Ministry of the Interior

“ The executive power is vested in the council of ministers, at whose head is the minister-president. There are eight ministries, namely, the ministry of the interior, of national defence, of worship and instruction, of finance, of commerce, of agriculture, of justice, and of railways. There are, further, two ministries, without portfolio, for Galicia and Bohemia. ”

“ Every measure of the crown must be countersigned by a minister; and every minister is immediately and actually responsible to Parliament for all of his official acts.
543. Composition and Status of the Ministry.—The ministry consists of a president of the council, or premier, and the heads of nine departments, as follows: Finance, National Defense, Interior, Education and Public Worship, Justice, Industry and Commerce, Agriculture, the Ministry for Croatia and Slavonia, and the Ministry near the King's Person. ”

“ The measure of praise you have been kind enough to award to me for my administration of the Interior Department is—I say this without any affectation of modesty—perhaps too generous. I know better than any body else that my administration has not been perfect. The Interior Department is not only the most difficult, it is also the most dangerous, department of the Government. ”

“ Governmental employees employed by the ministries or governorates are eligible to
serve in the FPS. The FPS may also consist of employees of private security firms
who are engaged to perform services for the ministries or governorates through
contracts, provided such private security firms and employees are licensed and
authorized by the Ministry of Interior as provided in Section 7 herein. ”

“ To insure a faithful performance of their duties by agents, and to secure uniformity in enforcing the Government policy throughout the various agencies, I would suggest that authority be conferred upon the Secretary of the Interior to appoint inspectors, when necessity requires, whose duty it shall be to visit the several tribes and agencies at stated intervals, and report concerning the fidelity and capacity of the agents and the condition of the tribes under their charge ”

“ The Department of the Interior comprises such a variety and magnitude of interests, extending over such an expanse of territory, that its care or supervision must entail great labor and responsibility. ”

“ The attention of Congress is invited to the report of the Secretary of the Interior and to the legislation asked for by him. The domestic interests of the people are more intimately connected with this Department than with either of the other Departments of Government. Its duties have been added to from time to time until they have become so onerous that without the most perfect system and order it will be impossible for any Secretary of the Interior to keep trace of all official transactions having his sanction and done in his name, and for which he is held personally responsible. ”

“ If the Government will not make over the whole of the provincial administration to a popular Ministry responsible to a popular Assembly, let them at least, entrust to them such departments, as Education, Sanitation, Local Self-government, Police, etc. ”

“ The military authorities have called upon the Interior Department to take them off their hands, and it is intended to transport them to the Yakama Reservation, and to put them under the charge of Mr. Wilbur, the most successful agent in the service. ”

“ The Secretary of Interior has charge of matters pertaining to the internal welfare of the nation, as public lands, care of national parks, the giving of patents for inventions, Indian affairs, education, etc. ”

“ The inconveniences suffered on account of the insufficiency of room are a constant source of complaint. Only four of the eight bureaus of the Interior Department are accommodated in the building, namely, the Patent Office, the Land Office, the Indian Bureau, and the Bureau of Railroad Accounts. ”

“ But might it not be supposed that a man so profoundly in earnest as you are, would at least then have spared no trouble and lost no opportunity to make his views heard by those immediately in charge of this business? You know that the Interior Department was open to you and you did not fail to avail yourself of your opportunities. Indeed you were seen in the Interior Department during the time that this agitation was going on and while you were taking in it an active and conspicuous part. ”

“ The central administrative organs shall be reconstituted into six departments, viz., Interior; Finance; Justice; Agriculture and Commerce; Education, Health and Public Welfare; and Public Works and Communications. ”

“ The company rose from their places in the Loggia, and there were greetings and introductions.
"Sir Evelyn Wise, gentlemen, the new British Ambassador—General Morra, our Minister of War; Commendatore Angelelli, our Chief of Police. A thousand apologies, ladies! A Minister of the Interior is one of the human atoms that live from minute to minute and are always at the mercy of events. ”

“ There was an editorial today in The New York Times that, I think, pointed out that the Interior Department too often has been seen as an appendage of commercial interests as opposed to a place where the values and interests of the American people are served. ”

“ There is no doubt that the present control of the Department of the Interior is vigorous and honest, that many abuses have been corrected, and that the old Indian system is managed as well as it can be. ”

“ Members of Congress came down upon me, some with wrath in their eyes, others pleading in a milder way, but all solemnly protesting against my disturbing their constituents in this peculiar pursuit of happiness. I persevered in the performance of my plain duty. But when I set forth my doings in my annual report and asked Congress for rational forestry legislation, you should have witnessed the sneers at the outlandish notions of this “foreigner” in the Interior Department ”

“ It is impossible for the Land Office with the means now provided to keep careful supervision over their offices, situated so far from the seat of government. The information received concerning them is usually ex parte and often contradictory, and in many cases is not received until it is too late to prevent much maladministration. ”

“ Agencies will be responsive to the diverse needs of different kinds of communities from the core of our cities to remote rural areas and shall seek to ensure that the role played by the Federal Government is complementary to the plans and work being carried out by State, local, and tribal governments. ”

“ With this admission, then, it would seem that the chief of the Interior Department is, in your opinion, on the whole a good public officer who only occasionally, when he takes it into his head to oppress an Indian tribe, will plot or connive at the assassination of men who stand in his way. ”

“ The limited powers of the local government in a Colony necessarily obviate the necessity of any provision for some of the most important departments which elsewhere require a superintending mind. But the mere ordinary administration of justice, police, education, pubUc works and internal communications, of finance and of trade, would require the superintendence of persons competent to advise the Governor, on their own responsibility, as to the measures which should be adopted ”

“ If surveyors-general and district land officers were aware that an agent of the government might at any time visit their respective offices, with authority to examine their books and papers, and by personal examination to ascertain their condition, it seems that great benefit would thereby result to the public service. ”

“ In some localities the inhabitants have met together and voluntarily formed a municipal organization for the purposes of local government, adopting the form of a municipal constitution and charter, under which said officials have been appointed; and ordinances creating and regulating a police force, a fire department, a department of health, and making provision for the care of the insane and indigent poor and sick and for public schools, have been passed. ”

“ And the Secretary of State, after calling the attention of the Department to this subject, has inquired whether he may be justified in saying to the British minister that this Department will be prepared to recommend to Congress any legislation on this subject at the approaching session, and also to ask, in case any legislation will be recommended, that, if there be no objections, he may be informed of the provisions which Congress will be asked to enact into a law. ”

“ Citizens shall exercise local government and self-government through local councils of deputies, executive, and administrative bodies, bodies of public territorial self-government, local referenda assemblies, and other forms of direct participation in state and public affairs. ”

“ In the 50 departments a good deal of local self-government is enjoyed through the village communes and their public assemblies, but the imperial power as represented by the police and military is felt in all parts, while governors of departments have wide and ill-defined powers which admit of abuse. ”

“ The Commissioner of the General Land-Office, in preparing rules and regulations under the sixth section of the above act, in order to carry its provisions into effect, refused to permit more than one entry of a quarter-section to be made by any one person. ”

“ It is often useful, and with the institutions of our own country even necessary, from the scarcity, in the localities, of officers representing the general government, that the execution of duties imposed by the central authority should be intrusted to functionaries appointed for local purposes by the locality. But experience is daily forcing upon the public a conviction of the necessity of having at least inspectors appointed by the general government to see that the local officers do their duty. ”

“ A local government organisation shall have general powers and duties to oversee and provide public services for the benefits of local residents and enjoy autonomy in laying down policies and carrying out administration, public service provision, personnel administration, and finance, and shall have powers and duties particularly on its own part, provided that regard shall also be had to the consistency with the development of a province and of the country as a whole. ”

“ It is to be hoped that an act, so necessary to the proper legal appointments of the public service, and reasonable justice to faithful and competent employes, will be considered and enacted at the coming session of Congress.
The operations of the civil service, so far as this Bureau is concerned, have been highly satisfactory. There is an increased demand for accuracy and efficiency in the manner in which the public work is performed. ”

“ Provincial governments are responsible for the recruitment, appointment, promotion, transfer and dismissal of members of the public service in their administrations within a framework of uniform norms and standards applying to the public service. ”

“ Moreover, under our local self-government, under our decentralized system, nobody is above even a town officer, or a State or city official at the head of his department, however small it be, except the courts. State officers may not command town officers, nor Federal officers State officers ”

“ The central administration has the power of administrative tutelage over the local administrations in the framework of principles and procedures set forth by law with the objective of ensuring the functioning of local services in conformity with the principle of the integrity of the administration, securing uniform public service, safeguarding the public interest and meeting local needs properly. ”

“ In the meantime the municipal and departmental governments will continue to report to the military governor, and be subject to his administrative supervision and control, under your direction, but that supervision and control will be confined within the narrowest limits consistent with the requirement that the powers of government in the municipalities and departments shall be honestly and effectively maintained. ”