The superintendent and the Indians interested have informed the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that the lands herein described have never been used for the purpose intended. The Indians have left the vicinity and now live at such distances that they do not wish to open or start any new cemetery on these tracts. The tribal business committee has therefore requested that the lands be sold, the proceeds to constitute a fund out of which other tracts more suitable for their purposes may be purchased. The bill has been drafted to meet their wishes and the enactment of its provisions will be appreciated by them and by this department. The lands are described as follows: SE. 1⁄4 SE. 1⁄4 sec. 3, T. 9 N., R. 10 W. I. M., in Oklahoma-40 acres. N. 1⁄2 NE. 4 NW. 4 and SE. 1⁄4 NÉ. 1⁄4 NW. sec. 10, T. 7 N., R. 10 W., I. M., in Oklahoma-30 acres. Very truly yours, RAY LYMAN WILBUR, Secretary. О CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS IN NATIONAL PARKS MARCH 1, 1932.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. LEAVITT, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 6059] The Committee on the Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 6059) to continue the authorization for the construction, reconstruction, and improvement of roads and trails, inclusive of necessary bridges, in, and approach roads to, the national parks and monuments under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass with the following amendment: Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert: That for the purpose of carrying out, except as herein modified, the provisions of the act of April 9, 1924 (43 Stat. 90; U. S. C., title 16, 390, sec. 8), entitled, "An act authorizing the construction, reconstruction, and improvement of roads and trials, inclusive of necessary bridges, in the national parks and monuments under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior," as amended by the act of January 31, 1931 (46 Stat. 1053, 1054), and the act of March 4, 1931 (46 Stat. 1570), there is hereby authorized to be appropriated for each of the fiscal years ending June 30, 1934, and June 30, 1935, out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, $5,000,000, of which not to exceed $1,000,000 may be allocated each year in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior for the construction, reconstruction, and improvement of such approach roads to national parks and national monuments, inclusive of necessary bridges, as were commenced prior to January 1, 1932. The amendment is suggested by the Secretary of the Interior and has the approval of the Bureau of the Budget. This measure provides for a continuation of construction and maintenance of the highway systems of the national parks and extends for an additional two years the provision of the act of January 31, 1931, allowing the use of a portion of the appropriation for the purpose of extending the systems within the parks to such outside connections. as are necessary and not otherwise provided for. The construction and maintenance of adequate highways for the national parks is essential to the welfare and safety of the people of all of the States and foreign countries, who visit these parks in great numbers. This authorization is required to bring this system of highways up to approximately the standard of the outside roads. It is a continuation of work under way. Authorization for construction of such highways will soon expire. The measure under consideration merely continues the authorization so as to permit further work upon the projects commenced prior to January 1, 1932; it does not provide for the construction of entirely new projects. The bill as amended conforms to the suggestion of the Secretary of the Interior and meets with approval of the Bureau of the Budget. The Secretary's report is as follows: Hon. JOHN M. EVANS, Chairman Public Lands Committee, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, House of Representatives. Mr. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: In response to your request of December 21 for a report on H. R. 6059 entitled "A bill to continue the authorization for the construction, reconstruction, and improvement of roads and trails, inclusive of necessary bridges, in, and approach roads to, the national parks and monuments under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, and for other purposes," I transmit herewith a memorandum on the subject that has been submitted by the Director of the National Park Service and in which full details regarding the purpose of this legislation are given. This legislation has been considered by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, who has advised that the same as covered by H. R. 6059 would not be in accord with the financial program of the President, but would not be in conflict therewith if modified to authorize appropriations of $5,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1934 and 1935, as follows: "Be it enacted, etc., That for the purpose of carrying out, except as herein modified, the provisions of the act of April 9, 1924 (U. S. C., title 16, p. 390, sec. 8), entitled 'An act authorizing the construction, reconstruction, and improvement of roads and trails, inclusive of necessary bridges, in the national parks and monuments under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior,' as amended by the act of January 31, 1931 (46 Statutes, pp. 1053, 1054), and the act of March 4, 1931 (46 Statutes, p. 1570), there is hereby authorized to be appropriated for each of the fiscal years ending June 30, 1934, and June 30, 1935, out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, $5,000,000 of which not to exceed $1,000,000 may be allocated each year in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior for the construction, reconstruction, and improvement of such approach roads to national parks and national monuments, inclusive of necessary bridges, as were commenced prior to January 1, 1932.” This legislation is considered urgently necessary and I recommend that the same if amended as suggested by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget receive favorable consideration by Congress. Very truly yours, RAY LYMAN WILBUR. Memorandum for the Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Reference is made to letter dated December 21, from the chairman, Committee on Public Lands, inclosing copy of H. R. 6059 entitled "A bill to continue the authorization for the construction, reconstruction, and improvement of roads and trails, inclusive of necessary bridges, in, and approach roads to, the national parks and monuments under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, and for other purposes," with request for report thereon. As indicated by the title this legislation would extend the authorization for the roads and trails program in the national parks and national monuments, and for approach roads to said areas, and provide for appropriations therefor for the fiscal years 1934 and 1935. The first specific roads and trails appropriation for national parks and national monuments was not made until 1924, and we are still far behind the forest highway and Federal aid programs inaugurated in 1917, which have provided modern highways in most places up to the park boundaries. At this time we have brought our foreseeable program up to date. This new program includes new parks authorized to be established, and partly established, namely, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in North Carolina and Tennessee, Mammoth Cave National Park, in Kentucky, Shenandoah National Park, in Virginia, and the Isle Royale National Park, in Michigan. In the western parks it does not contemplate any great amount of actual new road construction but provides for reconstructing existing roads, originally built for horse-drawn vehicles, to modern standards of grade, alignment, and width, and the use of crushed rock surfacing and an oil binding to eliminate the dust nuisance and to save surface material from blowing away. With the increasing traffic it will be necessary to plan on providing permanent hard surfacing within a few years. For the next several years the program to keep in line with the forest highway and Federal-aid programs should provide for appropriations on the present basis of $7,500,000 a year without regard to national park and monument approach roads. With reference to park and monument approach roads, I am of the opinion that this work should not devolve on the National Park Service although it is recognized that unless we complete the few projects that are eligible under the restriction of law that they cross lands wholly or to the extent of 90 per cent owned by the United States, no other agency will undertake them. There are only a few such projects and it seems desirable, if not essential, that we complete those that have been started. Estimates indicate that it will require an additional two year authorization for their completion. I have to recommend that H. R. 6059 be given favorable consideration by the department and Congress. HORACE M. ALBRIGHT, Director. о |