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CHAPTER 34

BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS

1. Origin and Purpose

The Board of Indian Commissioners was created in 1869 by an act which directed that "there shall be a Board of Indian Commissioners, composed of not more than ten persons, appointed by the President solely from men eminent for intelligence and philanthropy, and who shall serve without pecuniary compensation."

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The board is therefore an independent establishment belonging to no department, but created for the purpose of exercising, under the direction of the President, joint control with the Secretary of the Interior, over the disbursement of an appropriation of two million dollars "to enable the President to maintain peace among the Indian tribes, to promote their civilization, to relieve their necessities, and to bring them upon the reservations." The board has been continued on later appropriations.

2. Organization

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(a) The board at present consists of nine members of whom one is Chairman. (b) The organic act authorized the members to select a Secretary from their own membership, who should receive such reasonable compensation as the board should determine. By a later provision the Secretary was to be selected outside of the board membership.*

3. Publications

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(a) 54th Annual Report of Board of Indian Commissioners, year ended 1923. 51 pages, 5 cents.

1 R. S. § 2039 (Comp. St. § 3980).

2 Act of April 10, 1869 (16 Stat. 40).

3 R. S. § 2040.

4 Act Aug. 24, 1912, c. 388 (37 Stat. 521 [Comp. St. § 3981]).

361.

PART IX

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

363*

THORPE DEPT.PRAO,

1. Mission

CHAPTER 35

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

The Department of Agriculture is charged with the promotion of agriculture in the United States in its broadest sense.

2. History1

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An agricultural section was established in the Patent Office in 1839, when $1,000 was appropriated from the patent fund to be expended by the Commissioner of Patents to collect agricultural statistics and "for other agricultural purposes. This affiliation was continued until 1862, when a separate department was created for agriculture under the administration of a Commissioner of Agriculture. A Bureau of Animal Industry was created in 1884.4 The department of Agriculture was not made an executive department until 1889.5 The secretary was directed in 18906 to perform all the duties assigned prior to February 8, 1889, to the Commissioner of Agriculture.

In 1902, the Bureaus of Soils, Forestry, Chemistry, and Plant Industry were reorganized from various divisions. The Bureau of Crop Estimates grew out of the Bureau of Statistics in 1914, which was superseded in 1921, by the Bureau of Markets and Crop Estimates, which, in turn, was superseded in 1922, by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics,10 which included, also, the offices of Farm Management and Farm Economics. A Solicitor was assigned the legal work of the department in 1910.11 A chief of the Division of Accounts and Disbursements was formed, and disbursing clerk was made administrative officer of fiscal affairs of the department.1

3. Distribution of Duties

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(A) The Office Proper of the Secretary of Agriculture.

(1) The Secretary has general supervision and control of affairs of department and formulation and establishment of general policies.3 5 6

(2) The Assistant Secretary assists in general supervision of work of department; acts for Secretary in his absence.5 13

1 For historical sketch, see Agriculture Department Bulletin No. 3.

2 Act March 3, 1839, § 9 (5 Stat. 354). ·

3 Act May 15, 1862, c. 72 (12 Stat. 387).

4 Act May 29, 1884 (23 Stat. 31).

5 Act Feb. 9, 1889, c. 122 (25 Stat. 659 [Comp. St. §§ 789, 790, 791, 792]).

6 Act July 14, 1890, c. 707 (26 Stat. 288 [Comp. St. § 819]).

7 Act June 3, 1902, c. 985 (32 Stat. 303 [Comp. St. § 795]).

8 Act June 30, 1914, c. 131 (38 Stat. 436 [Comp. St. § 795a]).

Act March 3, 1921, c. 127 (41 Stat. 1343 [Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1923, § 795a(1)]).

10 Act May 11, 1922, c. 185 (42 Stat. 532 [Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1923, § 795aa(2)]).

11 Act May 26, 1910, c. 256 (36 Stat. 416).

12 Act March 4, 1911, c. 238 (36 Stat. 1258). 13 Act June 30, 1906 (34 Stat. 670).

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