While fraud can now be punished and redress obtained through the processes of the civil and criminal laws, such processes are slow and uncertain. The transactions complained of are often intricate and obscure, the District attorney's office is overcrowded with other and more important matters, and during the long period of time required to bring to justice those guilty of dishonest conduct in connection with real-estate transactions they can continue to operate and to defraud others. The bill hereby reported is intended, therefore, to prevent as well as to punish fraud.

A bill practically identical in its provisions (H. R. 10476) has been favorably reported by the House District Committee and is now on the calendar of the House of Representatives.

The penalties provided by the bill, in addition to denial of or revocation of licenses, are a fine of not more than $500, imprisonment of not more than six months (or both), and loss of commission on sales or leases negotiated.

Your committee is of the opinion that there is real need for a law to protect the people of the District of Columbia from fraudulent and dishonest conduct in the real estate business, and that the bill reported will be effective for the public protection.

(Senate Resolution No. 58, Seventy-first Congress, first session]

Whereas it is alleged that many millions of dollars of real-estate mortgage notes and bonds, secured by trust deed or otherwise, on real estate within the District of Columbia, have been issued, in excess of the value of the properties so mortgaged, and which securities have been sold throughout the United States through alleged questionable means and methods, to innocent purchasers, and that purchasers of homes and other real estate are denied their day in court in default of their payment of principal or interest; and

Whereas the laws for the District of Columbia are either absent or ineffective for the protection of innocent purchasers of such securities and homes and real estate, in the following particulars, namely:

(a) No adequate law relating to the issuance and sale of stocks, bonds, and mortgages, and other securities, as affecting real estate or otherwise;

(b) No law inhibiting unethical, unfair, and unscrupulous real-estate and finance operators; and

(c) No law providing for an orderly foreclosure of trust deeds, mortgages, or contracts relating to the purchase and sale of real estate,(through court procedure: Therefore be it

Resolved, That the Committee on the District of Columbia, or a duly authorized subcommittee thereof, is hereby authorized and directed to make a full and complete investigation in respect to the several matters hereinbefore set forth, including the issuance and methods of sale of stocks, bonds, or other securities of a different character than heretofore stated, and other relative or similar matters, and to report to the Senate as soon as practicable the result of its investigations, together with its recommendations, if any, for necessary legislation. For the purposes of this resolution the committee, or any duly authorized subcommittee thereof, is authorized to hold hearings, to sit and act at such times and places during the sessions and recesses of the Senate in the Seventy-first Congress until the final report is submitted, to employ such clerical and other assistants, to require by subpoena or otherwise the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, to administer such oaths, and to take such testimony and make such expenditures as it deems advisable. The cost of stenographic services to report such hearings shall not be in excess of 25 cents per 100 words. The expenses of the committee, which shall not exceed $2,500, shall be paid from the contingent fund of the Senate upon vouchers approved by the chairman.

O

GEORGE ROGERS CLARK SESQUICENTENNIAL COMMIS

SION

FEBRUARY 26, 1931.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. LUCE, from the committee of conference, submitted the following

CONFERENCE REPORT

[To accompany S. 2643]

The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the House to the bill (S. 2643) to amend the joint resolution establishing the George Rogers Clark Sesquicentennial Commission, approved May 23, 1928, 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 amendment of the House numbered 1, and agree to the same with an amendment, as follows:

In lieu of the matter inserted by said amendment insert the following:

That there is authorized to be appropriated, in addition to the sums authorized to be appropriated by the joint resolution establishing the George Rogers Clark Sesquicentennial Commission, approved May 23, 1928, the sum of $500,000.

Sums appropriated under this act or hereafter appropriated under such joint resolution, or heretofore appropriated under such joint resolution and unexpended on the date of the enactment of this act, shall be available for expenditure solely for the purpose of grading, improving, and embellishing the site of and grounds adjacent to Fort Sackville, the erection of a monumental memorial structure and its ornamentation, the ornamentation of a bridge across the Wabash River adjacent thereto to be constructed by the State of Indiana and the State of Illinois, the protection of the grounds by a river wall, and the administrative expenses of the George Rogers Clark Sesquicentennial Commission.

Appropriations under this act may be made immediately available to the total amount of $300,000 and obligations to that extent are hereby authorized; expenditures of any or all of the remaining $200,000 shall be allowed and paid upon the presentation of a certificate or certificates

signed by the chairman of the commission to the effect that an equal amount has been contributed by the State of Indiana, the county of Knox, the city of Vincennes, and/or other contributors for the purpose of grading, improving, and/or embellishing the site of and grounds adjacent to Fort Sackville, the ornamentation of such memorial structure, and/or the ornamentation of such bridge.

SIMEON D. FESS,

KENNETH MCKELLAR,
R. B. HOWELL,

Managers on the part of the Senate.
ROBERT LUCE,

JOSEPH L. HOOPER,

LINDSAY C. WARREN,

Managers on the part of the House.

STATEMENT OF THE MANAGERS ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

The managers on the part of the House at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendment of the House to the bill (S. 2643) to amend the joint resolution establishing the George Rogers Clark Sesquicentennial Commission, approved May 23, 1928, submit the following statement in explanation of the agreement as recommended in the accompanying conference report:

The amendment authorizes an additional appropriation of $500,000, the amount approved in the House amendment, $300,000 of which is to be made immediately available. Any or all of the remaining $200,000 is to be allowed and paid upon the presentation of certificate or certificates that an equal amount has been contributed by local authorities or individuals for the purposes specified.