to the district courts of the United States and to the Court of Claims to hear and determine all claims for land patents under any law or grant of the United States. Whether concurrent with each other or with each other and the Land Office is not clear.

It is quite doubtful under the rulings of the Supreme Court whether the courts now provided by law for the Territories are “district courts of the United States" within the meaning of this bill, The effect of this legislation would, if they were held not to be such, be that as to all suits relating to lands in the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Oklahoma no other forum is provided than the Court of Claims at Washington. In this state of the case a settler, or one who has taken a mineral claim in any of these Territories, would be subject to be brought to the city of Washington for the trial of his case.

In view of the fact that all recent legislation of Congress has been in the direction of subdividing judicial districts and of bringing the United States courts nearer to the litigants, I can only attribute to oversight the passage of this bill, which in my opinion would burden the homesteader and preemptor whose claim is contested, whether by another individual or by any corporation, by compelling him to appear at Washington and to conduct with the formality and expense incident to court proceedings the defense of his title. But even in the case of land contests arising in the States where district courts exist the plaintiff, it will be observed, by this act is given the option to sue in those courts or to bring his adversary to Washington to litigate the claim. Why should he have this advantage, one that is not given so far as I know in any other law fixing the forum of litigation between individuals? Not only is this true, but the Court of Claims was established for the trial of cases between individuals and corporations on the one side and the United States on the other, and so far as I now recall wholly for the trial of money claims. There are no adequate provisions of law, if any at all, for conducting suits between individuals contesting private rights. The court has one bailiff and one messenger, no marshal, and is not provided, I think, either with the machinery or with the appropriation to send its processes to the most distant parts of the country. Yet it is apparent that under this bill the real issue would frequently be between rival claimants, and not between either and the United States. This court, too, is already bur dened with business since the reference to it of the Indian depredation claims, the French spoliation claims, etc., and it certainly can not be thought that a more speedy settlement of land claims could be there obtained than is now given.

Again, the bill is so indefinite in its provisions that it can not be told, I think, what function, if any, remains to be discharged by the General Land Office. It was said in answer to an interrogatory when the bill was under consideration that it did not affect claims pending in the Land Office; and yet it seems to me that its effect is to allow any contestant

in the Land Office at any stage of the proceedings there to transfer the whole controversy to the courts. He may take his chances of success in the Land Office, and if at any time he becomes apprehensive of an adverse decision he may begin de novo in the courts.

If it was intended to preserve the jurisdiction of the Land Office and to hold cases there until a judgment had been reached, the bill should have so provided, for it is capable of, and indeed seems to me compels, the construction that either party may forsake the Land Office at any stage of a contest. I am quite inclined to believe that if provision were made, as in section 1063 of the Revised Statutes, relating to claims in other departments, for the transfer to a proper court, under proper regulations, of certain contest cases involving questions affecting large classes of claims, it would be a relief to the Land Office and would tend to a more speedy adjustment of land titles in such cases, a result which would be in the interest of all our people.

Nothing is more disadvantageous to a community, its progress and peace, than unsettled land titles. This bill, however, as I have said, is so radical and seems to me to be so indefinite in its provisions that I can not give it my approval.

BENJ. HARRISON.

PROCLAMATIONS.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, pursuant to section 3 of the act of Congress approved October 1, 1890, entitled "An act to reduce the revenue and equalize duties on imports, and for other purposes," the Secretary of State of the United States of America communicated to the Government of Salvador the action of the Congress of the United States of America, with a view to secure reciprocal trade, in declaring the articles enumerated in said section 3 to be exempt from duty upon their importation into the United States of America; and

Whereas the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Salvador at Washington has communicated to the Secretary of State the fact that, in reciprocity for the admission into the United States of America free of all duty of the articles enumerated in section 3 of said act, the Government of Salvador will by due legal enactment, as a provisional measure and until a more complete arrangement may be negotiated and put in operation, admit free of all duty, from and after February 1, 1892, into all the established ports of entry of Salvador the articles or merchandise

named in the following schedule, provided that the same be the product or manufacture of the United States:

SCHEDULE OF PRODUCTS AND MANUFACTURES WHICH THE REPUBLIC OF SALVADOR WILL ADMIT FREE of all cuSTOMS, MUNICIPAL, AND ANY OTHER KIND OF DUTY.

6. Preparations of flour in biscuits, crackers not sweetened, macaroni, vermicelli, and tallarin.

7. Coal, mineral.

8. Roman cement.

9. Hydraulic lime.

10. Bricks, fire bricks, and crucibles for melting.

II. Marble, dressed, for furniture, statues, fountains, gravestones, and building purposes.

12. Tar, vegetable and mineral.

13. Guano and other fertilizers, natural or artificial.

14. Plows and all other agricultural tools and implements.

15. Machinery of all kinds, including sewing machines, and separate or extra parts for the same.

16. Materials of all kinds for the construction and equipment of railroads.

17. Materials of all kinds for the construction and operation of telegraphic and telephonic lines.

18. Materials of all kinds for lighting by electricity and gas.

19. Materials of all kinds for the construction of wharves.

20. Apparatus for distilling liquors.

21. Wood of all kinds for building, in trunks or pieces, beams, rafters, planks, boards, shingles, or flooring.

22. Wooden staves, heads, and hoops, and barrels and boxes for packing, mounted or in pieces.

23. Houses of wood or iron, complete or in parts.

24. Wagons, carts, and carriages of all kinds.

25. Barrels, casks, and tanks of iron for water.

26. Tubes of iron and all other accessories necessary for water supply.

27. Wire, barbed, and staples for fences.

28. Plates of iron for building purposes.

29. Mineral ores.

30. Kettles of iron for making salt.

31. Kettles of iron for making sugar.

32. Molds for making sugar.

33. Guys for mining purposes.

34. Furnaces and instruments for assaying metals.

35. Scientific instruments.

36. Models of machinery and buildings.

37. Boats, lighters, tackle, anchors, chains, girtlines, sails, and all other articles for

vessels, to be used in the ports, lakes, and rivers of the Republic.

38. Printing materials, including presses, type, ink, and all other accessories.

39. Printed books, pamphlets, and newspapers, bound or unbound, maps, photographs, printed music, and paper for music.

44. Sulphate of quinine.

45. Gold and silver in bars, dust, or coin.

46. Samples of merchandise the duties on which do not exceed $1.

It is understood that the packages or coverings in which the articles named in the foregoing schedule are imported shall be free of duty if they are usual and proper for the purpose.

And that the Government of Salvador has further stipulated that the laws and regulations adopted to protect its revenue and prevent fraud in the declarations and proof that the articles named in the foregoing schedule are the product or manufacture of the United States of America shall impose no additional charges on the importer nor undue restrictions on the articles imported; and

Whereas the Secretary of State has, by my direction, given assurance to the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Salvador at Washington that this action of the Government of Salvador in granting freedom of duties to the products and manufactures of the United States of America on their importation into Salvador and in stipulating for a more complete reciprocity arrangement is accepted as a due reciprocity for the action of Congress as set forth in section 3 of said act:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, have caused the above-stated modifications of the tariff laws of Salvador to be made public for the information of the citizens of the United States of America.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 31st day of December, 1891, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixteenth.

By the President:

JAMES G. BLAINE, Secretary of State.

BENJ. HARRISON.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it is provided by section 24 of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1891, entitled "An act to repeal timber-culture laws, and for other purposes

That the President of the United States may from time to time set apart and reserve in any State or Territory having public land bearing forests, in any part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as public reservations; and the President shall by public proclamation declare the establishment of such reservation and the limits thereof.

And whereas the public lands in the Territory of New Mexico within the limits hereinafter described are in part covered with timber, and it appears that the public good would be promoted by setting apart and reserving said lands as a public reservation:

Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States,

by virtue of the power in me vested by section 24 of the aforesaid act of Congress, do hereby make known and proclaim that there is hereby reserved from entry or settlement and set apart as a public reservation all those certain tracts, pieces, or parcels of land lying and being situate in the Territory of New Mexico and particularly described as follows, to wit: Commencing at the standard corner to township seventeen (17) north, ranges thirteen (13) and fourteen (14) east (New Mexico principal base and meridian) on the fourth (4th) standard parallel north; thence northerly along the range line between ranges thirteen (13) and fourteen (14) east to the closing corner between ranges thirteen (13) and fourteen (14) east on the fifth (5th) standard parallel north; thence along said fifth (5th) standard parallel to the southeast corner of township twentyone (21) north, range thirteen (13) east; thence north six (6) miles; thence west twelve (12) miles; thence due south to the fifth (5th) standard parallel; thence westerly on said fifth (5th) standard parallel to a point due north of the northwest corner of township seventeen (17) north, range eleven (11) east; thence south to the fourth (4th) standard parallel; thence westerly on said fourth (4th) standard parallel north seven and sixty-two one-hundredths (7.62) chains to the northwest corner of township sixteen (16) north, range eleven (11) east; thence southerly on the range line between townships sixteen (16) north, ranges ten (10) and eleven (11) east, three (3) miles and three and forty-three hundredths (3.43) chains to the corner to sections thirteen (13), eighteen (18), nineteen (19), and twenty-four (24) on said range line; thence easterly along the section lines to the range line between ranges eleven (11) and twelve (12) east; thence northerly three (3) miles and three (3) chains to the fourth (4th) standard parallel north; thence easterly on said fourth (4th) standard parallel eight (8) and fifty-hundredths (8.50) chains to the standard corner to township seventeen (17) north, ranges eleven (11) and twelve (12) east; thence northerly on the range line to the southwest corner of township eighteen (18) north, range twelve (12) east; thence easterly on the township line six (6) miles one and six-hundredths (1.06) chains to the southeast corner of township eighteen (18) north, range twelve (12) east; thence south six (6) miles to the fourth (4th) standard parallel north; thence east along said fourth (4th) standard parallel to the place of beginning.

Excepting from the force and effect of this proclamation all land which may have been prior to the date hereof embraced in any valid Spanish or Mexican grant or in any legal entry or covered by any lawful filing duly made in the proper United States land office, and all mining claims duly located and held according to the laws of the United States and rules and regulations not in conflict therewith.

Provided, That this exception shall not continue to apply to any particular tract of land unless the entryman or claimant continues to comply with the law under which the entry, filing, or location was made.

Warning is hereby expressly given to all persons not to enter or make settlement upon the tract of land reserved by this proclamation.