58TH CONGRESS, 3d Session. SENATE. { REPORT No. 3330. DISPOSITION OF USELESS PAPERS IN THE DEPARTMENTS, ETC. JANUARY 25, 1905.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. PETTUS, from the Joint Select Committee on Disposition of Useless Papers in the Executive Departments, submitted the following REPORT. [With reference to act of February 16, 1889.] The Joint Select Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives, appointed on the part of the Senate and on the part of the House of Representatives, to which were referred the reports of the heads of Departments and Bureaus, etc., in respect to the accumulation therein of old and useless files of papers which are not needed or useful in the transaction of the current business therein, respectively, and have no permanent value or historical interest, with the accompanying statements of the condition and character of such papers, respectfully report to the Senate and House of Representatives, pursuant to an act entitled "An act to authorize and provide for the disposition of useless papers in the Executive Departments," approved February 16, 1889, as follows: Your joint committee have met and carefully and fully examined the said reports referred to your committee and the statements of the condition and character of such files and papers, and have made a personal inspection of the files and papers therein described, and we find and report that the files and papers described in the report of the Postmaster-General in Senate Document No. 179, Fifty-eighth Congress, second session, dated March 3, 1904, are not needed in the transaction of the current business of the Post-Office Department and Bureaus, and have no permanent value or historical interest, and should be sold as waste paper or otherwise disposed of, upon the best terms obtainable, as provided by law; except two parts of that report of the Postmaster-General contained in said Senate Document No. 179, as follows: 1. The law does not authorize the committee to consider whether standing authority to dispose of useless papers should be given to the heads of Departments. 2 DISPOSITION OF USELESS PAPERS IN THE DEPARTMENTS, ETO. 2. The Postmaster-General did not exhibit to us "Requisitions for steel postmarking stamps, requisition for rubber stamps, and requisitions for inks and pads for the year 1903, and new office sheets for the years 1898, 1899, 1900, and 1901," but withdrew from us that part of his report. Respectfully submitted to the Senate and House of Representatives. EDMUND W. PETTUS, CHESTER I. LONG, Members on the part of the Senate. Member on the part of the House. 58TH CONGRESS, 3d Session. SENATE. REPORT No. 3331, RESTORING CERTAIN LANDS TO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. JANUARY 25, 1905.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. NELSON, from the Committee on Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 6644.] The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (S. 6644) to authorize the President of the United States to cause certain lands heretofore withdrawn from market for reservoir purposes to be restored to the public domain, subject to entry under the homestead law, with certain restrictions, having had the same under consideration, beg leave to report it back with the recommendation that it do pass. A similar bill was introduced in the Fifty-sixth Congress and passed the Senate, but was not reached in the House. The bill as then introduced was referred to the Department, and a favorable report was made upon it with certain suggested amendments. The present bill contains the amendments then suggested. The Senate report made upon the measure in the Fifty-sixth Congress is adopted as the report of the committee and reads as follows: [Senate Report No. 5, Fifty-sixth Congress, first session.] The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (S. 718) to authorize the President of the United States to cause certain lands heretofore withdrawn from market for reservoir purposes to be restored to the public domain, subject to entry under the homestead law with certain restrictions, beg leave to report it back with the recommendation that it do pass. A bill of the same nature passed the Senate in the Fifty-fifth Congress. The following excerpts are taken from the report submitted in connection with that bill: By Executive Order No. 872, of November 28, 1881, certain lands in northern Minnesota, around the headwaters of the Mississippi River, were withdrawn from sale and entry by reason of the fact that they would be needed for reservoir purposes and were likely to be overflowed in consequence of the construction of such reservoirs. A copy of said order is hereto attached and made a part of this report. The reservoirs in contemplation of construction at the time said order was issued have long since been completed, and it is now found that, with the exception of two tracts of land, none of the rest have been used or will be needed for the reservoirs, or are likely to be overflowed by the reservoirs. There is, therefore, no good ground for further withholding these lands from sale and entry under our public-land laws. The object of the bill under consideration is to restore these lands to the public domain for sale and entry under the homestead law. The War Department, under whose jurisdiction these lands have remained since their withdrawal, has prepared and approved of the bill, as appears from the following indorsements by the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War upon a letter in respect to this matter to the Secretary of War from Senator Nelson: OFFICE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, UNITED STATES ARMY, Respectfully returned to the Secretary of War. February 23, 1897. Hon. Knute Nelson, United States Senate, desires to know if there is any objection to the restoration to the public domain of certain land reserved by the Government for use in connection with the construction of a reservoir and dam on Leech Lake, headwaters of the Mississippi River; also, in what way said land can be restored. The land in question was withdrawn from sale or disposal by Executive proclamation No. 872, dated November 28, 1881 (copy herewith), for the work above mentioned, and there appears to be no objection to the restoration of the land to the public domain, with the exception of lot 7 of section 33, and lot 5 of section 34, township 144, range 28, upon which the south end of the Leech Lake reservoir dam rests, provided such restrictions are imposed as will reserve to the Government the right to overflow the land and protect it from any claims to compensation for such overflowing. An act of Congress approved June 20, 1890, authorized the restoration of certain other reservoir lands in this locality, and contains the provisions and restrictions deemed essential in this case. A draft of a bill, drawn on the lines of this act, is submitted herewith and it is believed that it will accomplish the purpose desired by Senator Nelson and protect the Government's interest in the reservoir and dam. JOHN M. WILSON, Brig. Gen., Chief of Engineers, United States Army. WAR DEPARTMENT, February 24, 1897. Respectfully returned to the Hon. Knute Nelson, United States Senate, inviting attention to the preceding indorsements hereon and to the inclosed papers therein referred to. DANIEL S. LAMONT, Secretary of War. Your committee accordingly recommend the passage of the bill with the following amendments: (1) Strike out all of section 2 after the word "it," line 8, and insert the following in the place thereof: "And in all cases where first or preliminary homestead entries have been made of the lands hereby restored, and the entrymen have attempted to make final proof and inal entry, such entrymen shall have a preferred and prior right to enter such lands under the homestead law on showing a compliance with the requirements of said law as to settlement, cultivation, proof, and payment.” (2) After the word "kind," in line 1 of section 3, insert the following: "Except as specified in the foregoing section." The object of these amendments is to protect the rights of inchoate homestead settlers who have been permitted to make preliminary entries, but have not been allowed to perfect the same. (No. 872.) PROCLAMATION BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WITHDRAWING FROM SALE OR DISPOSAL CERTAIN LANDS IN THE STATE OF MINNESOTA. Whereas, by the provisions of the second section of an act of Congress entitled "An act making appropriations for the construction, repair, preservation, and completion of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other purposes," approved June 18, 1878, the Secretary of War was directed to cause "an examination" to be made "of the sources of the Mississippi River and of the St. Croix River in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and of the Chippewa and Wisconsin rivers in the State of Wisconsin, to determine the practicability and cost of creating and maintaining reservoirs upon the head waters of said rivers and their tributaries for the purpose of regulating the volume of water and improving the navigation of said rivers and that of the Mississippi River, and an estimate of the damage to result |