62D CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. § 2d Session.

EFFICIENCY IN THE GOVERNMENT SERVICE.

JULY 19, 1912.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. GODWIN, from the Committee on Reform in the Civil Service, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 25634.]

The Committee on Reform in the Civil Service, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 25634) to promote efficiency in the Government service, having considered the same, report to the House that the bill as amended do pass.

Amend the title of the bill so it will read as follows: "A bill to promote efficiency in the Government service by limiting political activity of certain Federal officeholders."

Amend, in line 11, page 1, after the word "State," by striking out the period and adding the following: "or become a delegate to any State or district convention at which such national delegates are elected."

For some years the growing necessity of further limiting the political activities of appointive officials of the United States Government in the interest of the public good has been apparent. In more than one message President Taft has defined his views substantially, as contained in the following extract from his annual message in December, 1910:

I entertain the profound conviction that it would greatly aid the cause of efficient and economical government and of better politics if Congress would enact a bill providing that the Executive shall have the power to include in the classified service all local offices under the Treasury Department, the Department of Justice, the Post Office Department, the Interior Department, and the Department of Commerce and Labor, appointments to which now require the confirmation of the Senate, and that upon such classification the advice and consent of the Senate shall cease to be required in such appointments. By their certainty of tenure, dependent on good service, and by their freedom from the necessity for political activity, these local officers would be induced to become more efficient public servants.

The accompanying bill does not go this far. It only seeks to increase the efficiency and usefulness of Government employees by limiting their political activities in certain respects. The number of appointive officials and other employees of the United States Government who have become candidates for official positions in the national

branch of our political parties has rapidly increased with each quadrennial election. The bill H. R. 25634 would extend the policy and present operation of the civil service to the extent of prohibiting all appointive officials of the United States Government from becoming delegates to the national convention of any political party held for the purpose of nominating a candidate for President or Vice President of the United States, and from holding any official position in the national branch of any political party organized for the purpose of influencing or attempting to influence, in two or more States, the nomination or election of such candidate or candidates. In order to be elected as such delegate or to other official position in a national political organization, a Federal employee must usually become an active candidate and not only exert himself politically, but he invokes the political activities and cooperation of other employees of the Government. The result is neglect, confusion, and often much demoralization of the public service. The candidacy of such appointive officials thus injuriously affects their subordinates who are in the classified civil service, with the result that there is a general impairment of efficiency and severe injury to the Government service.

The committee refrains from citing any of the very numerous instances constantly occurring during every presidential election year in support of the views herein set out, and as strong and urgent grounds for the passage of this bill, deeming it useless to do so because of their general notoriety.

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PATENTS TO ENTRYMEN FOR HOMESTEADS UPON RECLAMATION PROJECTS.

JULY 19, 1912.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. TAYLOR of Colorado, from the Committee on Irrigation of Arid Lands, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany S. 5545.]

The Committee on Irrigation of Arid Lands, to whom was referred Senate bill 5545, an act providing for the issuing of patent to entrymen for homesteads upon reclamation projects, having had the same under consideration heretofore, submitted a report thereon (No. 867), and the bill is now on the Union Calendar and on the Unanimous Consent Calendar. Upon the call of the bill on the Unanimous Consent Calendar the consideration of the bill was not objected to, but the bill was passed over without prejudice upon the recommendation of various Members of the House that the committee make a supplemental report thereon for the consideration of the House.

In accordance therewith the committee has further and very carefully considered the bill, and has deemed it advisable to make some additional recommendations for the purpose of making the act more specific and definite, as well as more practical in operation.

Therefore the committee recommends that the bill be amended as follows:

Amend the title to read as follows: "A bill providing for patents on reclamation entries, and for other purposes.

And that all of said bill after the enacting clause be stricken out and the following be inserted in lieu thereof, to wit:

That any homestead entryman under the act of June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and two, known as the reclamation act, including entrymen on ceded Indian lands, may, at any time, after having complied with the provisions of law applicable to such lands as to residence, reclamation and cultivation, submit proof of such residence, reclamation and cultivation, which proof, if found regular and satisfactory, shall entitle the entryman to a patent, and all purchasers of water-right certificates on reclamation projects shall be entitled to a final water-right certificate upon proof of the cultivation and reclamation of the land to which the certificate applies, to the extent required by the reclamation act for homestead entrymen: Provided, That no such patent

or certificate shall issue until all sums due the United States on account of such land or water-right at the time of issuance of patent or certificate have been paid.

SEC. 2. That every patent and water-right certificate issued under this act shall expressly reserve to the United States a prior lien on the land patented or for which water right is certified, together with all water rights appurtenant or belonging thereto, superior to all other liens, claims, or demands whatsoever for the payment of all sums due or to become due to the United States or its successors in control of the irrigation project in connection with such lands and water rights.

Upon default of payment of any amount so due, title to the land shall pass to the United States free of all encumbrance, subject to the right of the defaulting debtor or any mortgage-lien holder, judgment debtor, or subsequent purchaser to redeem the land within one year after the notice of such default shall have been given by payment of all moneys due, with eight per centum interest and costs. And the United States, at its option, acting through the Secretary of the Interior, may cause land to be sold at any time after such failure to redeem, and from the proceeds of the sale there shall be paid into the reclamation fund all moneys due, with interest as herein provided, and costs. The balance of the proceeds, if any, shall be the property of the defaulting debtor or his assignee: Provided, That in case of sale, after failure to redeem under this section, the United States shall be authorized to bid in such land at not more than the amount in default, including interest and costs.

SEC. 3. Upon full and final payment being made of all amounts due on account of the building and betterment charges to the United States or its successors in control of the project, the United States or its successors, as the case may be, shall issue, upon request, a certificate certifying that payment of the building and betterment charges in full has been made and that the lien upon the land has been so far satisfied and is no longer of any force or effect except the lien for annual charges for operation and maintenance: Provided, That no person shall at any one time or in any manner, except as hereinafter otherwise provided, acquire, own, or hold irrigable land for which entry or water-right application shall have been made under the said reclamation act of June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and two, and acts supplementary thereto and amendatory thereof, before final payment in full of all installments of building and betterment charges shall have been made on account of such land in excess of one farm unit as fixed by the Secretary of the Interior as the limit of area per entry of public land or per single ownership of private land for which a water right may be purchased, respectively, nor in any case in excess of one hundred and sixty acres, nor shall water be furnished under said acts nor a water right sold or recognized for such excess; but any such excess land acquired at any time in good faith by descent, by will, or by foreclosure of any lien may be held for two years and no longer after its acquisition; and every excess holding prohibited as aforesaid shall be forfeited to the United States by proceedings instituted by the Attorney General for that purpose in any court of competent jurisdiction; and this proviso shall be recited in every patent and water-right certificate issued by the United States under the provisions of this act.

SEC. 4. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to designate such bonded fiscal agents or officers of the Reclamation Service as he may deem advisable on each reclamation project, to whom shall be paid all sums due on reclamation entries or water rights, and the officials so designated shall keep a record for the information of the public of the sums paid and the amount due at any time on account of any entry made or water right purchased under the reclamation act; and the Secretary of the Interior shall make provision for furnishing copies of duly authenticated records of entries upon payment of reasonable fees, which copies shall be admissible in evidence, as are copies authenticated under section eight hundred and eighty-eight of the Revised Statutes.

SEC. 5. Jurisdiction of suits by the United States for the enforcement of the provisions of this act is hereby conferred on the United States district courts of the districts in which the lands are situated.

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REMOVAL OF RESTRICTIONS FROM PART OF LANDS OF ALLOTTEES OF FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES, ETC.

JULY 19, 1912.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. STEPHENS of Texas, from the committee of conference, submitted the following

CONFERENCE REPORT.

[To accompany S. 4948.]

The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the House to the bill (S. 4948) to amend an act approved May 27, 1908, entitled "An act for the removal of restrictions from part of the lands of allottees of the Five Civilized Tribes, and for other purposes," having met, after full and free conference have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their respective Houses as follows:

That the Senate recede from its disagreement to the House amendment and agree to the same with the following amendment:

Provided, That no conveyance of any interest by a full-blood heir of inherited allotted land heretofore or hereafter made shall be valid unless approved by the county court, sitting in probate, of the county where the deceased allottee was a resident at the time of his death.