Mr. BAIN. We should not have done that. Mr. CRAMTON. It is not before us, anyway. ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS RELATING TO MINING OF MINERALS Mr. CRAMTON. The next item is as follows: For enforcement of the provisions of the acts of February 25, 1920, and October 2, 1917, relating to the mining of coal, phosphates, sodium, and potassium on the public domain, and for enforcement of the laws relating to the mining of minerals other than oil, oil shale, and natural gas, on Indian and public lands, and every other expense incident thereto, including supplies, equipment, expenses of travel and subsistence, purchase, exchange as part payment for maintenance, and operation of motor-propelled passenger-carrying vehicles, $86,920: Provided, That not exceeding 20 per cent of this amount may be used for personal services in the District of Columbia. Mr. BAIN. The following justifications are submitted: Appropriations: 1924 1925 1926 (estimate). $80,000 91, 360 86, 920 This appropriation provides funds for the enforcement of laws relating to the mining of minerals, other than oil, oil shale, or natural gas, on public and Indian lands. The work covered is in two fields: (1) Coal and (2) other minerals. It extends over both public and Indian lands. Field headquarters for the supervision of this leasing work are at Denver, Colo., with deputy supervisors at Salt Lake City, Utah: Billings. Mont.; and Miami and McAlester, Okla. On June 30, 1924, there were under supervision 348 coal-prospecting permits, 153 coal leases, 21 coal licenses. 1 phosphate lease, 11 sodium permits, 66 potash permits, and 4 potash leases, aggregating 558,100.61 acres. There are now 161 mines producing coal under the leasing act of February 25, 1920. The production of coal, in tons. has been: This production is obtained in the States of Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, Utah, Washington, New Mexico, Montana, and South Dakota. An auditor and accountant has been employed recently to check up the payment of rentals and back royalties, working on this in cooperation with the General Land Office. In the first month of his work, he uncovered approximately $40,000 of apparently unpaid rentals or royalties and has added $22,000 in the three months which followed. The estimate for 1926 is for $86,920, which is $4,440 less than that appropriated in the act of June 5, 1924, and $8,600 less than the amount obligated during the present year, since the obligations here as elsewhere cover an amount carried in H. R. 9561. The allotment of funds available during 1925 follows: Reserve Washington office, administration____ Washington, office of chief supervisor_ $4,250 4,380 13. 620 The money spent under this appropriation goes directly to care of the Government's own property, and in the mineral leases there is an estate that will in time become a most important source of public revenue though development will be slower than in the case of the oil and gas lands. EXPENSES OF MINING EXPERIMENT STATIONS Mr. CRAMTON. The next item is as follows: For the employment of personal services and all other expenses in connection with the establishment, maintenance, and operation of mining experiment stations, authorized by the act approved March 3, 1915, $200,000. Mr. BAIN. The following justifications are submitted: The Secretary of the Interior was, by act of March 3, 1915, directed and authorized to establish 10 mining experiment stations in the several important mining regions "to make investigations and disseminate information with a view to improving conditions in the mining industries." At the same time an appropriation of $25,000 was made for the maintenance of each of the three stations established in that year. Similar appropriations have been made for the 5 stations authorized later until at present, with 8 of the 10 stations established, there is an annual appropriation of $200,000. From experience gained in administering the work of these stations the bureau has learned that any sum less than $25,000 is inadequate for the maintenance of a separate laboratory and results in inefficiency, the overhead costs being too large in proportion to the work done. These laboratories are known as Foster stations. Congress, in the appropriation act of June 5, 1924, transferred the Salt Lake City, Utah, experiment station from the general appropriations to this Foster group. Two other experiment stations-the Pacific coast station at Berkeley, Calif., and the rare and precious metals station at Reno, Nev.-remain in the general appropriations, and it is the hope of the Bureau of Mines to request next year that these two stations be transferred from the general appropriations, with the addition of sufficient funds to bring the appropriation for each up to $25,000, to the Foster group, thus completing the establishment of the 10 stations authorized in the act mentioned. The eight stations now under this appropriation are: 1. At Seattle, Wash., in cooperation with the University of Washington. Specializes on coal-washing problems, electrometallurgical research, and the utilization of local clays. The work of this station on electrometallurgy has attracted widespread attention among the leading steel and iron manufacturers of the country. 2. At Tucson, Ariz., in cooperation with the University of Arizona. Specializes in metallurgical problems in the copper industry. Processes developed at this station are being used commercially and have resulted in making amenable to treatment complex copper ores which were hitherto virtually useless. 3. At Columbus, Ohio, in cooperation with Ohio State University. Specializes on ceramics and clay technology, including the substitution of American raw and prepared clays for similar imported products. 4. At Minneapolis, Minn., in cooperation with the University of Minnesota. Works principally on research in connection with the low-grade iron ores of the Lake Superior region. The work of this station on the use of oxygen in blast-furnace practice, the development of an experimental blast furnace, and the fundamental knowledge developed pertaining to the manufacture of iron and steel has been of intense interest to the makers of iron and steel. 5. At Rolla, Mo., in connection with the Missouri School of Mines. Specializes on mining and metallurgical problems of the lead and zinc mines in that district, the use of mining of drill steel, and the utilization of underground loading devices in mining. 6. At Tuscaloosa, Ala., in cooperation with the University of Alabama. Specializes on the problem of the iron and coal mining of the southeastern States. 7. At New Brunswick, N. J., in cooperation with Rutger's College. Specializes on the problems of the nonmetallic minerals, such as lime, slate, and marble. 8. At Salt Lake City, Utah, in cooperation with the University of Utah. Specializes on mining and metallurgical problems of interest to the miners of the Rocky Mountain region, especially to make available for use some of the low-grade and complex ores which are difficult of treatment in standard practice. Mr. CRAMTON. Expenses of mining experiment stations, $200,000, the same as the current year. You have set forth the principal activities of each of these stations. How many were authorized by the Foster Act? Mr. BAIN. Ten. Mr. CRAMTON. The other two are at Berkeley and Reno? Mr. BAIN. No; these existed before and were confirmed by the Foster Act. The Foster Act authorized 10 in addition to what we had then, which was 5. We have in various ways gotten rid of several, so that as it now stands we now have 8 under the Foster Act. Mr. CRAMTON. Occasionally some Member of Congress is inspired with the necessity of a station in his district. What would you say, Doctor, speaking generally, as to the comparative value of the work that you can do in a limited number of well-equipped stations, each specializing in a particular field, or a large number of stations that would probably come in closer contact with all the various mining fields, but each of which would be less well equipped? Mr. BAIN. I would rather have a limited number, and we think we can accomplish more with a limited number properly distributed over the country. A limited number properly distributed will keep in sufficiently close contact with the local fields. Mr. CRAMTON. What do you think of the present line-up you have, as to their capacity to render the service that is necessary so far as location and scope of their activities is concerned? Mr. BAIN. Well, including the ones under the general appropriation as well as the Foster Act, I think the present number is adequate. Mr. CRAMTON. You could possibly see your way to use more money in some of them, if you had the money, but so far as their location and the scope of their activities is concerned, you think they are ample? Mr. BAIN. So far as present development is concerned, that is true. CARE, ETC., OF PITTSBURGH, PA., STATION AND GROUNDS For care and maintenance of buildings and grounds at Pittsburgh, Pa., including personal services, the purchase, exchange as part payment for, operation, maintenance, and repair of passenger automobiles for official use, and all other expenses requisite for and incident thereto, including not to exceed $5,000 for additions and improvements, $65,000. Mr. CRAMTON. The Pittsburgh station and grounds, $55,000, for care and maintenance of buildings and grounds, etc. That is really an overhead, is it? Mr. BAIN. Yes. Appropriations: This appropriation covers a portion of the expense necessary for the care and maintenance of the main experiment station of the Bureau of Mines, located at Pittsburgh, Pa., including carpenter and machine shops, garage, and outbuildings. Various technical appropriations covering research work at this station bear their share of labor costs necessary in connection with investigations. The station occupies a site of 11 acres, near the Carnegie Institute of Technology, the Carnegie Museum, and the University of Pittsburgh. The plant consists of a main building of three stories, power plant, and fuel testing laboratory, garages, and several minor buildings. They were built at a cost of $565,700, although their present appraised value is considerably higher. The main building has 139 rooms, consisting mainly of laboratories, and the entire plant has 93,244 square feet of floor space. Maintenance of this plant, together with the labor service necessary in the research work, cost $85,335 during the year ending June 30, 1924. These costs were divided as follows: Power plant, including 2,100 tons of coal, and necessary supplies and labor $14, 025 4, 740 5,045 9, 875 6, 200 Custodial care of the buildings, including such items as electricity for night service, gas for shops, telephones, laundry service, water rent, supplies, such as mops, brooms, soaps and various cleaning materials, lumber for crating shipments and general repairs, piping and plumbing supplies, repairs and replacement of desks, etc., $13.290, with a cost of $32,160 for personal services, including janitors, charwomen, watchmen, plumber, electrician, and mechanical superintendent--- $45, 450 85,335 Of this amount, $52,400 was provided from this appropriation, the remainder being supplied from the appropriations for investigating mine accidents and testing fuel for the upkeep of the technical service shops. Of the $57,400 appropriated, $5,000 is allotted for repairs, alterations, and improvements. The amount estimated, $65,000, amounts to an increase of $7,600 on the assumption, as made elsewhere, that provision will be made separately for the same items as now carried in H. R. 9651. The increase requested covers some additions in personnel and the increased cost of keeping the building in condition. Due to the character of the research, a large amount of acid is carried through the drain pipes from the laboratories. This is corroding the plumbing to such an extent that, it is estimated, the entire plumbing will have to be renewed. The additions in personnel consist of an assistant to the mechanical superintendent and a plumber's helper. One additional watchman, two additional laborers, and one additional charwoman are also needed, but these are not being included in this estimate. Neither does this estimate include any additions because of the increased cost of supplies as it has worked out during the past year that the decrease in the cost of coal has compensated for the increased cost of electricity, gas, cleaning supplies, etc. Mr. CRAMTON. You get from other appropriations amounts to carry on certain investigations at the stations? Mr. BAIN. Yes; that is correct. And there is a certain amount of service work there, which we charge back to these special appropriations. That is, we actually spend on general purposes over there $85,000, but of that a lot is building equipment for particular tests which we charge back to that appropriation, and work of that kind. If we make this appropriation as suggested here, that will relieve our technical appropriations of about somewhere between $5,000 and $6,000, and will give us that much additional for this safety program. It is an indirect way of doing it. Mr. CRAMTON. So that really there is an indirect increase of $5,000 or $6,000 in the safety program that does not show on the face of the bill? Mr. BAIN. That is correct. DETAILS OF MEDICAL OFFICERS FROM PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE The Secretary of the Treasury may detail medical officers of the Public Health Service for cooperative health, safety, or sanitation work with the Bureau of Mines, and the compensation and expenses of the officers so detailed may be paid from the applicable appropriations made herein for the Bureau of Mines. Mr. CRAMTON. There is certain language continued with reference to the detail of field officers for service in the District, and there is an item authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to detail medi |