CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. No.

ABROGATE A CONTRACT LEASE, MUSKINGUM RIVER, OHIO.

APRIL 11, 1916.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. SUTHERLAND, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany S. 4026.]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (S. 4026) authorizing and directing the Secretary of War to abrogate a contract lease of land and water power on the Muskingum River, Ohio, having considered the same, report thereon with amendment, and as so amended recommend that it pass. Amend the bill as follows:

Page 1, line 3, after the word "that" insert the words "upon the payment of an additional $8,800 by the lessees to the United States Government, to be paid within six months after this act is approved and with the understanding that none of the moneys paid by the lessees to the United States Government shall ever be refunded, and in satisfaction of all claims of both parties and in cancellation of the contract between the parties."

Page 1, line 4. strike out the word "abrogate" and insert in lieu thereof the word "cancel."

Page 2, lines 1, 2, and 3, strike out the words "The Secretary of War is hereby directed to collect no rental under lease other than that already paid in full for the first year of the contract."

Amend the title so as to read:

A bill authorizing and directing the Secretary of War to cancel a contract lease of land and water power on the Muskingum River, Ohio.

The facts in regard to the pending bill are these: Pursuant to the act of Congress of August 11, 1888, the Secretary of War leased to W. W. Mills, of Marietta, Ohio, S. D. Camden and Henry H. Archer, of Parkersburg, W. Va., on February 28, 1913, certain land and

water power on the Muskingum River in Ohio at dams Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 6 for a period of 22 years, upon the payment of an annual rent of $8,800. The lease was made to the men named after advertising for bids, no other bidders appearing. The lessees named had acted upon a report made by a local engineer, but subsequent to signing the contract and preliminary to making the improvements they contemplated for developing the water power they secured a report from a firm of hydraulic engineers, Messrs. Sanderson & Porter, of New York, upon the feasibility of the plan. The report was distinctly unfavorable and disclosed the fact that for the purpose for which the water power in question was intended to be used, on account of flood waters at certain seasons of the year and a scarcity of water during the summer months and for other reasons given, the plan was not feasible. The lessees had expected to use the power to be developed for the production of electrical power for interurban trolley line purposes.

The fact that the water power was insufficient and uncertain made it impracticable to utilize it where constant energy was needed. It developed that it would be necessary to maintain a 100 per cent reserve combustion power station, and the lessees, after paying a year's rental of $8,800 to the Government, decided to abandon the project. It is not held nor claimed that they have a legal right to ask the abrogation of the lease, but inasmuch as the enforcement of the lease would entail an unnecessary hardship under the circumstances, your committee has approved the bill, with the amendments suggested above, which provide that an additional year's rental shall be paid and that the money paid on the lease shall not be refunded. All the rights of the Government in and to the water power and land in question are intact and have been in nowise disturbed nor lessened in value. It is possible that the power can be utilized for other purposes not requiring constant application.

1st

BRIDGE ACROSS BAYOU BARTHOLOMEW, ARK.

APRIL 11, 1916-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. RAYBURN, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 10849.]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 10849) granting the consent of Congress to Ashley County, Ark., to construct a bridge across Bayou Bartholomew, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it pass.

The bill has the approval of the War Department, as will appear by the letter attached and which is made a part of this report.

[Second indorsement.]

WAR DEPARTMENT,

February 23, 1916.

Respectfully returned to the chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, House of Representatives.

The Chief of Engineers reports that House bill 10849, Sixty-fourth Congress, first session, “Granting the consent of Congress to Ashley County, Ark., to construct a bridge across Bayou Bartholomew," at or near the town of Wilmont, Ark., makes ample provision for the protection of the interests committed to the War Department, and I know of no objection to the favorable consideration of the bill by Congress so far as those interests are concerned.

H. L. SCOTT, Secretary of War ad interim.

O

TO AMEND SECTION 4931 OF THE REVISED STATUTES.

APRIL 12, 1916.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. OGLESBY, from the Committee on Patents, submitted the following REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 13618.]

The Committee on Patents, to whom was referred House bill 13618, respectfully report that they have had the same under consideration and recommend that the bill be passed.

The bill proposes to amend section 4931 of the Revised Statutes. The amendment consists of adding the following after the semicolon in line 9: "and that during the term of Letters Patent for a design heretofore or hereafter issued for one of the shorter terms, the owner thereof may at any time, but not later than thirty days prior to the expiration of the term for which said patent was issued, file with the Commissioner of Patents his election of one of the longer terms provided by law, said application being accompanied by an amount of money equal to the difference between the fee paid for the patent as issued and the fee that would have been required to be paid had the applicant for said patent originally elected such longer term. The Commissioner of Patents shall thereupon amend and modify the Letters Patent issued in such case so as to include the unexpired balance of such longer terms so elected by the owner of said Letters Patent."

Under section 4931, as it now stands, the inventor of a design has an option as to one of three terms of protection for his invention, based upon the payment of a fee of varying size. As the law now stands he is required to make his election in his application for patent. The amendment proposes to permit him to make his election at any time he desires to do so, providing it is done prior to the time (i. e., the expiration of the patent) when any intervening rights might arise. The amendment does not permit the owner to prolong his patent beyond the statutory term now allowed.

The bill as proposed in its present form meets with the approval of the Commissioner of Patents and is in line with the recommendation made by him in each of his annual reports.

It is believed that the enactment of this law will greatly increase the revenues of the Patent Office, and will furnish an incentive for the development of an American school of designers, because, as stated by the Commissioner of Patents, "The present method of protecting designs is so costly that designers make little use of it."