Cong.), entitled "A bill authorizing the Snake or Piute Indians of the former Malheur Indian Reservation of Oregon to sue in the Court of Claims, and for other purposes," a copy of which you enclosed with your letter.

It appears that pursuant to the Executive order of March 14, 1871, a tract of laud east of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon, was withdrawn from market as public lands, with a view to selection of a reservation upon which to consolidate Indians east of the Cascade Mountains in said State. The Executive order of September 12, 1872, established and defined the boundaries of the Malheur Indian Reservation on the headwaters of the Malheur River and within the tract of land formerly set apart for reservation purpose by the Executive order of 1871; the Executive order of December 5, 1872, created the Fort Harney Military Reservation within the boundaries of the Malheur Indian Reservation; the Executive order of May 15, 1875, set apart a tract of land as an addition to said Indian reservation; the Executive order of January 28, 1876, restored to the public domain a portion of the land formerly set apart as an addition to the Malheur Indian Reservation by the Executive order of May 15, 1875, supra; and by the Executive order of July 23, 1880, the lands embraced within the Fort Harney Military Reservation were made a part of the Malheur Indian Reservation. The Executive orders of September 13, 1882, May 21, 1883, and March 2, 1889, restored to the public domain all the land comprising the Malheur Indian Reservation, it being stated that the same was no longer required for the purposes for which it had been set apart.

In this connection it appears from the reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that during June 1878 an outbreak occurred among the Indians in the locality of the reservation, whereupon the Indians left the reservation and at the close of the outbreak those who had taken part in the hostilities were removed to the Yakima Reservation in Washington Territory. Those Indians who did not go to the Yakima Reservation were reported as living in the vicinity of Camps McDermott, in Nevada, and Bidwell, in California, and the town of Winnemucca in Nevada.

Section 1 of the bill under consideration declares that, as a matter of law, the establishment of the aforesaid reservation and subsequent additions thereto by Executive orders, and the subsequent restoration of these lands to the public domain renders the United States liable to said Indians for the value of the land involved. It is not clear that the establishment of the reservation in the first instance was pursuant to any legal obligation. It may have been more in the nature of a benevolence or as a matter of control in which event the obligation to pay the Indians for the value of such lands when the reservation was abolished does not appear. It would appear, however, that such matter should be left to the determination of the court.

Section 1 of the bill then directs the Court of Claims to determine the acreage of the lands set aside for these Indians by the Executive orders mentioned therein and to determine the value thereof as fixed and classified under the terms of the public land and mining laws of the United States, provided the minimum value shall be fixed at $1.25 per acre. With respect thereto it would appear that the proposed legislation, if enacted, would establish a minimum price of not less than $1.25 per acre for the land which the court may decree was taken from the Indians and restored to the public domain. The Court of Claims, in many instances, has set the value of lands such as here involved at 50 cents per acre at the time of taking. See in this connection, The Fort Berthold Indians v. United States (71 Ct. Cls. 308, 340); Assiniboine Indian Tribe v. United States (77 Ct. Cls. 347, 373); Blackfeet et al. Nations v. United States (81 Ct. Cls. 101, 136). It would appear that the fixing of the value of any lands taken, for any of which the United States is found obligated to pay, should be left also for determination by the court. Aside from the two features referred to in the preceding paragraphs, this office has no suggestion or recommendation to make with regard to the proposed bill.

Sincerely yours,

(Signed) R. N. ELLIOTT, Acting Comptroller General of the United States.

О

SAFEGUARDING HOMING PIGEONS

OCTOBER 4, 1940.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. JONES, of Texas, from the Committee on Agriculture, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 7813]

The Committee on Agriculture, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 7813) to safeguard the homing pigeon, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass.

The attached letter from the Secretary of War, under date of April 18, 1940, sets out the purpose of this legislation.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, April 18, 1940.

Hon. MARVIN JONES,

Chairman, Committee on Agriculture,

House of Representatives.

DEAR MR. JONES: Complying with your request of February 17, 1940, a study has been made of H. R. 7813, a bill to safeguard the homing pigeon.

Due to the limitation of available funds, the War Department during peacetime is unable to maintain sufficient pigeons for its mobilization needs. It is contemplated by our mobilization plans that the vast majority of the homing pigeons required in the event of an emergency must be obtained from civilian pigeon associations of the United States.

The War Department is favorably inclined toward any legislation designed, as is this bill, to prohibit the slaughter of pigeons. Accordingly, the War Department recommends approval of the bill in question.

The Bureau of the Budget advises that there would be no objection to submitting this report to the committee.

Sincerely yours,

REGISTRATION OF CERTAIN ORGANIZATIONS

OCTOBER 7, 1940.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. SUMNERS of Texas, from the committee of conference, submitted the following

CONFERENCE REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 10094]

The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H. R. 10094) to require the registration of certain organizations carrying on activities within the United States, and for other purposes, having met, after full and free conference, have agreed to recommend and do recomment to their respective Houses as follows:

That the Senate recede from its amendments numbered 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, and 17.

That the House recede from its disagreement to the amendments of the Senate numbered 1, 2, 3, 7, 14, and 16, and agree to the same. That the House recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the Senate numbered 8, and agree to the same with an amendment, as follows:

Strike out ", and a copy of the minutes or journal of every such meeting" as proposed by the Senate amendment, and strike out the word "such" on page 5, line 21; and the Senate agree to the same.