The estimated area which will inure under existing laws in aid of the construction of railways and wagon-roads is 185,890,794.67 acres, showing subsidies unequaled in the history of any government for the objects contemplated.

CITIES AND TOWNS ON THE PUBLIC LANDS.

The town-site acts of March 2, 1867, and June 8, 1868, have given new impetus to the building of cities and towns upon the public domain. The enterprising population of different portions of the West are associating themselves into communities for purposes of trade and com

merce.

Applications for the entry under the aforesaid laws of the lands embraced in such town sites are daily being made to the district land offices, and then referred to the department for final adjustment. In some instances the entry of large cities has been authorized at the minimum rate of $1 25 per acre. The probate judge or the mayor of the city or town makes the entry in trust for the inhabitants, and then executes a deed to each lot-holder.

Various questions have arisen as to the location of towns in the mineral regions, and as to the authority of the mayor of a town to receive a patent in trust for persons residing and owning lots outside of corporate limits. Under date of April 21, 1869, the Commissioner decided that the town of Nevada City, California, could enter a certain tract which had been once used for mining, the evidence showing the mines were worked out and exhausted, and the premises more valuable for purposes of trade and agriculture than for mining.

In the case of the application of the corporate authorities of Grass Valley, California, it was held, that it was not the intention of the statute, in donating lands for town-site purposes, to extend the operation of the grant beyond the limits of an incorporated town, for the reason that the trust must be executed by the mayor or other corporate authorities, in his or their official capacity, for the benefit of the actual residents of the town, and not for those residing outside the corporate limits.

During the past year applications have been made to file declaratory statements, under the acts aforesaid, for a number of towns and cities upon the public land, sixteen of them being in the Territory of Utah.

The entry of the town site of Helena, in Montana Territory, containing a population of eight thousand, and doing an annual business of twenty-five million dollars, has been authorized during the year; also those of Nevada City, California, and Le Grand, Oregon. The evidence in support of the applications of other cities and towns, varying in popu lation from five hundred to five thousand, are in process of adjudication by this office.

All of the entries and applications mentioned are under the statutes of March 2, 1867, and June 8, 1868, except that of Le Grand, which is made under the acts of 1864 and 1865.

It is estimated that thirteen thousand towns and cities have been laid out upon the public domain since the organization of the land system. Some of these cities and towns are now important centers of trade, and are exerting a marked influence upon the business prospects of the "Great West."

A few years ago the larger portion of this vast extent of public lands was a wilderness, covered here and there by the villages of the aborigines and the trading-posts of the trapper. What a change has come

over this scene! Now, what were once the "wilderness and the solitary place" are no longer so; large cities and thriving towns, with their busy populations, dot the whole extent of our western Territories.

The beneficent nature of the various town-site laws is expected to still further develop and unfold the advantages to be derived from association together into communities, and the formation and building of towns upon the public lands.

THE ESTABLISHMENT AND REOPENING OF LAND OFFICES, CHANGES IN LOCATION OF THE SAME, AND ADJUSTMENT OF BOUNDARIES OF LAND DISTRICTS.

Pursuant to the President's order of 7th July, 1868, the removal of the land offices from Omaha to West Point, from Nebraska City to Lincoln, and from Brownsville to Beatrice, in the State of Nebraska, has been consummated.

By executive order of 20th April, 1869, an additional land office at Grand Island, Nebraska, has been opened for the disposal of lands in the "Grand Island" district, created by act of Congress approved 27th July, 1868, the district embracing all that portion of the Omaha included within the following limits, to wit: on the east by the line dividing ranges 6 and 7 east; on the north by the line dividing townships 20 and 21 north; on the south by the south bank of the Platte River; and on the west by the west boundary of the State.

By notice, dated June 7, 1869, the boundaries of the Aurora land district, in the States of Nevada and California, formerly composed of the counties of Esmeralda in the former, and Mono and Inyo in the latter State, were so modified as to conform in their exterior limits to the lines of public survey, as follows: Beginning at the corner common to townships 13 and 14 north, ranges 39 and 40 east of the Mount Diablo base and meridian, when the same shall have been established; thence west on the line between townships 13 and 14 north to the intersection of the line between ranges 26 and 27 east; thence south on this range line to the intersection of the second standard parallel north; thence west to the line between ranges 22 and 23 east; thence south along the line between ranges 22 and 23 east to the intersection of the first standard parallel south; thence east to the line between ranges 26 and 27 east; thence south on the line between ranges 26 and 27 east to the intersection of the third standard parallel south; thence east to the line between ranges 32 and 33 east; thence south on the line between ranges 32 and 33 east to the intersection of the sixth standard parallel south; thence east to the San Bernardino meridian; thence north with said meridian to the intersection of the eastern boundary of California; thence with said eastern boundary to the intersection of the line between ranges 39 and 40 east of Mount Diablo meridian; thence north on the said line to the place of beginning.

By executive order of 12th June, 1869, the office for the southern portion of California, which had been temporarily consolidated with the San Francisco office by President's direction of 26th April, 1865, was reopened at Los Angeles for the sale and entry of the vacant public lands within the bounds of that district as existing prior to the aforesaid act of 1865.

By notice of 5th June, 1869, the land office formerly located at Winnebago City, Minnesota, was transferred to Jackson, in the same district. By executive order of 28th July, 1868, an additional land district in Minnesota, embracing all lands north of township 124 and west of

range 35 west of the fifth principal meridian, with office at Alexandria, was established pursuant to act of Congress approved July 25, 1868.

The location of all the land offices now in operation in the United States, and the offices in the surveying districts, will be found in an accompanying paper.

ACCOUNTS OF RECEIVERS OF PUBLIC MONEYS, DISBURSING AGENTS, SURVEYORS GENERAL, AND DEPUTIES.

The Commissioner regards it as indispensable to the interest of the United States that the balances in the hands of receivers of public moneys shall be kept down by prompt deposits, invariably within the treasury requirements of May 1, 1863, and that, as the land-auditing branch of the government, it is our duty to exercise the utmost vigilance to guard the public interest in this respect to the full extent of the means at command. The accounting officers of the General Land Office have, therefore, been instructed as follows:

That the prompt rendition of the monthly accounts of the receivers of public moneys, and of their quarterly accounts, shall be exacted and insisted upon; that when either fails to reach this office within five days after the same is due by mail, it shall be telegraphed for, and a letter written to the delinquent officer, calling on him to account for the delay; and, if the explanation is not satisfactory, that the case shall be promptly reported to the appointing power.

That within three days after the reception of the monthly accounts current showing the receiver's admitted balance, the same shall be brought to the test of the treasury requirements in regard to deposits, and whenever any excess exists over the maximum amount, $2,000, • allowed by treasury regulations to remain in the hands of receivers at the end of a quarter, a dispatch shall be sent forthwith to the receiver directing him to make the requisite deposit, our regulations requiring that the Secretary of the Treasury be advised of the facts.

That upon the receipt at the General Land Office of the quarterly accounts they shall be at once adjusted, and reports of the adjustment made to the First Comptroller of the Treasury, the service to be so arranged and divided that the accounts shall be adjusted with as much speed as may be consistent with necessary scrutiny and accuracy, and in no case later than a fortnight after the reception of such accounts.

That if, from death of receiver, miscarriage of mail, or any other cause, the accounts are not here received in time for adjustment, it is required that they shall be made up and adjusted from the monthly returns and monthly accounts.

That if, in the rendition of the monthly returns or quarterly accounts, there are found any defects, errors, or inequalities, the delinquent officer shall be promptly addressed, and, unless followed by a satisfactory expla nation, the case will be laid before the Secretary of the Interior.

That all accounts of receivers of public moneys, disbursing agents, surveyors general, and deputy surveyors shall be adjusted immediately after the receipt of quarterly accounts.

To expedite and facilitate future adjustments, it is made the duty of the accountants immediately on the receipt of the monthly returns to examine and compare the same, so as to test their accuracy, and then foot up the columns of acres, money, and commissions, noting the result at the foot of each return, and to prepare an exhibit of the result.

It is further required that all balances shall be kept down, and that this shall be done by telegraph or otherwise, requiring the deposits to

be made promptly, and in no case allow more than $2,000 to remain in the hands of a receiver at the end of a quarter.

It is required that there shall be prepared at the close of each month a regular balance sheet, showing the status of each receiver as to his liability, and the measures taken to secure the government by enforcing deposits.

The account required from a receiver at the termination of each quarter, as stated in the last annual report, is to exhibit to the credit of the United States all moneys received within that period from sales of the public lands, homestead entries, fees for locating military warrants and agricultural college scrip; also for filing pre-emption declarations and adjusting claims; and to the debit of the government all payments made by them either upon drafts or into the treasury. In the disbursing accounts, which is to be rendered separate and distinct from that required from him as receiver, the United States is to be credited with the sums placed in his hands by draft for meeting the payment of the current expenses of his office, and debited with the items of moneys paid out or disbursed during the quarter, for salaries, commissions, and legally authorized contingent expenses. The accounts of the character referred to have all been adjusted to the end of the fiscal year, or June 30, 1869, and reported to the treasury.

FUND ACCOUNTS.

With the exception of California and Nevada, in which there is no legal authority for the allowance, accounts have been adjusted to December 30, 1868, for the five per cent. fund accruing to the several States upon the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands within their respective limits; and in every instance where a balance has been found to be due a State the same has been reported to the treasury with a view to its payment.

RECOMMENDATION THAT THE LAWS INTERDICTING CERTAIN EMPLOYÉS FROM ANY INTEREST IN THE PUBLIC LANDS BE MADE GENERAL, SO AS TO EMBRACE ALL LAND OFFICERS IN THE SEVERAL LAND AND SURVEYING DISTRICTS.

By the tenth section of the act of Congress approved April 25, 1812, (Statutes, vol. 2, p. 716,) for the establishment of the General Land Office, it is declared "that no person appointed to an office instituted by that act, or employed in any such office, shall directly or indirectly be concerned in the purchase of any right, title, or interest in any public land, either in his own right or in trust for any other person, or in the name or right of any other person in trust for himself, nor shall take or receive any fee or endowment for negotiating or transacting the business of the office," under a pecuniary penalty on conviction, and removal from office.

The fourteenth section of the act of Congress approved July 4, 1836, (Statutes, vol. 5, p. 107,) to reorganize the General Land Office, in referring to the officers contemplated by that statute, repeats the inhibition from directly or indirectly purchasing, or in any way becoming interested in the purchase of any of the public lands, containing also the penalty of removal.

While all officers connected with the General Land Office at the seat of government are thus expressly excluded from having the right to purchase or to have any interest whatever in a tract of public land, the

like legal interdict does not extend to the local administration, because by the tenth section of the act of Congress approved May 10, 1800, (vol. 2, p. 73,) it is declared that if "any register shall wish to purchase any tract of land, he may do it by application in writing to the surveyor general, who shall enter the same in books kept for that purpose by him, who shall proceed in respect to such applications, and to any payments made for the same, in the same manner that the registers by that act are directed to follow in respect to applications made to them for land by other purchasers." There is no express authority of law giving the receivers of public moneys the right to purchase, but that right has long been conceded, and is expressly recognized in the Attor ney General's opinion of August 12, 1843. As the principles enunciated in the decisions heretofore referred to of the Supreme Court of the United States, viz: at the December term of 1846, (4 Howard, p. 533, 4 Kent, p. 437,) at the United States Supreme Court, December term of 1847, (5 Howard, p. 49,) illustrate the importance of keeping the officers of the local administration free from such relations in dealing with the public lands as might bring their personal interests in conflict with their public duty, the recommendation in the last annual report is respectfully renewed, that the exclusion and interdict in the statutes of 1812 and 1836 be extended to all officers in the local administration. As the registers and receivers are required to adjudicate cases arising under the pre-emption and homestead laws, it is held that those officers are not within the purview of those enactments.

REPAYMENT OF PURCHASE MONEY AND CHANGES OF CASH ENTRIES.

In the extended operations of the land system cases of error of entry occur; and also where repayment of purchase money becomes necessary, where the United States are unable to give valid title.

The following are the legislative enactments and official regulations of the department upon the subject:

The laws authorizing repayment for land erroneously sold are the act of Congress approved January 12, 1825, (U. S. Statutes, vol. 4, p. 80, amended February 28, 1859, vol. 11, p. 387,) so as to "authorize the Secretary of the Interior, upon proof being made to his satisfaction that any tract of land has been erroneously sold by the United States, so that from any cause whatever the sale cannot be confirmed, to repay the purchaser or purchasers, or their legal representatives or assignees of the purchaser or purchasers thereof, the sum or sums of money which may have been paid therefor out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated."

All applications to obtain the benefit of these acts must be submitted to the department through the register and receiver of the district office wherein the land is situated, with an affidavit of the applicant stating that the title to the land for which repayment is claimed has not been transferred or otherwise encumbered; at the same time the receiver's duplicate receipt must be surrendered.

Where a patent has been delivered to the patentee, or where the title has been recorded, a deed of relinquishment reconveying the title to the United States must be made; the deed must be recorded and accompa nied by a certificate of the officer having charge of the county records, showing that the deed is recorded, and that the records of his office do not exhibit any other conveyance or incumbrance of the title.

Acts authorizing corrections of errors in making entries are the following: