Mr. MYERS, from the Committee on Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 1063.] The Committee on Public Lands, to which was referred the bill (S. 1063) to amend an act approved June 22, 1910, entitled "An act to provide for agricultural entries on coal lands," having had the same under consideration, begs leave to report it back to the Senate with the following amendment: Page 1, line 9, after the word "Alaska," insert the following: Including surplus lands in any Indian reservation heretofore or hereafter opened to settlement and entry." Page 3, line 10, after the word "disposal," insert the following: Provided, That the proceeds arising from the disposal of such coal deposits in surplus Indian lands opened to settlement and entry shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States and shall be applied in the same manner as the proceeds arising from the disposition of the surface lands therein. As thus amended the committee recommend that the bill do pass. The bill was referred to the Interior Department, and the Secretary of that department furnished the committee with the following report thereon: Hon. HENRY L. MYERS, Chairman Committee on Public Lands, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, United States Senate. MY DEAR SENATOR: I am in receipt of a copy of Senate bill 1063, transmitted for information as to the law and facts involved and for such suggestions as I may see fit to offer. The purpose of the bill is to amend the act of June 22, 1910 (36 Stat., 583), entitled "An act to provide for agricultural entries on coal lands," so as to provide that from and after its passage the unreserved public lands of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, withdrawn or classified as coal lands, or valuable for coal, shall be subject to appropriate entry, selection, or sale under any of the nonmineral public-land laws applicable to the particular land desired if not coal land, and to withdrawal under the reclamation act wherever the entry or withdrawal shall be made with a view to obtaining title for the surface of the land, with a reservation of the coal deposits therein to the United States. Section 2 of the act is amended by including corporations along with any person or State who may make entries, selections, or purchases under the act. Under the act of June 22, 1910, coal lands are subject to entry under the homestead laws by actual settlers, the desert-land law, to selection under the Carey Act, and to withdrawal under the reclamation act, desert-land entries being limited to 160 acres and homestead entries being made subject to the conditions as to residence and cultivation of entries under the enlarged homestead act of February 19, 1909. By the act of April 23, 1912 (37 Stat., 91), provision was made for homestead entries on withdrawn coal lands in the State of Alabama, subject to the conditions of the act of June 22, 1910; and the act of April 30, 1912 (30 Stat., 105), provides for surface patents under the laws providing for the sale of isolated or disconnected tracts of public land and for the selection by the several States within whose limits lands are sought under the grants made to them by Congress. There is now pending before Congress a bill, Senate, No. 595, having for its object the amendment of the act of June 22, 1910, to include Indian allotments under the acts of April 21, 1904, and February 8, 1887. By the act of July 17, 1914 (38 Stat., 509), lands withdrawn or classified as phosphate, nitrate, potash, oil, gas, or asphaltic minerals, or which are valuable for those deposits, were made subject to appropriation, location, selection, entry, or purchase, if otherwise available, under the nonmineral land laws of the United States, the mineral on account of which the land is withdrawn or valuable to be reserved in the patents issued thereunder. The enactment of the bill under consideration would place coal lands and oil and phosphate lands in the same category as regards surface patents, and there seems to be no good reason why the coal lands should not be subject to the same class of surface entries as may be made on the oil and phosphate lands under said act of July 17, 1914. In the former surface rights acts, desert land entries thereunder have been limited to 160 acres, and I recommend that the same provision be made in the bill under consideration. For this purpose I suggest that there be added after the word "same" in line 7, page 2, a semicolon and the following: "but no desert land entry made under the provisions of this act shall contain more than 160 acres." Your attention is invited to Senate bill 40 (Calendar No. 148), providing for the allowance of surface patents for surplus lands classified as coal in any Indian Reservation heretofore or hereafter opened to settlement and entry pursuant to a classification, on which we submitted a report under date of February 19, 1916, and I suggest that the present bill be amended so as to incorporate a provision covering the object sought to be attained by that bill. This can be done, it occurs to me, by inserting after the word "Alaska," line 9, page 1, the words "including surplus lands in any Indian reservation heretofore or hereafter opened to settlement and entry," and after the word "disposal," line 10, page 3, the words: "Provided, That the proceeds arising from the disposal of such coal deposits in surplus Indian lands opened to settlement and entry shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States and shall be applied in the same manner as the proceeds arising from the disposition of the surface lands therein." With these additions, I recommend that the bill be enacted. Very truly, yours, O ANDRIEUS A. JONES, Acting Secretary. Mr. MYERS, from the Committee on Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 7894.] The Committee on Public Lands, to which was referred the bill (S. 7894) to amend the act entitled "An act to amend sections 2275 and 2276 of the Revised Statutes of the United States providing for the selection of lands for educational purposes in lieu of those appropriated," and to authorize an exchange of lands between the United States and the State of Montana, having had the same under consideration, beg leave to report it back to the Senate with amendments, and as thus amended recommend that the bill do pass. ES SENATE. 64TH CONGRESS, 2d Session. { REPORT RIGHT OF WAY THROUGH THE PRESIDIO OF SAN FRANCISCO MILITARY RESERVATION. JANUARY 25, 1917.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. BRADY (for Mr. WARREN), from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 7713.] The Committee on Military Affairs has had under consideration the bill (S. 7713) granting to the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, a right of way for a storm-water relief sewer through a portion of the Presidio of San Francisco Military Reservation, and report the same back to the Senate with the recommendation that it do pass. The purpose of the bill is explained in a letter from the Secretary of War, showing that the War Department is in doubt whether in view of the fact that the improvement contemplates the placing of a permanent structure or construction work upon a military reservation it has the legal right to issue a permit of a revocable character. He is of the opinion, therefore, that the authority to grant the necessary permission to construct the proposed sewer should be given by Congress. The communications from the War Department on this subject are made a part of this report, as follows: Hon. GEORGE E. CHAMBERLAIN, Chairman Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 22, 1916. MY DEAR MR. CHAMBERLAIN: This department is in receipt of an application submitted by the mayor of the city and county of San Francisco, Cal., for and on behalf of that city and county, for a revocable license that will permit the city and county to construct and maintain a 40-inch concrete storm-water relief sewer over and across Lobos Creek and thence through a portion of the Presidio of San Francisco (Cal.) Military Reservation, to a point where it will again reach Lobos Creek, at which point it will discharge therein. At the present time the Government holds the title to the center only of Lobos Creek where the proposed sewer will cross the same, the title to the balance being in process of acquisition by the Government from the Spring Valley Water Co., and it is expected that the purchase by the Government of the said company's holdings in and along the |