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more than the lawful fees or purchase money on valid entries, or where illegal amounts have been collected by such officers through misinterpretation of the laws or instructions or by clerical error. There is no principle of equity or good conscience by which the Government can retain moneys which have been paid into the Treasury under these circumstances, and yet as the law now stands there is no authority for returning such funds to the persons entitled thereto. The purpose of the present bill is to provide for repayment in cases of this character.

The present bill is identical with section 2 of the act of 1880, except in lines 6, 7, and 8, on page 2 of the bill, where it is provided that repayment may be had in all cases where parties have been "required to pay more than the lawful fees, commissions, excesses, or purchase money." This is the only amendment in the law as it now stands, and it is believed that this provision will meet all meritorious cases not already included under the law.

The passage of this bill is recommended by the honorable Secretary of the Interior and the honorable Commissioner of the General Land Office, whose communications thereon are attached as a part of this report.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
Washington, January 23, 1907.

SIR: In letter of the 9th instant you inclosed, for the views of the Department, H. R. 22588, entitled "A bill for the relief of homestead and other entrymen who have been required to pay more than the legal fees, commissions, excesses, and purchase money."

In reply to your letter I have the honor to inclose copy of a report on the bill by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, who recommended its passage as drawn. The bill amends section 2 of the act of June 16, 1880 (21 Stat. L., 287), which provides that where an entry is canceled for conflict or has been erroneously allowed and can not be confirmed, the fees and commissions. amount of purchase money, and excess paid upon the same shall be repaid "to the person who made such entry, or to his heirs or assigns," and in case of double minimum excess paid for land, "to the purchaser thereof, or to the heirs or assigns."

The proposed amendment is in the final clause of the bill, and provides for repayment to the entryman or to his heirs or legal representatives." In my view, the words "legal representatives" should be replaced by the word "assigns," used in the first part of the bill and also in the act of 1880. This change is believed advisable, not only to secure uniformity of expression in the bill, but also because the word "assigns," as used in the act of 1880, has received construction by this Department, the Treasury Department, and the courts, and has thus come to have a well-defined meaning in connection with the repayment law.

With the foregoing suggestion, I concur in the recommendation of the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

Very respectfully,

E. A. HITCHCOCK,

The CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE PUBLIC LANDS,

House of Representatives.

Secretary.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., January 18, 1907.

SIR: I am in receipt, by reference of the 11th instant, from the First Assistant Secretary, "for early report in duplicate, with recommendation, of H. R. 22588, for relief of homestead and other entrymen who have been required to pay more than the legal fee, commissions, excesses, and purchase money," the same being accompanied by

letter of Hon. John F. Lacey, chairman House Committee on the Public Lands, requesting that the matter be made special.

The bill is as follows:

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section two of the act of June sixteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty (Twenty-first Statutes, page two hundred and eighty-seven), be amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 2. That in all cases where homestead or timber culture or desert land entries or other entries of public lands have heretofore or shall hereafter be canceled for conflict, or where, from any cause, the entry has been erroneously allowed and can not be confirmed, the Secretary of the Interior shall cause to be repaid to the person who made such entry, or to his heirs or assigns, the fees and commissions, amount of purchase money, and excesses paid upon the same, upon the surrender of the duplicate receipt and the execution of a proper relinquishment of all claims to said land, whenever such entry shall have been canceled by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and in all cases where parties have been improperly charged the double minimum price for minimum land, or where they have been required to pay more than the lawful fees, commissions, excesses, or purchase money, the excess shall in like manner be repaid to the entryman or to his heirs or legal representatives.""

In response to the reference, I beg to state that the amendment proposed is embraced in the final clause of the bill, lines 4 to 9, inclusive, page 2, and extends the relief provisions of the law to be amended so as to cover “all cases where parties have been required to pay more than the lawful fees, commissions, excess, or purchase money,' in making entries on public lands.

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The act of January 12, 1825 (Rev. Stats., secs. 2362, 2363), provided for refundment of purchase money where the Government could not convey title to the land entered, and the act of June 16, 1880. extended relief to include the return of fees and commissions on homestead entries that could not be confirmed and of the illegal excess where double-minimum price had been paid for lands afterwards found not to be within any railroad land grant.

The terms of these laws in effect excluded from their beneficial operation any cases not specifically included therein; such, for example, as where the local officers had required more than the lawful fees or purchase money on valid entries from misinterpretation of the laws or instructions or by clerical error. Numbers of claims based on such excessive collection have been denied by this Office because there was no lawful authority for refundment. Probably the majority of such denied claims was based upon entries on which double-minimum price was exacted for lands which had been by law reduced to the minimum price. În these cases, although the exactions were illegal, yet the entries themselves not having been "erroneously allowed" and being subject to confirmation, and actually within the limits of a railroad land grant, are therefore not cases in which the amounts wrongfully exacted and paid can be returned to the entrymen under the law as it now stands.

The proposed amendment would legalize these claims, and being in the interest of public probity and otherwise unobjectionable, I respectfully recommend its enact

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HARBOR ACCOMMODATIONS FOR FOREIGN WAR VESSELS VISITING HAMPTON ROADS DURING JAMESTOWN EXPOSITION.

FEBRUARY 5, 1907.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. Foss, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, submitted the

following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 25368.]

The Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 25368) to provide for the harbor accommodations, movements, and anchorage of foreign vessels of war visiting Hampton Roads during the Jamestown Exposition, having carefully considered said bill report the same with the recommendation that it do pass.

The committee append herewith the letter of the Secretary of the Navy favoring the passage of the bill as a part of this report.

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NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 22, 1906. the holding

SIR: By act approved March 3, 1905, 'to provide for * of an international naval, marine, and military celebration in the vicinity of Jamestown, on the waters of Hampton Roads, in the State of Virginia," and for other purposes (33 Stat. L., 1046), the following appropriation was made:

"One hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for the official entertainment of foreign military and naval representatives, of which amount $100,000 shall be expended by the commander in chief of the North Atlantic Fleet, under the supervision of the Secretary of the Navy Fifteen thousand dollars for permanent moorings for the use of vessels participating in said celebration at Hampton Roads, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Navy. Ten thousand dollars for exhibiting on the scene of the engagement between the Monitor and Merrimac one or more of the old monitors of that period, in order to illustrate the progress of naval construction."

In response to an invitation from the United States, the principal countries of the world have signified their intention to participate by naval representation in the celebration at Jamestown for which the above provision has been made by Congress. The number of foreign naval vessels visiting Hampton Roads during the continuance of the exposition will, therefore, it may fairly be assumed, be large, and it is appropriate that the naval authorities of this country be fully empowered to make such regulations as will assure the safe, orderly and convenient harbor accommodations of foreign fleets and vessels of war, as well as to secure the necessary room and policing of courses upon the occasions of the international naval competitions and exhibition drills that will form a feature of the ceremonies.

I have the honor, therefore, to inclose herewith the draft of a provision conferring upon the Secretary of the Navy the authority requisite to provide suitable anchorage and harbor room for these events. The bill as here submitted follows almost precisely the language of the act of March 3, 1893 (27 Stat. L., 730), by which similar authority was conferred upon the Secretary of the Navy in connection with the celebration of the World's Columbian Exposition.

Very respectfully,

Hon. GEORGE EDMUND Foss,

V. H. METCALF, Secretary.

Chairman Committee on Naval Affairs,

House of Representatives.

A BILL To provide for the harbor accommodation, movements, and anchorage of foreign vessels of war visiting Hampton Roads during the Jamestown Exposition.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Navy be, and he is hereby, authorized and empowered to define and establish suitable anchorage grounds in Hampton Roads and the adjacent waters during the continuance of the Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition to be held in pursuance of the provisions of the act of Congress approved March third, nineteen hundred and five, and the act of Congress approved June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and six, and the Secretary of the Navy is hereby further authorized to make such rules and regulations regarding the movements of all vessels in the roadstead and harbor named as may be necessary in order to insure the proper and orderly conduct of the naval features of the exposition and provide for the safety of the vessels participating therein, and such rules and regulations when so issued and published shall have the force and effect of law.

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