the obstruction of roads, destruction of bridges, or discontinuance of ferries.

Amendments nos. 7 and 8: These amendments make the provisions of section 5 of the bill limiting the consideration of proposals for carrying mail on star routes apply to proposals for renewals by contractors. on star routes as well as original bidders for star-route contracts. The House recedes.

Amendment no. 9: This amendment requires the bidder or contractor in case of a star route to be a resident of the county from or to which the mail moves by water on such route. The Senate recedes.

T. G. BURCH,

HARRY L. HAINES,

FRED H. HILDEBRANDT,
FRANK CARLSON.

E. HAROLD CLUETT.

Managers on the part of the House.

о

TERM OF COURT AT MALONE, N. Y.

JUNE 1, 1937.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

Mr. CELLER, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 5963]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 5963) providing for the establishment of a term of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of New York, at Malone, N. Y., after consideration, report the same favorably to the House with an amendment, with the recommendation that as so amended the bill do pass.

The committee amendment is as follows: Page 1 line 8, after "States" insert "until, upon the recommendation of the Attorney General, such accommodations are furnished by the United States."

An annual term of the district court is established by this bill to be held at Malone, N. Y., on the second Tuesday in July. There is a proviso, which as amended by the committee, is to the effect that suitable accommodiations for the court at Malone must be furnished without expense to the United States, reserving authority to the Government to furnish quarters for the court in the future if, in the opinion of the Attorney General, the business of the court warrants it. The district judges of the northern district strongly recommend this legislation. A communication from Judge Cooper, the senior district judge, is attached hereto and made a part of this report. Judge Cooper points out that this extensive district has as one of its boundaries a long section of the Canadian border, along which arise numerous alien and smuggling cases, and that there is now no place where court is held in this area, the nearest place to Malone where court is now held being Utica, 160 miles distant. Judge Cooper gives it as his opinion that the enactment of this legislation will result in a saving of expense to the Government, in expedition of the business of the court, and better preservation of the rights of persons arrested.

ALBANY, N. Y., April 28, 1937.

Judge Cooper's letter follows:

CHAIRMAN OF THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE,

House Office Building, Washington, D. C.

DEAR SIR: My attention has been called to the bill introduced by Congressman Snell to amend the judiciary law by making the town of Malone, N. Y., a place for holding a stated term of the court in the northern district of New York. I assume that this bill has been referred to your committee.

There are two judges in this district. I am the senior judge, with residence and official headquarters in Albany. The junior judge is Frederick H. Bryant, who resides at Malone, N. Y., and whose official residence is the nearest place now fixed for holding court, namely Utica, N. Y., a distance of 160 miles from Malone. May I call your attention to the fact that the northern district of New York consists of 29 counties and extends from the Pennsylvania border on the south to the Canadian line on the north, and from New England on the east to a point between Rochester and Syracuse on the west, including the cities and counties in which they are located with Oswego, Auburn, Ithaca, Owego, and Binghamton. The district extends along the Canadian border from the eastern end of the boundary line west along the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario almost to Rochester. Geographically, the northern district comprises almost one-half of the total area of the State of New York.

There are numerous alien and smuggling cases which arise on this northern border. When these people are arrested they are lodged in jails in the northern part of the district. These cases arise more in the warm weather rather than in the winter when the heavy snows block the roads.

It makes for expedition of the business and saves expense to the Government and gives greater opportunity to present his defense to any innocent person who has been unjustly arrested in connection with these border offenses.

A bill like this should have been passed prior to this time, and I feel that the interests of the Government, the expedition of the business of the court, and the rights of persons arrested will be served by the passage of this bill.

Very truly yours,

о

(Signed) FRANK COOPER, United States District Judge.

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR HOLDING COURT AT
COLUMBIA, TENN.

JUNE 1, 1937.—Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

Mr. CHANDLER, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 6358]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 6358) to amend section 107 of the Judicial Code, with reference to providing suitable accommodations for holding the terms of the Federal Court at Columbia, Tenn., having heard and considered the same, report favorably to the House with the recommendation that the bill pass with the following amendment:

Strike out all of the bill following the word "out" in line 5 on page 1 and insert in lieu thereof the following:

the period at the end of said proviso, and adding the following: until, subject to the recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States with respect to providing such rooms and accommodations for holding court at Columbia, a public building shall have been erected or other Federal space provided for court purposes in said city.

Amend the title so as to read as follows:

A bill to amend section 107 of the Judicial Code with reference to providing suitable accommodations for holding Federal Court at Columbia, Tennessee.

GENERAL STATEMENT

The effect of the proviso in the existing Judicial Code, section 107, that suitable accommodations for holding Federal court at Columbia, Tenn., must be furnished without expense to the United States, has been construed by the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department to forbid the providing by the United States of suitable accommodations for holding Federal court there, and the pending bill is intended to remove the inhibition in order that the Joint Committee on Public Buildings may be free to consider the advisability of providing a Federal building at Columbia at such time as the committee may decide and Congress approve.

The Columbia Division of the Middle District of the United States Court in Tennessee comprises seven progressive counties having an aggregate population of 135,387. For a number of years, the semiannual terms of the Federal court in the Division have been held in the county courthouse at Columbia. In addition to the courtroom there are only two small rooms available for the use of witnesses in attendance on the court, for quarters for the United States marshal and his deputies, for quarters for the United States attorney and his assistants and clerks, for quarters for the clerk of the court and his deputies and also quarters for the prisoners who are being held for transportation to jails and penitentiaries. The county courthouse at Columbia is in the middle of the public square and two of the main highways of the State run through the square and around the courthouse.

The volume of litigation in the Columbia division requires that Federal court be held there for approximately 4 weeks each year. The United States attorney advises that about 150 cases, mostly criminal, are pending in the division now.

Columbia, Tenn., is a town of 11,500 population, and is the largest municipality in the Sixth Congressional District of Tennessee. An important substation of the Tennessee Valley Authority is located there, along with offices of other governmental agencies, both permanent and temporary. The various Federal offices are scattered over the city, and it may be advisable to consider the erection of a Federal building to house all of the Government agencies, including the post office. Therefore, the bill will leave the Joint Committee on Public Buildings free to consider the entire subject, as to which the Committee on the Judiciary makes no recommendation.

In compliance with clause 2a of rule XIII, existing law is printed below in roman, with matter proposed to be stricken out enclosed in black brackets, and new matter proposed to be inserted printed in italics:

The middle district shall include the territory embraced on the 1st day of July 1910 in the counties of Cannon, Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Humphreys, Houston, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford, Stewart, Sumner, Trousdale, Williamson, and Wilson, which shall constitute the Nashville division of said district; also the territory embraced on the date last mentioned in the counties of Bedford, Franklin, Lincoln, Warren, Grundy, Coffee, and Moore, which shall constitute the Winchester division of said district; also the territory on the date last mentioned in the counties of Hickman, Giles, Laurence, Lewis, Marshall, Wayne, and Maury, which shall constitute the Columbia division of said district: Provided, That witnesses attending court at Columbia shall be paid mileage for the shortest and most direct route from the home of the witness; also the territory embraced on the date last mentioned in the counties of Clay, Cumberland, De Kalb, Fentress, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Smith, Van Buren, and White, which shall constitute the northeastern division of said district. Terms of the district court for the Nashville division of said district shall be held at Nashville on the second Monday in March and the fourth Monday in September; for the Winchester division at Winchester on the first Monday in April and the third Monday in November; for the Columbia division at Columbia on the third Monday in June and the fourth Monday in November; and for the northeastern division at Cookeville on the third Monday in April and the first Monday in November: Provided, That suitable accommodations for holding the courts at Winchester, Columbia, and Cookeville shall be provided by the local authorities without expense to the United States, until, subject to the recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States with respect to providing such rooms and accommodations for holding Court at Columbia, a public building shall have been erected or other Federal space provided for Court purposes in said City.