ACTIVITIES 63 



dents of the political economy and resources of the United 

 States. Studies of this sort, entirely aside from the admin- 

 istration of the Land Office, can be made of the highest prac- 

 tical value. 



The position thus taken at the beginning of the Survey's 

 history was acquiesced in by Congress, which took no steps 

 to modify the wording of the statute. Special duties, involv- 

 ing the administration of the public lands, were indeed from 

 time to time temporarily imposed upon the Survey. Such 

 were the duties exercised in 1888-91 with respect to the reser- 

 vations of reservoir sites and irrigable lands, in 1896-1905 in 

 the examination of the forest reserves, and in 1902-07 in 

 the administration of the reclamation act. Aside from these 

 exceptional functions, however, it may be said that until about 

 1906 the Survey remained almost wholly detached from the 

 administration of the land laws. 



In the years 1905 and 1906 the general public began to 

 realize that large areas of valuable coal lands in the West had 

 been obtained from the government by means of agricultural 

 entries. The frauds thus perpetrated were so great as to 

 shock the public mind and to call for some immediate action 

 to prevent further similar looting. Accordingly, the Presi- 

 dent, on June 29, 1906, directed the Secretary of the Interior 

 to withdraw from entry all valuable coal lands. The Survey 

 had previously been making special studies of certain western 

 coal fields and its geologists had assisted in unearthing some 

 of the coal frauds. It was, therefore, prepared to submit a 

 list of lands which should be withdrawn from entry, and on 

 July 26, 1906, the Acting Secretary of the Interior withdrew 

 from all forms of entry all the lands on the list submitted by 

 the Survey. There was thus set in motion a train of legisla- 

 tive and administrative action extending over several years 

 by which the entire system of disposing of the public coal lands 

 was revised and placed upon the basis of a valuation by the 

 Survey before disposition. The work of evaluating these 

 lands is still in progress by the Survey. 



