The Bureau of Indian Affairs Mr. Chandler found to be more utterly unsavory in reputation than any other division of his Department. Besides securing a new Commissioner and Chief Clerk, he instituted a series of quiet inquiries into the methods of doing business there, and soon determined upon removing a number of subordinates, whose records were unsatisfactory and whose surroundings were suspicious. He then sent for the Commissioner and notified him of this decision, but that officer replied that they were the most valuable men he had, and that it would be almost impossible to conduct the business of the bureau without them. The urgency of his protest finally induced Mr. Chandler to delay action for a few days. While matters were in this state of suspense, President Grant, who was watching with keen interest the examination into the Interior Department offices, said to its Secretary, "Mr. Chandler, have you removed those clerks in the Indian Bureau whom we were talking about?" Mr. Chandler replied, "No, sir; the Commissioner said it would be almost impossible to run the office without them." The President answered, "Well, Mr. Secretary, you can shut up the bureau, can't you?" The answer was, "Yes, sir." "Well then," said General Grant, "have those men dismissed before three o'clock this afternoon, or shut up the bureau." Mr. Chandler went over to the Department, sent for the Commissioner, told him that the suspected clerks must go that afternoon if the bureau was closed as the result, and gave the necessary orders of removal which were promptly executed. In regard to the dismissal of these men, he said, "I haven't evidence that would be regarded in a court as sufficient to convict them of fraud or dishonesty, but to my mind the proof of their crookedness is strong as Holy Writ." This was only one of many instances in which President Grant actively interested himself in the work of hunting out fraud, and there was no step which Mr. Chandler took in the direction of honest and cheaper administration in which he was not cordially and powerfully sustained at the White House.