80TH CONGRESS 2d Session SENATE REPORT No. 1503 AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF A PATENT IN FEE TO FLORENCE A. W. ARENS, A CROW ALLOTTEE JUNE 4 (legislative day, JUNE 1), 1948.-Ordered to be printed Mr. ECTON, from the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 5147] The Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 5147) authorizing and directing the Secretary of the Interior to issue to Florence A. W. Arens, a Crow allottee residing at Billings, Mont., a patient in fee to certain lands allotted to her on the Crow Indian Reservation, Mont., having considered the same, report thereon with the recommendation that it do pass without amendment. This bill has been considered by the House of Representatives; on May 26, 1948, that committee submitted its report (H. Rept. No. 2040) to the House recommending its passage, and on June 1, 1948, it passed the House. Said House Report No. 2040 contains all the facts concerning this proposed legislation, a copy of which is attached hereto and made a part of this report, as follows: H. Rept. No. 2040, 80th Cong., 2d sess. The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 5147) authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to issue a patent in fee to Forence A. W. Arens, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill as amended do pass. The amendments are as follows: On page 1, line 12, strike out the words "fifty-five acres" and insert the words "fifty-seven and thirty-seven one-hundredths acres". The purpose of this bill is to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to issue a patent in fee to 557.37 acres of land located on the Crow Indian Reservation, Mont., to Florence A. W. Arens. and has lived away from the Crow Indian Reservation for many years. The Secretary of the Interior recommends enactment of this legislation in his report dated May 20, 1948, addressed to Hon. Richard J. Welch, chairman of the Committee on Public Lands, which report is set forth below and gives a further explanation of the bill. The Committee on Public Lands is unanimous in its recommendation for enact ment. 8. Repts., 80-2, vol. 4- -15 Hon. RICHARD J. WELCH, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington 25, D. C., May 20, 1948. Chairman, Committee on Public Lands, House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. WELCH: Reference is made to your request for a report on H. R. 5147, a bill authorizing the issuance of a patient in fee to Florence A. W. Arens, Crow Indian. For the reasons hereinafter stated, I recommend that this bill be enacted. H. R. 5147 would authorize and direct the Secretary of the Interior to issue a patent in fee to Florence A. W. Arens, for her remaining lands on the Crow Reservation, Mont., comprising 557.37 acres. In 1947 the applicant was issued a fee patent for 397.87 acres of her allotment. As section 13 of the act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. 751), prohibits the sale of more than one-half of the designated homestead lands allotted to Crow Indians, the enactment of legislation to remove that prohibition is necessary for the reason her remaining lands include the balance of her homestead, or 440 acres. The applicant requests this legislation to remove that prohibition. Its enactment appears to be to her best interests. Mrs. Arens is a competent person and has lived away from the Crow Reservation for many years. Sale of her remaining trust land to a non-Indian would not materially interfere with Indian holdings or the administration of trust lands in that area. There are no streams or springs on the land and there is considerable taxable land in the neighborhood of Mrs. Arens' allotment. Line 12 of the bill should be corrected to show "five hundred and fifty-seven and thirty-seven one-hundredths acres.' The Bureau of the Budget has advised me that there is no objection to the submission of this report to your committee. Sincerely yours, OSCAR L. CHAPMAN, Undersecretary of the Interior 80TH CONGRESS 2d Session } SENATE { REPORT No. 1504 TRANSFER OF SLOWE AND CARVER HALLS TO HOWARD UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D. C. JUNE 4 (legislative day, JUNE 1), 1948.—Ordered to be printed Mr. CAIN, from the Committee on Banking and Currency, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 2076] The Committee on Banking and Currency, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2076) to authorize Defense Homes Corporation to convey to Howard University certain lands in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill as amended do pass. COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS The amendments are as follows: Strike out the period at the end of page 2, line 2, and add the following: : Provided, That no employee of the United States or of the District of Columbia who, on the date of approval of this Act, is a tenant of either Lucy Diggs Slowe Hall or George Washington Carver Hall shall, unless quarters were assigned to such tenant on a transient basis or on the sole basis that the tenant was enrolled at an educational institution, be evicted from such Halls within four years after the approval of this Act, except where such tenant commits a nuisance or otherwise violates any obligation of tenancy. At the end of S. 2076, as introduced, add the following new section: SEC. 2. The right, title, and interest in any lands, together with the improvements constructed thereon, which are conveyed pursuant to the authority granted by section 1 hereof, shall revert to the United States upon a written finding made by the President prior to July 1, 1963, that the property is needed by the United States in connection with a national defense emergency. GENERAL STATEMENT The Subcommittee on Housing and Rents held hearings on this bill, S. 2076, on May 20, 1948. The following reports were submitted by the Housing and Home Finance Agency and the Federal Security Agency. HOUSING AND HOME FINANCE AGENCY, MY DEAR SENATOR TOBEY: This is with further reference to your request for the views of this Agency on S. 1843, a bill to provide for the conveyance of Slowe and Carver Halls, defense housing projects, in Washington, D. C., to the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial. The bill would authorize and direct the Defense Homes Corporation to transfer, without reimbursement, two dormitory projects in the District of Columbia known as Slowe and Carver Halls to the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial to be used in connection with the industrial training of Negro youths who, because of limited education, are not eligible for college training under the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944. These dormitory projects are of permanent construction and were built originally for the purpose of housing Negro workers who came to the city in connection with the Government's war effort. More recently, as vacancies have occurred, preference in filling them has been given to veterans attending Howard University which is in the immediate vicinity. In a letter of even date to the President pro tempore of the Senate, I recommended that the Congress enact legislation which will permit the transfer of these dormitories to Howard University without reimbursement. My letter to the President pro tempore of the Senate enclosed a draft of legislation to accomplish that purpose and a copy of the letter from the President of the United States to me stating that the recommended transfer had his full approval. The recommendation for transfer of the properties to Howard University was also made by the board of directors of the Defense Homes Corporation following their consideration of alternative proposals which they received for the disposition of these facilities. A proposal for the sale or transfer of the facilities to the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial for purposes similar to those specified in S. 1843 was considered by the board of directors and rejected. In the opinion of the board of directors of the Corporation, and in my opinion, the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial is not in as favorable a position as is Howard University to utilize the property in the highest public interest. The memorial is a private institution which is still in an organizational stage, which therefore has no past experience or history in the field of education, and which proposes to utilize the property in connection with a program limited to industrial training. In contrast, Howard University is a recognized university of high scholastic standing with established financial and plant facilities, and is in part supported by congressional appropriations. Also, it would appear that an institution engaged in providing the broader educational facilities of a university is in a better position to insure the use of Slowe and Carver Halls for needed educational, civic, and cultural activities. This report on S. 1843 has not been specifically cleared with the Bureau of the Budget as the views expressed herein have been cleared by the Bureau in connection with my letter to the President pro tempore of the Senate which was referred to above. Sincerely yours, RAYMOND M. FOLEY, Administrator. FEDERAL SECURITY AGENCY, Hon. CHARLES W. TOBEY, Chairman, Committee on Banking and Currency, United States, Senate, Washington 25, D. C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Your committee has before it S. 2076, a bill having to do with the transfer of the Slowe and Carver Halls from the Defense Homes Corporation. S. 2076 would authorize the Defense Homes Corporation to convey these halls to Howard University. I am writing to urge your committee to report favorably S. 2076. Howard University, along with most other schools and colleges in the Nation, is greatly overcrowded at this time. Students from most States in the Nation and from many foreign countries attend the University. Present dormitory accommodations at the University are totally inadequate to meet the needs of these out-of-city students. While the housing shortage is serious in many areas and adversely affects many people, the shortage is felt most acutely by Negroes in this city. As the committee knows, the housing facilities which are available for Negro citizens in Washington are frequently substandard or greatly overcrowded. |