64TH CONGRESS, 2d Session. SENATE. REPORT DIVERSION OF WATER FROM THE NIAGARA RIVER. DECEMBER 20, 1916.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. STONE, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. J. Res. 186.] The Committee on Foreign Relations, having had under consideration S. J. Res. 186, authorizing the Secretary of War to issue temporary permits for additional diversions of water from the Niagara River, reports the same favorably. O 64TH CONGRESS, } SENATE. PROPOSED FEDERAL PROBATION SYSTEM. DECEMBER 20, 1916.-Ordered to be printed. REPORT No. 887. Mr. WALSH, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 1092.] The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1092) for the establishment of a probation system in the United States courts, except in the District of Columbia, having considered the same, beg leave to report it back with certain amendments and to recommend that as so amended it do pass. The amendments are: 1. Page 2, line 3, strike out the article "a" and insert in lieu thereof the word "one." 2. Page 2, line 15, after the word "sentence" insert the words "or before the defendant has been committed the execution thereof" and a comma thereafter. 3. Page 2, line 17, strike out the word "may" and insert in lieu thereof the word "shall." 4. Page 2, line 24, after the word "sentence" insert the words "if sentence has not been pronounced or the stay if it has been." 5. Page 2, line 25, after the word "imposed" and before the period thereafter insert a colon and the following: "Provided, That if the probationer complies with the terms of the probation the time during which he is under probation shall be deducted from the period of the sentence imposed or, if no sentence has been imposed, the sentence then imposed." 6. Strike out the whole of section 3 and renumber section 4 and section 5 accordingly. о Mr. OWEN, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. J. Res. 178.] The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. J. Res. 178), authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to extend the time for payment of the deferred installments due on the purchase of tracts of the surface of the segregated coal and asphalt lands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes in Oklahoma, having carefully considered the same, reports the resolution back without amendment and recommends that the same be enacted into law. The act of February 19, 1912, providing for the sale of the surface of the segregated coal and asphalt lands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes of Indians, contains the following provision: SEC. 5. That the sales herein provided for shall be at public auction under rules and regulations and upon terms to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, except that no payment shall be deferred longer than two years after the sale is made. All agricultural lands shall be sold in tracts not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres, and deeds shall not be issued to any one person for more than one hundred and sixty acres of agricultural land, grazing lands in tracts not to exceed six hundred and forty acres, and lands especially valuable by reason of proximity to towns or cities may, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, be sold in lots or tracts containing not less than one acre each. All deferred payments shall bear interest at five per centum per annum, and if default be made in any payment when due all rights of the purchaser thereunder shall, at the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, cease and the lands shall be taken possession of by him for the benefit of the two nations, and the money paid as the purchase price of such lands shall be forfeited to the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes of Indians. Pending congressional action on this the Interior has declared no forfeitures. Secretary explains the purpose of the the favorable attitude of the department resolution, the Secretary of The following letter of the resolution, as well as shows toward the relief sought. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, MY DEAR MR. STEPHENS: I am in receipt of your letter of December 9, 1916, transmitting therewith a printed copy of H. J. Res. 306, introduced in the House of Representatives on December 4, 1916, by Mr. Carter of Oklahoma and entitled: Joint resolution authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to extend the time for payment of the deferred installments due on the purchase of tracts of the surface of the segregated coal and asphalt lands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes in Oklahoma. H. J. Res. 306 is identical in language with S. J. Res. 178 introduced in the Senate on December 5, 1916, by Mr. Owen, of Oklahoma. I am in favor of the joint resolution being enacted into law. Section 5 of the act of Congress of February 19, 1912 (37 Stat. L., 67-69), pursuant to which the sales of tracts of the surface of the segregated coal and asphalt land area, Choctaw Nation, Okla., were made, expressly provided that "no payment shall be deferred longer than two years after the sale is made.' This resolution proposes to extend the time four years after the sale was made, instead of two years as above provided, which will extend the time for payment two years longer than under existing law. The first sale of the surface of the segregated coal and asphalt land classified as agricultural and grazing land was held from November 16 to December 2, 1914, and the first sale of such portion of the surface as was classified as suitable for townsite purposes was held from January 5 to 31, 1916. Upon petition of purchasers and recommendations of the chief executives of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes, the department on September 30, 1915, extended the time for all deferred payments on the unallotted land, timber land, and surface of the segregated coal and asphalt land, Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, due November and December, 1915, and January and February, 1916, one year on payment of interest on balance of unpaid purchase price, said extension to become effective only upon payment of interest. To the surprise of many purchasers this extension had the effect of making the second installment due on the purchase price of tracts of the surface of the segregated coal and asphalt land area fall due at the same time that the third and last installment fell due, thus adding a double burden where the second and third installments fell due in November and December, 1916, and January and February, 1917. It is now proposed to defer the payment of the third and last installment due on the purchase price of tracts of the surface of the segregated coal and asphalt land area, Choctaw Nation, Okla., provided that purchasers pay the full amount of the principal of the second installment, which was extended one year and is now due, together with all accrued interest on both the second and third installments to date when due, before an extension of time will be granted for payment of the last installment. This extension will not work a hardship on the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes, because the deferred payments under the law draw 5 per cent interest per annum from date of sale, which is a |