Chapter 311. Supplementing the joint resolution of Congress approved April thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eight, entitled “Joint resolution instructing the Attorney General to institute certain suits,” and so forth

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CHAP. 311.— An Act Supplementing the joint resolution of Congress approved April thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eight, entitled “Joint resolution instructing the Attorney General to institute certain suits,” and so forth.August 20, 1912.[[H. R. 22002](/us/bill/62/hr/22002).][[Public, No. 278](/us/pl/62/278).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Oregon railroad, etc., land grants.Declaration of forfeiture.Vol. 35, p. 571.

That all claims of forfeiture heretofore or hereafter asserted by the Attorney General on behalf of the United States in or by any and all suits in equity, actions at law, or other judicial proceedings instituted pursuant to the joint resolution of Congress approved April thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eight, entitled “Joint resolution instructing the Attorney General to institute certain suits,” and so forth, be, and the same are hereby, ratified and confirmed and are hereby declared to be of the same force and effect as declarations of forfeiture by the Congress of the United States.

Sec. 2. Lands not subject to entry.That none of the lands reverting to the United States by virtue of any right of forfeiture thereto as aforesaid shall be or become subject to entry under any of the public-land laws of the United States, or to the initiation of any right whatever under any of the public-land laws of the United States. Sec. 3. Limitation on suits involving lands sold by Oregon and California Railroad Company.That no suits in equity, actions at law, or other judicial proceedings shall be instituted pursuant to said joint resolution approved April thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eight, that shall321 involve any lands sold by the Oregon and California Railroad Company prior to April thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eight, unless the same shall be instituted within one year from the date of the approval of this Act: *Provided*, That this section shall not be construed to*Proviso*.Pending proceedings not affected. apply to any suits in equity heretofore instituted, nor to any parties thereto, nor to any of the lands involved therein, nor to the institution of any further suits in equity, actions at law, or other judicial proceedings relating to any of the lands that are involved in said pending suits.

Sec. 4. That the Attorney General is hereby authorized to compromiseCompromise authorized. in the manner hereinafter provided any suit heretofore or hereafter instituted pursuant to the provision of said joint resolution approved April thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eight, involving lands purchased from the said Oregon and California Railroad Company prior to September fourth, nineteen hundred and eight. InConditions. any such suit the Attorney General may, in his discretion, stipulate with the defendant or defendants who purchased said lands, or are the successors or assigns of such purchaser or purchasers, that decree shall be entered adjudging that the lands involved therein have been and are forfeited to the United States.

Such decree shall recite that the same was entered pursuant to such stipulation. If said purchaserPayments. defendant or defendants, or their successors or assigns, shall within six months from the entry of said decree file with the Secretary of the Interior a certified copy of said decree, together with an application to purchase all of the lands adjudged by said decree to have been forfeited to the United States as aforesaid, and shall pay to the Treasurer of the United States the sum of two dollars and fifty cents per acre for all of the lands so applied for, the SecretaryIssue of patents. of the Interior shall cause patents to be issued conveying to said purchaser defendant or defendants, and their successors and assigns, all of the right, title, and interest of the United States in and to all of said lands; and such purchase shall operate as a compromise of any and all claims of the United States for waste or trespass upon any of said lands committed by such purchaser defendant or defendants or their successors or assigns, respectively: *Provided*, That the benefits*Provisos*.Condition. of this section shall not be exercised or enjoyed except in cases where decree shall have been entered pursuant to stipulation entered into as aforesaid: *And provided further*, That the provisions of this sectionLands excluded. shall not apply to any lands that have not been patented to said Oregon and California Railroad Company: *And provided further*, That the aforesaid privilege of purchasing said forfeited lands shallPurchases restricted. not be exercised or enjoyed as to less than all of the lands involved in said suits, respectively, the purpose hereof being to prevent the elimination from any purchase of any lands from which timber has been removed or upon which any other waste or trespass has been committed, or the elimination of any part whatever of any land from such purchase.

Sec. 5. That the provisions of section four of this Act shall not bePending suit against Oregon and California Railroad Company, etc., not affected. construed to apply to the suit involving approximately two million three hundred and sixty thousand acres, now pending in the District Court of the United States for the District of Oregon, wherein the United States of America is complainant and the Oregon and California Railroad Company, the Southern Pacific Company. Stephen T. Gage, the Union Trust Company, and others are defendants, being designated in the records and files of said court as suit numbered thirty-three hundred and forty; nor shall the provisions of said section four of this Act be construed to apply to any of the lands involved in said last described suit; nor to create any rights or privileges whatever in favor of any of the defendants therein.

Sec. 6. That nothing in tins Act contained, nor action taken pursuantNo waiver of remedies, conditions, etc. to the provisions of this Act , shall be construed as a condonation322 of any of the breaches of any of the conditions or provisions annexed to any of the grants designated in said joint resolution approved April thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eight, nor as a waiver of any of said conditions or provisions, nor as a waiver of any right of forfeiture in favor of the United States on account of any breach or breaches of any of said conditions, nor as a waiver of any cause of action or remedy of the United States on account of any breach or breaches of any of said conditions or provisions, nor as a waiver of any other rights or remedies existing in favor of the United States.

Approved, August 20, 1912.