on the building until the sum of $2,000,000 shall have been paid into the treasury of the George Washington Memorial Association for the erection of the building, with the further provision for a permanent endowment fund of $500,000, to be administered by the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. The bill carries with it no appropriation from Congress, the only request made being for permission from the Government for the George Washington Memorial Association to erect such building on Government property, as provided in section 4 of said bill.

The Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia report on the bill as follows:

Hon. JOHN L. BURNETT,

Acting Chairman Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds,

JULY 16, 1912.

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: The Commissioners of the District of Columbia have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of July 2, inclosing a copy of S. 5494, Sixty-second Congress, second session, in regard to the proposed site for the George Washington Memorial Building, requesting information as to whether there are any proposed changes in the streets bordering the proposed site (Armory Square); whether any changes should be provided, or any amendments made to the bill to protect the interest of the city or the property owners of abutting streets, and as to the propriety of passing the bill in its présent form.

In reply the commissioners inclose a plat of the proposed site and would state as follows:

There is a street-car line on the north front of the square, which is indicated on the plat. In their estimates to Congress for the last fiscal year the commissioners requested authority to change the location of this street-car line so that it would run directly from Missouri Avenue, through the northern part of the square to connect with the tracks on B Street, just west of Seventh Street, and do away with the existing curves. Such authority was not granted, however, and if it is proposed to locate the building as set forth in the bill, this change in tracks would not be desirable as it would restrict the site.

The commissioners do not believe that any rearrangement of the street spaces is necessary as any driveways or other approaches to the building could be laid out within the site and treated as a part of the building and its environment.

The commissioners are in favor of the passage of the bill.

Very respectfully,

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, By CUNO H. RUDOLPH, President.

О

SALE OF CERTAIN LOTS IN HOT SPRINGS, ARK.

JULY 24, 1912.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. ROBINSON, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 25611.]

The Committee on the Public Lands, having had under consideration H. R. 25611, authorizing the sale of certain lots in the Hot Springs Reservation for church and hospital purposes, recommend that the bill do pass.

Lots 4, 5, and 6, in block 115, in the Hot Springs Reservation, in the State of Arkansas, were granted to the Barry Hospital June 21, 1894, as a site for charity hospital buildings.

No buildings have been constructed on these lots, but other premises have been temporarily occupied by the Barry Hospital. Since the grant was made local conditions have so changed that another site is preferable, both to the Barry Hospital and to the residents. The Third Street Methodist Church organization of the city of Hot Springs desire to purchase lots 4, 5, and 6, in block 115.

The Department of the Interior drafted this bill with a view to consummating the sale and granting lots 9 and 10, block 114 to the Barry Hospital.

The appraised value of lots 9 and 10, block 114, for the year 1911, is $500 each, and the area of each is 11,250 square feet. The appraised value of lots 4, 5, and 6, block 115, for the year 1911, is $1,400, $1,600, and $1,100, respectively, while their area is 30,600 square feet, 31,750 square feet, and 25,750 square feet, respectively.

The report of the Secretary of the Interior is herewith printed: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

Hon. JOSEPH T. ROBINSON,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

Washington, July 11, 1912.

SIR: The department is in receipt of your letter of July 8, 1912, transmitting for report H. R. 25611, entitled "A bill to authorize the sale of certain lots in the Hot Springs Reservation for church and hospital purposes.

In response I have to say that H. R. 25611 is identical with a draft of bill forwarded to you by this department on June 19, 1912, and that its enactment into law is urgently recommended.

WITHDRAWAL OF PUBLIC LANDS IN CERTAIN CASES.

JULY 24, 1912.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. RAKER, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the

following

REPORT.

[To accompany S. 5679.]

The Committee on the Public Lands, to whom was referred S. 5679, "An act to amend section two of an act to authorize the President of the United States to make withdrawals of public lands in certain cases, approved June twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and ten," having given the same careful consideration, they agreed to recommend the following amendment:

Line 1, page 3, insert between the word "of" and the word "Oregon" the word "California" and then a comma after the word "California."

As thus amended the committee recommend that the bill do pass. The addition of the words "potash or nitrates," which is found on line 11, page 1, is the only change the bill proposes to make to section 2 of the act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat., 847), and adding the word "California" on line 1, page 3, making the provisions of the bill under the proviso applicable to the State of California as well as to the States now named in the bill.

The purpose of the bill as amended is to extend the scope of the withdrawal act so as to confer upon the President authority for the protection of the land valuable for potash or nitrates until an adequate law for their disposal shall have been enacted.

The Secretary of the Interior in his last report called attention to the fact that the present withdrawal act grants the President no authority to withdraw from entry and protect lands valuable for potash or nitrates, and we recommend that the legislation giving the President such authority be enacted by Congress.

The committee desires also to call attention to the message of the President of the United States suggesting the enactment of laws for the protection of deposits of potash and nitrates, sent to Congress March 26, 1911. (H. Doc. No. 644, 62d Cong., 2d sess.)

The bill now pending in the Senate was referred to the Department of the Interior, and the following is the report thereon:

Hon. REED SMOOT,

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

Washington, March 21,

Chairman Committee on Public Lands, United States Senate.

1912.

SIR: I am in receipt of a copy of Senate bill 5679, accompanied by request from your committee for report.

In reply I beg to state that the only change introduced by the amendment proposed to section 2 of the act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat., 847), is the substitution of the terms "metalliferous minerals" for the words "minerals other than coal, oil, gas, and phosphates" contained in the first sentence of said section.

The form of the bill as introduced follows a proposed draft heretofore prepared by the department. As was suggested in the annual report of the department for the year ending June 30, 1911, said act of June 25, 1910, permits the location, occupation, entry, purchase, and mining upon withdrawn lands of all forms of mineral deposits other than deposits of coal, oil, gas, and phosphates, leaving no adequate protection for withdrawn areas valuable for their mineral deposits of potash or nitrates.

Attempts have been made also to secure title to withdrawn lands for the removal of sand and gravel, and difficulties have arisen in connection with claims presented for alleged stone and gypsum deposits, which opens the way to serious abuse when attempted upon lands withdrawn for important public purposes, such as water-power sites or storage reservoirs.

The form of the bill submitted would in future confine occupation, exploration, purchase, and mining upon lands withdrawn under said act of June 25, 1910, to metalliferous minerals, and while thus affording opportunity for the development of this valuable class of minerals would prevent the disposition or attempted acquisition of these lands under locations and applications advanced under the mining laws for nonmetalliferous deposits.

Attention is called to line 7, page 1, of the bill, as printed, and it is suggested that instead of reading within the quotation "Sec. 1" the designation should be "Sec. 2," for it is section 2 of the act of June 25, 1910, which is amended.

The bill submitted meets with the entire approval of the department and it is respectfully recommended that the same be enacted.

Very respectfully,

SAMUEL ADAMS, First Assistant Secretary.

On March 29, 1912, Mr. Raker introduced in the House bill H. R. 22582, which is in the identical language of Senate bill 5679 as passed by the Senate, with the exception that it adds the word "California" as herein stated. The House bill is as follows:

[H. R. 22582, Sixty-second Congress, second session.]

A BILL To amend section two of an act to authorize the President of the United States to make withdrawals of public lands in certain cases, approved June twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and ten.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section two of the act of Congress approved June twentyfifth, nineteen hundred and ten (Thirty-sixth Statutes at Large, page eight hundred and forty-seven), be, and the same hereby is, amended to read as follows:

"SECTION 1. That all lands withdrawn under the provisions of this act shall at all times be open to exploration, discovery, occupation, and purchase under the mining laws of the United States, so far as the same apply to minerals other than coal, oil, gas, phosphates, potash, and nitrates: Provided, That the rights of any person who, at the date of any order of withdrawal heretofore or hereafter made, is a bona fide occupant or claimant of oil or gas bearing lands and who, at such date, is in diligent prosecution of work leading to the discovery of oil or gas, shall not be affected or impaired by such order so long as such occupant or claimant shall continue in diligent prosecution of said work: And provided further, That this act shall not be construed as a recognition, abridgment, or enlargement of any asserted rights or claims initiated upon any oil or gas bearing lands after any withdrawal of such lands made prior to June twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and ten: And provided further, That there shall be excepted from the force and effect of any withdrawal made under the provisions of this act all lands which are, on the date of such withdrawal, embraced in any lawful homestead or desert-land entry heretofore made, or upon which any valid settlement has been made and is at said date