Robert E. Carpenter took office as Park Superintendent in August, 1884. In his view the Park presented an opportunity for personal and corporate exploitation. He was in full accord with a conspiracy to obtain private ownership of strategic locations. This scheme was advanced by an organization known as The Improvement Company which went directly before Congress with its proposition. In this effort, the nadir of private greed and administrative indifference was reached. However, the bad cause was lost, the superintendent removed, and a new and better administration came into being.[302] The influence of General Phil Sheridan was a constant factor in promoting the welfare of the Park. Beginning in 1881, he made a series of annual tours of the region. After each inspection he earnestly appealed to public sentiment, in behalf of proper government, for the area. Whereupon, Congress passed the Sundry Civil Bill of March, 1883 which forbade the granting of leases in excess of ten acres to a single party and provided for the employment of ten assistant superintendents. This measure also authorized the Secretary of the Interior to call upon the Secretary of War for troops to patrol the Park. In May, 1885 David W. Wear of Missouri brought intelligent and vigorous effort to the problem. At the close of the season he wrote a comprehensive report that carried a tone of real interest and purpose: “The discipline of the force was bad; no head to anything.... The game had been shot with impunity and marketed at the hotels.”[303] He secured the services of a trusty mountaineer, and together they rounded up the worst of the “skin hunters” and punished them to the full extent of the law. Of course, that was simply arrest and expulsion from the Park, together with the forfeiture of equipment used in the violation. During the season of 1885 a committee of congressmen visited the Park for the purpose of ascertaining how wisely the recent appropriation of $40,000 was being used and inquiring into the administration of laws.[304] The report of this and other investigating groups seemed to be that, although Superintendent Wear was performing his duty efficiently and fearlessly, the whole situation was honeycombed with error, corruption, confusion, and suspicion. The Park was in need of redemption; something had to be done. The high purposes of the Dedicatory Act were being frustrated. An avalanche of petitions, representing opinion from thirty-one states, reached the Department of the Interior and could not be ignored. Therefore, the Department of the Interior called upon the United States Army to effect a new birth. This action was taken under the authority of the act of March 3, 1883, wherein the Secretary of War, upon the request of the Secretary of the Interior, was directed to provide: