Secretary of Agriculture determines, in addition to other findings and determinations required by this Act, that the issuance of such order is approved or favored by the processors who, during a representative period determined by the Secretary, have been engaged in canning or freezing such commodity for market and have canned or frozen for market more than 50 per centum of the total volume of such commodity canned or frozen for market during such representative period; and (B) any agricultural commodity (except honey, cotton, rice, wheat, corn, grain sorghums, oats, barley, rye, sugarcane, sugarbeets, wool, mohair, livestock, soybeans, cottonseed, flaxseed, poultry (but not excepting turkeys, eggs, (but not excepting turkey hatching eggs), fruits and vegetables for canning or freezing, and apples), or any regional or market classification thereof, not subject to orders under (A) of this paragraph, but not the products (including canned or frozen commodities or products) thereof. No order issued pursuant to this section shall be effective as to cherries, apples, or cranberries for canning or freezing unless the Secretary of Agriculture determines, in addition to other required findings and determinations, that the issuance of such order is approved or favored by processors who, during a representative period determined by the Secretary, have engaged in canning or freezing such commodity for market and have frozen or canned more than 50 per centum of the total volume of the commodity to be regulated which was canned or frozen within the production area, or marketed within the marketing area, defined in such order, during such representative period. No order issued pursuant to this section shall be applicable to peanuts produced in more than one of the following production areas: the Virginia-Carolina production area, the Southeast production area, and the Southwest production area. If the Secretary determines that the declared policy of the title will be better achieved thereby (i) the commodities of the same general class used wholly or in part for the same purposes may be combined and treated as a single commodity and (ii) the portion of an agricultural commodity devoted to or marketed for a particular use or combination of uses, may be treated as a separate agricultural commodity. All agricultural commodities and products covered hereby shall be deemed specified herein for the purposes of section 8c (6) and (7) of this title. 8. Rept. 91-491 91ST CONGRESS 1st Session SENATE { REPORT No. 91-492 REFERRING A LAND TITLE BILL, S. 202, TO THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF THE COURT OF CLAIMS OCTOBER 22, 1969.-Ordered to be printed Mr. ANDERSON, from the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, reported the following REPORT [To accompany S. Res. 277] The Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs reports an original resolution to refer the bill, S. 202, as amended, to provide that the United States disclaims any interest in a certain tract of land, to the Chief Commissioner of the Court of Claims, having considered the same, and recommends that the Senate agree to said resolution. BASIC FACTS The subject bill, sponsored by the senior Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Anderson) would quitclaim the interests of the Federal Government to a small tract of less than 8 acres within the Carson National Forest, N. Mex., to private claimants who trace their asserted title back to a patent signed by President Taft in 1911. The 1911 patent, in turn, was based on a land grant of some 60,000 acres made in 1742 by the Spanish Governor of New Mexico to three Spanish settlers. The part of the grant which is the subject of S. 202 contains 66.78 acres, but title to less than 8 of these acres is in controversy. After New Mexico became a territory of the United States, the United States recognized, in principle, the validity of such grants and in 1854 Congress, by the act of July 22, 1854 (10 Stat. 308), established a method by which such private claims could be confirmed by the United States. In accordance with this procedure, Antoine Leroux in 1857 filed application for confirmation of the grant on behalf of the representatives of the original grantees. After investigation by the surveyorgeneral, Congress confirmed the grant by the act of March 3, 1869 (15 Stat. 342). Subsequently, difficulty arose over the precise boundaries because of conflicts with other grants and other problems. In 1909 another survey was run and a patent based on it was issued by the Federal Government in 1911. In 1950, most of the Leroux Grant was conveyed to the United States by its owner at that time and made a part of the Carson National Forest through a land exchange. The exchange deed excepted from its provisions the 66.78 acres substantially as described in S. 202. The landowners point out that for a period of 40 years the survey line was treated as the actual boundary between the private land and the Forest Service land, and that the land was conveyed many times using the survey line as the boundary. They assert that the survey line was reaffirmed by a Regional Forester as recently as July 23, 1962. In 1963, however, one of the landowners was advised by the Forest Service that a cabin he had constructed there was on Forest Service land, and that the survey line sanctioned by the Government was not the proper boundary. ADMINISTRATION POSITION The reports of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior assert that the surveyor in 1909 disregarded instructions as to the proper location of the boundary line, and that as a result the private owner was given more land than the acreage to which he was entitled. They maintain that the United States should not be deprived of property by reason of error or failure to follow instructions on the part of one of its employees. The claimants, successors to the 1911 patentees, cannot take the Government of the United States into court because of sovereign immunity. The Department of Justice has declined to bring an action in court, and asserts it will not answer a complaint. COMMITTEE POSITION The committee, after public hearing and full consideration, is convinced that a court of law is the proper tribunal to settle a dispute over title to real property, especially when both the facts and the law are controverted. However, since the Government declines to sue or be sued in this case, the committee believes that it needs the guidance of an impartial finder of facts, and his conclusions as to the law and equity. Therefore, the committee decided to make use of that provision of title 28, United States Code, which authorizes reference by either House of Congress of bills to the Chief Commissioner of the Court of Claims for that purpose. The Congress will not be bound by the Chief Commissioner's findings and conclusions. EXECUTIVE AGENCY REPORTS The unfavorable reports of the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of the Budget on S. 202 are set forth below in full. It is pointed out that these reports are on the bill itself, and not on this resolution of referral. S. Rept. 91-492 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Hon. HENRY M. JACKSON, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This responds to your request for the views of this Department on S. 202, a bill "To provide that the United States disclaims any interest in a certain tract of land." S. 202 provides that the United States would disclaim any right, title, or interest it may have in a tract of land described as containing 66.78 acres, situated within the Carson National Forest, N. Mex. Section 2 would authorize and direct the Secretary of the Interior to prepare and execute without consideration any instrument necessary to carry out these purposes. The lands involved in the bill are part of a land grant made in 1742 by the Spanish Governor of New Mexico to three Spanish settlers. The grant described the lands as "taking for the boundary on the north to the Arroyo Hondo, and two leagues in latitude (south) shall be given him in the direction of the Del Norte River (west) and toward the mountain to its summit (east).” After New Mexico became part of the United States, Congress by the act of July 22, 1854 (10 Stat. 308), established the method by which all private claims would be confirmed by the United States. This was in accordance with the standard practice of recognizing grants made by predecessor governments prior to the United States acquiring the area. (Gates, History of Public Land Law Development, ch. VI.) In 1857, Antoine Leroux, on behalf of the representatives of the original grantees, filed an application for confirmation of the grant. The surveyor-general investigated the claim and in his report of October 5, 1861 (Private Land Claims, New Mexico, vol. 2, p. 943), recommended that it be confirmed. Congress confirmed the grant by the act of March 3, 1869 (15 Stat. 342). Subsequently, there was some difficulty over the survey of the grant because of conflicts with other grants and other problems. The matter ultimately came before this Department. On January 17, 1902, Secretary Hitchcock ruled that, among other things "The Department is of the opinion that the true boundary calls of this grant are susceptible of certain location, and that, as hereinbefore indicated, the limits of the grant are properly defined as follows: On the north by the Arroyo Hondo; on the east by the summit of the main chain or range of the Rocky Mountains; on the south by a line extending from the summit of the main chain or range of the Rocky Mountains to the Del Norte River, established at a distance of two leagues, right angle measurement, from the Arroyo Hondo and parallel to the general course thereof, said line to be run between stations fixed at such points as will make its course conform to every material change in the course of the Arroyo Hondo; on the west by the bed of the Del Norte River" (31 L.D. 202, 210). This decision also contains a large amount of background information about the claim. The patent issued on August 1, 1911, used the language of the Department decision quoted above. The "Instructions How to S. Rept. 91-492 |