THE STORY OF OUR PUBLIC DOMAIN 35 



standing that these values cannot be expressed in 

 dollars and cents, nevertheless they are as real and 

 beneficial as, say, that of education and physical re- 

 cuperation. 



It may be that the future will find some new 

 method of accounting which will recognize intangi- 

 ble land valuations ; otherwise, in the era we enter, 

 our most precious national possessions will have no 

 adequate rendering in the national budget. 



II 

 LAND OFFICE METHODS AND PROBLEMS 



The strenuous history of the inefficiently 

 equipped, always over-worked and often berated 

 General Land Office has been related, at least in 

 parts, many times in more or less technical works. 

 From the beginning, its job has been colossal. Eu- 

 ropean precedents were of little value because con- 

 ditions here were so different, our problems so in- 

 volved, and the magnitude of our lands so great. 

 Our speed of nation making, also, was extraordi- 

 nary. Its sins, as we glance back over the bureau's 

 extraordinary career, we see largely those imposed 

 upon it by successive Congresses ever changing in 

 personnel and never fully even with progress. 



The growth of the General Land Office has 

 largely been of its own initiative. During the swift 

 years it could seldom await action of a deliberate 



