COMMITTEES ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 277 



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 careiul 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." 109 



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. 110 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." lxl 



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 



108 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." 



110 House Exec. Doc. no. 72, 45th Congress, 3d Session. " Cost of Geographical Surveys." 



m Op. cit., p. 6. 



