Prior to Act of Congress of June 30, 1834, organizing the "Department of Indian Affairs," Indian matters were managed by a Bureau, with a superintendent in charge, under the direction and control of the War Department, and under the organization, the department or office continued with the War Department, until March 3, 1849, when Congress created the Department of the Interior, and gave the supervisory and appellate power, exercised by the Secretary of War in relation to the acts of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, to the Secretary of the new department.

A "Commissioner of Indian Affairs" was first authorized by Act of Congress, dated July 9, 1832, and the same law required the Secretary of War to prescribe a new set of regulations as to the mode in which the business of the Commissioner should be performed.

E. Herring was the first Commissioner, and his successors have been as follows: C. A. Harris, appointed in 1836; T. H. Crawford, 1838; Wm. Medell, 1845; 0. Brown, 1849; L. Lee, 1850; G. W. Monypenny, 1853; J. W. Denver, 1857; C. E. Mix, 1858; A. B. Greenwood, 1859; W. P. Dole, 1861; D. N. Cooley, 1865; L. V. Bogy, 1866; N. G. Taylor, 1867; E. S. Parker, 1869; F. E. Walker, 1871; and E. P. Smith, 1873.

The Indian Department comprehended, under the new regulations provided for by the law of July 9, 1832, four superintendencies, thirteen agencies, and thirteen sub-agencies, having charge of about two hundred and fifty thousand Indians, inhabiting some of the States west of the Mississippi, and also what was then held to be "Indian Country," defined by the first section of the law of June 30, 1834, regulating trade and intercourse with

THE INDIAN DEPARTMENT.

415

Indian tribes, to be "all that part of the United States west of the Mississippi and not within the State of Missouri and Louisiana, or the Territory of Arkansas, and, also, that part of the United States east of the Mississippi River and not within any State to which the Indian title has not been extinguished."

By subsequent acquisition of territory from Mexico, the area of Indian country became greatly extended, with a consequent large addition to the Indian population within the jurisdiction of the Indian Department. In the beginning of the current year, the Department consisted of eight superintendencies, seventy agencies and special agencies, and three sub-agencies. At present there are four superintendencies, four having been abolished by act of Congress, February 14, 1873, providing in lieu thereof five Indian Inspectors, whose duty it is to visit every superintendency and agency, and examine into the affairs of the same, as often as once or twice a year, and to report their proceedings; sixty-eight agencies, nine special agencies and three sub-agencies, with an Indian population, approximately, of 300,000, exclusive of those in Alaska, estimated at between 50,000 and 75,000.

In the Indian service there is also a Board of “Indian Commissioners," nine in number, authorized by act of Congress, approved April 10, 1869, men eminent for their intelligence and philanthropy, who serve without compensation, the object of the Commission being to cooperate with the President in efforts to maintain peace among the Indians, bring them upon reservations, relieve their necessities, and to encourage them in attempts at self-support.

The Census Bureau is now a permanent branch of the

Department of the Interior. It is in charge of a superintendent, and is assigned the duty of compiling the statistics which constitute the Census of the Republic. This enumeration is made every ten years. Some idea of the magnitude of the task may be gained from the fact that the tabulation and publication of the census of 1870 were not completed in January, 1873.

The Bureau of Patents is a part of the Department of the Interior, but is in all its proportions and features so vast and imposing, that it is almost a separate department, as, indeed, it must become erelong. It is in charge of a Commissioner of Patents, who is appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. It is intrusted with the duty of granting letters patent, securing to the inventor the control of and the reward from articles beneficial to civilization. It was formerly a part of the Treasury Department, and is one of the best known branches of the Government.

Patents are not, as some persons suppose, monopolies, but are protections granted to individuals as rewards for, and incentives to discoveries and inventions of all kinds pertaining to the useful arts. This Bureau is allowed to charge for these letters of protection only the cost of investigating and registering the invention. It is a self-supporting institution, its receipts being largely in excess of its expenditures.

If you have traced the many Bureaus of the Interior Department thus far, you have come to the conclusion that it needs a public building all to itself, and that it should be an immense one. A large brick building opposite the Patent-Office, on G street, is already exclusively occupied by the Bureau of Education.

THE SUPREME VIRTUE OF A PUBLIC SERVANT. 417

The present Secretary of the Interior is Hon. Columbus Delano, of Ohio, a man who has been long in public life, first as Member of Congress from Ohio, then as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, now as Secretary of the Interior. I have but one objection to make to Mr. Delano in the position which he now holds. He found twelve-hundreddollar-positions in his department filled, as they had been from the beginning, by women. He degrades them to ninehundred-dollar-clerkships, to make place for his voters. Judging by the course he pursues, we may believe that he is of the same opinion as the Secretary of the Treasury, that "four hundred dollars per year are enough for any woman to earn," unless she should be a Delano! I hope that Ohio will reward him by not giving him the desire of his heart and making him Senator, till he practices justice as the supreme virtue of a public servant.

Columbus Delano has a face which nature never weakened by cutting it down to absolute fineness, but added to its power by leaving it a little in the rough. Irongray hair, shaggy eyebrows beetling over a pair of straight-forward, out-looking gray eyes, make the more prominent features of a face which you willingly believe in as that of a strong and honorable man.

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CHAPTER XXXIX.

THE PENSION BUREAU-HOW GOVERNMENT PAYS ITS

SERVANTS.

The Generosity of Congress to Itself-How Four Hundred Acts of Congress were Passed-How Pensions have Increased and Multiplied-Sneering at Red-Tape-The Division of Labor-Scrutinizing Petitions—A Heavy Paper Jacket-The Judicial Division-Invalids, Widows, and Minors-The Examiner of Pensions-The Difficulties of his Position--Unsatisfactory Work-How Claims are Entertained and Tested-What is Recorded in the Thirty Enormous Volumes-How many Genuine Cases are Refused-One of the Inconveniences of Ignorance-The Claim-Agent Gobbles up the Lion's Share-An Extensive Correspondence—How Claims are Mystified, and Money is Wasted-The " Reviewer's" WorkThe Rejected Files "-The "Admitted Files "-Seventy-Five Thousand Claims Pending-Very Ancient Claimants-The Bounty Land Division-The Reward of Fourteen Days' Service-The Sum Total of what the Government has Paid in Pensions-How the Pensions are Paid -The Finance Division-The Largest and the Smallest Pension OfficeThe Miscellaneous Branch-Investigating Frauds-A Poor "Dependent Woman with Forty Thousand Dollars-How " Honest and Respectable People Defraud the Government-The Medical Division-Examining Invalids-The Restoration-Desk-The Appeal-Desk-The Final-Desk-The Work that Has Been Done-One Hundred and Fifty Thousand People Grumbling-Letter of an Ancient Claimant-The Wrath of a Pugnacious Captain.

OMPARED to the generosity with which it rewards

COMP

itself, Congress doles out most scanty recompense even to the Government's most faithful and long-suffering servants. Nevertheless, that it does not neglect or ignore them altogether, the annals of the Pension Bureau accurately attest.