The Department of the Interior was created by act of Congress in 1849. When the names of its subdivisions are enumerated, it will readily be seen that no adequate description of it can be given in one or two chapters.

It comprises the Patent Office, the Pension Office, General Land Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Education, Commissioner of Railroads, and the Office of the Geological Survey. Each office is managed by a commissioner or director, who has under him a large force of officials and clerks.

In the chief building of the Department of the Interior, fronting on F Street, and extending from Seventh to Ninth, and from F to G Streets, may be found the Patent Office of the United States. No other department so well reveals the inventive genius of the most inventive people on earth.

Once at a table in Paris a Frenchman said to me: "The Americans are inventors because they are lazy."

"Well," I said, "I have heard many surprising charges against my countrymen, but that excels all. How do you make that out?"

"Well, I am a manufacturer. I set an American boy to keep a door open; before half an hour he has invented a machine which will open and shut it, and I find my boy playing marbles."

"Sensible boy! Yes, with that view of it, maybe we are; we certainly do not care to do by hand that which a machine can better perform."

The Patent Office is one of the few departments which is more than self-supporting. In the year 1836 but one patent was taken out; during the year ending December 31, 1901, the total number of applications was 46,449. The total receipts for the year were $6,626,856.71; total expenditures, $1,297,385.64—leaving a balance far over five million dollars in favor of the government.

There are divisions for different classes of inventions. When a patent is applied for, examiners make all necessary investigations, and carefully look into the invention claimed to be new, comparing it, part by part, with patents already existing before determining whether a patent can be granted. They have a library with plates and descriptions of about everything under the sun. From this library inventors can have books and plates sent them in order to compare their work with inventions now existing.

The Secretary of the Interior is a member of the President's Cabinet, and receives $12,000 per year. He has charge of the Capitol (through the architect), the Insane Asylum, and the College for Mutes—indeed, it would seem that his work is sufficient for ten Secretaries.

There is an Assistant Secretary of the Interior, who receives $4,000 per annum, and commissioners of different divisions and bureaus who receive from $3,000 to $6,000 annually.

Many officers of this department could command higher salaries in the commercial world, but these positions secure honor and respect not only for the man himself but also for his descendants, hence these commissionerships are very desirable. For that reason men give up a legal practise or a railroad position, bringing salaries eight or ten times as large.

The present Secretary, Ethan Allen Hitchcock,^[4] of Missouri, great-grandson of Ethan Allen, of Vermont, has a wide experience in manufacturing, railroad, and mining interests, and has served as Ambassador to Russia. He was called to his present place in 1898.

The Secretary in his report for 1901 entreats that at least twenty more persons of fine mechanical ability be appointed as examiners, as his force is much behind in their work, altho many labor far over allotted time.

The Bureau of Education, established in 1867, is probably as little known to the general public as any branch of the government. It is a clearing-house.

The Commissioner of Education, Hon. William T. Harris,^[5] is one of the great educators of the world. It is probable if the teachers of the United States could have a personal vote, their unanimous choice would fall upon Dr. Harris as their Commissioner. The offices of the Bureau of Education are in a brick building at the corner of G and Eighth Streets.

The Commissioner has about forty assistants, who are confined to about twenty-eight rooms. This office collects, tabulates, and reports on all schools in the United States. Any one who desires to compare the curriculums of different institutions consults the Commissioner's report. Or should one desire to know what is being done in Europe, or any other part of the world, along the line of art in schools, or manual or industrial training, or the advanced education for women, all such inquiries can be answered by reference to the Commissioner's report.

This bureau is held in high estimation in Europe. Many of the South American republics and some Asiatic countries are trying, through the reports of Dr. Harris, to model their school systems after that of the United States.

Miss Frances G. French has charge of the foreign correspondence, and tabulates statistics and reports on thirty-two foreign countries.

The school work presented by the Department of Education at Paris in 1900 secured favorable commendation from the best educators of Europe. Only three commissioners have preceded Dr. Harris: Hon. Henry Barnard, 1867-1870; Hon. John Eaton, 1870-1886; Hon. N. H. R. Dawson, 1886-1889. The latter was a brother-in-law of Abraham Lincoln. Dr. Harris was appointed by President Harrison, September, 1889. The best work of the Bureau of Education lies in bringing about homogeneity in the work of education throughout the United States. Without the tabulated work of the Superintendents of States, how would the Superintendent of, say, one of the Dakotas, know whether the work of the public schools of his State corresponds with the work done in New York or Pennsylvania? Yet the boy educated in Dakota may have to do his life-work in Pennsylvania. Then the Commissioner's report keeps us informed what the State, Nation, or Church is doing for the education of the colored race, the Indian, or the people of our new possessions.

A short extract from the Commissioner's report of 1899 will give an idea of the tabulated work for women:

The barriers to woman's higher education seem effectually removed, and to-day eight-tenths of the colleges, universities, and professional schools of the United States are open to women students. As is stated by ex-President Alice Freeman Palmer, of Wellesley College, "30,000 girls have graduated from colleges, while 40,000 more are preparing to graduate." The obtaining of a collegiate education gives the women more ambition to enter a profession, or, if they decide to marry, it is stated that—

The advanced education they have received has added to their natural endowments wisdom, strength, patience, balance, and self-control ... and in addition to a wise discharge of their domestic duties, their homes have become centers of scientific or literary study or of philanthropy in the communities where they live.

It is stated that the advancement of women in professional life is less rapid than in literature. The training of women for medical practise was long opposed by medical schools and men physicians. Equally tedious was the effort to obtain legal instruction and admission to the legal profession, and even to-day the admission to theological schools and the ministry is seriously contested; yet all these professions are gradually being opened to women. In 1896-97 there were in the United States 1,583 women pursuing medical studies to 1,471 in 1895-96; in dentistry, 150 women in 1896-97 to 143 in 1895-96; in pharmacy, 131 in 1896-97 to 140 in 1895-96. In law courses of professional schools were 131 women in 1896-97 to 77 in 1895-96; in theological courses 193 women in 1896-97.

The only aggressive work done by this bureau is in Alaska, and of this Dr. Sheldon Jackson^[6] is agent or superintendent. Besides doing a great work in education, this department has brought about 1,300 deer from Siberia to take the place of dogs, mules, and horses in transportation, and at the same time to give milk, butter, cheese, and meat to the population. The reindeer are self-supporting, living on the moss which grows abundantly.

These animals are loaned to individuals or missions, and at the end of five years the government requires an equivalent number to be returned. The Eskimo, the Lapp, and the Finn become expert in handling these herds, now numbering many thousands. By them mails are carried, and whalers, sealers, miners, and soldiers rescued from starvation, danger, or death.

The education as well as religious training of Alaska is up to this time conducted through the mission stations, all of which are visited, encouraged, and assisted by Dr. Jackson.

The Youth's Companion tersely states the present condition of things:

When the churches first planned to send missionaries and teachers into Alaska, representatives of the several denominations met and divided the territory among them. Should the traveler ask the ordinary Alaskan miner what is the result of effort, he would probably be answered that there has been no result. The miner, in the words of Dr. Sheldon Jackson, is unconscious that the very fact of his presence there at all is the direct outcome of Christian missions. In 1877 Sitka and St. Michaels were armed trading-posts, out of which the soldiers shut the natives every night, that the inhabitants might rest in safety. For ten years not a single whaler dared to stay overnight at Cape Prince of Wales, so savage was the native population. Now, in all those ports, the miner and whaler and traveler can dwell in safety, because of the civilizing work of the missionaries. Probably ten thousand natives have been brought under Christian influences, and many public as well as mission schools have been opened.

Among the Moravian missions of the Yukon Valley few of the natives can read or write. At bedtime a bell rings, and the entire population goes to the churches. A chapter in the Bible is read, a prayer offered, a hymn sung; and the men, women, and children return to their homes and go to bed. Where in the United States can be found a better record?

In introducing religion with the arts, sciences, and conveniences of civilization, Dr. Jackson's work reminds one of the words of Whittier: