COMMITTEES ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 297, 
pared for the use of Congress another statement in which the 
estimates of cost per square mile are considerably reduced. In 
closing he remarked: 
“To take this work from an organization like the Engineer Department, 
superior to all officers employed on its surveys, and exercising a caretul super- 
vision over them, and adopt the plan of the National Academy of Sciences, would, 
in my judgment, be in opposition to economy, and, if a general survey should be 
undertaken, would result in expenses amounting to scores of millions of 
dollars.” 1°° 
As a reply to the contentions of the War Department, the 
Secretary of the Interior on February 7, 1879, sent to the House 
of Representatives a letter by Major J. W. Powell on the cost 
of the various government surveys.*° ‘This document is in 
reality a defence of the Academy’s plan. It enumerates the 
different kinds of surveys, and explains their objects, gives the 
cost of different surveys per square mile, states the amount of 
land belonging to the public domain which is unsurveyed and the 
cost of surveying it, shows that different systems of geodesy and 
topography are employed by the several existing organizations, 
and finally gives the reasons why the work should be consoli- 
dated under the Interior Department. 
In regard to the letters cited above, Major Powell’s closing 
paragraph contains this reference to the Academy’s report: 
“The wisdom and integrity of the committee of the National Academy of 
Sciences needs no other vindication than that contained in its report to the hon- 
orable body that finally endorsed it and transmitted it to Congress. ‘The report 
is comprehensive and explicit, and embraces both an administrative plan and a 
scientific system for the conduct of surveys.” 111 
The report had already been commended by the Nation, which 
in an editorial published on January 9, 1879, after describing 
the conditions existing in the several surveys and the changes 
proposed by the Academy, remarked: 
“No opposition prompted by good motives or supported by solid reasons can 
be offered to these admirable recommendations. Any objections from the 
™Sen. Ex. Doc. no. 21, part 2, 45th Congress, 3d Session, p. 3. “Letter from the 
Secretary of War, communicating further information in relation to a survey of the terri- 
tory west of the Mississippi River, as proposed by the National Academy of Sciences.” 
™° House Exec. Doc. no. 72, 45th Congress, 3d Session. “Cost of Geographical Surveys.” 
111 (6) a 
ps C8t:, Ps Gs 
