issued for agricultural lands, and
3,100 patents were issued to Indians on allotments of their holdings
in severalty, the land so allotted being inalienable by the Indian
allottees for a period of twenty-five years after patent.

There were certified and patented on account of railroad and wagon-road
grants during the year 865,556.45 acres of land, and at the close of the
year 29,000,000 acres were embraced in the lists of selections made by
railroad and wagon-road companies and awaited settlement.

The selections of swamp lands and that taken as indemnity therefor since
the passage of the act providing for the same in 1849 amount to nearly
or quite 80,500,000 acres, of which 58,000,000 have been patented to
States. About 138,000 acres were patented during the last year. Nearly
820,000 acres of school and education grants were approved during the
year, and at its close 1,250,363.81 acres remained unadjusted.

It appears that the appropriation for the current year on account of
special service for the protection of the public lands and the timber
thereon is much less than those for previous years, and inadequate for
an efficient performance of the work. A larger sum of money than has
been appropriated during a number of years past on this account has been
returned to the Government as a result of the labors of those employed
in the particular service mentioned, and I hope it will not be crippled
by insufficient appropriation.

I fully indorse the recommendation of the Secretary that adequate
protection be provided for our forest reserves and that a comprehensive
forestry system be inaugurated. Such keepers and superintendents as are
necessary to protect the forests already reserved should be provided.
I am of the opinion that there should be an abandonment of the policy
sanctioned by present laws under which the Government, for a very small
consideration, is rapidly losing title to immense tracts of land covered
with timber, which should be properly reserved as permanent sources of
timber supply.

The suggestion that a change be made in the manner of securing surveys
of the public lands is especially worthy of consideration. I am
satisfied that these surveys should be made by a corps of competent
surveyors under the immediate control and direction of the Commissioner
of the General Land Office.

An exceedingly important recommendation of the Secretary relates to the
manner in which contests and litigated cases grow