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No. 127.

Alien Ownership of Real Estate in

the Territories

March 2, 1897

A BILL to amend the act of March 3, 1887 [No. 116], relating to the ownership of real estate in the Territories by aliens, was introduced in the House, May 1, 1896, by Thomas B. Catron, delegate from New Mexico. The bill was reported without amendment May 23, but no further action was taken during the session. December 10 the bill was called up, and, after some discussion, engrossment was refused. Another bill, with title as in the act following, was introduced by Catron on the 17th, and passed January 12, 1897. The bill was reported without amendment in the Senate February 16, and passed on the 25th. The reason for the act was stated to be the fact that the act of 1887 had operated to keep capital out of the Territories.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XXIX, 618, 619. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 54th Cong., 1st and 2d Sess., and the Cong. Record. The text of the bill reported May 23 is in the Record, December 10. See House Report 2474; Senate Report 2690, 50th Cong., 2d Sess.

An Act to better define and regulate the rights of aliens to hold and own real estate in the Territories.

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Be it enacted. That an Act entitled "An Act to restrict the ownership of real estate in the Territories to American citizens, and so forth," approved March third, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, except so far as it affects real estate in the District of Columbia, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"That no alien or person who is not a citizen of the United States, or who has not declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States in the manner provided by law shall acquire title to or own any land in any of the Territories of the United States except as hereinafter provided: Provided, That the prohibition of this section shall not apply to cases in which the right to hold or dispose of lands in the United States is secured by existing treaties to citizens or subjects of foreign countries, which rights, so far as they may exist by force of any such treaty, shall

continue to exist so long as such treaties are in force, and no longer.

"SEC. 2. That this Act shall not apply to land now owned in any of the Territories of the United States by aliens, which was acquired on or before March third, eighteen hundred and eightyseven, so long as it is held by the then owners, their heirs or legal representatives, nor to any alien who shall become a bona fide resident of the United States, and any alien who shall become a bona fide resident of the United States, or shall have declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States in the manner provided by law, shall have the right to acquire and hold lands in either of the Territories of the United States upon the same terms as citizens of the United States: Provided, That if any such resident alien shall cease to be a bona fide resident of the United States then such alien shall have ten years from the time he ceases to be such bona fide resident in which to alienate such lands. This Act shall not be construed to prevent any persons not citizens of the United States from acquiring or holding lots or parcels of lands in any incorporated or platted city, town, or village, or in any mine or mining claim, in any of the Territories of the United States.

"SEC. 3. That this Act shall not prevent aliens from acquiring lands or any interests therein by inheritance or in the ordinary course of justice in the collection of debts, nor from acquiring liens on real estate or any interest therein, nor from lending money and securing the same upon real estate or any interest therein; nor from enforcing any such lien, nor from acquiring and holding title to such real estate, or any interest therein, upon which a lien may have heretofore or may hereafter be fixed, or upon which a loan of money may have been heretofore or hereafter may be made and secured: Provided, however, That all lands so acquired shall be sold within ten years after title shall be perfected in him under said sale or the same shall escheat to the United States and be forfeited as hereinafter provided.

"SEC. 4. That any alien who shall hereafter hold lands in any of the Territories of the United States in contravention of the pro

visions of this Act may nevertheless convey his title thereto at any time before the institution of escheat proceedings as hereinafter provided: Provided, however, That if any such conveyance shall be made by such alien, either to an alien or to a citizen of the United States, in trust and for the purpose and with the intention of evading the provisions of this Act, such conveyance shall be null and void, and any such lands so conveyed shall be forfeited and escheat to the United States.

"SEC. 5. That it shall be the duty of the Attorney-General of the United States, when he shall be informed or have reason to believe that land in any of the Territories of the United States are [is] being held contrary to the provisions of this Act, to institute or cause to be instituted suit in behalf of the United States in the district court of the Territory in the district where such land or a part thereof may be situated, praying for the escheat of the same on behalf of the United States to the United States: Provided, That before any such suit is instituted the Attorney-General shall give or cause to be given ninety days' notice by registered letter of his intention to sue, or by personal notice directed to or delivered to the owner of said land, or the person who last rendered the same for taxation, or his agent, and to all other persons having an interest in such lands of which he may have actual or constructive notice. In the event personal notice can not be obtained in some one of the modes above provided, then said notice shall be given by publication in some newspaper published in the county where the land is situate, and if no newspaper is published in said county then the said notice shall be published in some newspaper nearest said county.

"SEC. 6. That if it shall be determined upon the trial of any such escheat proceedings that the lands are held contrary to the provisions of this Act, the court trying said cause shall render judgment condemning such lands and shall order the same to be sold as under execution; and the proceeds of such sale, after deducting costs of such suit, shall be paid to the clerk of such court so rendering judgment, and said fund shall remain in the hands of such clerk for one year from the date of such payment, subject to

the order of the alien owner of such lands, or his heirs or legal representatives; and if not claimed within the period of one year, such clerk shall pay the same into the treasury of the Territory in which the lands may be situated, for the benefit of the available school fund of said Territory: Provided, That the defendant in any such escheat proceedings may, at any time before final judgment, suggest and show to the court that he has conformed with the law, either [by] becoming a bona fide resident of the United States, or by declaring his intention of becoming a citizen of the United States, or by the doing or happening of any other act which, under the provisions of this Act, would entitle him to hold or own real estate, which being admitted or proved, such suit shall be dismissed on payment of costs and a reasonable attorney fee to be fixed by the court.

"SEC. 7. That this Act shall not in any manner be construed to refer to the District of Columbia, nor to authorize aliens to acquire title from the United States to any of the public lands of the United States or to in any manner affect or change the laws regulating the disposal of the public lands of the United States. And the Act of which this Act is an amendment shall remain in force and unchanged by this Act so far as it refers to or affects real estate in the District of Columbia.

"SEC. 8. That all laws and parts of laws so far as they conflict with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed."

APPROVED, March 2, 1897.

No. 128.

Recognition of the Independence of Cuba

April 20, 1898

IN his annual message of December 6, 1897, President McKinley reviewed the course of the insurrection which had been in progress in Cuba since February, 1895, but opposed the recognition of Cuban belligerency. A resolution recognizing the independence of Cuba, being the same as the resolu

tion finally adopted, but without the fourth section, was reported in the Senate, April 13, 1898, by Cushman K. Davis of Minnesota, from the Committee on Foreign Relations. An amendment offered on the 16th by David Turpie of Indiana, recognizing the Republic of Cuba "as the true and lawful government of that island," was agreed to by a vote of 51 to 37, and, with the further addition of the fourth section, offered as an amendment by Davis, the resolution passed. A resolution directing the President to intervene to put an end to the war in Cuba "to the end and with the purpose of securing permanent peace and order there and establishing by the free action of the people thereof a stable and independent government of their own," was reported in the House, April 13, by Robert Adams of Pennsylvania, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, as a substitute for numerous bills and resolutions previously submitted. A substitute recognizing the independence of the Republic of Cuba, offered by Albert S. Berry of Kentucky on behalf of the minority of the committee, was rejected by a vote of 150 to 190, and the resolution was agreed to, the final vote being 324 to 19. In the Senate, April 16, the House resolution was substituted for the resolution already before the Senate, and then amended by striking out the words of the House resolution and inserting the resolution of the Senate. On the 18th the House concurred with an amendment, offered by Nelson Dingley of Maine, striking out the clause recognizing the Republic of Cuba, the vote being 178 to 156. The Senate refusing to concur in the House amendment, the resolution went to a conference committee, which reported inability to agree, and a second committee settled the final form of the resolution. The report of the second committee was agreed to in the House by a vote of 311 to 6, and in the Senate by a vote of 42 to 35.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XXX, 738, 739. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 55th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Record. See also Senate Report 885; Senate Doc. 166 and Senate Report 1160, 54th Cong., 2d Sess.; and the various messages of the President. A large amount of documentary matter was printed in the Record in the course of the debate.

Joint Resolution for the recognition of the independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that the Government of Spain relinquish its authority and government in the Island of Cuba, and to withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and directing the President of the United States to use the land and naval forces of the United States to carry these resolutions into effect.

Whereas the abhorrent conditions which have existed for more than three years in the Island of Cuba, so near our own borders, have shocked the moral sense of the people of the United States,

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