Mr. SMOOт, from the Committee on Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 45.] The Committee on Public Lands, to which was referred the bill (S. 45) to amend sections 2380 and 2381, Revised Statutes of the United States, having had the same under consideration, beg leave to report it back to the Senate with the following amendments: Page 1, line 8, after the words "from the," insert the word unreserved." Page 2, line 8, after the word "bidder," insert the words "on such terms as the Secretary of the Interior may direct." Page 2, line 9, after the word "such," insert the words "terms and." Page 2, line 10, strike out the words "the Secretary of the Interior," and insert in lieu thereof the word "he." Page 2, line 13, after the word "conducted," insert the words "by a superintendent of sale to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior or." Page 2, line 16, after the word "Office," insert the words "approved by the Secretary of the Interior." As thus amended the committee recommend that the bill do pass. The bill was referred to the Interior Department and the Department of Agriculture, and the Secretaries of those departments furnished the committee with the following reports thereon: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Hon. HENRY L. MYERS, Chairman Committee on Public Lands, United States Senate. MY DEAR SENATOR: I am in receipt of report of S. 45, a bill to enact legislation amending sections 2380 and 2381, Revised Statutes of the United States, and in response thereto I have the honor to advise you that I am in hearty accord with the proposed legislation and am of the opinion that legislation on the lines indicated is very much needed. There are numerous islands, both surveyed and unsurveyed, in the Great Lakes and the rivers and lands along the shore line of the United States which have been in times past reserved for lighthouse or other public purposes, and from time to time such reservations are released by the department having temporary jurisdiction thereover and turned over to this department for disposition. Many of the tracts embraced therein are of little or no value for agriculture and there are no existing public-land laws specially suited to their disposition. Quite frequently they are desired as sites for summer homes, hotels, sanitariums, health or pleasure resorts. By act of April 12, 1910 (36 Stat., 296), this department was authorized to create villa sites of from 2 to 5 acres each around Flathead Lake, Mont. The result of the sale held during the past summer indicated a strong demand for this character of property. It is believed that the public interest will be better subserved by the enactment of legislation authorizing the entry of lands for villa sites and other related purposes than to wait the passage of a special act in every instance that may arise. Applications also for the entry of lands containing curative mineral waters are frequently made for sanitarium sites, but in each case applications are rejected for the reason there is no law for such entries. I am of the opinion, however, that the bill should be amended in the following particulars in order that it may conform to the practice that has been adopted by this department in recent years. I, therefore, suggest that the bill be amended by inserting, after the word "bidder," in line 8, on page 2, the words "on such terms as the Secretary of the Interior may direct;" by inserting, after the word "such," in line. 9, on page 2, the words "terms and"; by striking out of line 10, on page 2, the words "the Secretary of the Interior," and by inserting in lieu thereof the word "he"; by inserting in line 13, on page 2, after the word "conducted," the words "by a superintendent of sale to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior or "; and by inserting after the word “office," in line 16, on page 2, the words "approved by the Secretary of the Interior." When so amended, I recommend the passage of the bill. Cordially, yours, FRANKLIN K. LANE, Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Hon. HENRY L. MYERS, Chairman Committee on Public Lands, United States Senate. DEAR SENATOR MYERS: I wish to acknowledge receipt, by reference from the clerk of your committee, of a copy of the bill S. 45, to amend sections 2380 and 2381, Revised Statutes of the United States, with the request that your committee be sent such suggestions and recommendations as this department may see fit to offer. These two sections, as they are now written into the law, authorize the establishment of town sites and the sale of lots upon the public lands of the United States. These sections do not include sites valuable for summer homes, hotels, sanitariums, etc. These sections have been construed to not apply to the national forests under the jurisdiction of this department. It is assumed, therefore, that it is the intention of the Senator who drafted this bill to have the sections continue to apply only to the unreserved public lands. Out of an abundance of caution, however, it is suggested that the word "unreserved" be inserted in line 8, page 1, before the word "public," so that it will be clearly understood that national forest lands are not to be disposed of. In a letter to you dated January 24, in reporting upon the bill S. 1065, it is shown that sites which are chiefly valuable for summer homes, hotels, and other recreational features may now be occupied and used under permits granted by this department for periods not exceeding 30 years. I inclose a copy of the report upon that bill for your information. If the bill now before me is amended as suggested above, this department would have no objection to its passage. Very truly, yours, D. F. HOUSTON, Secretary. о Mr. THOMAS, from the Committee on Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 6654.] The Committe on Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill S. 6654, a bill to validate a patent to certain lands heretofore issued to the State of Florida, to allow the said State to claim certain other lands, and for other purposes, having had the same under consideration, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass with the following amendments: Page I, line 1, strike out "September twenty-seventh," and insert in lieu thereof "August twenty-eighth." Page 2, line 9, strike out the word "fifth," and insert in lieu thereof the word "fourth." Page 2, line 11, strike out the word "tenth" and insert in lieu thereof the word "eleventh." Page 4, line 7, strike out the words "September twenty-seventh,” and insert in licu thereof "August twenty-eighth.' Page 4, line 10, strike out the word "fifth" and insert in lieu thereof the word "fourth." The purpose of the bill is to perfect title to lands, to which the Department of the Interior interposes no objections. The reasons why it is thought proper to pass the bill are quite clearly set forth in the preamble and in the letter to the chairman of the committee from the Secretary of the Interior, which is as follows: Hon. HENRY L. MYERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Chairman Committee on Public Lands, United States Senate. MY DEAR SENATOR: I am in receipt, by reference from your committee, of a copy of Senate bill 6654, together with a request for information as to the law and the facts in relation thereto and for such suggestions as this department may see fit to offer in the matter. The bill is one to validate a swamp-land patent to certain lands on Biscayne Key heretofore issued to the State of Florida, to allow the said State to claim on that island certain other lands as swamp and overflowed under the grant made by the act of September 28, 1850 (9 stat., 519), and for other purposes. Biscayne Key is in Ts. 54 and 55 S., R. 42 E., true meridian. All of it, except the Mary Ann Davis private claim of 178 acres, which lies at and near the south end of the island, was reserved for lighthouse purposes by Executive order dated August 28, 1847. Three acres near the southeast corner of the Key, were brought from the Davis claimant for the lighthouse site on June 30, 1827, and were sold to W. S. Davis by the Government on March 4, 1903. On February 11, 1897, all the public lands on the Key were reserved for military purposes. The lighthouse and military reservations have been abandoned, the latter by Executive order of April 28, 1916. A survey of the Key, the plat of which was approved July 19, 1847, showed 751.83 acres of public land, not subdivided, 175 acres in the Davis private claim, and 3 acres of a lighthouse purchase. Acting under instructions from the General Land Office, dated October 24, 1848, the United States Coast Survey made a survey of that Key, under the act of June 28, 1848 (9 Stat., 242), but did not meander the island, only running a coast line on the east side, nor subdivide the lands of the Key (although showing its location with regard to section lines), nor delimit the Davis private claim. When this survey was made, does not appear. Two plats of the parts of the island in the two townships were made by the Coast Survey and approved by J. E. Hilgard, assistant in charge, in December, 1870. Areas, noted in red ink, and put on the plat either by the Coast Survey or the General Land Office, show that sec. 21, in T. 54 S., has 131 acres; sec. 28, 302 acres; sec. 29, 185 acres; sec. 30, 10 acres; sec. 32, 472 acres; and sec. 33, 115 acres; and that in T. 55 S., sec. 4 has 74 acres; sec. 5, 563 acres; sec. 6, 24 acres; sec. 8, 155 acres; and sec. 9, 137 acres. There are no field notes of this survey in the General Land Office. The State of Florida, in swamp-land selection-list No. 16, Tampa series, reported to the General Land Office by the United States Surveyor General for that State on January 31, 1884, claimed, under the act of September 28, 1850, supra, the NW. † NE. , sec. 21, 29.75 acres; NW. SE., sec. 21, 12.90 acres; SW. SE. sec. 21, 24.03 acres; the NW. NE. and NE. NW. sec. 28, 58 acres; SE. NW. sec. 28, 43.50 acres; SW. sec. 28, 118 acres; fractional secs. 32 and 33, 289 acres, all in T. 54 S., and fractional secs. 4 and 5, 109 acres, in T. 55 S. Those descriptions and areas may have been intended to designate only the swamp lands which are more or less clearly indicated on the plats, for the lands were never subdivided to show such descriptions and the areas given in the swamp list do not agree with the areas shown on the plats, but they do approximate the area of the parts represented thereon as swamp. By inadvertence the General Land Office, in preparing swamp-land clear list No. 30, embracing 30,093.06 acres, for submission to the department for approval, included the descriptions and areas in the swamp-land selection list No. 16 as to lands on Biscayne Key, and then, in a letter to the then Secretary of the Interior, stated that all the tracts in the list had been examined by a special agent who had reported them as swamp, and that they were free from conflict by sale or otherwise. The department, on those representations, approved the list on March 3, 1885. Patent issued to the State on May 4, 1885. July 22, 1896, the State claimed in selection list No: 81 fractional secs. 6, 8, and 9, T. 55 S., R. 42 E., 354.71 acres. This claim was, after due notice to the State, finally rejected by the General Land Office on March 11, 1914, as the commissioner informs me, for the reason that, the lands being in reservation at the time of the swamp-land grant, were not subject to it. (33 L. D., 13, 18; 211 U. S., 70.) The State, without furnishing due proof of the character of these sections and without waiting for patent, has, so the bill alleges, sold them. The bill provides, in the first place, that the patent issued on May 4, 1885, is thereby declared valid and effective "as to all lands on Key Biscayne" in the relinquished lighthouse and military reservations, to vest the title in the State and its vendees. As the patent does not embrace all the lands on the island the bill should be amended to provide that the patent should be confirmed only as to the lands on that key described in it, save in so far as they conflict with the Mary Ann Davis private claim. So amended this department will have no objection to that part of it, because, under the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1099), and the United States Supreme Court decision in the case of the United States v. Chandler-Dunbar Water Power Company (209 U. S., 447), the title to the lands described in said patent is thought to be already in the State. This bill would be of use in this particular merely to make that fact of record, although it would also determine that the lands were held to have been dis 1 posed of under the Hilgard survey; that not merely the swamp lands indicated on the plats were intended to be conveyed, but the whole of the tracts as described, and that the State got the full quantity of land covered by the descriptions and not merely the areas given in the lists and the patent. The bill provides, in the second place, that, as to all lands embraced in the relinquished reservations which were swamp and overflowed, the State shall now have the right to claim them under the swamp-land grant. This provision should be amended, if the bill is to be enacted, so as to permit the State to assert such claim only to tracts which it may have sold prior to the rejection of its selection under the swamp-land act. There is no reason why it should be permitted to take other lands not subject to the grant and which it has not sold, nor am I aware of any reason why the Government should make good these sales by the State, without payment for the land, other than the fact that the State's transferees, believing their title to be good, are alleged to have expended large sums of money in making improvements upon the land. I am not informed as to the nature of these improvements nor the amount expended thereon. With this report are sent to you photolithographic copies of the three plats of the island. With them is a photolithographic copy of the 1847 plat, on which the coastsurvey plats have been superimposed. This work was done with difficulty, and with only approximate correctness, as the two surveys do not exactly agree, as one survey was made on a scale of 20 chains to the inch, and the other on a scale of 40 chains, and as the first one was made independently of township and section lines, apparently to locate the Davis private claim, whereas the second one was made to appear as subject to those lines. This special plat was prepared in order that your committee might see at a glance the lands in the Davis private claim; the lands patented to the State as swamp; the lands the swamp-land claim to which has been rejected, but which, it is alleged, the State has sold; and the vacant public lands subject to regular disposal as an abandoned military reservation, or otherwise, as Congress may direct. Biscayne Key is just across Biscayne Bay from the town of Miami, a popular winter resort on the east coast of Florida. It has the bay on one side and the ocean on the other, and is admirably situated for villa sites for winter visitors. There are minor inaccuracies in the bill which should be corrected: On page 1, it is stated that the lighthouse reservation was made by Executive order dated September 27, 1847. The date was August 28, 1847. This error is repeated on page 4, line 7. On page 2, first paragraph, it is asserted that patent issued to the State on May 5, 1885. The date was May 4, 1885. This error is repeated on page 4, line 10. On page 2, second paragraph, it is alleged that the military reservation was made by Executive order dated February 10, 1897. The date was February 11, 1897. If the suggested amendments are made, I do not care to interpose any objection to the enactment of the bill into law. Cordially, yours, FRANKLIN K. LANE, Secretary. O |