of the Treasury after the expiration of each fiscal year to the State of Nevada, said moneys to be used by said State for the support of public schools or other educational institutions or for the construction of public improvements, or both, as the legislature of the State may direct.

Page 3, line 20, strike out the figure "9" and insert the figure "6." And as thus amended the committee recommend that the bill do pass.

The purpose of the bill is to encourage the discovery of artesian water on the public domain in the State of Nevada, without appropriation or expense on the part of the Government. The bill is local in its effect and extends only to the State of Nevada, where peculiar conditions seem to require such form of development.

According to the census of 1910 the land of Nevada is segregated as follows:

Total area....

Acres. 70, 285, 440

Reserved by the Government as forest reserves, Indian reservations, etc. 12, 068, 250
Held in private ownership...........
Unreserved and unappropriated..

2,714, 757 55,502, 439

According to the census of 1910 the population of the State of Nevada is 81,875. There is very little surface water in the State, and practically all that does exist has been appropriated. The future development of the agricultural land of the State seems to depend largely upon the development of artesian water. Congress has time and again refused to appropriate money for the exploration and development of artesian water, and therefore if the vast areas of arid lands in the State are to be developed it must be done through the individual and with private capital.

By reason of the peculiar condition that exists in the State it is not to be expected that the remaining great areas of public land will be developed under the homestead or other existing laws.

The bill is approved and its passage strongly supported by the Secretary of the Interior, as shown by the following report:

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTПRIOR,
Washington, February 16, 1915.

MY DEAR MR. FERRIS: I am in receipt of your request for report upon H. R. 21377, to encourage reclamation of certain arid lands in the State of Nevada. The bill is identical with S. 7109, upon which I submitted report to the Senate Committee on Public Lands January 7, 1915. A copy of said report is herewith inclosed, and for the reasons therein stated I recommend that H. R. 21377 be enacted.

Chairman Committee on Public Lands, United States Senate.

My DEAR SENATOR: I am in receipt of your request for report upon S. 7109, entitled "A bill to encourage the reclamation of certain arid lands in the State of Nevada, and for other purposes.'

The primary purpose of the bill appears to be to encourage the development of agricultural lands in the State of Nevada not susceptible of irrigation from any known source of surface water supply, but susceptible of being reclaimed by the applica

tion of underground waters. The Secretary of the Interior is to be authorized to grant to any qualified citizen, association, or corporation a permit for not exceeding two years to drill or explore for water beneath the surface of not exceeding 2,560 acres of unreserved, nonmineral, nontimbered public lands in the State of Nevada, and upon proof that water has been developed in sufficient quantities to produce agricultural crops upon not less than 20 acres of the land, is authorized to patent to the permittee one-fourth of the land embraced in the permit, a maximum of 640 acres, and to dispose of the lands remaining within the limits of such permit at public auction, in farm units of not less than 40 acres, to the highest bidder. The receipts are required to be distributed as follows: One-third to the reclamation fund created by act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat., 388); one-third for the improvement or maintenance of the State University; and the remaining one-third is to constitute a fund for the construction and maintenance of public highways and post roads in the State.

The land area of the State of Nevada, as shown by the report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office for the year ended June 30, 1914, is 70.841,600 acres. The area of undisposed of and unreserved public lands within said State is shown by the same report to be 55,502,439 acres. According to the Government census of 1910 the population of the State was at that time 81,875, and the assessed valuation of the property in the State for the year 1904, the last year for which statistics are available, was $36,270,135.

The geographical situation of the State of Nevada, the absence of large streams or other large bodies of surface waters, the aridity or semiaridity of the soil, and other conditions peculiar to the State, fully warrant the enactment of a special law designed to meet the situation and promote agricultural development. This is peculiarly true because there have been demonstrated to exist in certain of the valleys of the State large quantities of underground waters, which, after discovery, can be brought to the surface and applied to the irrigation of lands successfully. This condition is in all probability present in other localities within the State not yet explored, and if sufficient protection and inducement were extended, it is my opinion that material development would be the result, thus making productive large areas of rich land which would otherwise remain in an arid and unproductive state.

There is a large irrigation project in the State of Nevada under construction under the act of June 17, 1902 (supra), and the State is therefore vitally interested in the reclamation of such lands as can be reached with the surface water supply. The bill proposes to devote one-third of the proceeds thereunder to this work. In aid of the cause of education, the bill proposes to devote one-third of the proceeds to the State University.

The large surface areas, small population, and comparatively small amount of assessable property at present in the State, together with the limited number of wagon roads, railroads, and other transportation facilities, indicate strongly the need of further development in this direction and the necessity of Federal assistance. The bill therefore sets apart one-third of its proceeds as a fund for the construction and maintenance of public highways and post roads in the State. Intelligent expenditure of this fund and in the laying out and construction of the roads through cooperation between the State and the United States is provided for by the authorization of a road board to consist of the State engineer, the United States surveyor general for the State of Nevada, and a third member, to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior.

I believe the peculiar circumstances and conditions present in the State already adverted to, the resultant benefit to the State and indirectly to the United States, and the public, and important purposes to which the proceeds are to be devoted, fully warrant the enactment of the legislation. I therefore recommend that S. 7109 be passed.

Cordially, yours,

FRANKLIN K. LANE.

ADDITIONAL CIRCUIT AND DISTRICT JUDGES.

FEBRUARY 19, 1915.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. FLOYD of Arkansas, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 21441.]

The Committee on the Judiciary, having had under consideration the bill (H. R. 21441) to amend section 260 of the Judicial Code, report the same to the House with the recommendation that the bill be amended as follows and that as amended it do pass.

Amendment No. 1:

On page 2, in line 7, after the word "President" insert a comma and the following words: "if in his opinion the public good so requires." Amendment No. 2:

On page 2, in line 20, after the word "President" insert a comma and the following words: "if in his opinion the public good so requires.” Amendment No. 3:

On page 3, in line 6, after the word "resign" insert the words: "in a circuit or district in which an additional judge has been appointed as herein provided."

Attorney General James C. McReynolds, in his report dated December 1, 1913, recommends the necessity of this legislation in language as follows:

RECOMMENDATIONS.

1. Judges of United States courts, at the age of 70, after having served 10 years, may retire upon full pay. In the past many judges have availed themselves of this privilege. Some, however, have remained upon the bench long beyond the time when they were capable of adequately discharging their duties, and in consequence the administration of justice has suffered. The power of Congress to correct this condition is limited by the provision of the Constitution that judges shall hold their offices during good behavior. I suggest an act providing when any judge of a Federal court below the Supreme Court fails to avail himself of the privilege of retiring now granted by law, that the President be required, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint another judge, who shall preside over the affairs of the court and have precedence over the older one. This will insure at all times the presence of a judge sufficiently active to discharge promptly and adequately the duties of the court.

The present Attorney General, Thomas W. Gregory, on page 10 of the Attorney General's report, made December 7, 1914, renews the recommendations of his predecessor, Mr. McReynolds, as above quoted.

It will be observed that in the recommendations of the Attorney General and his predecessor touching this legislation it is suggested that the President "be required, with the advice and consent of the Senate," to appoint additional judges in cases referred to. Your committee have not deemed it advisable to follow the recommendations in this regard. Instead of making this provision mandatory we leave it optional with the President and provide that he may appoint additional judges in such cases if in his opinion the public good so requires." With this modification the bill conforms to the recommendations embraced in the reports of the present Attorney General, Mr. Gregory, and his predecessor, Mr. McReynolds.