CONGRESS

BONDS FOR TERRITORIAL IMPROVEMENTS IN NEW

MEXICO.

MARCH 27, 1908.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. BEVERIDGE, from the Committee on Territories, submitted the

following REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 17055.]

The Committee on Territories, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 17055) to validate certain acts of the thirty-seventh legislative assembly of the Territory of New Mexico, having had the same under consideration, report it back to the House with the recommendation that

it pass.

In March, 1907, the thirty-seventh assembly of the Territory of New Mexico passed three laws, providing for the issuance of the bonds of the Territory, the proceeds to be used in the erection or extension of various public buildings.

The first of these acts authorized the issuance of bonds to the amount of $40,000, the proceeds to be used in the construction of armory buildings for the use of national guard organizations in the Territory, such buildings to be located at Santa Fe, Silver City, Las Cruces, and Roswell. The bonds are to be payable in thirty years and are to draw interest at the rate of 4 per cent per annum, payable semiannually.

The second act of the legislative assembly, approved March 21, 1907, provided for the issuance of bonds to the amount of $50,000, the proceeds to be used in constructing an extension to the present capitol building, which is now inadequate for the needs of the Territory, and $10,000 of which to be used in the erection of an executive mansion. These bonds are payable in thirty years and draw 4 per cent interest.

A third act of the legislative assembly, approved March 21, 1907, being an act to provide funds and make appropriations for the fiftyninth and sixtieth fiscal years, provided in sections 37, 38, and 39 for the issuance of bonds to the amount of $125,000, the proceeds to be used in the maintenance and improvement of certain Territorial institutions, as follows:

These bonds are also to run for thirty years and draw interest at the rate of 4 per cent per annum, payable semiannually.

The total amount of the bonds authorized by the three acts is $215,000. Careful provision appears to have been made for the disposition of the bonds and for the use of the proceeds therefrom. There appears to be no doubt that the indebtedness is being incurred for public necessities.

The reason why it is necessary for the Territory of New Mexico to ask Congress to ratify these acts is found in section 3, of the act of Congress approved July 30, 1886, which section is as follows:

That no law of any Territorial legislature shall authorize any debt to be contracted by or on behalf of such Territory, except in the following case: To meet a casual deficit in the revenues, to pay the interest upon the Territorial debt, to suppress insurrections, or to provide for the public defense, except that in addition to any indebtedness created for such purposes, the legislature may authorize a loan for the erection of penal, charitable, or educational institutions for such Territory, if the total indebtedness of the Territory is not thereby made to exceed one per centum upon the assessed value of the taxable property in such Territory as shown by the last general assessment for taxation.

In view of this limitation, where the debt of a Territory exceeds 1 per cent of the assessed valuation of property, any bonds which might be issued by the Territory incurring further indebtedness would be invalid and could not be sold, no matter how great a public necessity demanded the incurrence of the obligation. Therefore the express assent of Congress to the incurrence of indebtedness above the i per cent limit is required and has heretofore been given in a great many

cases.

Upon careful investigation the committee has ascertained through the treasurer of the Territory of New Mexico that the bonded indebtedness of the Territory July 1, 1907, was $803,000; that since that date bonds to the amount of $50,000 have been paid; that there is now on hand as a sinking fund for the redemption of bonds the sum of $64,764.27, so that on January 17, 1908, the net Territorial debt was $688,235.73.

It should perhaps be stated that the policy of the Territory in issuing new bonds and paying off old ones is wise, because the older bonds bear a comparatively high rate of interest and the new ones a low rate.

The net assessed valuation of property subject to tax, as shown by the tax rolls compiled by the traveling auditor of the Territory, is $48,509,097.26. On this basis the net indebtedness of the Territory is about 1.42 per cent of the assessed valuation, and therefore the Territory could not, under the provision of the act of July 30, 1886, above referred to, incur further indebtedness without the consent of Congress.

The committee believes that the indebtedness sought to be incurred under the three acts above referred to is justified by conditions in the Territory, and that the Territory in these cases ought to have the permission of Congress to issue the bonds.

CONFIRMING PRIOR ADMISSIONS TO CITIZENSHIP IN CERTAIN CASES, ETC.

MARCH 27, 1908.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. HEYBURN, from the Committee on Immigration, submitted the

following

REPORT.

[To accompany 8. 388]

The Committee on Immigration, to whom was referred the bill (S. 388) to confirm and legalize prior admissions to c tizenship of the United States where the judge or clerk of the court administering the oath to the applicant or his witness has failed to sign or seal the record, oath, or the judgment of admission and to establish a proper record of such citizenship, has considered the same and recommends its passage with certain amendments.

This same bill was introduced in the Fifty-seventh Congress and favorably reported April 24, 1902. At that time no written report was submitted, but Mr. Hoar, from the Committee on the Judiciary, made the following verbal report:

Perhaps before the bill is read Senators may catch the purport of it better if I make a simple statement. A considerable number of persons were naturalized by Territorial courts where all the necessary requisites for naturalization were complied with, but the certificates of the clerk of the court are defective in form. The court has gone out of existence, so that it now can not amend its record or make a certificate nunc pro tunc. Of those thus naturalized a few have taken up land, which they could only do if they were citizens, and all are entitled to vote. This bill, which was drawn by direction of my honorable friend from North Dakota, provides that there may be a hearing before a United States court, and if the judge finds that the requisites were in fact complied with, notwithstanding the defect of the certificate, he may so adjudge. It makes a general bill for all like cases.

The bill was favorably considered and passed, but failed of passage in the House. The bill was reintroduced in the Fifty-ninth Congress and favorably reported, but no written report was submitted.

On December 18, 1906, when the bill came up in the Senate, Senator McCumber made the following statement as to the purport of the bill and its object:

When we (in the Territory of North Dakota, now State of North Dakota) had our political judges and clerks during Territorial days, the records were not always kept

with a great deal of care. It was a time when the public lands were being taken up very rapidly in the Red River Valley, and a great many people of foreign birth were settling in the country at that time. Before the final proof could be made upon any land it was necessary that the claimant should be admitted to full citizenship. A great many of the claimants presented themselves and were duly admitted—that is, the testimony of two witnesses was taken in open court, the parties were sworn, the testimony of the applicant was also taken, and the party admitted to full citizenship. But in making the record, instead of making the usual entry that such a party appeared and was duly sworn and testimony was taken, and that upon the hearing the party was admitted to full citizenship in the United States, blank forms were kept for that purpose, and such blank forms contained an affidavit for each witness, also the affidavit of the party desiring to become a citizen, and also the judgment of the court. It was a blank form in a book kept for that purpose.

In making up the entries the names of the parties were placed in these records, the names of the witnesses, and the fact that they were duly sworn, but there is no record in any of the cases this bill is sought to cover that shows the seal of the court or shows a single jurat. So when a party desires to get a record of his citizenship in the court he does not get a certified copy of the record declaring that he was admitted to citizenship, but all that he can get from the records is this blank form filled in with his name, without the judge's signature, without the signature of the clerk, and without the seal of the court attached.

This court was necessarily abolished when the Territory was admitted to statehood. There was a successor of the record, but no successor of the particular court, as the functions of that court ceased upon statehood. So in order to get a record of citizenship it is necessary for this record to be corrected, of a showing to be made by the claimant who claims that he was a citizen that as a matter of fact his testimony was taken, and that the testimony of his witnesses was taken, and judgment was really directed by the judge in open court, and the clerk of the court failed to make the proper entries. That judgment, in my mind, absolutely admitted the claimant to citizenship without any question, but he has no complete record of it.

The history of the legislation which it represents by its operations is confined to what was originally the Territory of Dakota-now the States of North and South Dakota. It seems to your committee that the bill should be amended so that its provisions would apply to any Territory, and would recommend that it be amended in lines 3 and 4 by striking out the words "in the Territory of Dakota" and inserting in lieu thereof the words "in any Territory of the United States." The difficulty experienced because of the fact that the Territory of Dakota has passed out of existence and the officers of the courts in that Territory are no longer available for the purpose of making certificates as to transactions in such courts is equally applicable to other Territories that have become States.

In line 12 on page 1 your committee recommends that the word "action" be stricken out and the word "section" be substituted therefor.

The Secretary of Commerce and Labor, to whom the bill was referred on December 9, recommended by letter of December 18 that in lines 2, 3, 4, and 5 on page 4 the words "and the same shall be evidence of the facts therein recited, and conclusive evidence of the qualification of the said applicant at the date of such proceedings to become a citizen, as recited in said judgment," be stricken out and that there be substituted therefor the words "and the same shall be evidence of the facts therein recited, and of the qualifications of the said applicant at the date of such proceedings to become a citizen, as recited in said judgment, and to his admission to citizenship on said date." The effect of this amendment would be to limit the citizenship perfected by the proceedings so that it would only commence at the date of the judgment in the proceedings to correct the judgment and would not recognize the validity of such citizenship preceding the date of such judgment. This would partially defeat the purpose of the bill. The purpose