IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, June 2, 1896 The President of the United States having returned to the House of Representatives in which it originated the bill (H. R. 7977) "An Act making appropriations for the construction, repair, and preservation of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other purposes," with his objections thereto the House proceeded in pursuance of the Constitution to reconsider the same; and Resolved, That the said bill pass, two-thirds of the House of Representatives agreeing to pass the same. Attest: A MCDOWELL Clerk. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, June 3, 1896. The Senate having proceeded, in pursuance of the Constitution, to reconsider the bill entitled "An Act making appropriations for the construction, repair, and preservation of certain public works on rivers. and harbors, and for other purposes," returned to the House of Repre sentatives by the President of the United States, with his objections, and sent by the House of Representatives to the Senate, with the message of the President returning the bill: Resolved, That the bill do pass, two thirds of the Senate agreeing to June 3, 1896. District of Columbia. Free library and lished. reading room estab Actions. etc. CHAP. 315.-An Act To establish and provide for the maintenance of a free public library and reading room in the District of Columbia. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a free public library and reading room is hereby established and shall be maintained in the District of Columbia, which shall be the property of the said District and a supplement of the public educational system of said District. All actions relating to such library, or for the recovery of any penalties lawfully established in relation thereto, shall be brought in the name Acceptance of gifts, of the District of Columbia, and the Commissioners of said District are authorized on behalf of said District to accept and take title to all gifts, bequests, and devises for the purpose of aiding in the maintenance or endowment of said library; and the Commissioners of said District are further authorized to receive as component parts of said library collections of books and other publications that may be transferred to them. SEC. 2. That all persons who are permanent or temporary residents of the District of Columbia shall be entitled to the privileges of said library, including the use of the books contained therein, as a lending or circulating library, subject to such rules and regulations as may be lawfully established in relation thereto. Privileges. Trustees. Composition. Appointment. Division for first ser vice. Powers of trustees. SEC. 3. That the said library shall be in charge of a board of library trustees, who shall purchase the books, magazines, and newspapers, and procure the necessary appendages for such library. The said board of trustees shall be composed of nine members, each of whom shall be a taxpayer in the District of Columbia, and shall serve without compensation. They shall be appointed by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia and shall hold office for six years: Provided, That at the first meeting of the said board the members shall be divided by lot into three classes. The first class, composed of three members, shall hold office for two years; the second class, composed of three members, shall hold office for four years; the third class, composed of three members, shall hold office for six years. Any vacancy occurring in said board shall be filled by the District Commissioners. Said board shall have power to provide such regulations for its own organization and government as it may deem necessary. SEC. 4. That the said board shall have power to provide for the proper care and preservation of said library, to prescribe rules for taking and returning books, to fix, assess, and collect fines and penalties for the Librarian, etc. loss of or injury to books, and to establish all other needful rules and regulations for the management of the library as the said board shall deem proper. The said board of trustees shall appoint a librarian to have the care and superintendence of said library, who shall be responsible to the board of trustees for the impartial enforcement of all rules and regulations lawfully established in relation to said library. The said librarian shall appoint such assistants as the board shall deem necessary to the proper conduct of the library. The said board of library Annual report. trustees shall make an annual report to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia relative to the management of the said library. SEC. 5. That said library shall be located in some convenient place in Location. the city of Washington to be designated by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia upon the recommendation of the trustees of said library: Provided, That in any municipal building to be hereafter erected in said District suitable provision shall be made for said library and reading room sufficient to accommodate not less than one hundred thousand volumes. Approved, June 3, 1896. Proviso. CHAP. 316-An Act For the relief of settlers on the Northern Pacific Railroad indemnity lands. June 3, 1896. Public lands. allowed other lands Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That those persons, their heirs, Pacific second indemor legal representatives, who, between the fifteenth day of August, anno nity grant, Minnesota, Domini eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and the first day of Janu- for canceled entries. ary, anno Domini eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, settled upon and made final proof and entry, under the homestead or preemption laws, of lands within the so-called second indemnity belt of the Northern Pacific Railway Company's grant in the State of Minnesota, which entries were afterwards, without their fault, canceled, upon establishing these facts before the register and receiver of the local land office, in such mode and under such rules as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be allowed to make final homestead entry, and receive a patent therefor, of a quantity of land of any of the unap propriated public lands of the United States subject to homestead entry, equal in acreage to the land proved up and entered in the said second indemnity belt, as aforesaid, without being required to make any settlement or improvement upon or cultivation of such land so entered prior to such entry; and those persons, their heirs or legal representatives, who, within the period aforesaid for the space of six tries not completed. months settled upon, improved, and cultivated any of said indemnity lands with a view of entering the same under the homestead or preemption laws, being competent to make such entries, and who were not permitted to make such entries, upon establishing these facts before the register and receiver of the local land office, in such mode and under such rules as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe, shall be allowed to enter under the homestead laws of the United States a quantity of land of the unappropriated public lands of the United States, subject to homestead entry, equal in amount to the land settled upon, improved, and cultivated, as aforesaid, and under the homestead entry so made, shall, when making proof and final entry, receive credit for the settlement, improvement, and cultivation made upon the said indemnity land as aforesaid: Provided, That the law in force in eighteen hundred and eighty-nine governing the commutation of homestead entries shall apply mitted. to the commutation of entries under this section. SEC. 2. That those who are entitled to make the homestead entries prescribed in the preceding section may make such entries of any of the agricultural lands embraced in the provisions of an Act entitled "An Act for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota," approved January fourteenth, eighteen hundred Allowance for en Proviso. Entries on Chippe wa lands. Vol. 25, p. 644. Rights not assignable. and eighty-nine, upon condition of paying for such lands the price prescribed in said Act. SEC. 3. That the right of homestead entry conferred by the provisions of this Act shall not be assignable, and no conveyance, sale, or transfer of the land so entered shall be valid or of any effect if made before patent has issued. Approved, June 3, 1896. June 3, 1896. District of Columbia. Great Falls Electric Vol. 27, p. 326; Vol. Washington and Railway Company. 28, p. 492. Route modified. CHAP. 317.—An Act To amend an Act entitled "An Act to incorporate the Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway Company.' Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Act entitled “An Act to incorporate the Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway Company," approved July twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, and the amendment thereto approved August twenty-third, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, be, and the same are hereby, amended as follows: Section one shall be amended to read as follows, commencing with the word "beginning," in line seventeen: "Beginning at a passenger station to be erected and maintained on the square bounded by Prospect, Thirty-fifth, M, and Thirty-sixth streets northwest, as hereinafter provided for; thence westerly along Prospect street to or near Thirty-eighth street northwest; thence westerly and northerly on land to be acquired, except at street crossings, by said company, to and across the Foxhall road; thence westerly along the top of the bluff on the north side of the Canal road, and outside and south of the southern boundary of the land of the Washington Aqueduct pertaining to the distributing reservoir, to a point on said boundary not more than six hundred feet from the western boundary of said land; thence across said land, but at no point less than two hundred feet from the outer crest of the dam of said reservoir, to said western boundary; thence westwardly on a route exterior to and on the south side of the land of the United States pertaining to the Conduit road to the land of the said aqueduct pertaining to the receiving reservoir; thence through said land to a point on the land of said aqueduct near the westerly foot of Dalecarlia Hill; thence westwardly on a route exterior to and on the south side of the land of the United States pertaining to the Conduit road, except in the vicinity of Washington Aqueduct boundary stone numbered thirty-one, as hereinafter described, to Cabin John Creek, returning thence along the same line, by return tracks to the place of beginning, with the privilege of constructing a branch line, with a single or double track, from the Conduit road lands south to Chain Bridge, and a branch line north, beginning and connecting at a point on its main line, about opposite said Chain Bridge; thence running northerly on land to be acquired by said corporation to the Conduit road; thence across the Conduit road at right angles and on the grade of this road; thence northerly on land to be acquired by said corporation, except across and along streets, where necessary, to a point Tennallytown on the Georgetown and Tenallytown Railway at or near the junction of the Loughboro road with the River road. Also, beginning and connecting on Thirty-seventh street northwest at its junction with Prospect avenue; thence north along Thirty-seventh street one hundred and twenty feet; thence easterly on land to be acquired by said corporation two hundred and forty feet; thence southerly on land to be acquired by said corporation one hundred and twenty feet to Prospect avenue and to connect with its present tracks: Provided, That there shall be but one railway parallel to and near the Conduit road; and wherever the route specified in this Act is parallel with or coincides with the route of any other railway the two companies shall maintain and use but one Penalty for violation. set of double tracks, and any violation of this provision by the said Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway Company shall operate Branch lines. To Chain Bridge. To road. Loop. Provisos. But one road paral. lel to Conduit road. Use of same tracks. Distance from Conduit road. Lease or purchase permitted. Issue of bonds. as a repeal of this charter; and matters of dispute between the com- Disputes. panies respecting railways parallel to the Conduit road, and affecting the same, in the District of Columbia shall be referred to and determined by the Secretary of War; and matters in dispute between the companies respecting railways on the Canal road shall be determined upon the application of either road to any court in the District of Columbia having competent jurisdiction. The inner rail of said Washington and Great Falls Railway shall not, at any place on the line of said railway, be less than one hundred feet from the middle of the paved portion of the Conduit road, except in the county of Montgomery, in the State of Maryland, in which county said inner rail shall not be less than fifty feet from the middle of the paved portion of the Conduit road; and the said railroad may cross, under such conditions as the Secretary of War may impose, the lands of the United States at Chautauqua, between Washington Aqueduct boundary stone numbered thirty-one and a planted stone south thirty-six degrees forty-three minutes west, and distant two hundred and six and five-tenths feet from Washington Aqueduct boundary stone numbered sixty-seven, at which place the inner rail of the tracks shall be not less than sixty-five feet from the middle of the paved portion of the Conduit road: Provided, however, That said Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway Company, being authorized thereto by a vote of the majority of its stockholders of record, may contract with any street railway company in the State of Maryland or the District of Columbia, owning or operating a connecting or intersecting line, for the joint management, lease, or purchase of such line or lines, and operate the same in connection and as an extension with its present line, and in case of such contract may provide the means necessary by an increase of its capital stock not to exceed the actual consideration paid or the actual cost of the necessary construction, completion, equipment, and maintenance thereof. And for the purpose aforesaid said company is hereby authorized and empowered to issue its bonds to aid in paying for such construction, completion, motive power, equipment, and maintenance aforesaid and to secure the said bonds by mortgage or deed of trust of its right of way and all its property and franchise of whatsoever kind, whether real, personal, or mixed, on the whole of said line, its extensions, and branches, and connections, the stock and bonds authorized to be issued and negotiated by said company, to the amount of six hundred and fifty thousand dollars, under the decree of the supreme court of the District of Columbia being hereby confirmed. Wherever the said railway sball run over or across any of the lands of the United States or any of the accessory works of the Washington Aqueduct, as provided in this Act, it shall be done only on such lines, in such manner, and on such conditions as shall be approved by the Secretary of War and accepted by said company, and no work shall be done on said railway on any of said lands until after such approval and acceptance in writing. No steam cars, locomotives, or passenger or other cars for steam railways shall ever be run over the tracks of said railway within the District of Columbia or on said lands. Said company shall, before commencing work on said railway, deposit with the Treasurer of the of inspection, etc. United States to the credit of the Washington Aqueduct the sum of five thousand dollars, or such other sum as the Secretary of War may deem proper, to defray all the expenses that may be incurred by the United States in connection with the inspection of the company's work on the lands of the United States and any of the company's work that may affect the interests of the United States, and in making good any damages done by said company or its works to any work or land or other property of the United States, and in completing, as the Secretary of War may deem necessary, any of the company's work that the said company may neglect or refuse to complete and that the Secretary of War may consider necessary for the safety of the Washington Aqueduct and the works pertaining thereto, including its telephone line, or for the proper drainage of the United States lands, its reservoirs, and Secretary of War to approve route, etc., on public lands. Steam power prohibited. Deposit for expenses Disbursement. Protection of mains, etc. Vol. 26, p. 793. Construction. other works, or for the proper use and orderly appearance of the Conduit road; and the said company and its successors shall also deposit as aforesaid such further sums for said purposes and at such times as the Secretary of War shall direct. The said moneys shall be disbursed like other moneys appropriated for the Washington Aqueduct, and whatever shall remain of said deposits after the completion of the work for which they may be obtained shall be returned to said company with an account of their disbursement in detail. The disbursements of said deposits shall, except in case of emergency, be made only on the order of the Secretary of War. During the construction and after the completion of said railway, its agents and servants, when on the public land of the United States, shall be subject to such regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe. The provisions of this Act, as far as applicable, shall apply to any extension of this railway in the State of Maryland that may be granted by said State; and the provisions of section fifteen of the Act of Congress approved February twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, entitled "An Act to incorporate the Washington and Arlington Railway Company, of the District of Columbia," shall control and govern all the privileges granted by this Act to the Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway Company, and said section shall be held to include the Washington Aqueduct and its tunnels and all other works connected therewith. Said Washington and Great Falls Railway shall everywhere be constructed in a neat and substantial manner, of good material, subject, for such parts of the line as are within the jurisdiction of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, to the supervision and approval of said Commissioners, and, for such parts of the line as are in any jurisdiction outside of the District of Columbia, to the supervision and approval of the proper authorities of such jurisdiction; the gauge of the track to be the same as that of the Washington and Georgetown Railway; and the said Washington and Great Falls Railway Company shall, where its tracks run on or across any street or road which is under the jurisdiction of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, or across the Conduit road or any road outside of the District of Columbia, pave the same between the rails and sets of rails and two feet outside thereof, with such material and in such manner as shall be approved by such proper authorities, as the case may require, and shall keep the same in repair at its own expense; and if the said corporation shall fail to make any necessary repairs within ten days after notice has been given by said authorities, the repairs shall be made by said authorities and the cost thereof, except as hereinbefore provided, if not paid voluntarily, shall be recovered by them before any court of competent jurisdiction; and the amount of such repairs shall be a lien upon all property of said company from the time the same are made until paid Erection of poles for by the company. That the said corporation shall operate its said road by electric power, and for this purpose it is hereby authorized to erect and maintain such poles and aerial lines as may be necessary for the proper conduct of said power; such lines to be built in the most perfect Protection of Gov and substantial manner: Provided, That in order to prevent any dan Gange. Repairs. wires, etc. ernment wires. Fence, etc. ger or damage to the United States telephone line between the Great Falls of the Potomac and Washington, belonging to the Washington Aqueduct, or to its instruments, from the electric wires of said railway company, the said company shall, at all times and at its own expense remove, change, and protect said telephone line in such manner as may be directed by the Secretary of War. The said corporation shall erect and maintain, subject to the approval of the Secretary of War, at its own expense, a neat, well-painted, and substantial fence, four feet in height, on each side of its tracks, through the lands of the United States, and also at such places along the Conduit road as the Secretary of War may deem necessary, with suitable cattle guards, openings, and crossings for roadways, and at such places as the Secretary of War shall consider to be required for the safety of the use of said roadways. |