The monthly pay roll at that time amounted to $3,033, with 13 employees. At the present time this force has been reduced to one commissioner, two accountants, and one clerk, with a pay roll of $1,255 monthly. On May 1, 1923, there were 537 claims unsettled. Now there are 36 pending. The work of settling these claims would have long since been completed except for a decision of the court of appeals to the effect that the purchase price of real property and interest on borrowed capital should be considered as part of losses in liquidating claims. This decision has been taken to the Supreme Court of the United States. Should this tribunal reverse the holdings of the lower court the few remaining claims will be the subject of almost immediate disposition ending the war minerals relief work of the Government. DEPARTMENTAL PUBLICATIONS A committee on departmental publications was formed last year. With the cooperation of bureaus, 1,071,186 publications were eliminated and congestion of publications in the office of the Superintendent of Documents was relieved. Of this number 532,225 were found to be of value and in demand, which were turned over to the Superintendent of Documents for sale to the public, and 538,961 were turned over to him to be destroyed and sold as waste paper. The general practice of keeping publications intended for free distribution for a longer period than one year has been discontinued with a few exceptions. Publications which remain on hand at the end of each fiscal year will hereafter be turned over to the Superintendent of Documents annually for sale or other disposition by him. This plan not only provides an annual source of revenue, but conserves valuable storage space. The number of Interior Department publications, maps, and extra copies of patents sold during the fiscal year 1923 amounted to 4,307,645, the value of which was $375,049.38. EDUCATION AND HEALTH INSTITUTIONS Under the direction of the Interior Department, but dissociated from its Bureau of Education, are the Howard University, the Freedmen's Hospital, both for the colored race, the St. Elizabeths Hospital for insane soldiers and sailors, which includes training schools for nurses, for vocational training, and short courses for physicians. Each institution is educational, wholly or in part, and each is functioning at the highest point of efficiency in its history. Very respectfully, The PRESIDENT. HUBERT WORK, Secretary. ADMINISTRATIVE EFFORT THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE 1. Eliminated through intense application of work, approximately 57 employees, reducing annual pay roll about $60,000. 2. Delivered patents on public lands to homesteaders within from 30 to 60 days from date of final receipt of certificate at General Land Office. 3. Sold at public auction strip of public land known as the Harding town site in close proximity to Miami Beach, Fla., for approximately $386,000, the highest price ever received for a Government township. 4. Leased 1,840 acres of public coal land in Alabama at public auction, receiving bonus of $85,000, one of the largest ever received by the Government. 5. Entered and allowed during the fiscal year public and Indian lands, 4,564,412 acres; a decrease of 1,850,590 acres as compared with the year previous. 6. Patented during the year 8,826,039 acres, a decrease of 569,777 as against the year previous. 7. Collected from all sources during the year an aggregate of $16,373,004.04, of which sum, after the deposit in the Treasury of the United States of the receipts for the benefit of special funds, there was turned over to the Treasury for the credit of its general fund the sum of $2,857,220.34. 8. Collected and deposited in the Treasury of the United States as the result of the work of the field service $67,835.29. 9. Restored to the public domain as the result of investigations in the field 170,400 acres. 10. Investigated in the field and reported upon 13,680 cases. 11. Conducted 286 hearings in Government contests. 12. Obtained 27 convictions in criminal cases prosecuted during the year. 13. Approved and accepted surveys and resurveys aggregating 6,593,448 acres. 14. Entered of record 271.710 tract-book notations. 15. Patented under the homestead law 5,530,780 acres, a decrease of 779,149 acres as compared with 1923. 16. Entered and allowed during the year 2,812,624 acres under the stock raising homestead law. 17. Secured the withdrawal for stock driveway purposes of 137,087 acres and released from such withdrawal 52,780 acres. 18. Approved for patent 984 certificates of town-lot sales. 19. Patented 86 cash entries and 28 final homesteads, under the Minnesota and Arkansas drainage acts, involving 17,240 acres; patented under these acts since their passage 1,048,000 acres. 20. Canceled upon relinquishment or judicial forfeiture 208 grants of right of way. 21. Disposed of by allowance or otherwise 236 applications for stock-watering reservoirs. 22. Received for action one application for recognition as a State irrigation district, involving 10,427 acres; since the date of the act 13 districts have been recognized involving an area of 1,128,393 acres. 23. Considered favorably 18 reports on private irrigation projects, involving 131 desert-land entries and applications. 24. Collected for the use of public lands in connection with hydroelectric power development $6,957.82. 25. Received for action 1,300 "elections" under section 24 of the Federal water power act. 26. Patented under the Carey Act 67,700 acres. 27. Issued 214 permits for the development of underground water in Nevada. 28. Approved for patent 712 final desert entries. 29. Approved for patent 304 reclamation homestead entries. 30. Secured the withdrawal for reclamation purposes of 118,440 acres and restored 129,640 acres theretofore withdrawn for such purpose. 31. Opened to entry under the reclamation act 76 farm units, aggregating 7,080 acres. 32. Opened to entry 9,404 acres of ceded Chippewa "cut-over" lands in Minnesota. 33. Secured the withdrawal and reservation for various public purposes of 3,594,055 acres of public lands, and restored to entry 3,551,530 acres theretofore withdrawn. 34. Restored 12 "shore spaces" abutting upon navigable waters in Alaska. 35. Restored and opened to entry 2,703,704 acres subject to the preference right of entry by ex-service men. 36. Patented under the swamp-land grant 33,821 acres. 37. Received by Executive order authority for the disposition of 25 abandoned military reservations. 38. Collected on account of Chippewa logging under the act of June 27, 1902, $183,760.94. Total amount received to date, $9,596,979.39. 39. Conveyed to the States entitled thereto 274,236 acres of indemnity school lands and 19,209 acres of quantity grant lands. 40. Conveyed to the States 20,788 acres, with a reservation of the mineral therein to the United States. 41. Conveyed to the States under cooperative agreements 21,822 acres. Total amount conveyed under these agreements, 419,945 acres. 42. Patented 1,573,640 acres under railroad grants, as against 1,987,521 acres the year previous. 43. Effected 19 sales of timber on former Coos Bay wagon road lands, for which the sum of $132,864.70 was received. Total sales to date, $526,062.04. 44. Effected 98 sales of timber on lands formerly within the Oregon & California Railroad grant, for which the sum of $789,925.45 was received. Total sales to date, $2,407,842.37. 45. Perfected one exchange of Oregon and California lands under the act of May 31, 1918, by which the United States received 20,085 acres with a growth of 901,000,000 feet board measure for 21,512 acres with a growth of 890,000,000 feet board measure. 46. Issued 4,196 Indian trust patents for an area of 1,424,540 acres, and 1,484 fee patents to Indians for 180,014 acres. 47. Approved and patented five selections of lands in lieu of lands within Indian reservations embracing 2,386 acres, receiving therefor 2,400 acres. 48. Approved for patent seven lieu selections under the act of March 20, 1922, by which the United States has acquired through exchange 4,880 acres for national forest purposes. 49. Added to the area of land within the national forests 931,679 acres. 50. Approved for patent 25 private land claims. 51. Issued 482 mineral patents embracing an area of 58,955 acres. 52. Issued 37 potash prospecting permits, 25 sodium permits, and 8 phosphate permits. 53. Issued 150 coal prospecting permits for an aggregate of 147,114 acres. 54. Awarded 78 coal leases for 24,392 acres. 55. Awarded 21 oil and gas leases for an area of 3,674 acres, on a showing of discovery under the mineral leasing act. 56. Awarded 8 leases under the relief provisions of the mineral leasing act for an aggregate of 1,788 acres. 57. Granted 4,108 oil and gas prospecting permits under sections 13 and 20 of the mineral leasing act. 58. Received from bonuses, royalties, and rentals under the mineral leasing act $13,631,840.72. 59. Decided 546 litigated cases involving title to public lands and 1,057 cases of the same character on default. 60. Allowed 1,764 claims for repayment under statutory authority aggregating $99,896.42. THE INDIAN OFFICE 1. As a result of a survey the number of employees of the Indian Office was reduced by 23, with annual savings of $28,000. 2. A ruling forbidding aliens and alien companies to obtain oil and gas leases on restricted allotted Indian lands was reversed. 3. During the fiscal year special effort was made to enroll children afflicted with trachoma in school, where facilities for treatment are better, and, following an extended medical survey, a trachoma campaign was organized for the ensuing year to cover the States of Arizona and New Mexico. This will include the urgent needs of the Navajos and will have the cooperation of the local health and Red Cross organizations and the United States Public Health Service. 4. Arrangements were begun for a new sanatorium at Onigum, Minn., a new hospital at the Chilocco School, Oklahoma, and the conversion of the abandoned Shawnee boarding school, Oklahoma, into a sanatorium. 5. Plans were completed for a division of field welfare, to be conducted by a supervisor of field nurses and field matrons, which will coordinate and strengthen this work throughout the service. 6. Attendance in Government schools was maintained to their full capacity, except as prevented by epidemics, but the school term was slightly shortened owing to insufficient appropriations for equipment and maintenance. 7. Public-school attendance by Indian children has steadily increased, calling for an unusually large expenditure for tuition, but the results are satisfactory as to training and reduced cost of education to the Government. 8. Twenty boarding schools conducted summer sessions of from four to six weeks for retarded pupils, and 700 of this class attended, 80 per cent making their grades and promotions, thus saving the expense of another year's schooling, which would have amounted to about $100,000. 9. Under the present policy of requiring all instructors to attend a session of training school every other summer, this self-improvement attendance has increased in three years from 25 to 325. 10. The need is suggested for continuous sessions of boarding schools accessible to the Navajos, for whom day schools are impracti |