The Director of the Survey recommends that the investigations carried
on by his bureau, which so far have been confined to the so-called
public-land States and Territories, be extended over the entire country,
and that the necessary appropriation be made for this purpose. This
would be particularly beneficial to the iron, coal, and other mining
interests of the Mississippi Valley and of the Eastern and Southern
States. The subject is commended to the careful consideration of
Congress.
The Secretary of the Interior asks attention to the want of room in
the public buildings of the capital, now existing and in progress of
construction, for the accommodation of the clerical force employed and
of the public records. Necessity has compelled the renting of private
buildings in different parts of the city for the location of public
offices, for which a large amount of rent is annually paid, while the
separation of offices belonging to the same Department impedes the
transaction of current business. The Secretary suggests that the
blocks surrounding Lafayette Square on the east, north, and west be
purchased as the sites for new edifices for the accommodation of the
Government offices, leaving the square itself intact, and that if such
buildings were constructed upon a harmonious plan of architecture
they would add much to the beauty of the national capital, and would,
together with the Treasury and the new State, Navy, and War Department
building, form one of the most imposing groups of public edifices in
the world.
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