AMENDING SECTION 3613, REVISED STATUTES.

JANUARY 22, 1909.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. CLAYTON, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 24336.]

The Committee on the Judiciary, having had under consideration the bill (H. R. 24336) to amend section 3613 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, report the same favorably and recommend that said bill do pass.

The present law makes no provision for filling the office of an assistant treasurer, in the event of a vacancy, by the succession of the office to a deputy, for whose acts the sureties on the bond are responsible, as is the case with bonded officers generally, and therefore in such cases it is necessary for the Treasurer of the United States to go to the place where the subtreasury is located and take charge of the office until a successor of the assistant treasurer is appointed. It has therefore been necessary for the Treasurer to be away from his post in Washington for several months at a time administrating the affairs of a subtreasury simply because the law makes no provision for temporarily filling the vacancy.

The law now provides that in case of sickness or unavoidable absence of an assistant treasurer the Secretary of the Treasury nay authorize the chief clerk or some other employee in the office of the assistant treasurer to act in his place. A similar provision should be made for temporarily filling a vacancy occurring in said office, and the sureties on the bond of the assistant treasurer should be made liable for the misconduct of the acting officer; and this bill provides for such liability.

60TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. { {

REPORT No. 1899.

AMENDING SECTION 2625, REVISED STATUTES.

JANUARY 22, 1909.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. ALEXANDER, of New York, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 24337.]

The Committee on the Judiciary, having had under consideration the bill (H. R. 24337) to amend section 2625 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, report the same favorably and recommend that said bill do pass.

The present law provides that the estate of a deceased customs officer shall be liable for the acts of his deputy until the appointment of his successor. It sometimes happens that such officers have no such estate as would afford the Government adequate protection. It is therefore believed that the law should specifically make the sureties on the bond of a collector liable for the acts of his deputy during the collector's absence or in the event of his death, or that the deputy should be separately bonded, or both. The law relative to collectors of internal revenue (section 3143 as amended by section 2, act March 1, 1879, 20 Stats., 327, and by section 5, act March 2, 1895, 28 Stats., 807) contains such a provision relative to the liability of the surety on the collector's bond for the acts of his deputy during his absence or death.

60TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 2d Session.

DONATION OF CONDEMNED CANNON.

JANUARY 22, 1909.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. HULL, of Iowa, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. J. Res. 227.]

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the joint resolution (H. J. Res. 227) authorizing the Secretary of War to deliver a condemned cannon to the Grand Army of the Republic, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass.

This measure provides for donating to the Grand Army of the Republic one dismounted condemned bronze cannon. It is understood by the committee that the Chief of Ordnance has on hand several of these bronze cannon and that they are only valuable as old material, and it has heretofore been customary to donate one to the Grand Army of the Republic for the purpose of furnishing official badges of the order.

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60TH CONGRESS,}

60TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

{

REPORT No. 1901.

AUTHORIZING LEWIS BRIDGE COMPANY TO CONSTRUCT A BRIDGE ACROSS MISSOURI RIVER.

JANUARY 23, 1909.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. ADAMSON, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 26606.]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 26606) to authorize the Lewis Bridge Company to construct a bridge across the Missouri River, having considered the same, report thereon with amendment and as so amended recommend that it pass.

The bill as amended has the approval of the War Department, as will appear by the indorsement attached and made a part of this report. Amend the bill as follows:

In line 6, page 1, strike out the words "railroad, wagon, and foot passenger.'

[Second indorsement.]

WAR DEPARTMENT,
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS,
Washington, January 21, 1909.

Respectfully returned to the Secretary of War. The accompanying bill (H. R. 26606, 60th Cong., 2d sess.), to authorize the construction of a bridge across the Missouri River, is in the usual form, and makes ample provision for the protection of navigation interests. So far as tho-e interests are concerned, I do not know any objection to the favorable consideration of the bill by Congress.

[Third indorsement.]

W. L. MARSHALL, Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army.

WAR DEPARTMENT, January 22, 1909.

Respectfully returned to the chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, House of Representatives, inviting attention to the foregoing report of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army.

ROBERT SHAW OLIVER.
Assistant Secretary of War

60TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ( 2d Session.

PERMITTING CHANGE OF ENTRY IN CASE OF
MISTAKE, ETC.

January 22, 1909.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. MONDELL, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 26734.]

The committee having had under consideration House bill 26734, to permit change of entry in case of mistake of the description of tracts intended to be entered, report the same back with the recommendation that it do pass.

This bill is a substitute for H. R. 24836, which was sent to the Secretary of the Interior for report and expression of opinion relative to the advisability of the legislation, in which report the Secretary, after reviewing the present legislation on the subject and the decisions of the department thereunder, states:

The department has long recognized that section 2372, Revised Statutes, is inadequate to meet the requirements in correcting mistakes in many just and equitable

cases.

In 21 Land Decisions, page 37, referring to the limitations of the section above referred to, the Secretary said:

There can be no question of the legality or justice of allowing amendments where through no fault of entryman a mistake has been made in the description of the lands intended to be entered. The same reasoning might well apply in cases where the lands covered by the entry have been conveyed to a bona fide purchaser.

The bill in question was intended to relieve the class of cases which the Secretary referred to, and in reporting on the bill the Secretary proposed a substitute, which substitute was introduced in the form of the bill now reported.

There is appended hereto and made a part of this report the letter of the Secretary of the Interior of January 13, 1909, above referred to.

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