for not more than 10 years and a fire of not more than $5.000; and no penalty is provided for attempts to commit such crimes. Recent years have witnessed a aubetantial increase in crimes of the latter type and it is believed that section 197 of the Penal Code apraid be amended so as to bring within its provisions the crime of robbing or attempting to me eustodians of Government moneys. Legislation to tlla effect was recommended in the Postmaster General's annual report for 1933 and two ba E. R. 6546 and H. R. 7214 were introduced and referred to the House Judleiary Committee but neither bill was reported out by the committee. The recommendation for the passage of this legislation is renewed. Very truly yours, JAMES A. FARLEY, COMPARISON BETWEEN EXISTING LAW AND THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION Existing law 35 Stat. 1126: 18 U. S. C. 320 with the new matter inserted by the bill H. R. 5360) shown in italics and the deleted matter in stricken-through type: Whoever shall assault any person having lawful charge, control, or custody of any mail matter, money, or other property of the United States, with intent to rob, steal, or poróin such mal matter, money, or other property of the United States, or any part thereof, or shall rob any such person of such mail, money, or other property of the United States, or any part thereof, shall, for athe first offense, be imprisoned not more than ten years; and if, in effecting or attempting to effect such robbery; he shall wound the person having custody of the mail, money, or other property of the United States, or put his life in jeopardy by the use of a dangerous weapon, or for a subsequent offense, shall be imprisoned twenty-five years. COMPARISON BETWEEN EXISTING LAW AND THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION WITH COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS Existing law (35 Stat. 1126: 18 U. S. C. 320) with the new matter inserted by the bill as amended in committee (H. R. 5360) shown in italics and the deleted matter in stricken-through type: Whoever shall assault any person having lawful charge, control, or custody of any mail matter or of any money or other property of the United States, with intent to rob, steal, or purloin such mail matter, money, or other property of the United States, or any part thereof, or shall rob any such person of such mail, money, or other property of the United States, or any part thereof, shall, for a the first offense, be imprisoned not more than ten years; and if in effecting or attempting to effect such robbery he shall wound the person having custody of the such mail, money, or other property of the United States, or put his life in jeopardy by the use of a dangerous weapon, or for a subsequent offense, shall be imprisoned twenty-five years. о PROVIDE FOR COMMEMORATION OF TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF ACKIA, MISS., AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ACKIA BATTLEGROUND NATIONAL MONUMENT APRIL 4, 1935.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. ROBINSON of Utah, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 3003] The Committee on the Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 3003), to provide for the commemoration of the two hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Ackia, Miss., and the establishment of the Ackia Battleground National Monument, after careful consideration of same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that the bill do pass the House without amendment. A similar bill (H. R. 8718) was reported from this committee during the second session of the Seventy-third Congress. H. R. 8718, second session, Seventy-third Congress, was approved by the Department of the Interior and also by the Director of the Budget. The original bill asked for $100,000, but at the request of the Bureau of the Budget it was reduced to $25,000, and the present bill (H. R. 3003), on which this report is made, appropriates $25,000. History of this legislation, H. R. 3003, is as follows: The War Department, in 1930, also recommended the passage of a bill to erect a monument on this battlefield and it was included in a bill reported from the Committee on Military Affairs but which never came to a vote for passage. Later these battlefield parks and monuments were placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior. This measure was carefully investigated and the bill was reported and recommended for passage in its amended form. The bill provides for the commemoration, in May 1936, of the two hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Ackia. intensified many times when three European nations sought to dominate the same, or contiguous, nations of aborigines. The simple mind of the red man was observant of more than it could understand. He learned the artifices of diplomacy, suspicion, broken promises, and treachery. His mind could not cleave a way through the maze set up by conflicting demands of nations of whites, each bidding, in deadly rivalry with the others, for his temporary friendship and alliance. He had not the mental faculty to judge which group of whites offered the most favorable proposition, nor the capacity to choose it had he known. He could not understand, and soon his lack of comprehension led him to distrust, to become vengeful; then his latent qualities for violence led him into orgies of slaughter to sicken the world. The Indian, in war, was actuated by emotional violence to commit deeds of barbarity that were repugnant to the civilized mind. It is true that the whites, in retaliation, sometimes committed equally diabolical acts, with the result that the history of Indian warfare in our country is a motley picture of heroism and savagery, wanton cruelty with but rare compassion for the wounded, a lust to kill that not only exterminates life, but horribly mutilate the body from which the soul has fled. FRENCH SETTLEMENTS IN AMERICA The discoveries made by Columbus in the New World became known throughout Europe during the last years of the fifteenth century, and within a brief period thereafter the eastern coast line of the new continent, from the far north down to the Equator, was explored by the hardy adventurers of England and Spain. The participation of the French Government in the partition of this new empire was belated, restricting its activities, when it did seek some of this territory, to the far north, where its settlements along the St. Lawrence River and in Acadia, in the seventeenth century, were given the name La Nouvelle, France. New France acquired a population of 25,000 inhabitants before La Louisiana, the name applied to the vast empire drained by the Mississippi, had begun to outgrow the tribulations attendant upon the establishment of new settlements. In 1539 the Spaniard, De Soto, began a tour of exploration that lasted 3 years, which for venturesome hardihood stands unrivaled in the history of America. Landing at Tampa Bay at the head of a large army, he wintered in 1539-40 at Apalachen. In the spring he started on his great voyage of discovery, passing from Florida to the Carolinas by way of the Savannah River, thence back to the Mobile River where he ruthlessly killed thousands of the aboriginal inhabitants at Mauvila, and from there across the Mississippi into Arkansas and Oklahoma, thence back to the Mississippi where in 1542 he died. For more than a century following the explorations of De Soto, no serious attempt was made to investigate the middle and upper portions of the Mississippi Valley until Frontenac, Governor of New France, in 1673 sent the trader Joliet and the missionary Marquette westward to the headwaters of the Mississippi to explore its course and outlet. These voyagers descended this stream to the mouth of the Arkansas, 'but feared to continue further lest they fall into the hands of the Spaniards. Nine years later, in 1682, La Salle crossed from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi and descended that river to its mouth. In 1687 he lost his life in an attempt to plant a French colony on its borders. During the war of the Palatinate, Louis XIV showed little desire to develop La Salle's scheme to plant a colony near the mouth of the Mississippi, but after the treaty of Ryswick was signed in 1697, the French Government determined to send an expedition to the Gulf of Mexico to forestall the English, who were reported about to take possession of the mouth of that river. The command of this expedition was entrusted to Iberville, who had already established his fame as a military leader of great energy. In January of 1699, Iberville's fleet appeared before the harbor of Pensacola, which had been fortified by Spain a few months previous, and demanded admission. The request was refused and the expedition proceeded to what is now Dauphine Island, at the mouth of Mobile Bay, where it tarried a short time. From thence the voyagers continued their way westward, exploring the outlets and main body of the Mississippi, and finally turning back to a bay on the eastern extremity of which a settlement was established and named Biloxi, from the Indians dwelling nearby. THE BEGINNING OF THE PROVINCE OF LOUISIANA It was the intention of Iberville to fix the principal establishment of the colony at this point, and a fort with four bastions was completed in May of the same year. The armament of the fort, when the census of 1704 was taken, consisted of 16 iron cannon of 12 and 8 pounds caliber. With the completion of the fort, Iberville returned to France, leaving Sauvole and Bienville, the latter 19 years of age, in charge of the colony. Upon Iberville's return to the Province in January 1700 he brought a commission appointing Sauvole governor of the colony. Early that year Iberville ascended the Mississippi as far as the Natchez settlement, and there decided upon a location which he viewed as most suitable for the capital of the new Province. He selected a site for a town, to which he gave the name of La Ville de Rosalie aux Natchez, and then returned to the fort at Biloxi. Iberville once more returned to France, toward the last of May 1700, leaving Sauvole to govern the Province, assisted by Bienville. Sauvole fell a victim to an epidemic of fever on August 21, 1701, and Bienville took control of the colony as acting governor, removing from a fort in the Mississippi which he had occupied, to the capital at Biloxi. Parties of the Choctaw and Mobile Indians came to visit him a few days after his arrival, their object being to solicit his aid against the Chickasaws. Bienville considered his colony too weak to become embroiled in the quarrels of the Indian tribes nearby, and declined to form an alliance, but instead sent an officer and a few Canadians to afford the Choctaws his good offices as mediator. In December of 1701 Iberville arrived with supplies and reinforcements of troops, and in pursuance of the king's instructions moved the headquarters of the colony to the western bank of the Mobile River the following year, making settlements near the present city of Mobile and on Dauphin Island. Later, in the same year, Iberville again returned to France with the fleet, leaving Bienville in control of the Province as governor. The situation which arose in Europe following the death, in 1700, of Charles II of Spain, without issue, resulted in another period of prolonged hostilities, which became known as the War of the Spanish Succession (1703-13). The war areas in America were much more extensive than were those in Europe, despite the fact that most of the European nations were embroiled. In the southern part of America the West Indies, the frontiers of the Carolinas, Florida, and Louisiana, and in the northern part the New England border, Acadia, Newfoundland, and Hudson Bay were the scenes of conflict. The English in the Carolinas sent emissaries to prevail upon the Chickasaws to send war chiefs among the Indians in the vicinity of the French settlements on the Gulf, to induce them to form an alliance with England. The English commandant of the fort at Albany prevailed upon the Iroquois to attack the frontier settlers in Canada. The historian Martin says, referring to one of the phases of the prolonged Indian warfare which ensued, "The Choctaws had scarcely returned home, when their country was invaded by 2,000 Cherokees, commanded by an English officer from Carolina. Several of their villages were destroyed and 300 of their women and children led away into slavery." The success of the settlement attempted in Louisiana not having answered the hopes of the court of France, it was determined to make a considerable change in the government of the colony. Iberville fell a victim to yellow fever and died at Habana July 9, 1706, and De Muys, an officer who had served with distinction in Canada, was appointed governor of Louisiana. The death of this official occurred during the passage to his new station. About this time Diron D'Artaguette was sent to the province as commissary general, with instructions to inquire into the conduct of the former administrators of the colony, and to make such changes as he deemed advisable. As the settlement near the fort on the Mobile suffered from the overflow of that river, he ordered this place to be abandoned and a new fort built. LOUISIANA TURNED OVER TO ANTOINE CROZAT D'Artaguette returned to France in 1711, convinced that the slow progress of the colony could not be accelerated by Bienville with the feeble means at his command. Food supplies failed to mature, especially wheat, the raising of which was attempted a number of years. Women to make homes in this pioneer country were few in number. Many of the French soldiers and of the voyagers from Canada allied themselves with the Indian women and lost much of their natural ambition. Year after year famine stalked the colony and disease took toll of its numbers, until finally the king decided to rid himself of the tax on his purse of maintaining this puny offspring of the state. Accordingly, the crown granted a charter dated September 14, 1712, to Antoine Crozat, a merchant, giving him the exclusive right to engage in commerce in the province for a term of 15 years. At this period there were, in Louisiana, 2 companies of infantry of 50 men each, and 75 Canadian volunteers in the king's pay. The these, 3 companies were at the Illinois, 1 at Natchez, 1 at Natchitoches, 4 at New Orleans, 1 at the mouth of the Mississippi, and 3 at Mobile, from which was sent a detachment of 30 men to the Alibamons at Fort Toulouse. Only recently four English traders had been introduced into the nation by two chiefs of prominence, Red Shoe and Alibamon Mingo, either of whom would sell his warriors to English or French, dependent upon which paid last. The great chief of the Choctaws did not countenance these dishonorable practices on the part of his underlings, but both Red Shoe and Alibamon Mingo had too strong a following for the great chief to attempt forceful measures in dealing with them. In writing to the ministry on February 10, 1736, Bienville said that all his letters to the Government about the Choctaw Nation for 2 years "appear so full of contradictions that when one compares the different plans that I have set forth in them either to terminate the war with the Chickasaws or to frustrate the measures that the English are taking to win over our nations, one might with some appearance of reason charge me with instability or with irresolution." The difficulty was far less attributable to Bienville than to the wily cunning and treachery of many of the chiefs of the Choctaws. All these circumstances made Bienville apprehensive lest the Choctaws would in the end succumb to the enticing propositions coming from the English, particularly those under the aggressive leader Oglethorpe of Georgia, and he resolved to march against the Chickasaws as soon as the Tombigbee River, which led to their country, could be navigated. By this route the expedition would arrive within 20 leagues of the Chickasaws without being very much fatigued. In the latter part of 1735 Bienville went to Mobile to perfect his plans and establish his base at that port. He laid his plans before the Choctaw chiefs who came to see him in Mobile, and when they promised to support him in this expedition he dispatched a pirogue in the month of December to Pierre D'Artaguette at Fort Chartres, directing him to assemble all the forces of the Illinois and lead them against the Chickasaws at the end of the following March. D'Artaguette was ordered to reach the Prud'homme Bluffs on the 10th or 15th of March. At the same time it was determined to proceed with the establishment of an intermediate base in the land of the Tuscaloosas, a project which Bienville had given thought to for some time, and Captain De Lusser was sent with men and supplies to organize this depot. Bienville returned to New Orleans the early part of 1736 to carry forward preparations for the campaign. Before leaving Mobile he had decided that it would be necessary to postpone navigation of the Mobile and Tombigbee Rivers from February to April, before which date there would not be sufficient high water to insure navigation of the streams. Immediately on his return to New Orleans, therefore, he dispatched a second courier to D'Artaguette to order him to delay his departure from the Illinois until the end of April. The only information Bienville possessed of the situation of the enemy which he proposed to attack was that the Chickasaws were located in a rather large plain, divided into seven villages, of which five had a stockade fort and all had several fortified cabins. The Natchez lived in two small villages, of which the smaller had no fort and was in the middle of the plain, and the other, which had a good fort, was at one extremity of the eastern side. Preparations went on apace both at Mobile and New Orleans to make ready the boats, wagons, provisions, and guns necessary for a campaign covering so much ground; and Bienville found the days slipping by far too rapidly, for, should additional delay occur in the execution of his plans, the upper reaches of the Tombigbee would not be navigable. Under the most favorable circumstances the scheme of operations was a bold one, involving the passage of D'Artaguette's force over 450 miles of river and land and Bienville's over 540 miles, with no intercommunication between the two parties. Bienville withdrew from the garrisons of the Natchez, Natchitoches, and the Balise all the officers and soldiers that could be spared without stripping these posts too much. He formed a company of volunteers of young men and voyagers who were then at New Orleans and another company of militia from the citizens who were not married and had them set out for Mobile. He likewise made the troops leave for the same destination as fast as the boats were ready, and finally, on the 4th day of March, he himself left New Orleans for Mobile, leaving behind four French companies which he ordered De Noyan to lead to Mobile as soon as the rest of the boats were ready. These troops met adverse winds, and it was not until the 22d of the month that they reached Mobile. A large force of bakers was dispatched through the Choctaw country to the new fort named Tombecbee, which De Lusser was then engaged in building on the west bank of the Tombigbee River, about a half mile north of the |