4

PREVENTION LAND SPECULATION, COLUMBIA BASIN PROJECT

held in private ownership by any one owner in excess of forty irrigable acres and all county and State lands which may be subscribed to or irrigated under the said project shall be designated as excess land and as such shall not be entitled to receive water from said project. The contract shall provide further that no owner of such excess lands in the said project shall receive water therefrom for any part of the lands owned by him if and so long as he shall refuse to sell any excess lands owned or held by him under terms and conditions satisfactory to the Secretary of the Interior and at prices fixed in the appraisals made and approved as hereinabove provided. The Secretary of the Interior may require each landowner, as a condition precedent to receiving water from the said irrigation works, to execute a valid recordable contract wherein he shall agree to dispose of excess holdings then or thereafter owned by him in the manner provided in this Act and in the contract between his district and the United States, and wherein the said landowner also shall confer upon the Secretary of the Interior an irrevocable power of attorney to make any such sale on his behalf. For the purpose of determining excess lands under the provisions of this Act husband and wife shall be considered separate persons and each may hold not to exceed forty irrigable acres as nonexcess lands or husband and wife together may hold eighty irrigable acres of community property as such nonexcess lands: Provided further, That as to any part of the irrigable lands of the said project for which the Secretary of the Interior shall determine that farm units of less than forty irrigable acres would be sufficient to support a family, he may approve and cause to be filed farm unit plats establishing farm units of less than forty acres but not less than ten acres and in that event all lands held in any one ownership in excess of one farm unit as shown on such plat shall be considered excess lands subject to the provisions of this Act applicable to excess lands: Provided further, That in addition to the foregoing provisions, every such contract with any district shall also provide, with respect to all irrigable lands whether initially excess or nonexcess, that whenever any land is sold at a price in excess of the sum of the appraised value of the arid land, the appraised value of improvements made thereon after the date of the original appraisal, and the amount of irrigation construction costs actually paid for that land, then, before the new owner shall be entitled to receive water from the project, a proportionate part of the said excess or incremented value shall be paid to the United States as follows: If such payment is made to the United States more than fifty months after such sale at an excessive price has been made, then as a prerequisite to the right to receive water all of the incremented value shall be paid to the United States to apply on construction installments to come due on such land in inverse order of their accrual; if payment is made in less than fifty months but more than forty-nine months after the date of such sale, then 99 per centum of such incremented value or excess of sale price shall be thus paid and applied; if payment is made in less than forty-nine but more than forty-eight months after the date of such sale, then 98 per centum of such incremented value or excess of sale price

PREVENTION LAND SPECULATION, COLUMBIA BASIN PROJECT 5

shall be thus paid and applied, and so on for earlier payment allowing an additional reduction of 1 per centum for each month, so that in the event that such payment is made to the United States within one month after the date of such sale, then the percentage of the incremented value required to be paid to the United States for application to construction costs as a prerequisite to the right to receive water shall be 50 per centum thereof: Provided further, That each district contract may include a provision which, subject to authorization and validation thereof by the State of Washington, shall require that all irrigable lands which are allowed by the owners thereof without objection to remain in such district until after the judicial confirmation of the organization of the district and of the regularity and validity of said contract and the proceedings authorizing it shall be considered as automatically subjected to the provisions of the excess land clauses and incremented value clauses hereinbefore provided for, such obligation to be impressed on the title to the land and to be considered equivalent to a covenant running with the land. The said provision, however, shall not apply to any landowner who, prior to the entry of the judicial decree of confirmation, shall file with the district and duly record as an instrument affecting title to his land, a notice of his objection to the said obligation and of his renunciation of the right of the said land to receive water through, from, or by means of any works constructed by the United States in connection with such project: And provided further, That the foregoing four provisos shall not apply to any lands in the State of Washington which have already been developed and are now being cultivated with the aid of water from sources other than the said Grand Coulee project and for which additional water may be desired.

(c) [State of Washington shall ratify provisions.]-The State of Washington by appropriate legislation shall have authorized, adopted, ratified, and consented to all the provisions of this Act insofar as such provisions or any of them, in whole or in part, may come within the scope of State jurisdiction or authority or be applicable to State lands. SEC. 2. [Appropriation for surveys, investigations, and appraisal of lands and for plans, surveys, and designs of irrigation works. ]-The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to use not to exceed $350,000 of the funds hereafter appropriated or allotted for the fiscal year 1938 for the said project for the purpose of the survey, investigation, and appraisal of the irrigable lands of the said project and for surveys, investigations, plans, and designs for the irrigation works therefor. SEC. 3. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to make such rules and regulations and to include in the contracts hereinbefore provided for such provisions as may be appropriate and useful for the purpose of carrying out the purpose and provisions of this Act.

SEC. 4. [Consent of United States to sale of school lands.]-The consent of the United States is hereby given to the sale of school lands and any other public lands of the State of Washington which may be included in any irrigation or reclamation project to which this Act is or may be applicable at prices not to exceed the appraised valuation thereof, determined as herein provided.

6

REFUND TO THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY

An act for the relief of the Great Northern Railway Company. (Act of June 7, 1937, 50 Stat. 980)

[Claim allowed for $1,298.50, refund of construction charges.]—That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to pay to the Great Northern Railway Company, Saint Paul, Minnesota, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $1,298.50 in full satisfaction of its claim against the United States for a refund of construction charges on a grant of thirty-seven and one-tenth acres of land in the Sun River irrigation project in the State of Montana upon which the said Great Northern Railway Company proposed to locate and construct a line of railway under the Act of March 3, 1875, which line of railway was never constructed, and which grant was canceled by court decree in April 1921: Provided, That no part of the amount appropriated in this Act in excess of 10 per centum thereof shall be paid or delivered to or received by any agent or attorney on account of services rendered in connection with this claim, and the same shall be unlawful, any contract to the contrary notwithstanding. Any person violating the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not exceeding $1,000.

7

APPROPRIATIONS FOR LOWER RIO GRANDE FLOOD CONTROL AND RIO GRANDE CANALIZATION PROJECTS

Excerpts from Department of State appropriation act for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1938. (Act of June 16, 1937, 59 Stat. 261)

For the construction (including operation and maintenance and protection during construction) of the following projects under the supervision of the International Boundary Commission, United States and Mexico, United States section, including salaries and wages of employees, laborers, and mechanics; fees for professional services at rates and in amounts to be determined by the Secretary of State; travel expenses; rents; construction and operation of gaging stations; purchase (including exchange), maintenance, repair, and operation of motor-propelled passenger- and freight-carrying vehicles; drilling and testing of dam sites, by contract if deemed necessary, without regard to the provisions of section 3709 of the Revised Statutes (U. S. C., title 41, sec. 5); hire, with or without personal services, of work animals and animal-drawn and motor-propelled vehicles and equipment; acquisition by donation, purchase, or condemnation, of real and personal property, including expenses of abstracts and certificates of title; transportation of things (including drayage, packing, and crating of personal effects of employees upon change of station for permanent duty) not to exceed five thousand pounds in any one case; printing and binding; communication services; equipment, materials and supplies, including purchase of ice, rubber boots, and waders for official use of employees, and such other miscellaneous expenses as the Secretary of State may deem necessary.

Lower Rio Grande flood-control project: For construction, including surveys and other preliminary expenses, of the United States portion of the project for flood control on the Lower Rio Grande, as authorized by the Act approved August 19, 1935, as amended (49 Stat. 660, 1370), $1,250,000: Provided, That no part of this appropriation for the Lower Rio Grande flood-control project shall be expended for construction on any land, site, or easement until title thereto has been conveyed to the United States by donation and the same has been approved by the Attorney General of the United States.

Rio Grande Canalization project: For beginning construction of the Rio Grande canalization project as authorized by the Acts approved August 29, 1935 (49 Stat. 961) and June 4, 1936 (49 Stat. 1463), $900,000, of which not to exceed $400,000 may be expended for completion of the construction of a diversion dam in the Rio Grande wholly in the United States, with appurtenant connections to existing irrigation systems.

8

RELIEF OF THE COAST FIR AND CEDAR PRODUCTS CO., INC.

An act for the relief of the Coast Fir and Cedar Products Company, Incorporated. of June 24, 1937, 50 Stat. 1003)

(Act

[Payment of $2,480.34 of Treasury funds authorized.]-That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to pay, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to the Coast Fir and Cedar Products Company, Incorporated, of Portland, Oregon, the sum of $2,480.34, in full satisfaction of all claims of such company against the United States arising out of a certain contract of sale (number 12r-1318) entered into by such company with the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, under date of April 18, 1928, for the delivery of certain railroad crossties for use in connection with the Owyhee irrigation project in Oregon: Provided, That no part of the amount appropriated in this Act in excess of 10 per centum thereof shall be paid or delivered to or received by any agent or agents, attorney or attorneys, on account of services rendered in connection with said claim. It shall be unlawful for any agent or agents, attorney or attorneys, to exact, collect, withhold, or receive any sum of the amount appropriated in this Act in excess of 10 per centum thereof on account of services rendered in connection with said claim, any contract to the contrary notwithstanding. Any person violating the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not exceeding $1,000.