Area and value of different classes of lands and improvements to be purchased for Navajos of New Mexico and Utah-Continued $2 per acre.. Cost UTAH $125 per acre.. Total Value of improvements on above-listed lands. Total cost of land and improvements in Utah.. Total area of lands in New Mexico and Utah to be purchased (acres). Hon. ELMER THOMAS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Chairman Committee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in reference to the recent hearing by your committee concerning S. 2213, "A bill to define the exterior boundaries of the Navajo Indian Reservation in New Mexico, and for other purposes", at which time you requested further information in regard to the matter. In regard thereto I am enclosing copy of memorandum prepared in the Land Division of this Office which sets out a certain amendment and corrections to the bill which are necessary and in which I concur; also tabulation showing the distribution of the amount authorized to be appropriated by the bill, copy of endorsement signed March 1 by the president of the Stock Growers' Association of McKinley County, N. Mex., urging the amendment first indicated in the attached memorandum, also two copies of the bill with the corrections and amendment indicated therein. Sincerely yours, JOHN COLLIER, Commissioner. 74TH CONGRESS 1st Session } SENATE { REPORT No. 437 GRANTING A LEAVE OF ABSENCE TO SETTLERS OF HOMESTEAD LANDS DURING THE YEAR 1935 AFRIL 9, 1935.-Ordered to be printed Mr. WAGNER, from the Committee on Public Lands and Surveys, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 1776] The Committee on Public Lands and Surveys, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1776) granting a leave of absence to settlers of homestead lands during the year 1935, having considered same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that it do pass without amendment. Facts concerning the proposed legislation are set forth in the favorable letter of the Secretary of the Interior under date of February 28, which is hereinafter set out in full and made a part of this report. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Hon. ROBERT F. WAGNER, Chairman Committee on Public Lands and Surveys. United States Senate. MY DEAR SENATOR WAGNER: I have received your letter of February 11, with which you enclosed a copy of S. 1776, a bill granting a leave of absence to settlers of homestead lands during the year 1935. The bill proposes to authorize the granting of a leave of absence during the year 1935 to homestead settlers or entrymen who, because of economic conditions, found it necessary to leave their homesteads to seek employment in order to obtain the necessaries of life for themselves and/or families or to provide for the education of their children, and requires that the person seeking relief thereunder file with the register of the district land office his affidavit, corroborated by the affidavits of two disinterested persons, showing the necessity for his absence. The proposed bill also provides that the homesteaders granted relief thereunder be excused from compliance with the homestead laws as to residence, cultivation, improvements, expenditures, or payments of purchase money, as the case may be, during the year mentioned, and that their homestead entries shall not be open to contest or protest because of failure to comply with the requirements during the absence, and that time of such absence shall not be deducted from the actual residence required by law but a period equal to the S. Repts., 74-1, vol. 1-48 absence shall be added to the statutory period of the entry. The bill also provides that homestead entrymen of ceded Indian lands be given the benefits thereof, but they shall not be entitled to extension of time for payment of any installment of purchase price of the land unless they pay interest in advance at the rate of 4 per cent per annum on the principal of any unpaid purchase price to and inclusive of the date of the expiration of the period of relief granted thereunder. I believe that the proposed legislation is meritorious and meets an urgent need caused by the existing economic conditions, and for that reason I am in favor of the enactment of the bill into law. Sincerely yours, HAROLD L. ICKES, Mr. BULKLEY, from the Committee on Banking and Currency, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 6021] The Committee on Banking and Currency, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 6021) to provide additional home-mortgage relief, to amend the Federal Home Loan Bank Act, the Home Owners' Loan Act of 1933, and the National Housing Act, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with an amendment and recommend that the bill, as amended, do pass. GENERAL STATEMENT This bill is designed to liberalize the Federal Home Loan Bank Act so as to facilitate the functioning of the Federal home-loan banks and enable their members to carry home-mortgage debts over longer terms and on an easier basis; to amend the Home Owners' Loan Act of 1933 so as to enable Home Owners' Loan Corporation to complete its task of relief to individual home-mortgage borrowers in distress and also so as to enable it to encourage the development of sound home mortgage lending by the purchase of shares in Federal savings and loan associations and in State-chartered home-financing institutions; and to amend the National Housing Act so as to facilitate the insurance of accounts in home-financing institutions and thus attract a greater volume of private funds for home financing and to facilitate the operation of Federal Housing Administration in the insurance of advances under title I of the National Housing Act and in the organization of national mortgage associations. The Federal Home Loan Bank Act restricted the operation of the Federal home-loan banks so that, in the opinion of the committee, the banks are not rendering a full measure of service, and the provisions of this bill are intended to enable those banks to function more freely and thus to make mortgage credits available to home-owner borrowers on a more satisfactory basis. The Home Owners' Loan Act of 1933, approved June 13, 1933, authorized Home Owners' Loan Corporation to issue $2,000,000,000 in bonds which were guaranteed as to interest only by the United States, but by an amendment approved April 27, 1934, such bonds were fully guaranteed by the United States as to principal and interest, and by an amendment approved June 27, 1934, the authorized bond issue was increased to $3,000,000,000. The Corporation reports that it has received applications from about 1,700,000 home owners which require resources substantially in excess of the abovementioned bond-issue authority, and this bill provides for the increase of the bond-issue authority of the Corporation to $4,750,000,000 which is estimated to be sufficient to serve all eligible applicants and the other purposes of the bill. The Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation is engaged in the insurance of the accounts of savers and investors in Federal savings and loan associations and State-chartered building and loan associations and similar institutions, and this bill would reduce the cost of such insurance and thereby extend the use of it and thus stimulate the confidence of the public in home-financing institutions. At the same time it would permit such institutions to lend money in greater volume and at lower rates and over longer terms. The Federal Housing Administration has been engaged since the approval of the National Housing Act on June 27, 1934, in an effort to increase employment by insuring advances as is provided in title I of that act, and this bill would extend the operation of that title so as to permit the insurance of loans on industrial and other large properties so as to include loans of not exceeding $50,000. Also the Federal Housing Administration has been engaged in developing mutual mortgage insurance under title II, and national mortgage associations under title III, of the National Housing Act, and this bill would reduce the required capital of national mortgage associations from $5,000,000 to $2,000,000 in order to encourage the formation of such associations. EXPLANATION OF THE BILL AS REPORTED The substitute for the text of House bill reported by the committee contains a number of provisions which are the same in substance as those in the House bill. There are also several new provisions which have not been acted upon by the House, certain provisions have been changed not only in form but also in substance, and certain provisions have been eliminated. The following explanation of the bill as reported will indicate the differences between it and the bill which was referred to the committee. Section 1 of the bill as reported makes mortgages on properties improved by dwellings for not more than four families eligible as collateral in the Federal home-loan bank system. This provision is the same as section 1 of the House bill. Under existing law a mortgage is not eligible as such collateral if the property is improved by a dwelling for more than three families. Section 2, which corresponds to section 2 of the House bill, amends the Federal Home Loan Bank Act so as to provide that payment of |