650 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



surrendered to pur military forces, and the remainder 

 are apparently in progress of disintegration. 



I concur with the Secretary of the Interior in ex- 

 pressing the earnest hope that Congress will at this 

 session take favorable action on the bill providing for 

 the allotment of lands on the different reservations in 

 severally to the Indians, with patents conferring fee- 

 simple title inalienable lor a certain period, and the 

 eventual disposition of the residue of the reservations, 

 for general settlement, with the consent and for the 

 benefit of the Indians, placing the latter under the 

 equal protection of the laws of the country. This 

 measure, together with a vigorous prosecution of our 

 educational efforts, will work the most important and 

 effective advance toward the solution of the Indian 

 problem, in preparing for the gradual merging of our 

 Indian population in the great body of American citi- 

 zenship. 



A large increase is reported in the disposal of public 

 lands for settlement during the past year, which marks 

 the prosperous growth of our agricultural industry, 

 and a vigorous movement of population toward our 

 unoccupied lands. As this movement proceeds, the 

 codification of our land laws, as well as proper legisla- 

 tion to regulate the disposition of public lands, become 

 of more pressing necessity, and I therefore invite the 

 consideration of Congress to the report and the ac- 

 companying draft of a bill, made by the Public Lands 

 Commission, which were communicated by me to 

 Congress at the last session. Early action upon this 

 important subject is highly desirable. 



The attention of Congress is again asked to the 

 wasteful depredations committed on our public timber- 

 lands, and the rapid and indiscriminate destruction of 

 our forests. The urgent necessity for legislation to 

 this end is now generally recognized. In view of the 

 lawless character of the depredations committed, and 

 the disastrous consequences which will inevitably fol- 

 low their continuance, legislation has again and again 

 been recommended to arrest the evil, and to preserve 

 for the people of our Western States and Territories 

 the timber needed for domestic and other essential 

 uses. 



The report of the Director of the Geological Survey 

 is a document of unusual interest. The consolidation 

 of the various geological and geographical surveys and 

 exploring enterprises, each of which has heretofore 

 operated upon an independent plan, without concert, 

 can not fail to be of great benefit to all those indus- 

 tries of the country which depend upon the develop- 

 ment of our mineral resources. The labors of the sci- 

 entific men, of recognized merit, who compose the 

 corps of the Geological Survey, during the first season 

 of their field operations and inquiries, appear to have 

 been very comprehensive, and will soon be communi- 

 cated to Congress in a number of volumes. The Di- 

 rector of the Survey recommends that the investiga- 

 tions carried on by his bureau, which so far have been 

 confined to the so-called public-land States and Terri- 

 tories, be extended over the entire country, and that 

 the necessary appropriation be made for this purpose. 

 This would be particularly beneficial to the iron, coal, 

 and other mining interests of the Mississippi Valley, 

 and of the Eastern and Southern States. The subject 

 is commended to the careful consideration of Congress. 

 The Secretary of the Interior asks attention to the 

 want of room in the public buildings of the Capital, 

 now existing and in progress of construction, for the 

 accommodation of the clerical force employed and of 

 the public records. Necessity has compelled the rent- 

 ing of private buildings in different parts of the city 

 for the location of public offices, for which a large 

 amount of rent is annually paid, while the separation 

 of offices belonging to the same department impedes 

 the transaction of current business. The Secretary 

 suggests that the blocks surrounding Lafayette Square 

 on the east, north, and west be purchased as the sites 

 for new edifices for the accommodation of the Govern- 

 ment offices, leaving the square itself intact, and that, 

 if such buildings were constructed upon a harmoni- 

 ous plan of architecture, they would add much to the 



beauty of the national Capital, and would, together with 

 the Treasury and the new State, Navy, and War De- 

 partment building, form one of the most imposing 

 groups of public edifices in the world. 



The Commissioner of Agriculture expresses the con- 

 fident belief that his efforts in behalf of the production 

 of our own sugar and tea have been encouragingly re- 

 warded. The importance of the results attained have 

 attracted marked attention at home, and have received 

 the special consideration of foreign nations. The suc- 

 cessful cultivation of our own tea and the manufacture 

 of our own sugar would make a difference of many 

 millions of dollars annually in the wealth of the na- 

 tion. 



The report of the Commissioner asks attention par- 

 ticularly to the continued prevalence of an infectious 

 and contagious cattle disease known and dreaded in 

 Europe and Asia as cattle-plague, or pleuro-pneumo- 

 nia. A mild type of this disease, in certain sections 

 of our country, is the occasion of great lo.ss to our farm- 

 ers, and of serious disturbance to our trade with Great 

 Britain, which furnishes a market for most of our live 

 stock and dressed meats. The value of neat-cattle ex- 

 ported from the United States for the eight months 

 ended August 31, 1880, was more than twelve million 

 dollars, and nearly double the value for the same pe- 

 riod in 1879, an unexampled increase of export trade. 

 Your early attention is solicited to this important 

 matter. 



The Commissioner of Education reports a continued 

 increase of public interest in educational affairs, and 

 that the public schools generally throughout the coun- 

 try are well sustained. Industrial training is attract- 

 ing deserved attention, and colleges for instruction, 

 theoretical and practical, in agriculture and mechanic 

 arts, including the Government schools recently estab- 

 lished for the instruction of Indian youth, are gaining 

 steadily in public estimation. The Commissioner asks 

 special attention to the depredations committed on the 

 lands reserved for the future support of public instruc- 

 tion, and to the very great need of help from the na- 

 tion for schools in the Territories and in the Southern 

 States. The recommendation heretofore made is re- 

 peated and urged, that an educational fund be set apart 

 from the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands 

 annually, the income of which, and the remainder of 

 the net annual proceeds, to be distributed on some sat- 

 isfactory plan to the States and the Territories and the 

 District of Columbia. 



The success of the public schools of the District of 

 Columbia, and the progress made, under the intelli- 

 gent direction of the Board of Education and the Su- 

 perintendent, in supplying the educational require- 

 ments of the District with thoroughly trained and effi- 

 cient teachers, is very gratifying. The acts of Congress, 

 from time to time, donating public lands to the several 

 States and Territories in aid of educational interests, 

 have proved to be wise measures of public policy, re- 

 sulting in great and lasting benefit. It would seem to 

 be a matter of simple justice to extend the benefits of 

 this legislation, the wisdom of which has been so fully 

 vindicated by experience, to the District of Columbia. 

 I again commend the general interests of the District 

 of Columbia to the favorable consideration of Congress. 

 The affairs of the District, as shown by the report of 

 the Commissioners, are in a very satisfactory condi- 

 tion. 



In my annual messages heretofore, and in my spe- 

 cial message of December 19, 1879, I have urged upon 

 the attention of Congress the necessity of "reclaim- 

 ing the marshes of the Potomac adjacent to the Capi- 

 tal, and I am constrained by its importance to advert 

 again to the subject. These flats embrace an area of 

 several hundred 'acres. They are an impediment to 

 the drainage of the city, and seriously impair its health. 

 It is believed that, with this substantial improvement 

 of its river front, the Capital would be, in all respects, 

 one of the most attractive cities in the world. Aside 

 from its permanent population, this city is necessarily 

 the place of residence of persons from every section of 

 the country engaged in the public service. Many 



