CREATING A JOINT COMMITTEE ON LOBBYING MAY 16, 1949.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed Mr. SABATH, from the Committee on Rules, submitted the following REPORT To accompany H. J. Res. 196) The Committee on Rules, having had under consideration House Joint Resolution 196, report the same to the House with the recommendation that the resolution do pass, with the following amendments: Page 3, strike out lines 3 to 6 inclusive, and insert in lieu thereof the following language: (1) To make a full and complete investigation of all lobbying activities intended to influence, encourage, promote or retard legislation. (2) To make a full and complete investigation of all activities of agencies of the Federal Government intended to influence, encourage, promote. or retard legislation Page 3, line 7, strike out "(2)" and insert in lieu thereof "(3)”. AUTHORIZING THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO ISSUE TO L. J. HAND A PATENT IN FEE TO CERTAIN LANDS IN THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI MAY 16, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed Mr. PETERSON. from the Committee on Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT (To accompany H. R. 42611 The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 4261), authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to issue to L. J. Hand a patent in fee to certain lands in the State of Mississippi, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. EXPLANATION OF THE BILL The purpose of the bill is to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to issue a patent in fee to L. J. Hand for 79.87 acres of land in Holmes County. Miss., thus correcting a conflict in records of the Bureau of Land Management and the records of the local land office at Jackson. Miss., which certified that the said land had been entered from the United States by Charles T Murphy on November 11, 1856, as shown by the book of Entries of Land in Holmes County, Miss., under the certificate of register of the said Federal Jackson Land Office dated June 20, 1870. L. J. Hand, the present owner of the land, and the proposed patentee, and the predecessors through whom he claims title have owned. possessed, and cultivated the said land and paid the taxes thereon for almost 100 years. On February 3, 1949, the Bureau of Land Management wrote to Mr. Hand that the records indicated that the said land was vacant and suggested that he might perfect his title under the Color of Title Act of December 22, 1928. Mr. Hand, the owner, thereupon furnished to the Bureau of Land Management an abstract of the title to the said land as disclosed by the records of Holmes County, Miss., certified to by D. T. Ruff, attorney at law, on April 12, 1949, showing that the said land as disclosed by the entry book had been entered by Charles T. Murphy on November 11, 1856, with the number of the receipt and certificate of purchase being 33,333, and further showing that the said Charles T. Murphy conveyed the said land to H. J. Clark on the 21st day of February in 1859 as shown by deed recorded in book O, page 87, and further showing that L. J. Hand and those through whom he claims trace the title to the said entry as aforesaid by Charles T. Murphy in 1856, and further showing that the said land is a part of a farm containing other land owned by the said L. J. Hand. He also furnished the Bureau of Land Management with a certificate from the chancery clerk showing the said entry by the said Charles T. Murphy at 25 cents an acre in 1856 as certified by the Federal Land Office at Jackson, Miss., and with affidavits of adverse possession by Ed Tate and N. M. Parkinson showing that they had been familiar with the said lands for more than 50 years, and that the said L. J. Hand and those through whom he claims have been in the actual adverse possession of the said lands for the past 60 and 45 years, and that in their opinion the said land is not worth over $1.25 an acre, some of the land having been formerly cultivated and the timber having been cut from the said land. He also furnished the Bureau of Land Management with the certificate of the said chancery clerk showing that through the years the said land had been regularly assessed and had been conveyed, beginning by Charles T. Murphy in 1859 down to the present owner, the said L. J. Hand. Mr. Hand also furnished to the Bureau of Land Management a certified copy of the deed from G. D. Thornton to E. E. Raper and a certified copy of the deed from E. E. Raper to L. J. Hand covering the said land and other lands consisting of a farm of which the said lands are a part. As disclosed by the hearings, the said abstract of title, the said certificates, and the said certified copies of deeds were furnished by the Bureau of Land Management to the Committee on Public Lands, and made a part of the hearings and they show unquestionably that the title of the said land was in the said L. J. Hand. The bill was referred to the Department of the Interior and on May 3, 1949, the following report was submitted which is made a part of this report as follows: Hon. J. HARDIN PETERSON, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Chairman, Committee on Public Lands, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington 25, D. C., May 3, 1949. House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. PETERSON: Reference is made to your request for a report on H. R. 4261, authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to issue to L. J. Hand a patent in fee to certain lands in the State of Mississippi. If amended as hereinafter suggested, I recommend that the bill be enacted. H. R. 4261 would direct the Secretary of the Interior to issue to L. J. Hand a patent in fee for the SWEW1⁄44, sec. 30, NW NW, sec. 31, T. 15 N., R. 4 E., Choctaw Meridian, Holmes County, Miss., such patent to convey the interests of the United States only, and not to affect the adverse rights, if any, of third parties. Mr. Hand's claim apparently is founded upon a certificate of purchase, Jackson, Miss., No. 33,333, alleged to have been issued to Charles T. Murphy on November 11, 1856, and recorded in the land records of Holmes County, Miss. Although the records of the Bureau of Land Management, this Department, show this land to be vacant unentered public land of the United States, old |