NEWS AND NOTES 



179 



the detection and prevention of fraud on the 

 public domain. The appropriation last year 

 was a half million, and the year before a 

 quarter million. Secretary Garfield urged 

 that it be increased to a million this year, 

 in order that the great mass of land fraud 

 cases now on hand can be prosecuted to 

 their conclusion. This work is to be done 

 by agents under the direction of the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior. 



Two and a half million dollars is appro- 

 priated for the construction of a building 

 in Washington to house the General Land 

 Office, the Geological Survey, the Indian 

 Office, and the Reclamation Service. 



For the continuance of work of rivers and 

 harbors that has already been authorized 

 by law, $19,574,514 is appropriated. This is 

 the second largest item in the bill. 



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To Conserve Historic Data 



The President has recently proposed to 

 Congress the creation of a commission on 

 National Historical Publications. This pro- 

 posal is based on the recommendation made 

 by the Committee on Department methods 

 of which Comptroller Lawrence O. Murray 

 and Mr. Gifford Pinchot are members. The 

 committee shows that important historical 

 materials in the possession of the Govern- 

 ment are inadequately cared for and protect- 

 ed, and recommend the construction of a 

 National archive house, and the storage 

 therein, as promptly as possible, of the ear- 

 lier records and papers of the administrative 

 departments. 



In preparing their report the committee on 

 department methods appointed an assistant 

 committee which included a large number 

 of the most eminent historians of the 

 United States. Charles Francis Adams, 

 president of the Massachusetts Historical 

 Society, was the head of this assistant com- 

 mittee. Prof. Charles M. Andrews, of Johns 

 Hopkins; Prof. William A. Dunning, of Co- 

 lumbia; Worthington C. Ford, of the Library 

 of Congress ; Prof. Albert Bushnell Hart, 

 of Harvard, and others equally prominent, 

 were on this committee. 



Rivers and Harbors Bill 



The Washington Times of February 

 19 contained the following: 



Chairman Burton, of the Rivers and Har- 

 bors Committee, to-day reported his bill, 

 carrying $9,971,625 for repairs, maintenance, 

 and preservation of public works in the riv- 

 ers and harbors of the United States. The 

 amount to be allotted to any one project, 

 however, is limited to $50,000. 



The bill also provided for the creation of 

 a national waterways commission to consist 

 of seven members of the House and five 

 members of the Senate. Fifty thousand dol- 



lars is appropriated for the expenses of the 

 commission. The items carried in the bill 

 are as follows : 



Maintenance and operation of Government 

 plants, $8,185,750. 



Engineers, $500,000. 



National Waterways Commission, $50,000. 



Surveys, $600,000. 



Authorization for appropriations to be 

 made hereafter, $635,875. 



It is expected the bill will pass practi- 

 cally as presented. 



The bill provides for a survey for the pur- 

 pose of estimating the cost of a continuous 

 intracoastal waterway with a channel twenty- 

 five feet deep from Boston to Long Island 

 Sound, to New York Bay, and thence across 

 New Jersey to the Delaware River or Bay; 

 thence to Chesapeake Bay, then from Nor- 

 folk, Virginia, to the North Carolina sounds, 

 and Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. 



From Beaufort, North Carolina, another 

 waterway twelve feet deep is to be sur- 

 veyed, extending through Cape Fear River, 

 North Carolina ; Winyah Bay, North Caro- 

 lina ; St. John's River, Florida; to Key 

 West, Florida ; thence across the State of 

 Florida, and along the Gulf of Mexico. 







Waste of Michigan Lands 



On January 25 the Washington 

 Times published the following dis- 

 patch : 



The waste of lands and forests and the 

 accompanying money loss to the state of 

 Michigan are appalling, according to the re- 

 port of the commission of inquiry to-day, au- 

 thorized by the last legislature, to exam- 

 ine the situation and recommend such legis- 

 lation as might seem feasible. 



For the 949,000 acres sold in the last six 

 years, the state has received an average of 

 $1.08 an acre. The commission found that 

 in eleven counties 21,455 acres had been sold 

 for $200,000 less than the actual value of the 

 land and timber. At this rate, the State has 

 lost over $9,000,000 in its sales of land dur- 

 ing the last six years. 



The commission recommends that the 

 state withdraw at once all tax and home- 

 stead lands until the legislature can decide 

 more fully what the proposed project shall 

 be, and thereby put a stop to the waste. 



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For Healthy Fruit Trees 



The House Committee on Agriculture has 

 favorably reported a bill providing for Gov- 

 ernment inspection of nursery stock at ports 

 of entry to be designated by the Secretary 

 of Agriculture. The bill carries an appro- 

 priation of $100,060; it also authorizes the 

 Secretary of Agriculture to establish a quar- 

 antine against the importation or transporta- 



