CCNGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE

S. 2419. An act for the relief of Dr. Anton

M. Lodmell;

S. 2585. An act to authorize an exchange

of land at the Agricultural Research Center;

S. 2823. An act for the relief of William C.

Brady and Joyce Brady;

S. 3064. An act for the relief of Thomas J.

Smith;

S. 3101. An act to authorize construction

by the Secretary of the Interior of the

Crooked River Federal reclamation project,

Oregon;

S. 3113. An act to amend section 9 (c) (2)

of the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946, as

amended;

S. 3196. An act for the relief of certain

aliens;

S. 3227. An act to authorize the Secretary

of the Interior to construct, operate, and

maintain the Little Wood River reclamation

project, Idaho;

S. 3255. An act for the relief of certain

aliens;

S. 3363. An act for the relief of Miroslav

Slovak;

S. 3386. An act to amend the joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution to establish a commission for the celebration of the 100th

anniversary of the birth of Theodore Roosevelt," approved July 28, 1955.

S. 3831. An act to provide for the establishment of a fish hatchery in the State of

West Virginia;

S. 3881. An act authorizing the demolition

and removal of certain greenhouses and other

structures on square 576 west in Washington, D. C., and the construction of other

facilities in place thereof, at the Botanic

Garden Nursery, and for other purposes;

S. 3927. An act to authorize the Secretary

of the Interior to convey to Indian tribes

certain federally owned buildings, improvements, or facilities on tribal lands or on

lands reserved for Indian administration;

S. 4099. An act granting the consent of

Congress to the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co.

for the construction of a dam on the North

Branch of the Potomac River;

S. 4184. An act to incorporate the Boys'

Clubs of America;

S. 4203. An act to amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and for other

purposes; and

S. J. Res. 187. Joint resolution to extend

the operation of the Emergency Ship Repair

Act of 1954.

On August 7, 1956:

S. 2916. An act to waive certain provisions

of section 212 (a) of the Immigration and

Nationality Act in behalf of certain aliens;

S. 3616. An act to amend the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937 to provide increases

in benefits, and for other purposes;

S. 3732. An act to provide insurance

against flood damage, and for other purposes; and

S. 4011. An act to amend section 650 of

title 14, United States Code, entitled "Coast

Guard," relating to the Coast Guard supply

fund.

On August 8, 1956:

S. 2379. An act to promote the fishing industry in the United States and its Territories by providing for the training of needed personnel for such industry;

S. 3275. An act to establish a sound and

comprehensive national policy with respect

to fish and wildlife; to strengthen the fish

and wildlife segments of the national econ- omy; to establish within the Department of

the Interior the position of Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife; to establish a

United States Fish and Wildlife Service; and

for other purposes;

S. 3879. An act to supplement the antitrust

laws of the United States, in order to bal- ance the power now heavily weighted in favor

of automobile manufacturers, by enabling

franchise automobile dealers to bring suit in

the district courts of the United States to

recover damages sustained by reason of the

failure of automobile manufacturers to act

in good faith in complying with the terms

of franchise or in terminating or not renew- ing franchises with their dealers; and

S. 3956. An act to amend the Fair Labor

Standards Act of 1938, as amended.

SENATE BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTION DISAPPROVED AFTER SINE

DIE ADJOURNMENT

The President of the United States,

subsequent to the sine die adjournment

of the Senate, notified the Secretary of

the Senate that, on the following dates,

he had disapproved bills of the Senate of

the following titles, together with his

reasons for such actions:

RECONVEYANCE OF MINERAL INTERESTS IN CERTAIN LANDS TO THE FORMER OWNERS THEREOF

S. 1384. I am withholding my approval

of S. 1384, a bill to provide for the reconveyance of all mineral interests in

lands acquired by the United States for

certain reservoir projects to fosmer owners thereof, and for other purposes.

The purpose of this measure is to authorize and direct the Secretary of the

Army, when he determines that the ex- ploration for or exploitation of mineral

interests underlying lands within the

Arkabutla, Sardis, Enid, and Grenada

Reservoir projects in Mississippi will not

be incompatible with the development,

maintenance, and operation of these

projects, and that the reconveyance cf

such mineral interests to former owners

thereof will be in the public interest, to

convey such interests to the former owners thereof or to their legal heirs upon

application made within 3 years anl

upon payment to the United States of an

amount equal to but not in excess of the

purchase price for which said interests

were acquired by the United States.

The Department of the Army is nearing the completion of the acquisition of

approximately 283,000 acres of land for

these 4 reservoir projects in northwestern

Mississippi which are an integral part

of the Yazoo River Basin headwater

project authorized by the Flood Control

Act of June 15, 1936. Approximately

62,000 acres have been acquired subject

to retention of oil and gas and minerals

of like character by the owners thereof

and approximately 106,000 acres of the

218,000 acres acquired in fee simple for 3

of the reservoirs are available for leasing

pursuant to the Mineral Leasing Act for

Acquired Lands approved August 7, 1947

(61 Stat. 913). Therefore, there is no objection to the enactment of legislation

which would provide for the conveyance

of oil and gas and mineral interests of

like character underlying some of the

lands within these reservoirs to the former owners thereof under conditions

provided for in section 2 of the bill.

On March 29, 1956, I approved H. R.

7097, 84th Congress, which provides for

the reconveyance of oil and gas and mineral interests in lands within the Demopolis lock and dam project, Alabama, by

authorizing the Secretary of the Interior

to reconvey oil and gas and mineral interests to former owners thereof at the

current fair market value of such oil and

gas and mineral interests and subject to

such reservations and restrictions as in

the opinion of the Secretary of the Army are necessary. However, S. 1384 differs

significantly from this legislation in that

it provides for "payment to the United

States of an amount equal to but not in

excess of the purchase price for which

said interests were acquired by the

United States." This provision constitutes a departure from the principle es- tablished in other legislation requiring

payment of fair market value for minerals disposed of by sale or lease. Furthermore, it is predicated on the fallacious assumption that there was a determination of the "purchase price" of the

minerals separate and apart from surface and other interests at the time fee

title to the land was acquired by the

United States. While the known pres- ence of minerals and any trading in oil

and gas leasehold interests were considered in arriving at the appraised fair

market value of lands acquired in fee

simple for these projects, no separate

valuation was assigned to minerals ex- cept in those few instances in which a

separate estate in minerals had been

previously created. Therefore it would

be impossible at this time to determine,

in most instances, the "purchase price"

paid for the minerals. Under these circumstances, I believe that the job of administering this legislation would be con- fusing and unsatisfactory to all con- cerned. However, in withholding my

approval, I am hopeful that the Congress

may yet enact legislation relating to the

mineral interests in these lands similar

to H. R. 7097, 84th Congress (Public Law

459, 84th Cong.), referred to above.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER.

THE WHITE HOUSE, July 31, 1956.

JEAN PFEIFER

S. 277. I am withholding my approval

of S. 277, for the relief of Jean Pfeifer.

The bill would permit the payment of a lump-sum death payment under section 202 (i) of the Social Security Act

to Mrs. Jean Pfeifer in connection with

the death of her son, John S. Inches,

without regard to the statutory limitation on the period within which an application for such payment may be filed.

The facts in the case are as follows:

Mr. Inches died on August 7, 1951. His

mother, Mrs. Pfeifer, paid burial costs

in connection with her son's death. She

did not, however, file an application for

the lump-sum death payment until September 21, 1953, more than 2 years after

the death of her son. Mrs. Pfeifer states

that she or another surviving son had

telephoned to the local office of the Social Security Administration on different occasions before the period had

elapsed asking for applicaticn forms, but

there are no records of such calls in the

Social Security Administration files. In

view of her failure to file application

for the lump-sum death payment within

the time fixed by law, the Bureau of OldAge and Survivors Insurance of the Social Security Administration held that

Mrs. Pfeifer was ineligible for the payment. This action of the Bureau was

affirmed, after a hearing, by a referee

of the Appeals Council in the Social Security Administration.

1956 15151