SECTIONS 4214 AND 4218, REVISED STATUTES. JULY 11, 1912.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. Mr. ALEXANDER, from the Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 22650.] The Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 22650) to replace sections 4214 and 4218 of the Revised Statutes, having considered the same, report it to the House with the recommendation that the bill do pass as amended. The following communications from the Secretary of Commerce and Labor and from the Secretary of the Treasury approved the bill, with the following amendment of section 2 suggested by the Treasury Department: Amend section 2 by striking out the period at the end of sentence in line 14 and substituting a colon therefor, and add the following: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to exempt the master or person in charge of a yacht or vessel arriving from a foreign port or place with dutiable articles on board from reporting to the customs officer of the United States at the port or place at which said yacht or vessel shall arrive, and deliver to said officer a manifest of all dutiable articles brought from a foreign country in such yacht or vessel. Hon. J. W. ALEXANDER, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR, Chairman Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives. SIR: The department has received your letter of the 14th instant inclosing H. R. 22650, a bill to replace sections 4214 and 4218 of the Revised Statutes, with the request that this department give the committee its opinion as to the merits of the bill and the desirability of enacting it into law. Section 1 of the bill relieves the vessels described by the section, navigating the Great Lakes, from the necessity of clearing from the customhouse while bound to a foreign port, and places them in the same position that the law now places such vessels proceeding by sea to foreign ports. Section 2 of the bill relieves yachts of 15 gross tons or under from entering at the customhouse on their return to the United States. This department perceives no objection to the bill under any of the navigation laws with the enforcement of which it is charged. It does not attempt to consider the customs questions involved, as those laws are under the jurisdiction of the Treasury Department. Respectfully, CHARLES NAGEL, Secretary. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Hon. J. W. ALEXANDER, Chairman Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 6th instant, inviting attention to your letter of the 20th ultimo, transmitting H. R. 22650, a bill to replace sections 4214 and 4218 of the Revised Statutes, with the request for an opinion as to the merits of the bill, and whether if enacted into law it would in any way interfere with or embarrass this department in the administration of the custom laws. In reply I have to advise you that as section 2 exempts yachts of 15 tons' burden or less from making entry at the customhouse upon arrival from a foreign country, such exemption would probably be construed to also exempt such yachts from filing a manifest as is now required by sections 3097 and 3098 of the Revised Statutes. This department doubts the advisability of making this unqualified exemption, as it would tend to facilitate smuggling in small boats along the northern frontiers and endanger the revenue. I have therefore to suggest that a proviso be added to the said section to the effect that nothing in the said act shall be so construed as to exempt the master or person in charge of a yacht or vessel arriving from a foreign port or place with dutiable articles on board from reporting to the customs officer of the United States at the port or place at which such yacht or vessel shall arrive and delivering to such officer a manifest of all dutiable articles brought from a foreign country in such vessel. The letter from the Department of Commerce and Labor, inclosed with your communication of the 20th ultimo, is herewith returned. Respectfully, J. F. CURTIS, Acting Secretary. RELIEF OF HOMESTEAD ENTRYMEN FROM ADDITIONAL RESIDENCE ON ACCOUNT OF ADDITIONAL ENTRIES. JULY 11, 1912.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. Mr. TAYLOR of Colorado, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 23351.] The Committee on the Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 23351) to amend an act entitled "An act to provide for an enlarged homestead," having had the same under consideration, respectfully recommend that the bill be amended as follows: Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof the following: That sections three and four of the act entitled "An act to provide for an enlarged homestead," approved February nineteenth, nineteen hundred and nine, and of an act entitled "An act to provide for an enlarged homestead," approved June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and ten, be, and the same are hereby, amended to read as follows: "SEC. 3. That any homestead entryman of lands of the character herein described, upon which entry final proof has not been made, shall have the right to enter public lands, subject to the provisions of this act, contiguous to his former entry, which shall not, together with the original entry, exceed three hundred and twenty acres. "SEC. 4. That at the time of making final proofs, as provided in section twenty-two hundred and ninety-one of the Revised Statutes, the entryman under this act shall, in addition to the proofs and affidavits required under said section, prove by two credible witnesses that at least one-sixteenth of the area embraced in such entry was continuously cultivated for agricultural crops other than native grasses beginning with the second year of the entry, and that at least one-eighth of the area embraced in the entry was so continuously cultivated beginning with the third year of the entry: Provided, That any qualified person who has heretofore made or hereafter makes additional entry under the provisions of section three of this act may be allowed to perfect title to his original entry by showing compliance with the provisions of section twentytwo hundred and ninety-one of the Revised Statutes respecting such original entry, and thereafter in making proof upon his additional entry shall be credited with residence maintained upon his original entry from the date of such original entry, but the cultivation required upon entries made under this act must be shown respecting such additional entry, which cultivation, while it may be made upon either the original or additional entry, or upon both entries, must be cultivation in addition to that relied upon and used in making proof upon the original entry; or, if he elects, his original and additional entries may be considered as one, with full credit for residence upon and improvements made under his original entry, in which event the amount of cultivation herein required shall apply to the total area of the combined entry, and proof may be made upon such combined entry whenever it can be shown that the cultivation required by this section has been performed; and to this end the time within which proof must be made upon such combined entry is hereby extended to seven years from the date of the original entry: Provided further, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to require residence upon the combined entry in excess of the period of residence, as required by section twenty-two hundred and ninety-one of the Revised Statutes." The committee recommend that as so amended the bill do pass. Section 3 of the existing law contains identically the section as set forth in the amendment with the addition thereto as follows: And residence upon and cultivation of the original entry shall be deemed as residence upon and cultivation of the additional entry. That provision, until recently, had always been construed to relieve homestead entrymen from making more than the requisite five years' period of residence upon the original and additional entry combined. But by a recent decision of the Acting Secretary of the Interior that line of decisions and the intent of that law were reversed, and the homestead entrymen are now being required to reside the full length of time required by law upon the entry after taking his additional entry, which, in some instances, make a requirement of nearly 10 years' residence upon a homestead. That never was intended or contemplated by Congress in the enactment of the enlarged-homestead law and is everywhere regarded as an unwarranted hardship upon the homestead entrymen. Therefore this matter was submitted quite fully to the Interior Department by the author of this bill, and the Secretary's indorsement and recommendation was obtained; the bill was prepared and introduced in accordance therewith; it was referred to the Interior Department for report; and the secretary's official report is as follows: Hon. JOSEPH T. ROBINSON, Chairman Committee on the Public Lands, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, House of Representatives. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your request for a report on H. R. 23351, a bill to amend sections 3 and 4 of the enlarged-homestead act of February 19, 1909 (35 Stat., 639). This bill amends said act so that a claimant under an additional entry may have credit for his residence and cultivation had on either the original or the additional entry after the date of the original entry; under the enlarged-homestead acts, as they now stand, it is held that credit can be allowed the claimant only for residence and cultivation had after the date of the additional entry. Express provisions are made as to the method of submitting proof upon the original and additional entries, either jointly or separately, and an extension of time is allowed within which proof may be made upon the original entry, where the claimant desires to submit proof on the two jointly. The bill, as drawn, would not effect an amendment of the law, so far as it relates to lands in the State of Idaho, since it proposes the amendment of only the original enlarged-homestead act, namely, the act of February 19, 1909; the act applying to Idaho is that of June 17, 1910 (36 Stat.. 531). It is therefore suggested that the bill be amended as follows: In line 3, page 1, strike out the words "an act," and insert in lieu thereof the words "the acts." In line 6, after "thirty-nine," insert "and of an act entitled 'An act to provide for an enlarged homestead,' approved June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and ten (Thirty-sixth Statutes, page five hundred and thirty-one)." The department recommends that the proposed legislation be enacted into law with the amendment suggested. Very respectfully, SAMUEL ADAMS, Acting Secretary. After that report was received, the matter was held in abeyance by your committee until after the final determination of the consideration of the three-year homestead bill, and the slight amendments herein offered in addition to the recommendation of the Interior Department are for the purpose of making this act conform to the requirements of the three-year homestead law (Public, 179), approved June 6, 1912. Prior to the enactment of the enlarged-homestead law of February 19, 1909 (35 Stat., 639), many homestead entrymen had made a filing upon 160 acres of land within the territory that was afterwards designated as dry-farming land, subject to entry under the enlarged 320acre homestead law. Section 3 of that law as above set forth expressly authorizes any homestead entryman of land of the character therein described, who had not made final proof, to take 160 acres, or such an additional amount necessary, where there was contiguous vacant land, in order that he might have the benefits of the 320-acre homestead law, providing he made the requisite cultivation and complied with the law as to residence. In other words, that section of the law was intended to put the homestead entryman who had already located on the same basis as those who were thereafter permitted to locate, providing there was vacant adjoining or contiguous land which the original entryman could take. It was never intended that he should reside 10 years or any longer period on the land than the 320-acre entryman was required to do to secure title. This bill is simply intended to carry out the object of section 3, and the purpose of Congress in enacting the enlarged homestead law and to correct the hardships which the adverse ruling referred to has inflicted upon a great many homestead entrymen. In fact, it is quite positively asserted by large numbers of the homestead entrymen that they never would have taken the additional 160 acres if they had had any intimation at that time that the Interior Department would ever require them to make a full additional period of residence upon their claims after the taking of such additional entry before they were permitted to prove up and obtain title to their additional entries. This bill does not relieve them from making the necessary cultivation and improvements, nor from making the full residence, as required of all homestead entrymen; but it does relieve them from any additional residence requirements. The measure is looked upon as eminently fair and just, and the committee therefore recommends its adoption. It may be suggested that unless the bill is passed in the very near future that those entrymen can not get the benefit of it, but will be compelled to submit to the inconveniences and hardships of the unjust additional residence before they can be permitted to obtain title to their land. The committee therefore deems it especially appropriate that Congress should act upon this measure as expeditiously as possible. |