62D CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 2d Session.

RELIEF OF CERTAIN HOMESTEADERS IN NEBRASKA.

MARCH 27, 1912.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. CLAYPOOL, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 20498.]

The Committee on the Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 20498) for the relief of certain homesteaders in Nebraska whose entries were made under the one-section act, approved April 28, 1904, respectfully submit the following report:

That the bill be amended as follows:

Line 3, page 1, after the word "all," insert "such"; and in the same line, after the word "entries," insert "which have"; and after the word "heretofore," in the same line, insert "been."

Line 4, after the word "permitted," insert "erroneously."
With the above amendments, the bill would read as follows:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all such additional or second homestead entries which have heretofore been permitted erroneously to be made under the act entitled "An act to amend the homestead laws as to certain unappropriated and unreserved public lands in Nebraska," approved April twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and four, by entrymen who were possessed at the time of such entry of more than one hundred and sixty acres of land, independently of the former entry, but qualified in other respects, are hereby validated in cases where cancellations shall not have been made.

The object of the bill is to afford relief to entrymen under the act whose entries were regarded as valid by entrymen, their attorneys, the district land office officials and the Interior Department officials when they were made, but which are now held to be invalid, meanwhile the residence and improvement requirements of the law having been complied with in perfect good faith by the entrymen. United States Land Office officials for several years accepted without question the character of entries now held invalid, advising that the same were valid, and the Department of the Interior recognized and sanctioned such entries as legally permissible. Such entries are still held to be valid under the second section of the one-section act provided for Nebraska, approved April 28, 1904, but are now held not to be per

missible under the provisions of the third section of that act, hence relief is sought by the present bill. The second section of the act reads as follows:

SEC. 2. That entrymen under the homestead laws of the United States within the territory above described who own and occupy the lands heretofore entered by them may, under the provisions of this act, and subject to its conditions, enter other lands contiguous to their said homestead entry, which shall not, with the land so already entered, owned, and occupied, exceed in the aggregate six hundred and forty acres; and residence continued and improvements made upon the original homestead, subsequent to the making of the additional entry, shall be accepted as equivalent to actual residence and improvements made upon the additional land so entered, but final entry shall not be allowed of such additional land until five years after first entering the same, except in favor of entrymen entitled to credit for military service. The third section reads as follows:

SEC. 3. That the fees and commissions on all entries under this act shall be uniformly the same as those charged under the present law for a maximum entry at the minimum price. That the commutation provisions of the homestead law shall not apply to entries under this act, and at the time of making final proof the entryman must prove affirmatively that he has placed upon the lands entered permanent improvements of the value of not less than $1.25 per acre for each acre included in his entry: Provided, That a former homestead entry shall not be a bar to the entry under the provisions of this act of a tract which, together with the former entry, shall not exceed 640 acres: Provided, That any former homestead entryman who shall be entitled to an additional entry under section 2 of this act shall have for ninety days after the passage of this act the preferential right to make additional entry as provided in said section.

The bill has been submitted to the Secretary of the Interior and his favorable report thereon accompanies this report. It is pertinent to here state that this legislation was voluntarily suggested and recommended by the Secretary of the Interior, prompted by reason of the fact that the circumstances of the case of entryman Edward P. Meyers before him upon appeal, involving the identical difficulty which it is the purpose of the pending bill to relieve, appealed to him so strongly for equitable relief. As a consequence, the Secretary suspended a decision in that case for the purpose of affording time to the Congress to pass a special act for the relief of that entryman. As there were a few other cases precisely like it, the bill was prepared to cover the Meyers case and similar cases. The following is a copy of the letter of the Secretary of the Interior written to entryman Meyers suggesting such legislation, with his promise to make favorable report upon such a bill to the Committee on the Public Lands should one be submitted to him for his recommendation:

Mr. EDWARD P. MEYERS

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
Washington, February 1, 1912.

(Care Greene, Breckenridge, Gurley & Wood rough),
City National Bank Building, Omaha, Nebr.

SIR: The department has considered your appeal from the decision of the Commissioner of the General Land Office of August 19, 1911, holding for cancellation your additional homestead entry, No. 5601, under the act of April 28, 1904 (33 Stat., 547), made July 15, 1905, for the NE. 1, sec. 20, NW. † NW. †, S. 1 NW. †, SW. NE. }, N.SW., and N. SE. †, sec. 21, T. 20 N., R. 37 W., Broken Bow, Nebr., land district, on the ground that you were at the time of making said entry disqualified from making homestead entry by virtue of your ownership of more than 160 acres of land acquired otherwise than through a former entry.

After careful examination of the showing made by you in support of said appeal and after consideration of the points of law advanced by brief and oral argument in support thereof, it is found that the conclusion reached in the decision complained of is fully warranted. In view of the fact, however, that you were allowed to make said entry and your showing of compliance with law thereunder and the placing of various

substantial improvements thereon, the department will suspend final cancellation of said entry during the present session of Congress to afford you opportunity to submit the matter to your Member of Congress, looking to the introduction of a bill for your relief. Should said bill be submitted for its consideration, the department will make favorable report thereon.

Very respectfully,

SAMUEL ADAMS, First Assistant Secretary.

The favorable report of the Secretary of the Interior upon the bill reads as follows:

Hon. JOSEPH T. ROBINSON,

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
Washington, March 4, 1912.

Chairman Committee on the Public Lands, House of Representatives. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your request for a report on H. R. 20498, "A bill for the relief of certain homesteaders in Nebraska." Said bill provides for the validation of all uncanceled additional or second homestead entries heretofore made under the act of April 28, 1904 (33 Stat., 347), commonly known as the Kinkaid Act, where the entrymen's sole disqualification to make their entries consisted of the fact that they owned more than 160 acres of land independently of their former entries. The ownership of land secured under the Kinkaid Act does not disqualify an applicant from making an additional entry under the second section thereof, as amended by the act of May 29, 1908 (35 Stat., 465), nor does the ownership of land acquired under the general homestead law disqualify such an applicant from making entry under the third section of the act. However, on February 1, 1912, this department, in acting on the appeal of Edward P. Meyers from the decision of the General Land Office, held that an entry for 480 acres under the Kinkaid Act, made by a person who owned more than 160 acres acquired otherwise than through a former entry, was invalid. In view of the fact that the claimant had been allowed to make the entry and had thereafter shown compliance with the law and placed substantial improvements on the land, the department suspended final cancellation of the entry during the present session of Congress, in order to afford opportunity for the introduction of a bill for his relief.

The department is in receipt of a communication from Hon. M. P. Kinkaid, stating that he has learned of probably a half dozen cases similar to Meyers's case, and suggesting that the present bill would afford relief to all of these entrymen, to which they are in justice and equity entitled.

This department recommends that the proposed legislation be enacted into law.
Very respectfully,

SAMUEL ADAMS, Acting Secretary.

For the reason that entries of the character for which relief is being sought were permitted and encouraged by the proper officials for several years, and that entrymen have in the meantime complied with the requirements of the law with respect to residence and have made valuable improvements, it is the opinion of the committee that justice and equity demand that the relief sought be accorded.

O

POLICE AND FIREMEN'S PENSIONS, DISTRICT OF

COLUMBIA.

MARCH 28, 1912.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. REDFIELD, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 20840.]

The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred House bill 20840, report the same back to the House with the recommendation that it do pass with the following amendments:

Page 1, lines 10 and 11, strike out the words "payment of police and firemen's pensions and relief in the District of Columbia: Provided, That" and insert in lieu thereof the words "benefit of the police relief fund, District of Columbia, and of the firemen's relief fund, District of Columbia."

Page 2, lines 1 and 2, strike out the words "fund or funds for the payment of the police and firemen's pensions and relief" and insert in lieu thereof "police relief fund, District of Columbia, and the firemen's relief fund, District of Columbia, as now."

Page 2, line 3, strike out the word "Treasurer" and insert in lieu thereof the words "Secretary of the Treasury."

Page 2, line 4, after the words "in the" strike out the words "fund for payment of police and firemen's pensions and relief" and insert in lieu thereof "police relief fund, District of Columbia, or firemen's relief fund, District of Columbia.'

Page 2, line 7, after the comma which follows the word "Columbia" strike out the word "pay" and insert in lieu thereof "cause to be paid."

Page 2, lines 10 and 11, after the word "said" strike out the words "police and firemen's pensions and relief fund" and insert in lieu thereof "police relief fund, District of Columbia, or firemen's relief fund, District of Columbia."

Page 2, line 13, strike out section 2 and insert in lieu thereof:

SEC. 2. That the tax, the levy and collection of which is herein provided for, shall be an additional one, over and above the tax ate now provided for by general law, and the proceeds thereof shall not be used for any purpose other than that hereinbefore authorized. Said tax shall be levied and collected as above provided by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia at the same time as the tax on all property now subject to general taxation in the said District. There shall be no contribution to either of the aforesaid funds, either directly or indirectly, from the United States.