred and eighty-six pre-emption entries were made during the year, embracing an area of 3,206,095.86 acres; 11,012 ex-parte cases were approved for patent and 352 contested cases were decided, the patented and decided cases involving 1,725,000 acres.

The number of cases undecided June 30, 1884, was 17,911, an increase of the number in arrears of 4,854 contested and ex-parte cases. The number of pre-emption filings made during the year was 51,641, which, at 160 acres each, would cover 8,262,560 acres.

REPEAL OF THE PRE-EMPTION LAW.

The Commissioner again recommends the repeal of the pre-emption law. He says:

I renew previous recommendations for the repeal of the pre-emption law. In my last annual report I pointed out the absence of any great utility of the pre-emption system for a legitimate appropriation of the public lands by actual settlers, as the homestead system contains a sufficient pre-emption feature and a double system is not required. Economy of administration alone suggests such repeal, while the great abuses flowing from the illegal acquisition of land titles by fictitious pre-emption entries, and the exactions made upon bona fide settlers, who are often obliged to buy off such claims in order to get access to public lands, render the appeal, in my judgment, a matter of public necessity.

Pre-emption claims are filed when no intention of perfecting entries exists, but the alleged claim is held for speculation, or as a cover for denuding land of its timber. The average proportion of entries to filings is less than one-half.

In cases of entries actually made, it is found that the most valuable timber lands and large areas of agricultural and grazing lands are entered in fictitious names or by persons employed for the purpose, and the lands thus pass into speculative holdings, or holdings in large quantities for permanent control. Coal lands, the Government price of which is $10 and $20 per acre, are illegally obtained in the same manner at the minimum price of non-mineral lands. The Government loses the difference in price, while a loss to the general public lies in the increased price of the coal product