RAILROAD ACROSS CERTAIN LANDS IN COMANCHE COUNTY, OKLA. AUGUST 14, 1912.-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 Indian Affairs, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 26236.] The Committee on Indian Affairs, having had under consideration the bill (H. R. 26236) conferring upon the Lawton Railway & Lighting Co. the privileges, rights, and conditions heretofore granted the Lawton & Fort Sill Electric Co. to construct a railroad across certain lands in Comanche County, Okla., recommend that it be amended, and that as amended it do pass. On page 2, line 2, after the word "Oklahoma," strike out the remainder of that line, all of line 4, and the word "mentioned" in line 5, and insert in lieu thereof the following: Provided, That no rights hereunder shall vest in the Lawton Railway and Lighting Company until maps of location of the respective portions of the road through the Fort Sill Military Reservation and the lands reserved for Indian school purposes hereafter receive the approval of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Interior, respectively. The bill as amended will read as follows: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That the privileges and grants heretofore conferred upon the Lawton and Fort Sill Electric Railway Company, by virtue of the acts of March twentyeighth, nineteen hundred and ten (Thirty-sixth Statutes, page two hundred and sixtyeight), and June twenty-second, nineteen hundred and ten (Thirty-sixth Statutes, page five hundred and eighty-eight), to construct and operate a railway, telegraph, telephone, and trolley lines through the Fort Sill Military Reservation and the public lands reserved for Indian school purposes, all in Comanche County, Oklahoma, be, and the same are hereby, conferred upon the Lawton Railway and Lighting Company, a corporation created under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Oklahoma: Provided, That no rights hereunder shall vest in the Lawton Railway and Lighting Company until maps of location of the respective portions of the road through the Fort Sill Military Reservation and the lands reserved for Indian school purposes hereafter receive the approval of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Interior, respectively, subject, however, to all the limitations, restrictions, and conditions contained in the said acts: Provided, That said Lawton Railway and Lighting Company shall complete the construction of that portion of its road between Lawton and Fort Sill within two years from the date of the passage of this act. H R-62-2-vol 5—36 On March 28, 1910, Congress granted right of way to the Lawton & Fort Sill Electric Railway Co. across certain lands, the act being as follows: [PUBLIC-No. 111.] [H. R. 19628.] AN ACT To authorize the Lawton and Fort Sill Electric Railway Company to construct and operate railway, telegraph, telephone, and trolley lines through the Fort Sill Military Reservation, and for ther purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Lawton and Fort Sill Electric Railway Company, a corporation created under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Oklahoma, be, and the same is hereby, empowered to survey, locate, construct, maintain, and operate railway, telegraph, telephone, and trolley lines through the Fort Sill Military Reser vation, in Comanche County, State of Oklahoma, upon such terms and in such location as may be determined and approved by the Secretary of War. SEC. 2. That said corporation is authorized to occupy and use for all purposes of railway, telegraph, telephone, and trolley lines, and for no other purpose, a right of way fifty feet in width through said Fort Sill Military Reservation, with the right to use such additional ground where cuts and fills may be necessary for the construction and maintenance of the roadbed, not exceeding one hundred feet in width, or as much thereof as may be included in said cut or fill: Provided, That no part of the land herein authorized to be occupied shall be used except in such manner and for such purposes as shall be necessary for the construction and convenient operation of said railway, telegraph, telephone, and trolley lines; and when any portion thereof shall cease to be so used such portion shall revert to the United States: Provided further, That before the said railway company shall be permitted to enter upon any part of said military reservation a description by metes and bounds of the land herein authorized to be occupied or used shall be approved by the Secretary of War: Provided further, That the said railway company shall comply with such other regulations and conditions in the maintenance and operation of said road as may from time to time be prescribed by the Secretary of War. SEC. 3. The right to alter, amend, or repeal this act is hereby expressly reserved. Approved, March 28, 1910. On June 22, 1910, Congress granted to same company right of way across certain reserved public lands. The act is as follows: [PUBLIC-NO. 236.] AN ACT To authorize the Lawton and Fort Sill Electric Railway Company to construct and operate a railway through the public lands reserved for Indian school purposes, of township two north, "range eleven west, Indian meridian, Comanche County, Oklahoma, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Lawton and Fort Sill Electric Railway Company, a corporation created under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Oklahoma, be, and the same is hereby, empowered to survey, locate, construct, maintain, and operate a railway, telegraph, telephone, and trolley lines through the public lands of township two north, range eleven west, Indian meridian, in Comanche County, State of Oklahoma, upon such line or lines as may be determined and approved by the Secretary of the Interior. SEC. 2. That said corporation is authorized to occupy and use for all purposes of railway, telegraph, telephone, and trolley lines, and for no other purpose, a right of way fifty feet in width through said public lands, reserved for Indían school purposes, with the right to use such additional ground where cuts and fills may be necessary for the construction and maintenance of the roadbed, not exceeding one hundred feet in width, or as much thereof as may be included in said cut or fill: Provided, That no part of the land herein authorized to be occupied shall be used except in such manner and for such purposes as shall be necessary for the construction and convenient operation of said railway, telegraph, telephone, and trolley lines; and when any portion thereof shall cease to be so used such portion shall revert to the United States: Provided further, That before the said railway company shall be permitted to enter upon any part of said public lands a description by metes and bounds of the land herein authorized to be occupied or used shall be approved by the Sec retary of the Interior: Provided further, That the said railway company shall comply with such other regulations and conditions in the maintenance and operation of said road as may from time to time be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. SEC. 3. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this act is hereby expressly reserved. Approved, June 22, 1910. The original company constructed a portion of the line, but on account of financial difficulties, consisting of lack of or exhaustion of funds, had their full rights terminated by an order of sale from the court. The Lawton Railway & Lighting Co., a newly organized Oklahoma corporation, acquired the property and are now ready, able, and willing to complete the line. The two Government departments affected are both desirous of having the new company have the right of way, but hold they are technically without power to grant the right of substitution. Both departments present to the committee strong letters of indorsement of the measure, the same being unanimously reported by the committee. It merely grants to the new company the right to do subject to all conditions the same thing the original company had power to do. It is beneficial to the Indian school faculty and patrons, which is about halfway between Lawton and Fort Sill. It is beneficial to the War Department, as it affords the fort people and Lawton people transportation back and forth, a distance of 6 miles. It is, of course, beneficial to Lawton to have a car line, as the line will, in all probability, not be a paying proposition, if it is confined to the city streets in a town of eight or ten thousand inhabitants. The city has voted the required franchise, the new company on the ground and ready to build, the acts are safeguarded by every safeguard that the two departments and the committee could conceive. The enactment of the bill benefits all concerned and enables them to have car service that could not otherwise be acquired. The letters of the two departments are as follows: Hon. JOHN H. STEPHENS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Chairman Committee on Indian Affairs, House of Representatives. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your communication dated August 13, 1912, transmitting for report a copy of H. R. 26236, Sixty-second Congress, second session. The purpose of the bill is to confer upon the Lawton Railway & Lighting Co., a corporation of Oklahoma, all the privileges and grants heretofore conferred upon the Lawton & Fort Sill Electric Railway Co. by the acts of March 28, 1910 (36 Stat. L., 268), and June 22, 1910 (36 Stat L., 588). The act of March 28, 1910, supra, granted the Lawton & Fort Sill Electric Railway Co. the right of way across the Fort Sill Military Reservation, which is under the jurisdiction of the War Department, and you say in your letter of August 13 that a copy of H. R. 26236 has been referred to the Secretary of War for his report. The act of June 22, 1910. supra, authorized the Lawton & Fort Sill Electric Railway Co. to construct and operate a railway through certain public lands reserved for Indianschool purposes in T. 2 N., R. 11 W. It appears from the records in the case that the Lawton & Fort Sill Electric Railway Co. became bankrupt and that its tangible property with all its rights under the State law passed by judicial sale to M. A. Wert, who proposed to sell and transfer to B. R. Stevens and associates, who it is understood represent the Lawton Railway & Lighting Co. and propose to convey such rights as they have acquired to that company. The Lawton Railway & Lighting Co. in last June requested that it be recognized as the successor to the Lawton & Fort Sill Electric Railway Co. and filed maps in an attempt to comply with the provisions of the act of June 22, 1910, supra. The department concluded, after investigation of the matter, that no right could be recognized in the Lawton Railway & Lighting Co. to the franchise granted by Congress to the Lawton & Fort Sill Electric Railway Co., and that as the grantee company had become insolvent and incapable of constructing and maintaining the road no action could be taken under the act. The correspondence in the record shows that the construction of the proposed road would be of benefit to the public, and the department knows of no reason why the rights and privileges conferred upon the Lawton & Fort Sill Electric Railway Co. should not be granted to the Lawton Railway & Lighting Co., the successor to the former company. It is reported, however, that without previous departmental approval of location the old company proceeded to grade a line of road through the land reserved for Indian school purposes. It may be, therefore, that without limitation approval of the prezent bill would commit the department to the location heretofore taken without departmental approval. To the end that there may be no misunderstanding, and that the rights of the Government may be protected, I would suggest the addition of the following proviso: "Provided further, That no rights hereunder shall vest in the Lawton Railway and Lighting Company until maps of location of the respective portions of the road through the Fort Sill Military Reservation and the lands reserved for Indian school purposes hereafter receive the approval of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Interior, respectively. 1 With this modification I recommend that the bill be passed. WALTER L. FISHER, Secretary. CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, August 13, 1912. House of Representatives. SIR: I have the honor to return herewith House bill 26236 (62d Cong., 2d sess.) s.), being a bill to confer upon the Lawton Railway & Lighting Co. the privileges and grants heretofore conferred upon the Lawton & Fort Sill Electric Co. by acts of March 28, 1910 (36 Stat., 368), and June 22, 1910 (36 Stat., 588), to construct and operate railway. telegraph and telephone, and trolley lines through the Fort Sill Military Reservation and the public lands reserved for Indian-school purposes in Comanche County, Okla. The bill recites that the Lawton Railway & Lighting Co. is the successor in interest through purchase under foreclosure sale of the property and rights of the Lawton & Fort Sill Electric Railway Co., and makes the confirmation of the rights granted by said acts subject "to all the limitations, restrictions, and conditions" contained therein, and provides further that the Lawton Railway & Lighting Co. "shall complete the construction of that portion of its road between Lawton and Fort Sill within two years from the date of the passage of this act.' " The provisions of the bill are regarded as fully protecting the interests of the Government, and the road will benefit the Government by furnishing convenient means of transportation for the officers and enlisted men and other residents on the Fort Sill Military Reservation. The passage of the bill in its present shape is therefore recommended by this department. Very respectfully, HENRY L. STIMSON, EXTENSION OF PORT OF ENTRY OF NEW ORLEANS. AUGUST 14, 1912.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. Mr. RAINEY, from the Committee on Ways and Means, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 23112.] The Committee on Ways and Means, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 23112) to extend the port of entry of New Orleans, having had the same under consideration, report it back to the House without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. This bill contemplates incorporating within the port of New Orleans the plant of the Indian Refining Co., a corporation owning its own oil wells, pipe lines, tank cars, refineries, storage plants, dock for export and import, with some 200 distributing stations for which tank wagons are operated. The company claims to be entirely independent of all other corporations and operating as a competing company in Europe, Central and South America, and the Orient. It finds that their products can be moved from the source of supply to New Orleans at a trifle less expense than to the Atlantic seaboard and they can be shipped to foreign ports from New Orleans at the same rate as from the Atlantic seaboard ports. It is for this reason that they wish to use the port of New Orleans as their main distributing point to foreign stations. Under existing conditions they are unable to overcome the difficulty of being outside of the port limits of New Orleans. At present an incoming steamer is obliged to pass the plant of this company, proceed up the river, go through the usual formalities with the officers, and then proceed to the plant. This requires special permission from Washington and necessitates many formalities which are not only expensive, but consume a great deal of valuable time. When a steamer clears the dock at the plant it is necessary that she should go to the city within the port limits to obtain clearance papers and then turn around and proceed down the river and pass the plant again, which is also expensive both in time and money. It appears that the facility requested by this bill is in conflict with no established custom or method, and that the beneficiaries of the extension sought would simply be enabled to carry out a broad system of commercial development. |