4 A BILL TO AMEND THE ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO THE SEVERAL STATES FEBRUARY 15-20, MARCH 30-31, WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1916 Струг 2.8.2.1/12/17 LANDS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. COMMITTEE ON THE PUBLIC LANDS, The committee this day met, Hon. Scott Ferris (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee has met this morning to hear some gentlemen in regard to H. R. 8491, entitled "A bill to amend the act entitled 'An act to amend sections twenty-two hundred and seventy-five and twenty-two hundred and seventy-six of the Revised Statutes of the United States, providing for the selection of lands for educational purposes in lieu of those appropriated,' and to authorize an exchange of lands between the United States and the several States." The bill reads as follows: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provisions of the act of Congress approved February twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-one (Twenty-sixth Statutes at Large, page seven hundred and ninety-six), entitled "An act to amend sections twenty-two hundred and seventy-five and twenty-two hundred and seventy-six of the Revised Statutes of the United States providing for the selection of lands for educational purposes in lieu of those appropriated, and for other purposes,' are hereby declared applicable to the grants of school lands made by the acts of February twenty-second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine (Twenty-fifth Statutes at Large, page six hundred and seventy-six), July third, eighteen hundred and ninety (Twenty-sixth Statutes at Large, page two hundred and fifteen), and July tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety (Twenty-sixth Statutes at Large, page two hundred and twenty-two), and all selections heretofore made and approved under said grants and in accordance with said act of February twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, if otherwise lawful, are hereby ratified and confirmed; that all pending and unapproved selections heretofore made under said grants and in accordance with said act, if found otherwise regular, and for lands subject to selection at date of approval may be approved under the provisions of said act. SEC. 2. That said act of February twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, is hereby amended by addition of the following section: "That as to all surveyed or unsurveyed sections in place granted or reserved to the use of schools and included within national forests it shall be lawful for the State in pursuance of an agreement, either prior or subsequent hereto, between the State and the Secretary of Agriculture to relinquish its claim, right, and title thereto and select in lieu thereof other unappropriated nonmineral lands of approximately equal value designated by the Secretary of Agriculture and lying within the present boundaries of any national forest or forests within the State wherein the exchange is to be made; that upon the consummation of the exchange herein authorized and its approval by the Secretary of the Interior the President of the United States is authorized to eliminate from such national forest the lands so selected for and on behalf of the State: Provided, That the lands granted in place to such State or Territory and surrendered under the provisions hereof shall, upon the approval of the indemnity or exchange, revert to and become a portion of the national forest wherein located, subject to all the laws, rules, and regulations thereto applicable: Provided further, That the agreement between the State of South Dakota and the Bureau of Forestry, January fourth, nineteen hundred and ten, so far as heretofore consummated in accordance with the proclamation of the President, February fifteenth, nineteen hundred and twelve (Thirty-seventh Statutes at Large, page seventeen hundred and twenty-nine), is hereby ratified and confirmed." 3 |