Amendment No. 6, page 18: Pollution of navigable waters of the United States. Item adds new section making it unlawful to discharge or deposit from any source whatever any free acid or acid waste in any form into any navigable water of the United States. or into any tributary of any navigable water above tidewater, and provides penalties to be applied on conviction for violation of the provisions of this section. House conferees recede with an amendment striking out the proposed language and inserting in lieu thereof a section providing for an investigation by the War Department regarding the discharge or deposit into navigable streams of free acid, acid waste, or other deleterious matter and to report to Congress the extent to which the same exists and the sources thereof together with any injurious results therefrom affecting the navigability of such waters or any works of improvement made thereon by the United States or any other uses of said navigable waters, such report to contain recommendations regarding same which may be deemed appropriate. Amendments Nos. 7, 8, and 9, pages 19, 20, and 21: Items renun bering sections of House bill. House conferees recede. Amendment No. 10, page 22: Modification and readjustment of terms of uncompleted contracts for work of river and harbor improvement. Item adds new section providing that if the Secretary of War shall determine that contracts for work of river and harbor improvement entered into prior to April 6, 1917, and uncompleted, have become inequitable and unjust on account of increased costs of material and labor and other unforeseen conditions arising out of the war, he is authorized to modify and readjust the terms of said contracts in a just and equitable manner, such modifications and readjustments to apply only to work under said contracts remaining to be done hereafter, and any such sum as may be necessary to provide for the increased cost of the contracts due to said modifications and readjustments, not exceeding the sum of $2,000,000, is appropriated by the new section. It is also provided that as a condition of any such contract being so modified that the Secretary of War shall have the right, at the end of any fiscal year, until the contract is completed, to make such further modifications as in his judgment shall be advantageous to the United States and just to the contractor. House conferees recede with verbal amendment, substituting the word "being" for the word "be" in line 10, page 23. Amendment No. 11, page 23: Item adopts the following section: SEC. 10. That hereafter when the expenses of persons engaged in field work or traveling on official business outside of the District of Columbia and away from their designated posts of duty are chargeable to appropriations of the Engineer Department, a per diem of not exceeding $4 may be allowed in lieu of subsistence when not otherwise fixed by law. House conferees recede. JNO. H. SMALL, CHAS. F. ВоOOHER, Managers on the part of the House. O TO EXTEND THE TIME OF FILING APPLICATIONS FOR PATENTS. JUNE 5.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. Mr. CHARLES B. SMITH, from the Committee on Patents, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. R. 8763.] The Committee on Patents to whom was referred H. R. 8763, respectfully report that they have had the tion and recommend that the bill do pass. same under consideraThe bill is as follows: A BILL To amend the act entitled "An act to extend temporarily the time for filing applications and fees and taking action in the United States Patent Office in favor of nations granting reciprocal rights to United States citizens," approved August seventeenth, nineteen hundred and sixteen. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Staets of America in Congress assembled, That the act entitled "An act to extend temporarily the time for filing applications and fees and taking actions in the United States Patent Office in favor of nations granting reciprocal rights to United States citizens," approved August seventeenth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, be amended to read as follows: SECTION 1. That any applicant for letters patent or for the registration of any trade-mark, print, or label, being within the provisions of this act, if unable during war or within six months thereafter, on account of conditions arising out of war, to file any application or pay any official fee or take any required action within the period now limited by law, shall be granted an extension of nine months beyond the expiration of said period. SEC. 2. That the provisions of this act shall be limited to citizens or subjects of countries which extend substantially similar privileges to the citizens of the United States. "SEC. 3. That this act shall be operative to relieve from default under existing law occurring since August first, nineteen hundred and fourteen, and all applications and letters patent and registrations in the filing or prosecution whereof default has occurred for which this act grants relief shall have the same force and effect as if said default had not occurred." This bill was recommended by the Commissioner of Patents for reasons which he set forth in a statement to the Committee on Patents. Following is Commissioner Newton's statement: This is a bill to extend to the allies the privilege of filing applications for patents more than a year after they are filed in their own country when they have been prevented from filing during the year on account of the conditions of the war. It is rather an important bill, since we have about 100 applications waiting for its passage; in fact, it is the most important one to be considered. The trading-with-the-enemy act gave to the enemy the right to file applications in this country, and it also gave them the right to file them more than a year after they had filed in their native country. The present statute gives a foreigner, an Englishman, for instance, who files an application in his own country the privilege of filing in this country within a year from the time he files in his own country, or if he fails to file within the year, his patent is invalid when taken out in this country. We found that there were so many cases where they could not get their applications over here within a year that when the trading-with-the-enemy act was introduced there was a provision made in it that the Germans and their allies could file in this country more than a year after they filed in their own country. That privilege has never been extended to our allies at all. The trading-with-the-enemy act extends it to our enemies and does not extend it to our allies, so there can be no question, I think, but what we ought to pass that bill. That is the only question involved. I might add we do not grant any of those countries the privilege to file more than a year after the granting of patent i their own country unless those countries grant the same privileges to American citizens. That is a fundamental condition in all those bills. 1 The Committee on Patents voted unanimously to report the bill favorably and recommended its passage. It is especially desired that the measure pass at the present session of Congress, in view of the fact that more than a hundred applications are now pending in the Patent Office and can not be acted on in view of the inconsistency of the law as it now exists. A letter from Acting Secretary of the Interior A. T. Vogelsang was submitted to the committee favoring the passage of the bill. This communication is as follows: Hon. CHARLES B. SMITH, Chairman Committee on Patents, House of Representatives. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, MY DEAR MR. SMITH: The Commissioner of Patents informs me that on September 27, 1917, he submitted to you a copy of a proposed amendment to the act "to extend temporarily the time for filing applications and fees and taking action in the United States Patent Office in favor of nations granting reciprocal rights to United States citizens," approved August 17, 1916. Until this act is passed we will be in the position of extending privileges under the trading-with-the-enemy act to our enemies while denying the same privileges to our allies, which is, of course, regrettable. The commissioner states that this proposed bill was introduced in the Senate (S. 3524) and in the House (H. R. 8763), but no further action has been taken, and I write to request that since there can be no objection to this bill, and since there are numerous cases in the Patent Office that are awaiting action the bill be passed during the present session if possible. Very truly, yours, ALEXANDER T. VOGELSANG, The committee voted unanimously to report the bill, and no objection whatever was raised to it while under consideration by the committee. O QUOTAS OF FORCES RAISED FOR MILITARY SERVICE. JUNE 5, 1918.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. Mr. DENT, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany H. J. Res. 294.] The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the joint resolution (H. J. Res. 294) providing for the time of application of the method of determining quotas of forces to be raised for military service as authorized in a joint resolution approved May 16, 1918, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass. This legislation is recommended by the War Department. It is for the purpose of making the provisions of S. J. Res. 123 retroactive in the matter of the method of determining quotas under the draft. O |