§ 2.
The Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate shall perform all executive duties appertaining to the surveying and sale of the public lands of the United States, or in anywise respecting such public lands, and, also, such as relate to private claims of land, and the issuing of patents for all grants of land under the authority of the Government.
(R.S. § 453; [Feb. 18, 1875, ch. 80, § 1], [18 Stat. 317]; 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 3, § 403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, [60 Stat. 1100].)