to pay to the State of Oklahoma for the benefit of agricultural and mechanical colleges therein established under the act of July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, as amended by the act of July twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, the sum of $262,500, in full and complete satisfaction of the grant made by said acts to new States of thirty thousand acres of public land of the value of $1.25 per acre, for each Senator and Representative in Congress. STATEMENT OF HON. JOSEPH B. THOMPSON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I feel that anything I might say would simply be very largely going over what has already been said by Mr. Hastings and by Mr. Murray, and what will be said in a great deal more detail by the other members of the delegation, and by Mr. Teehee, who is here and, perhaps, who will present the matter to the committee before the discussion is closed. However, I desire to say that this matter has been presented to the Secretary of the Interior in the form of a brief prepared by Mr. Teehee, which has been put in the record, and by oral argument on the part of Mr. Teehee, at which the members of the Oklahoma delegation were present with the exception of myself. I found that on that particular day I had a matter in the House which would not permit me to get away and, therefore, I could not be present, and I am not as familiar with this subject as the other members of the delegation. There are three members of our delegation who are intimately acquainted with the particulars of this matter, namely, the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. McClintic, the chairman of your full committee, Mr. Ferris, and Mr. Morgan, who lives on the west side of our State and who has had long experience as a land lawyer, having been, I think, either receiver or register of the land office.

I have not gone carefully over the briefs that were filed and have just gone, in a hurried manner, over the report of the Secretary of the Interior, or the report of the Assistant Secretary of the Interior, who passed on this matter, but from what I gather there are just two questions involved: First, that the department has no authority to grant this land because the act of 1862 only applied to States that were in the Union at that time, and, second, that the act of 1866 was not a grant but a mere pledge and that it always requires subsequent legislation in order to carry the pledge into effect. As Hastings has said, every State that came into the Union between 1862 and 1866 received the benefits of the act of 1862. There were three that came in between 1862 and 1866, West Virginia, Nevada, and Nebraska, and they all received the benefits of the act of 1862 and, of course, after 1866 there were a great number of States that were admitted prior to the admission of Oklahoma. To every one of those States that pledge was carried out by supplemental action on the part of Congress. Therefore, the Secretary says that in order to carry out the provisions of the act of 1862 and the act of 1866 it is necessary to have legislative action, that it is necessarily a legislative matter and not a matter for action on the part of the department.

Now, just one other thing, and Mr. Hastings touched on that. The enabling act was dated June 16, 1906, and we received under that act $5,000,000. As Mr. Hastings explained, that $5,000,000 was given to the common schools of the State and not in lieu of the public

that he thought the State of Oklahoma had already been taken care of, and the case has been hanging there until we took the matter up at this session of Congress, and Mr. Teehee presented the argument which finally resulted in the introduction of this bill, and the Secretary of the Interior rendered a report that no land had ever been given to any State except by direct grant of Congress, and that, in his opinion, if the State of Oklahoma received any benefits according to the provisions of these acts it would be necessary to follow that procedure. That is the reason why we are here to-day.

Mr. HASTINGS. That is about all I care to say at the present time, except to invite the attention of the committee to a bill which I introduced on this same subject, as follows:

[H. R. 15283, Sixty-fourth Congress, first session.]

A BILL Authorizing and directing the Secretary of the Interior to grant two hundred and ten thousand acres of nonmineral land to the State of Oklahoma for the benefit of agricultural and mechanical colleges therein established under the act of July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled "An act donating public land to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts," as amended by the act of July twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-six and authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury, upon the Secretary of the Interior certifying that there are not sufficient lands in Oklahoma to comply with the aforesaid acts, to pay to said State of Oklahoma, In lieu thereof, the sum of $262,500, in order to secure to said State the benefits of said acts.

Whereas there was granted to each State by the act of Congress approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled "An act donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agricultural and mechanic arts" (Twelfth Statutes, page five hundred and two) nonmineral land equal in quantity to thirty thousand acres of land of the value of $1.25 per acre for each Senator and Representative in Congress from each State, the proceeds to be used for agricultural and mechanical colleges; and

Whereas said act was amended by the act of July twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-six (Fourteenth Statutes, page two hundred and eight), extending the benefits of said act of July second, eighteen hundred and sixtytwo, to any Territory which may thereafter become a State or be admitted into the Union, conditioned upon such State expressing its acceptance of the terms of said act within three years from the date of its admission into the Union; and

Whereas the State of Oklahoma has in all things complied with the conditions of said act and accepted the terms thereof within the time required by the act of July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, as amended by the act of July twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-six; and Whereas the State of Oklahoma had two Senators and five Representatives when it was admitted to statehood on the sixteenth day of November, nineteen hundred and seven, and is entitled to two hundred and ten thousand acres of land under said act of July second, eighteen hundred an sixty-two, as amended by the act of July twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-six; and Whereas the said State of Oklahoma has not received said land, or any land in lieu thereof, for the benefit of colleges for agriculture and mechanical arts: Now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to grant to the State of Oklahoma two hundred and ten thousand acres of nonmineral land in said State of Oklahoma, the proceeds of the sale of which are to be used for the purposes set forth in the act of Congress approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled "An act donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts" (Twelfth Statutes, page five hundred and two), as amended by the act of July twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-six (Fourteenth Statutes, page two hundred and eight), and upon the Secretary of the Interior certifying to the Secretary of the Treasury that there are not sufficient lands in the State of Oklahoma to comply with this act, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized

to pay to the State of Oklahoma for the benefit of agricultural and mechanical colleges therein established under the act of July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, as amended by the act of July twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, the sum of $262,500, in full and complete satisfaction of the grant made by said acts to new States of thirty thousand acres of public land of the value of $1.25 per acre, for each Senator and Representative in Congress. STATEMENT OF HON. JOSEPH B. THOMPSON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I feel that anything I might say would simply be very largely going over what has already been said by Mr. Hastings and by Mr. Murray, and what will be said in a great deal more detail by the other members of the delegation, and by Mr. Teehee, who is here and, perhaps, who will present the matter to the committee before the discussion is closed. However, I desire to say that this matter has been presented to the Secretary of the Interior in the form of a brief prepared by Mr. Teehee, which has been put in the record, and by oral argument on the part of Mr. Teehee, at which the members of the Oklahoma delegation were present with the exception of myself. I found that on that particular day I had a matter in the House which would not permit me to get away and, therefore, I could not be present, and I am not as familiar with this subject as the other members of the delegation. There are three members of our delegation who are intimately acquainted with the particulars of this matter, namely, the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. McClintic, the chairman of your full committee, Mr. Ferris, and Mr. Morgan, who lives on the west side of our State and who has had long experience as a land lawyer, having been, I think, either receiver or register of the land office.

I have not gone carefully over the briefs that were filed and have just gone, in a hurried manner, over the report of the Secretary of the Interior, or the report of the Assistant Secretary of the Interior, who passed on this matter, but from what I gather there are just two questions involved: First, that the department has no authority to grant this land because the act of 1862 only applied to States that were in the Union at that time, and, second, that the act of 1866 was not a grant but a mere pledge and that it always requires subsequent legislation in order to carry the pledge into effect. As Hastings has said, every State that came into the Union between 1862 and 1866 received the benefits of the act of 1862. There were three that came in between 1862 and 1866, West Virginia, Nevada, and Nebraska, and they all received the benefits of the act of 1862 and, of course, after 1866 there were a great number of States that were admitted prior to the admission of Oklahoma. To every one of those States that pledge was carried out by supplemental action on the part of Congress. Therefore, the Secretary says that in order to carry out the provisions of the act of 1862 and the act of 1866 it is necessary to have legislative action, that it is necessarily a legislative matter and not a matter for action on the part of the department.

Now, just one other thing, and Mr. Hastings touched on that. The enabling act was dated June 16, 1906, and we received under that act $5,000,000. As Mr. Hastings explained, that $5,000,000 was given to the common schools of the State and not in lieu of the public

lands that the State of Oklahoma should have received. That amount of money was given for the schools of the eastern half of the State because that half was an Indian reservation.

Mr. TIMBERLAKE. In lieu of sections 16 and 36?

Mr. THOMPSON. Yes, sir; 16 and 36; it was given in the enabling act in lieu of that and did not apply to the agricultural colleges at all. That is the whole gist of this matter, and as there are members of the delegation who are much abler to present the matter than I am, having more familiarity with it, I just want to say that I hope for favorable action, and thank you for the hearing.

STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES S. DAVENPORT, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

Mr. DAVENPORT. Mr. Chairman, the only thing I desire to say is this: That all of the States, since the passage of the act of Congress of 1862 and the amendment of 1866, as you will find, have either received the benefit of the act by a grant of 30,000 acres for each of their Representatives in Congress or there was a specific reservation and a specific appropriation covered in the enabling act providing and exempting a particular State from receiving that specific appropriation, one of the two. You will not find a single State admitted since the passage of the act of 1862, and the amending act of 1866, that did not receive either of those two things.

Mr. TIMBERLAKE. Were there some State whose enabling act forbade their receiving this?

Mr. DAVENPORT. Not at that time, that I remember: I do not recall a single one. This grant was made at that time because the States were not coming into the Union very rapidly, and some of them had come in that had not received any of the benefits, and the act of 1862 was intended, evidently, to give to those States which had come in and had not received any public-land grant at all the benefit of the public-land grant on the establishment of agricultural, mechanical, and scientific colleges. It is my understanding that the act of 1862 applied to those States that were in the Union, and that the act of 1866 goes further in its provisions and extends that act to the States that might thereafter come into the Union, or to Territories which might be admitted into the Union as States, and gives to them the benefit of that grant. You will find, as I said, that each State coming in between 1866 and the time Oklahoma came in was given that grant by legislative enactment or got some other grant or some other donation of some kind which was specifically provided for in the enabling act. Oklahoma did not get that, nor is there any specific provision exempting it from that grant or saying that any grant given to Oklahoma was in lieu of that grant, as provided for in the acts of 1862 and 1866. Oklahoma got, as far as the records show, $5,000,000, but that was only to cover the question of the common schools in the eastern part of Oklahoma, where there were no sections 16 and 36, as it had always been carried in the States with reference to school lands. The western part of the State had received that school land grant, and the $5,000,000 was only intended to cover or equalize all parts of the State in common-school matters.

Mr. MCCLINTIC. Carrying out Mr. Davenport's argument, I will just quote the language of the enabling act of New Mexico and Arizona, and it reads like this:

And in lieu of the grant of 30,000 acres for each Senator and Representative in Congress, made by the act of July 2, 1862 (12 Stat. L., p. 503), which grants are herbey declared not to extend to said State, etc.

Mr. DAVENPORT. I was coming to that, because that is what I had reference to in my remarks.

Mr. TIMBERLAKE. What was the consideration they got in lieu of that?

Mr. DAVENPORT. Certain other grants of land. I was coming down to that. That is why I prefaced my remarks by saying that all the States admitted into the Union between 1862 and 1866 did receive that grant, and the States admitted subsequently that did not receive it had specific exemptions and provisions giving them some other lands in lieu of it. I was coming down to the evidence to show that there is no exemption provision giving to the State of Oklahoma anything in lieu of that grant.

Following that, the next two States that came into the Union were Arizona and New Mexico, and grants were made to them by specific provisions in lieu of the 30,000 acres for each Senator and Representative in Congress, as specifically set forth in their enabling acts. From my standpoint, this shows that there was no intention to exempt anything because of any donation or grant made to the State of Oklahoma for school purposes or any other purposes. There was no intention to exempt her from the provisions of this act, which was then in force, because if there had been it would have been written in the law. No mention is made of it and no attempt is made in any way whatever in the Oklahoma enabling act to exempt her from that grant, but when Arizona and New Mexico came in, after Oklahoma was admitted, they being the forty-seventh and forty-eighth States, an exemption was made, and it was specifically provided they should have in lieu of that grant other lands.

I believe that is all that I desire to present to the committee, as there are other gentlemen present who have given the matter thorough study. The only thing I want to say in conclusion is that from my viewpoint Oklahoma has never received anything in lieu of the grant provided for in the general law to new States and the statute is still in force. States coming in prior to Oklahoma did receive the benefit and the States that came in subsequent to that time have received by specific provision other benefits in lieu of the grant.

Mr. TIMBERLAKE. Do you know whether Arizona and New Mexico have received those grants?

Mr. DAVENPORT. I presume they have. There have been no complaints that I know of. It was my pleasure to serve on the committee that had charge of the legislation admitting those States into the Union. I am still a member of the Committee on the Territories, and I have heard no complaint that they did not get all that was granted to them in the enabling act.

Mr. MCCLINTIC. Answering your question, Mr. Timberlake, it appears that Arizona received 6,396,578 acres, the State of New Mexico received 5,700,364,8% acres, while the State of Oklahoma