MAR 9 1927 HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON RULES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SIXTY-NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON S. 3641 A BILL TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO PROVIDE RELIEF IN CASES OF CONTRACTS CONNECTED WITH THE PROSECUTION OF THE WAR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," APPROVED MARCH 2, 1919, AS AMENDED WAR MINERALS RELIEF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON RULES, The committee this day met, Hon. Bertrand H. Snell (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. Mr. Winter is here this morning with some other gentlemen who desire to be heard on S. 3642, the war minerals relief bill. (The bill reads as follows:) AN ACT To amend an act entitled "An act to provide relief in cases of contracts connected with the prosecution of the war, and for other purposes," approved March 2, 1919, as amended Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That so much of section 5 of the act entitled "An act to provide relief in cases of contracts connected with the prosecution of the war, and for other purposes," approved March 2, 1919, as amended, as reads "that the decision of the said Secretary shall be conclusive and final, subject to the limitations hereinafter provided," and so much of said section 5 as reads "that nothing in this section shall be construed to confer jurisdiction upon any court to entertain a suit against the United States," are hereby repealed. SEC. 2. That section 2 of the said act is hereby made applicable to claims filed under section 5 of the said act in the same manner and in all respects similar to the apllication of said section 2 to section 1 of the said act: Provided, however, That in cases where final decisions of the Secretary of the Interior have been heretofore rendered, said appeal to the Court of Claims shall be made within ninety days after the passage of this act; and in all cases where final decisions of the Secretary of the Interior have not heretofore been rendered, appeals from such decisions to the Court of Claims shall be made within ninety days after such decisions shall have been rendered by said Secretary: And provided further, That no acceptance or acquittance by any claimant of or for any settlement made heretofore by the said Secretary shall prevent or estop any appeal to the said Court of Claims as herein provided for: And provided further, That if and when any claimant shall desire to appeal from the judgment and decision of the Secretary of the Interior upon any claim upon which money has been paid to and received by such claimant upon his claim, then, before he shall have the right to appeal to the Court of Claims, and as a condition precedent to his taking the appeal, he shall enter into a good and sufficient bond, signed by himself and good and sufficient sureties and payable to the Secretary of the Interior, conditioned that, should the court of appeals find that more money had been paid to the said claimant upon his claim than he was entitled to receive thereon, said claimant will repay to the Secretary of the Interior for the use of the Government such sum of money as he shall have received upon his said claim in excess of the finding and judgment of the court of appeals. SEC. 3. That section 5 of the act entitled "An act to provide relief in cases of contracts connected with the prosecution of the war and for other purposes, approved March 2, 1919, as amended," commonly referred to as the war minerals relief act, is hereby amended to authorize and direct the Secretary of the Interior to determine, adjust, liquidate, and pay net losses resulting from moneys expended or obligations incurred for the purchase or lease of property acquired for the production of, or in the preparation to produce either manganese, chrome, pyrites, or tungsten, and also to determine, adjust, liquidate, and pay net losses arising from money paid or due to be paid for interest only on borrowed capital not to 1 exceed the legal rate of interest in the State where the obligation was incurred: Provided, however, That the determinations, adjustments, liquidations, and payments of the net losses herein authorized and directed to be made shall be made by the Secretary of the Interior in conformity to and in compliance with, and not otherwise, all the provisions and regulations of said section 5 of the act approved March 2, 1919, as amended, the same as if the net losses herein authorized and directed to be determined, adjusted, liquidated, and paid had been originally incorporated and included in the net losses of said section 5, as amended: And provided further, That nothing herein contained shall be construed as permitting the consideration of any claim herein authorized unless such claim shall have been presented for determination, adjustment, liquidation, and payment under said section 5 of the act approved March 2, 1919, as amended, in compliance with the provisions and requirements of said section 5, as amended. SEC. 4. No claim under this act shall be subject to review or adjustment under section 236 of the Revised Statutes as amended. SEC. 5. That no agent, attorney, or other person engaged in preparing, presenting, or prosecuting any claim under the provisions of this act shall, directly or indirectly, contract for, demand, receive, or retain for such services a sum greater than 10 per centum of such award. Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this section, or who shall wrongfully withhold from a claimant the whole or any part of an award, in excess of the sums due for services rendered, as set forth in this section, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall, for each and every such offense, be fined not exceeding $500 or be imprisoned not exceeding one year, or both, in the discretion of the court. STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES E. WINTER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WYOMING Mr. WINTER. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, it so happens that I was appointed by the chairman of the Mines and Mining Committee, Mr. Robsion, to make the majority report on the war minerals relief measure. There is a minority report upon it by Chairman Robsion, Mr. Williamson, and Mr. Sproul. Mr. RAMSEYER. Have you that report printed? Mr. WINTER. Yes. I think you have copies of both reports before you. The CHAIRMAN. I think you will find copies of both reports right here on the table. Mr. WINTER. I will say at the outset that in some respects I do not feel competent to advise you and give you information because a number of you were here and took part in this original legislation at the time when I was not even a Member of Congress. It is my purpose personally to only present a skeleton of the situation as it comes before us now, and other Members who were here and participated in the legislation will enter into more detail on the different features. This whole matter had its origin in the act of October 5, 1918. During the war and prior to its close there was passed An act to provide further for the national security and defense by encouraging production, conserving of supply, and controlling the distribution of these ores, metals and minerals, which have been formerly largely imported, or of which there is or may be an inadequate supply. This act appropriated $50,000,000 in a revolving fund, providing for the taking over of mines by the Government, contracts with producers for their output for such length of time as to insure them against losses, and even authorizing contracts to extend two years after the close of the war. However, very soon thereafter, November 11, 1918, we came to the armistice. While the operators had begun their activities under this original act, the armistice coming on, the administration of the act had not only been deferred, but it ceased in fact before it began, as the Secretary then took the position that this had been a war measure, and the war being over, he could not administer it. A number of these operators had started on their activities, of course, at that time, under great urge. The Secretary said that The best we can do is to cease or even not to begin administering this act, and I will make the recommendation to the Congress that new legislation be enacted now providing for the payment of net losses. Therefore, on March 2, 1919, Congress again acted in what might be called a sort of compromise measure, dropping down from the original act with its very large appropriation to a much smaller scope, with very much less money involved, and so the act of March 2, 1919, was passed which provided for the payment of these net losses. This particular class of claimants, whose interests are sought to be covered now by the bill before us, came under section 5 of that act, the opening paragraph of which reads as follows: That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he hereby is, authorized to adjust, liquidate, and pay such net losses as have been suffered by any person, firm, or corporation, by reason of producing or preparing to produce, either manganese, chrome, pyrites, or tungsten in compliance with the request or demand of the Department of the Interior, the War Industries Board, And so forth, and it goes on to name a number of other Government agencies. Thereupon, the Secretary began to administer this act under this net losses provision. He appointed a commission, whether lawfully or not, delegating his authority to that commission. As to the fact I can not state, but it has been asserted that that commission was dominated by one member of the board who held very narrow and restricted views as to this act. For instance, a large number of claims were then excluded because that commission, and, consequently, the Secretary, interpreted, first, that the request referred to in this law should be a personal request. That was deemed by the claimants to be a misinterpretation of the law. This same commission also excluded a number of claims which had been placed in the mails or of which written notice had been given, I think, 61 in number, so that they were entirely excluded from any participation whatever in the awards that were subsequently made. Now, by reason of these wrongful interpretations and restricted views of this term of net losses in this act, the matter was again brought before the Congress, and in November, 1921, Congress again acted so as to clear up this situation. I want to call your attention to the fact that these successive acts were not acts giving additional rights to these claimants one after another; these acts were necessitated by the mistaken construction of the original act. That is the point I want to make and desire to have you keep in mind throughout this entire hearing. We come to the act of November 23, 1921, which was an interpretative act and undertook, first, to define what was meant by requests or demands of a Government agency, and where the commissioner or the Secretary had confined that to a personal demand or request, Congress, reinterpreting the original act, defined that to mean any kind of a request, personal or public, which came from a recognized governmental authority, or some agency of the Government. I will not stop to read that act but |