43 U.S.C. § 379 — Purchase of scientific books, law books, etc.

This section lets the Secretary of the Interior buy reference materials needed for reclamation work.

The Secretary may authorize the purchase of law books, books of reference, periodicals, and engineering and statistical publications.

These materials must be needed for carrying out the surveys and examinations authorized by the Act of June 17, 1902. This section describes that 1902 law as "An Act appropriating the receipts from the sale and disposal of public lands in certain States and Territories for the construction of irrigation works for the reclamation of arid lands" — meaning it is the law that pays for irrigation projects using money from selling public land.

In short, this is a narrow bookkeeping authorization: it lets reclamation officials keep their survey teams supplied with the legal, technical, and reference works the survey and examination work requires.