Our Public Domain

Coiumissioner Sparks, of the general land office has submitted to the socretary of tho interior liis report of the opera tions of bis office for the last fiscal year. At the outset the commlwionor says: In my previous roport L referred to the imperativo need of reform hu the administration L the public land lawa to the end of protocting the public lnterésts, rathor than ministering to the advantage of speculation and monopoly, private or corporate. The steady purpose in which I have endeavored to rel'ect the aims of all good men has boen the protection of the public doinain, and its presërration for innabitancy by actual cultivators to whom it rightfully belongs. The evidences of "wideepread, persistent land robbery1' laid bol'orö you in my last report were furnished by offleers and agents appointed hy the last adininstration. The developiiinits of the past year under the agencies ofthenew admimstratlon liave justified every word said in my last report." The sales, entries and selectións of public land under the various acts of congross, Baysthe report, embraces 2O.WI,9O7 acres, and of Indinn laivls 1. l:i:2.5;H. making a total of 28,124,568 acres, being an increasO over last year of 1,130,050 acres. The pubHi' siii-vcv's reportad during the vear embraced J,SU3,370 acres. On the subject the commiggioner saya that 14,tXjO.O;X) acres of tho Territory of Arizona have been surveyed, principally in the southern and central portions of the territory. About 71,000,090 acres havo been surveyed in California and' about 58, 00 3, 0C0 in Colorado. ( "in erning the surveys in this state the rt'porl says : "The eastern portion knowu as 'plains,' which is largoly dominated by cattle corporations. was returned as survoyed several years ago, but no monumento exist, and there is no means of identifying thö subdivisions of sections or even the locality of townshlps. It is of the utmost importanco that prompt steps should be taken to fully ascertain the condition of the public surveys in that part of the state. In Dakota the eastern half of the state has been surveyed except in portions aloug the international boundary line of Turtle Mountain región. The surveyed area of this territory is about 47,000,000 acres. In Florida the surveyed area is 30,078.003 acres; in Idaho, li),256,409: in Minnesota, 42,S31.8S7; in Nevada about 71,r,0J.0OO; in Montana about 18,000,000; in New Mexico about 31,0(0, J00." In speaking of the surveys in this territory the commissioner quotes trom a report of Mr. Julián, surveyor-general of New Mexico, in which he expresses the opiaion that the territory will have to be resurveyed on account of previous iuaccuracy or fraud. The area of surveyed land in Wyoming is estiniatcd at 47,000,000 acres. '-The country,'1 the report says, "is occupied chiefly by cattle companies who control tho lands along the streams undor desert and other entries." "The work of thö office is reviewed at length, showing that 3,037 cases of entries were investigated, of which ],lt8, embracing 175,000 acres, were cancelled as fraudulent, and 1,485 cases, containing 20,000 acres, have been held for cancelation. The cómtnissioner says his attention has been called to 375,OC0 uulawful inclosures, containing (.410,000 acres, and that proceedings to compel removal of fences have been recommendcd in eightv-eight cases, involving 'J,2öO,(XX) acres, and final decrees ordering removal obtained in thirteen cases involvlng 1,000,000 acres. Agents report sixty-five inclosures removed from 1,074,862 acres, and forty-seven inclosures covering 350,0C0 acres removed without sort to the courts. in several cases no area is giren, and in one case the araount of fencing is stated at 130 miles; !M7 cases, embracing 3,750,000 acres, are pending examination. The total area over whieh fonces have been or are being removed is 2,714,926 aeres, tnostly in Colorado. ïhe report continúe-:: 'Twelve hundred and nineteen casos of timber depredations have been reported, involving a valué in timber and timber products amounting to $9,3.'!9,79 recoverable to the United States. About $1K),OUU of this has been recovered. Depredatiopa upon the public timber by powerfnl corporations, wenlthy mili owners, lnmber companies and uiïscrupulous monopolists, though to a certain degree checked. are still being committed to an alarmihg extent and great public detriment." "The subject of forest reseryations," he says, is one of unquestionable importance, and I respectfnlly renew the recoirnnendations hcretofore made." The-cotnmissioner recommends that an act be passèd iimking false and fraudulent ret unís of public surveys and of surveys of private land claims, olïenses punishable by fine and imprisoninent. The recommendation is also made that the law authoriziiifr surveys to be made under the "special deposits" system be repealed. Senator Fiko's SuddenDeath: XTnitcil Statu-; Senator Pike droppec dead on Dié farm at Franklin Falls, N. H. a few days since. He had been in good hi'ilth sinoe liis return from Washington and big death was a great surprise. Aiistin F. Pike of Franklin, N. H., was bom October 16, 1819; received an academmie education; Btndied law and was admitU-d to the bar of Merrimack county in Jnlv. 1845, and has been in active praetice sinco ; was a member of the New Hampshire house of representatives in 1850, '51, '5'3, '65 and '6(5, and speaker of the house the last t wo years : was a member of th( New Hampsblre senate in 1857 and '58, and president of the senate the last year; was chairman of the republican state cominittee in 1858, '69 and '(0: was delégate to the Phiiadelphia convention whieh nominated dn. Fremont in lrnl; was eleetod a reprosentative to the forty-third congress, serving from December 1, 1S7Ü. to March 3, 1S7.": and waselected to the United States senate as a republican, to succeed E. H. Kollins, republican, and took bis seat December 3, 1888. _ THe ureat striie. The strike of employés of the great packing house of Chicago, against ten liours tor a day's work. still continúes and siriiis lo !„■ a very dotermined one. The number of men out is bet.ween sixteen and twenty thousand. A large forcé of Pinkerton detectives is employed by the packers to patrol their establishments. It 9 said the packora will make no compromiso but will endeavor to HU the places of the strikers. Tbey Must H mr. Judge Gary, in the criminal court of Chicago, overruled the motion for a new trial in the cases of the eiííht anarchiste, charged with the haymarket inassacre, mul confirmed the verdict of tlie jury that Spies, Parsons, Fielden, Schwab, Engel, Fischer and Unge slmiild he hanged, and that Neebo shoüld suffer1 imprisonment for 14 years in tb o state penitentiary. Silvcr Dollars in Clrcnlation. A statement prepared at the treasury department shows tliat there ara now outstanding 960,189,952 in standard silver dollars, benig the largest ainount of thatcoin in rirculation siuce their issue. M the reault of the issue oL the more convenieut silver certiflcates. The Spamsh Cabinet Resign. The whole Spanish eabinpt has decided to i.sign. It is believod tho queeii will ask Sagasta to form a new ministry. Queen Chiistina has signed adeereecomïnuting the sentence of the condemned insurgeuts, and also signed .1 decroe freeing tho slaves In Cuba Irom the remainder oL their term of servitudo. Collidcd intl:oFog. At Belfast, near Olean, N. Y., in a densa fog, two freight trains on the BuffalOj New Viirk & PUiiadelphla railroad collided, badly wrocking the engiues and many cars. llie oaboose and several cars of ono train were burncd. Conductor Frank Ingram of Oloan.was burned to death. Consoiracy to Kidnap Kin j Milan. lliiiiiois worthy of credenoe ure ciirroiit to the effect that a c.onKpiracy has been discovtivd at Vltpazna to kidnap King Milán and forcé him to abdícate with the alternativo of death. TheNext Se3úon. It is erpected that the appropriation commlttee will assemble in Washington soon after the November elections to prepare the bilis bofore the ussonibling of congress. Gerónimo' s Surrender. The report of Gen. Miles to tho War department shows that Gerónimo and his band of hostilu Apaches uuconditionally surrendered.