4. Should the land not be purchased, some of the owners will have leased at a sacrifice on account of having to remove cattle, etc., from the lands. This necessitated either their selling at the present low prices or securing other pasture lands.

5. By first indorsement, date June 24, 1917, from the commanding general, Southern Department, to The Adjutant General of the Army, the following reasons were given for the acquisition of this land:

"The Leon Springs Military Reservation is an excellent tract of land, of about 17,273.87 acres, for military purposes. It has, however, a number of disadvantages. "(a) Owing to its distance (22 miles) from Fort Sam Houston, it takes two (2) days for Infantry to make the march.

"(b) It is now becoming somewhat crowded on account of the cantonments recently completed and under construction for four regiments of Field Artillery, one regiment of Infantry, one regiment of Engineers, a training camp that will accommodate 3,000 student officers, a large remount depot, storehouses, and two (2) small-arms target ranges.

"(c) The greatest dimensions of the reservation from north to south is about 5 miles and from east to west about the same, but the tract is quite irregular, and the difficulties of conducting suitable maneuvers on this ground have been found in the past to be serious when large bodies of troops are employed.

"(d) Additional room is very much needed for artillery practice, machine-gun practice, exercises in combat firing, and for maneuvers of large bodies of troops, notwithstanding that the cantonment now under construction for the Regular troops was located up against the western boundary line of the reservation in order to avoid undue interference in the use of the ground for range practice and maneuvers.

"It is proposed to extend the reservation toward the south for a distance of about 5 miles, having an area of approximately 16,000 acres, the land costing on an average $18.96 per acre-a very reasonable price. The advantages of this enlargement are as follows:

"(a) It will bring the portion of the reservation on which camping is possible within 10 miles of the post instead of 22 miles, making it an easy march for Infantry. "(b) It will more than double the value of the tract for maneuvers and for artillery practice.

"(c) It will bring on the reservation 12 additional wells, with a total of 168,000 gallons of water per day. This is an important matter, as water has been scarce at times. [There are also two on the Muesser tract, one on the Lieber tract, a very strongwell on the Sand, Lime & Brick Co. tract, and one on the Rudolph Aue tract valued at $1,200.]

"(d) It will afford large additional areas for grazing animals and for cutting hay. It is to be noted that by using hay cut on the reservation it will be possible to save $5 per ton. Since each animal consumes on an average of 2 tons of hay per year, it is not impossible to pay the interest on the value of this property in savings on hay alone.

"(e) Finally, it will add to the reservation an area making the whole an important field for the concentration of troops and training ground worthy of its importance."

To the CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON MILITARY AFFAIRS,

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, April 9, 1918.

United States Senate.

SIR: Favorable consideration of Senate bill 2704 is requested. The desirability of this tract of land for military purposes has previously been brought to your attention by a letter under date of November 22, 1917. The purchase option on this leased ground, which it is proposed the Government acquire by purchase, expires July 1, 1918. Should the land not be purchased, some of the owners will have leased at a sacrifice on account of having to remove their stock from the land, necessitating the disposing of same at the market price at that time or securing other pasture lands. This land is used as a target range at present for both Artillery and Infantry troops, and it is of the greatest importance that for the training of troops at that point this land be acquired by the Government.

Respectfully,

BENEDICT CROWELL,
Acting Secretary of War.

CARRYING OF CONCEALED WEAPONS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

JUNE 18, 1918.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. JOHNSON of Kentucky, rom the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 12224.]

The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 12224) entitled "A bill to punish the carrying of concealed deadly weapons in the District of Columbia," having considered. the same, reports it back to the House with the recommendation that the bill do pass.

O

AMENDMENT TO ESPIONAGE ACT.

JUNE 18, 1918.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. GARD, from the Committee on the Judiciary, suomitted the

following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 9094.]

The Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives having had under consideration the bill (H. R. 9094) to amend section 1 of Title VIII of the act entitled "An act to punish acts of interference with the foreign relations, the neutrality, and the foreign commerce of the United States, to punish espionage, and better to enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and for other purposes," approved June 15, 1917, report the same back with amendment and with the recommendation that the bill as amended do pass.

The amendment reported is as follows:

In line 18, on page 2, after the comma, insert "or whoever shall willfully and knowingly present to the Department of State such false or untrue statement with intent to influence its action with respect to the protection of such persons or concerns."

The reasons given for the proposed amendment are very well set forth in a letter from the Secretary of State, from which the following are material excerpts:

There appear to be no provisions in the Federal Penal Code defining as an offense the making of false representations under oath to the Secretary of State under circumstances of the character indicated in the proposed amendment. It will be observed therefore, that, at the present time, persons may with impunity submit false oaths to this department for the purpose of obtaining assistance and protection to which they are not properly entitled. As such assistance and protection often entails negotiations with foreign Governments, it is important to determine with precision the facts of the particular cases involved, and as the department must in a great measure rely upon the affidavits of the parties in interest, you will readily perceive that it is very desirable that the making of false affidavits in such cases should be prevented, so far as possible by severe penalties, rather than be left to be regulated as is now the case merely by the moral sense of right of the affiants, whose personal interests in most instances are involved.

Since the beginning of the present war, there have been added to the list of the preexisting diplomatic claims of American citizens against foreign Governments hun

dreds of claims incident to the war and conditions obtaining in Mexico. The department's circular instruction for the preparation of the memorials of such claims requires that such memorials be made under oath. Yet it appears that under existing law the submission of false memorials subjects the claimant to no penal liability. It will therefore be seen that this department is at the risk of appearing in a false light in connection with its diplomatic representations to foreign countries which are grounded upon the statements contained in such memorials.

Large numbers of the claimants against foreign Governments are corporations, and it is very often a perplexing question to determine whether the interests represented are properly entitled to the diplomatic protection of this Government. The claimant may be a corporation organized in the United States, but owned largely or principally by aliens, or it may be a foreign corporation whose stock is owned in the main by American citizens. Again, the ownership of stock by American citizens may be merely nominal and may have been arranged for the particular purpose of obtaining diplomatic protection for interests which substantially and equitably belong to aliens. Instances of this kind come to the department's attention not infrequently. It appears that in at least one case the department was recently called upon to protect the interests of a certain American concern which, as subsequently developed, appeared to be acting as a cloak for the interests of agents of the German Government in the United States. It is, of course, very difficult, if not impossible, in cases of this kind to ascertain definitely the relative extent of the legal and equitable interests of American citizens and aliens which are involved. In another recent case, strong and protracted diplomatic representations were made by the department in support of the interests of an American corporation whose stock, according to the affidavits received by the department, was owned exclusively by American citizens and whose property, which had been seized as enemy owned, had been entirely paid for by the corporation. The department's efforts to secure the release of the property were unsuccessful. In the prize court the property was declared forfeited as enemy owned, the court basing its decision upon the ground that the evidence adduced indicated that the money with which it was purchased by the American corporation was furnished indirectly by a national of the enemy country.

It is understood that the corporation just mentioned has appealed from the decision of the prize court, and that therefore the truth or falsity of the statements under oath, upon which the department relied in making its diplomatic representations in the company's behalf, remains to be finally established.

In another similar case the department was repeatedly and insistently requested to support the interests of an American corporation which owned several unregistered vessels. While, from affidavits submitted, it appeared that substantially all the stock of the corporation was owned by an American citizen, the department, only after considerable difficulty, was able to ascertain that this person had no actual financial interests whatever in either the corporation or the vessels. This fact he admitted after ascertaining that the department was informed regarding the nature of his connection with the concern.

As of interest in this relation I may also invite attention to the famous case of La Abra Silver Mining Co., in which this Government was ultimately called upon to reimburse the Mexican Government to the extent of more than half a million dollars for the indemnity which had been collected from that Government on behalf of this company on false and fraudulent evidence. Information regarding the facts of this case may be found in Moore's International Arbitrations, Volume II, pages 1287-1348, and Moore's American Diplomacy (1918), page 322.

The recent cases mentioned above as well as the old case of the La Abra Silver Mining Co. are but a few of those which might be cited, wherein the department has been called upon to protect the interest of persons who are not properly entitled to such protection. They demonstrate, however, as clearly as any which now occur to me the need for the enactment of the proposed amendment, and seem to me to show clearly that this department should not be required longer to labor under conditions which permit it to be imposed upon with impunity in this manner in connection with matters of international concern and to be grossly misled as to the nature and extent of the interests of American citizens and concerns which it may be called upon to protect.

I may advise you in this relation that the department intends shortly to make certain amendments to its circular of information regarding the preparation of diplomatic claims and to print therein section 1 of Title VIII of the espionage act should it be amended as suggested.

Since writing my letter of January 10 it has occurred to me that claims might be fabricated upon the false affidavits of persons residing in foreign countries and that