K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, and his successors, in trust for the benefit of the people of the United States, subject to terms and conditions herein before specified. In testimony whereof the said Walter F. Rittman has hereunto set his hand this 29th day of March, 1916. Signed in the presence of- DARWIN S. WOLCOTT. STATE OF NEW YORK, County of New York, ss: WALTER F. RITTMAN. On this 30th day of March, 1916, before me personally appeared Walter F. Rittman, to me known and known to me to be the person described in and who executed the foregoing instrument, and he duly acknowledged to me that he executed the same. THOS. M. APPLEGARTH, Notary Public, No. 67, New York County. (New York registered No. 7021. My commission expires March 30, 1917.) The contracts which the Secretary of the Interior has made with certain persons and corporations for the use of the Rittman processes are in the form indicated by the following blank that was prepared for use in the making of these contracts: LICENSE FOR USE OF THE RITTMAN..... PROCESS... NONEXCLUSIVE-WITHOUT ROYALTY. A. D. This agreement, made and entered into in duplicate this...... day of 191.., between the Department of the Interior, acting in this behalf by retary of the Interior, hereinafter called the First Party, and .... hereinafter called the Second Party, Witnesseth, that, whereas Walter F. Rittman, a chemical engineer in the employ of the First Party, has discovered a new and valuable process for the manufacture of from heavy liquid hydrocarbons (hereinafter referred to as the process), and Whereas the said discovery is covered by pending application for letters patent, and Whereas the Second Party is desirous of employing such process in advance of the issuance of a patent, Now, therefore, the said First and Second Parties do hereby agree as follows: 1. The First Party, in consideration of the covenants and agreements hereinafter contained to be observed and performed by the Second Party, hereby licenses and empowers the Second Party to use the said process, subject to the conditions hereinafter named, at .... factory in ...... and in no other places. 2. The Second Party agrees that all devices, improvements, processes, equipments, apparatus, or development, or any matter or thing which may be necessary or desirable to be used in connection with the said process, originated by the Second Party or by its agents or employees during the life of this agreement shall be promptly and fully communicated to the First party in order that letters patent thereon may be applied for in the discretion of the First Party, the cost of obtaining such letters patent, including the Patent Office fees, to be paid by the Second Party. 3. The Second Party further agrees to transfer and assign or cause to be transferred and assigned to the Secretary of the Interior, as trustee for the public, all the right, title, and interest of said Second Party or its agents or employees in and to the aforesaid devices, improvements, processes, equipment, apparatus, development, matters, or things as regards the United States, and further agrees to assign and transfer or cause to be transferred and assigned all right, title, and interest, as aforesaid, as regards all countries or places outside of the United States, to the said Walter F. Rittman, his heirs, or assigns. 4. The Second Party further agrees not to make public in any way any details of the process which may be communicated to it, or which it may learn by reason of the employment of such process without the prior obtained consent of the First Party. 5. The Second Party further agrees to furnish the 1 irst Party upon request with complete working plans and specifications of plant construction, equipment, apparatus, machinery, improvements, and devices of whatsoever nature or character used in the practice of or in connection with the aforesaid process, and furnish such party with such other pertinent information and records appertaining to the same as it may from time to time request. 6. The Second Party lastly agrees that the process aforesaid shall be used only in the treatment of liquid hydrocarbons produced in the United States of America: Provided, That the process may be employed in the treatment of foreign-produced oils in the United States upon payment to Walter F. Rittman. his heirs, or assigns, of a reasonable royalty to be mutually agreed upon between the said Rittman, his heirs, or assigns, and the Second Party. 7. The First Party shall be at liberty to make public, from time to time, all such information concerning the development and use of the process in the aforesaid factory of the Second Party as it may consider of public benefit and essential to the working of the process by the people of the United States. No publication shall be made of any information acquired regarding the business and trade secrets of the Second Farty other than as hereinabove provided. 8. The First Party agrees to grant to the Second Party, upon the issuance of letters patent covering the aforesaid process. a license to employ such process in the treatment of petroleum oils or other liquid hydrocarbons produced in the United States, upon the same terms and conditions as the process may be permitted to be employed by any and all other persons in the United States. 9. It is further mutually understood and agreed that the First Party, in its discretion, shall have the right to terminate this agreement for the use of said process upon violation of any of the substantial terms or conditions hereof or for nonuser for a period of not exceeding six calendar months. Waiver of any specific cause of forfeiture shall not be construed to prevent forfeiture for any other or like cause occurring thereafter. In witness whereof, on the day and year first hereinbefore written, the parties hereto have subscribed their names and affixed their seals. Secretary of the Interior. It is not the intention of the Government to require licensees to acquaint other licensees or their competitors with the details of the installation that they may devise for the employment of the principles involved in the Rittman processes. The license provides that agents of the Government shall be given right of entry to observe the installation in operation. Such agents will impart as well as receive information. It is not contemplated that the mechanical refinements of adjustment or coordination of working parts, which give one refiner an advantage over his competitors, shall be disclosed for the benefit of such competitors. It is intended merely that the basic features that have a material bearing on the operation of the process and should be included in the patent shall be disclosed to those employing the process. In this way all licensees will obtain the benefit of the larger improvements that may be devised by others while retaining the advantages resulting from superiority of installation. In other words, no user of the process can patent for his own benefit any essential detail in connection with the process, but shall assign such patent to the Bureau of Mines, to be in turn given to the public. On the other hand the provisions of the license do not mean that each user must open his gates wide to every other user or competitor.. The committee is of the opinion that the correspondence and other written instruments, copies of which are hereabove set forth, will give to the Members of the House substantially complete information upon such questions as are likely to arise in the consideration of the pending resolution. It will be noted that applications for patent are pending and that it is assumed that letters patent will in the near future be issued thereon. Mr. Rittman has made an assignment to the Secretary of the Interior, in his official capacity, and to his successors in office, in trust for the use and benefit of the people of the United States, of the rights that Mr. Rittman has acquired and is to acquire under the pending applications for patent, so far as they relate to oils produced in the United States. The Secretary of the Interior has attempted to accept the assignments and has issued permits to certain licensees for the use of the Rittman processes and provided that all improvements that shall result from the use of the processes and from experi mentation thereunder shall in turn be patented, and that a' rights under such patents, so far as they relate to oils produced in the United States, shall be assigned in ike manner and for like purposes to the Secretary of the Interior and to his successors in office. It is believed by the law officials of the Secretary of the Interior that the acceptance of the Rittman assignment by the Secretary of the Interior is of doubtful validity, owing to the doubt in the minds of the law officials as to the power of the Secretary of the Interior, in his official capacity, to accept an assignment of letters patent, or of the rights arising out of letters patent. The Secretary of the Interior and the Director of the Bureau of Mines are of the opinion that the Rittman processes are most important inventions and that the processes, together with improvements thereafter that will most probably result from its use and the experiments incident thereto, will increase by several hundred per cent the amount of gasoline to be extracted from crude and other oils. It is believed by the Secretary of the Interior, by the Director of the Bureau of Mines, and by the Committee on Patents, that it is very desirable that the acceptance by the Secretary of the Interior of the Rittman assignment and the licenses heretofore issued by the Secretary of the Interior be validated and that the Secretary of the Interior be given legal power completely to carry into execution the plan that has been adopted and partially carried out. It appears from the correspondence above set out that crude oils. produced in this country have a normal gasoline content of from 5 to 25 per cent under the ordinary refining processes with a probable average production of 15 per cent. It is the opinion of the Director of the Bureau of Mines that by the use of the Rittman processes the total gasoline yield from American crude oils will be approximately 75 per cent, making a net increase of approximately 400 per cent. If these estimates be at all accurate, the development and perfection of the Rittman processes and the use of the processes with their probable improvements will be of immense benefit to the people of the United States. CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. No. OREGON & CALIFORNIA RAILROAD LAND GRANTS. MAY 2, 1916.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. FERRIS, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 14864.] The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 14864) to alter and amend an act entitled "An act granting lands to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Central Pacific Railroad, in California, to Portland, in Oregon," approved July 25, 1866, as amended by the acts of 1868 and 1869, and to alter and amend an act entitled "An act granting lands to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from Portland to Astoria and McMinnville, in the State of Oregon, approved May 4, 1870, and for other purposes," having had the bill under consideration, recommends that the bill do pass without amendment. Just 50 years ago, by the act of July 25, 1866, Congress passed an act making a grant of land to the California & Oregon Railroad Co. A copy of the act follows: AN ACT Granting lands to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Central Pacific Railroad, in California, to Portland, in Oregon." Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the "California and Oregon Railroad Company, organized under an act of the State of California, to protect certain parties in and to a railroad survey, "to connect Portland, in Oregon, with Marysville, in California," approved April sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and such company organized under the laws of Oregon as the legislature of said State shall hereafter designate, be, and they are hereby, authorized and empowered to lay out, locate, construct, finish, and maintain a railroad and telegraph line between the city of Portland, in Oregon, and the Central Pacific Railroad, in California, in the manner following, to wit: The said California and Oregon Railroad Company to construct that part of the said railroad and telegraph within the State of California, beginning at some point (to be selected by said company) on the Central Pacific Railroad in the Sacramento Valley, in the State of California, and running thence northerly through the Sacramento and Shasta Valleys to the northern boundary of the State of California; and the said Oregon company to construct that part of said railroad and telegraph line within the |