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diction of some executive department. Such of them as are military reservations or national military parks are under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of War. Those which are national forests are under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture. Most of the remainder are under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, either because they are national parks over which he has been given jurisdiction by direct Act of Congress or because they are unreserved public lands.

Other provisions of the Act of June 8, 1906, indicate that Congress intended that jurisdiction to administer the national monuments which the President was thereby authorized to create should reside in the Departments which had jurisdiction respectively of the land within which the menuments were located. Thus, section 1 of the Act provides for the punishment of any persons" who shall appropriate, excavate, injure, or destroy any historic or prehistoric ruin or monument, or any object of antiquity, situated on lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States, without the permission of the Secretary of the Department of the Government having jurisdiction over the lands on which said antiquities are situated Section 3 provides that permits for the examination of ruins, excavation of archæological sites, and gathering of objects of antiquity "upon the lands under their respective jurisdictions may be granted by the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and War" to institutions and under conditions therein described. And section 4 provides that "the Secretaries of the Departments aforesaid shall make and publish from time to time uniform rules and regulations for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act."

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The Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and War did promulgate such rules and regulations on December 28, 1906. Section 1 thereof provides:

"Jurisdiction over ruins, archeological sites, historic and prehistoric monuments and structures, objects of antiquity, historic landmarks, and other objects of historic or scientific interest shall be exercised under the act by the respective departments as follows:

"By the Secretary of Agriculture over lands within the exterior limits of forest reserves, by the Secretary of War

over lands within the exterior limits of military reservations, by the Secretary of the Interior over all other lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States, provided the Secretaries of War and Agriculture may by agreement cooperate with the Secretary of the Interior in the supervision of such monuments and objects covered by the act of June 8, 1906, as may be located on lands near or adjacent to forest reserves and military reservations, respectively."

The National Park Service was created in the Department of the Interior, under the charge of a Director to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, by the Act of August 25, 1916, c. 408, 39 Stat. 535 (U. S. C., title 16, sec. 2). Its jurisdiction is defined in section 2 as follows:

"That the director shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, have the supervision, management, and control of the several national parks and national monuments which are now under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, and of the Hot Springs Reservation in the State of Arkansas, and of such other national parks and reservations of like character as may be hereafter created by Congress: Provided, that in the supervision, management, and control of national monuments contiguous to national forests the Secretary of Agriculture may cooperate with said National Park Service to such extent as may be requested by the Secretary of the Interior."

Congress thus recognized that there were national monuments which would not be under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.

Certain national monuments are within national military parks, governed by the Act of May 15, 1896, c. 182, 29 Stat. 120 U. S. C. Title 16, sections 411 and 412), which declared them to be national fields for military maneuvers, to be opened for such purposes only in the discretion of the Secretary of War and under such regulations as he might prescribe, and authorized the Secretary of War to assemble there, in his discretion, such portions of the military forces of the United States as he might think best for purposes of military training. In later Acts Congress has similarly recognized the jurisdiction of the War Department over cer

tain national monuments. For example, the Appropriation Act of April 15, 1926 (c. 146, 44 Stat. 254, 290), contains an appropriation "For maintaining and improving national monuments established by proclamation of the President under the Act of June 8, 1906 (Thirty-fourth Statutes, page 225), and administered by the Secretary of War, including Fort McHenry, Maryland,

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Congress itself possesses, and has exercised, power to change the status of national monuments. Thus a part of the Grand Canyon, in Arizona, was established as a national monument by Executive order of the President on January 11, 1908. By the Act of February 26, 1919 (c. 44, 40 Stat. 1175), Congress set apart those lands, with others, as the "Grand Canyon National Park," to be administered, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, by the National Park Service, and revoked the Executive order of January 11, 1908. Congress has, however, conferred no authority on the President to make changes in their administration. Last year a bill (S. 4173, 70th Cong., 1st sess.) to transfer jurisdiction over certain national military parks and national monuments from the War Department to the Department of the Interior was introduced in Congress, but failed of passage.

This Department has frequently ruled that, in the absence of authority from Congress, the President may not restore to the public domain lands which have been reserved for a particular purpose (10 Op. 359; 16 Op. 121, 123; 17 Op. 168; 21 Op. 120), nor transfer their control from one Department to another (28 Op. 143).

I have the honor, therefore, to advise you that I am of the opinion that it is not within the Executive authority to transfer the national monuments now under the administration of the War Department and the Department of Agriculture to the National Park Service in the Department of the Interior.

Respectfully,

To the PRESIDENT.

WILLIAM D. MITCHELL.

MISSISSIPPI FLOOD-CONTROL PROJECT

The legal project to be executed under the provisions of the Mississippi Flood Control Act, (45 Stat. 534), is the project set forth in House Document No. 90, Seventieth Congress, first session; and this project is fixed and not subject to review or change by this administration.

The Attorney General declines to express an opinion upon the question whether the United States is required to provide compensation for flowage rights in the Boeuf and Atachafalaya Basins, as litigation involving this precise question is now pending in the Federal courts.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

July 19, 1929.

SIR: In the matter of your inquiry of May 27, 1929, concerning certain questions arising under the Act of May 15, 1928, 70th Congress, 1st Session, otherwise known as the Mississippi Flood Control Act, I have the honor to advise you as follows:

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Your first question is whether the project in House Document, 70th Congress, 1st Session, is the legal project to be executed in accordance with law, and whether this project is already fixed and not subject to review by this adminis

tration.

Section 1 of the Act reads as follows:

"An Act For the control of floods on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, and for other purposes.

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the project for the flood control of the Mississippi River in its alluvial valley and for its improvement from the Head of Passes to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in accordance with the engineering plan set forth and recommended in the report submitted by the Chief of Engineers to the Secretary of War dated December 1, 1927, and printed in House Document Numbered 90, Seventieth Congress, first session, is hereby adopted and authorized to be prosecuted under the direction of the Secretary of War and the supervision of the Chief of Engineers: Provided, That a board to consist of the Chief of Engineers, the president of the Mississippi

River Commission, and a civil engineer chosen from civil life to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, whose compensation shall be fixed by the President and be paid out of the appropriations made to carry on this project, is hereby created; and such board is authorized and directed to consider the engineering differences between the adopted project and the plans recommended by the Mississippi River Commission in its special report dated November 28, 1927, and after such study and such further surveys as may be necessary, to recommend to the President such action as it may deem necessary to be taken in respect of such engineering differences and the decision of the President upon all recommendations or questions submitted to him by such board shall be followed in carrying out the project herein adopted. The board shall not have any power or authority in respect to such project except as hereinbefore provided. Such project and the changes therein, if any, shall be executed in accordance with the provisions of section 8 of this Act. Such surveys shall be made between Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as the board may deem necessary to enable it to ascertain and determine the best method of securing flood relief in addition to levees, before any flood control works other than levees and revetments are undertaken on that portion of the river: Provided, That all diversion works and outlets constructed under the provisions of this Act shall be built in a manner and of a character which will fully and amply protect the adjacent lands: Provided further, That pending completion of any floodway, spillway, or diversion channel, the areas within the same shall be given the same degree of protection as is afforded by levees on the west side of the river contiguous to the levee at the head of said floodway, but nothing herein shall prevent, postpone, delay, or in anywise interfere with the execution of that part of the project on the east side of the river, including raising, strengthening, and enlarging the levees on the east side of the river. The sum of $325,000,000 is hereby authorized to be appropriated for this purpose.

"All unexpended balances of appropriations heretofore made for prosecuting work of flood control on the Mississippi

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