394 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of April, 1874, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution ask- 

 ing information from the President respecting the surveys that were 

 operating in the same and contiguous areas of territory west of the 

 Mississippi, and whether it would not he practicahle to consolidate 

 them under one department, or to define the geographical limits to he 

 embraced by each. 



The President's message in reply to this resolution was accom- 

 panied by a report from the Secretary of War, who transmitted the 

 views of the Chief of Engineers, and one from the Secretary of the 

 Interior, transmitting in like manner sub-reports from the heads of the 

 respective surveys under his superintendence, viz., Hayden and Pow- 

 ell. Upon the question of consolidating all the surveys then in opera- 

 tion under one department, but one opinion was expressed, all being in 

 favor of such a measure ; but, as to which department should control 

 them, the views were discordant the President, the Secretary of War, 

 and the Chief of Engineers, urging the claims of the War Depart- 

 ment, and the Secretary of the Interior and both the heads of surveys 

 under his direction as firmly advocating the fitness of that department 

 to administer them. The War Department claimed this right by a 

 sort of prescription, as it was under its protection and control that all 

 the early explorations, including the celebrated expedition of Lewis 

 and Clarke, had been conducted, and by it the leading object was de- 

 clared to be the accurate mapping of the country for military opera- 

 tions. It also claimed a higher scientific training and discipline for 

 performing the work. 



The Department of the Interior, on the other hand, connected the 

 surveys primarily with the public domain, and showed that they were 

 chiefly ancillary to the operations of the Land-Office, which had always 

 been under that department. It also maintained that even in the 

 expeditions under the Engineer Corps civilians had always performed 

 the bulk of the scientific work. 



The committee to which the reports were referred recommended 

 that the surveys under the War Department should be continued, so 

 far as they were necessary for military purposes, and that all other 

 surveys for geographical, geological, topographical, and scientific pur- 

 poses should be continued under the direction of the Department of 

 the Interior. 



This report left matters nearly where they were, and was not sat- 

 isfactory to either party. A second inquiry was ordered by the House 

 in March, 1878, and the officers immediately charged with the surveys 

 were again called upon to express their views on the subject. Major 

 Powell, in his statement, pointed out the essential vices of the multiple 

 surveys ; proposed that each branch of natural history should be pros- 

 ecuted wholly by some one of the divisions, which should be in pos- 

 session of all the materials ; offered to turn over to Dr. Hayden all 

 the materials in his possession relating to any or all of these branches, 



