as the fiscal year. Heretofore the practice has been to submit the regular estimates alone at the opening of Congress, and the special estimates from time to time during the progress of the session. But in preparing the estimates for the present year, care has been taken, pursuant to your instructions, to make them so full and comprehensive as to embrace both classes in one general estimate, thereby, as far as practicable, placing before Congress at a single view, and at the commencement of the session, every object, of whatever character, for which an appropriation may be required. Hence the estimates of the present year, thus aggregated and combined, exceed the regular estimates of the last $1,423,033 49; and yet they fall short of the actual appropriations at the recent session on Indian account some $18,000, while the regular estimates of last year exceed the corresponding class in the present general estimate $4,390, the difference being occasioned by the omission of sundry items and the reduction of others. Great care has also been taken to make the explanatory remarks accompanying the estimates conformable to law. They succinctly but clearly exhibit the grounds on which the several items are respectively founded; and although the aggregate is large, it cannot, in my judg ment, be materially diminished without detriment to the public service. The present force of this office is less than in former years, and inadequate to the prompt discharge of its greatly augmented and increasing An additional number of clerks and a thorough reorganization of the Department are indispensably necessary. But as a full and satisfactory exposition of the measures required in this connection would involve elaborate detail, they will form the subject of a special communication. Respectfully submitted, Hon. A. H. H. STUART, L. LEA, Commissioner. Secretary of the Interior. THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. Report of the Commissioner of the Land Office, Nov. 30, 1850. IN submitting for your consideration a report of the operations of this branch of the service during the past year, I have concluded to modify to some extent the forms of statistics, by presenting semi-annual tables of the sale and disposal of the public lands so as to conform to the fiscal year, and at the same time admit of being arranged by calendar years when desired. As it has been the practice to found the tables for the third quarter in part upon estimates, I have concluded this year to dispense with it, and to carry the statistics into the body of the report. The surveys of the public lands and private claims have been prosecuted during the last year with all the energy which the means at the disposal of this office would permit. The late period at which the appropriations for the current year were made, prevented the extension of the surveys this fall in the northwest, as intended, so as to keep pace with the progress of settlement. The delay thus caused, however, will be compensated by increased efforts in the ensuing spring, so that the numerous settlers in that direction may have an early opportunity of purchasing their improvements. In the States of Ohio, Indiana, Mississippi and Alabama, the surveys have been completed, the archives connected therewith transferred to the State authorities as required by the act of June 12, 1840, and the office of Surveyor General in those States discontinued. In Illinois, Arkansas, Michigan, Missouri, Louisiana and Florida, the surveys are being brought to a close as speedily as practicable, as will be perceived by reference to the following table, showing the area of each State, the number of acres surveyed, and the number remaining unsurveyed: Surveyed to Unsurveyed Thus it is shown that, in a few years, the surveys of the public lands, in all these States, will be completed, and the archives connected therewith transferred to the respective States, as provided by law. The object in pressing forward the surveys has been to keep pace with settlement, and to enable enterprising pioneers to avail themselves of the benefits of the pre-emption act of 1841, which in express terms excludes all persons who settle on unsurveyed lands. Where the surveys have been carefully and correctly executed, it is but seldom that a re-survey is necessary, and hence no further expenditure in this branch of the service is required. * Exclusive of the Chickasaw lands. Much embarrassment has been experienced in determining the location and survey of private claims, especially in Florida and Louisiana, but under the judicious direction of the Surveyors-General of those States, the difficulty to a great extent, has been removed. In Florida, most of the private claims have been located and surveyed, and the work appears to have been done in a manner generally acceptable. During the present season, it is expected that the remainder of the private claims, and most, if not all, of the public lands of any value outside of the Seminole reservation, in this State, will be surveyed. In consequence of the great number of bounty land warrants issued and located, the low rates at which those warrants have been soldaveraging only about 80 cents per acre-the grants and donations made to the several States for internal improvements, the sales of the public lands during the past year have been comparatively limited. The whole quantity sold and appropriated in satisfaction of warrants and donations exceeds, very considerably, however, that of the preceding year. The following statement of the amount of lands sold and located by military land warrants, &c., in 1848 and 1849, and first three quarters of 1850, exhibits the decrease in cash receipts, and the increase for 1849, in the amount of lands disposed of. Sales in 1848, Mexican War Warrants, Acres. State Selections, Act of 1841, 378,058:57 Improvements of Rivers, &c., $2,621,615 26 66 2,861,200 00 472,573 21 321,188:33 401,485 51 Choctaw Certificates, Total Acres, Sales in 1849, Mexican War Warrants, Improvements of Rivers, &c., Choctaw certificates, Total Acres, Sales in three quarters in 1850, Mexican War Warrants for 1st, 2d, and part of 3d quarter, State Selections, for 1st, 2d, and part of 3d quarter, Choctaw Certificates, Total Acres, $3,562,041 62 From this statement it will be perceived that the aggregate amount 2,815,366:42 of land disposed of in 1849, considerably exceeds that of 1848. There is a falling off in the current fiscal year, caused probably by emigration to the Pacific, the extensive reservations for the Railroad from Chicago to Mobile, and the fact that most of the military warrants have been located, and the State selections disposed of. Since the last Annual Report, over six millions of acres of lands have been brought into market, and about seven millions are now prepared for sale, and will be offered early in the ensuing season. Various opinions have been formed and expressed of the cost of the public lands, and of surveying, selling and managing them, in comparison with the revenue derived from them. That this matter may be correctly understood, and the value of those lands as a source of revenue be properly appreciated, I beg leave to state that, by a careful examination, it is ascertained that the entire area of the public domain, exclusive of the lands in Oregon, California, New Mexico, Utah, the Indian and Nebraska Territories, was 424,103,750 acres. About one-fourth of these lands has been sold, and the purchase money received for it amounts to $135,339,092 The cost of the whole of these lands, including the amount paid to France for Louisiana, to Spain for the Floridas, and the amount paid for extinguishing the Indian title, was A portion only of these lands has been surveyed, the cost of which, including salaries of surveyors-general and clerks, and expenses attending the surveys, was Less than half the land surveyed has been sold, and the whole cost of selling and managing the same, including every expense not previously charged, is Aggregate outlay of every kind Net profit to the government, $,61,121,717 6,369,838 7,466,324 74,957,879 $60,381,213 Or an average of nearly one million and a quarter of dollars annually, for the last fifty years. This will If to this should be added the value, at $1 25 per acre, of land granted in bounties, for military services and for internal improvement, donations, &c., it would amount to nearly double that sum. be more fully appreciated when it is understood that the average cost to the government of acquiring title to the public lands including the extinguishment of the Indian title, is Do. of survey, Do. of selling and managing, Total average cost 14,41 cents per acre. 2,07 5,32 21 4-5 cents per acre, while for each acre sold the government gets $1 25-100, or a net profit over and above every cost and expense, of $1 03 1 5-100 per acre. The whole force of the office has been actively and vigorously employed in discharge of the onerous duties growing out of its current business. The quarterly accounts of the receivers of public moneys, both as receivers and disbursing agents, have all been adjusted to, and including the third quarter of the current calendar year. The sales, selections, locations, &c., have nearly all been adjusted, posted and entered up to the same period; and the issuing of the patents for sales, private grants, donations, and military bounty lands, has been pressed forward as rapidly as the means placed at our disposal for that purpose would permit. Numerous suspensions of land entries, in nearly all the divisions of the office, some of which for years have produced much difficulty and correspondence, have been taken up and disposed of, and the current duties have been discharged with commendable diligence. There has been a material increase in the general business of the office, consequent upon the claims to lands for military services. * * * * * * * * * During the past year 7,215 Mexican bounty land claims have been examined and carried into patents, the whole of which have been forwarded direct to the parties entitled, and several thousand more are nearly ready for transmission. The whole number of Mexican warrants issued and transmitted to this office is 75,860, of which 52,269 have been located, covering 7,840,400 acres. The act granting Mexican bounty land claims was construed to authorize their assignment, which opened a door for the commission of extensive frauds, as well upon the soldier and his heirs as the government. Numerous discharges have been forged, and warrants obtained thereon, and assigned and passed into the hands of bona fide purchasers, by individuals personating the soldier. Some estimate may be formed of the extent of these frauds, from the fact that about three hundred warrants have been cancelled on the ground of having been obtained on false or forged papers, and about two hundred and seventy-five have been suspended upon allegations of the same character, made by counter-claimants. Fourteen hundred caveats have been filed in this office by individuals contesting the issue of patents to the assignees, chiefly on the ground that the assignments are false and counterfeit, or, in fact, executed prior to the issue of the warrants, and the dates subsequently inserted. * * * * * * * * * Much embarrassment has also been experienced in closing the grants. made to the States for Internal Improvements by the Act of 4th of September, 1841, and by other similar grants made to particular States, by special acts of Congress. The following table exhibits the present condition of the grant made by the Act of 4th September, 1841, to wit: |