to that to be provided for the Platte Valley in Colorado by means of the Big Thompson project recently created by Congress.

The existing irrigation system in the Arkansas Valley, which has been developed over a period of 70 years, is capable in its present extent of irrigating 760,000 acres of land. According to the report of the Mississippi Valley committee, 691,000 acres under cultivation in 1919, has shrunk to 558,000 acres, a loss of more than 83,000 acres, due to shortage of water. The flow of the river is insufficient during average years to supply the established requirements, and periods of drought occur when the flow of the river is below the long-time average, depleting reservoir supplies and resulting in serious crop losses. For several years past, the annual crop loss has averaged $9,000,000. The Arkansas Valley, as in the case of valleys generally in the mountain country, has suffered from over-grazing and denudation of soil coverage, resulting in excessive run-off, and, due to continued drought, now in its sixth year, a lowering of the water table. At times, the domestic water supply of an urban population of 80,000 is seriously diminished.

It is generally agreed that the chief source of additional water supply is through transmountain diversion as proposed in the bill. This principle has been recognized in the State of Colorado for many years, but until recently proposals to execute such diversions have resulted in controversy between the two slopes, due to the apprehension of the western slope that it would be deprived of necessary water supplies to which it felt itself entitled. This has finally been overcome by the inclusion in diversion projects of compensatory storage reservoirs on the western slope. The diversions will occur at high altitudes, where snow and ice conditions in the spring produce large volumes of water at a season when application to the soil is not required. These surplus waters will be stored in the compensatory reservoirs, and during the crop season will be released into the westernslope streams, while at the same time the headwaters of the streams will be diverted into the Arkansas River for use in that basin. It is agreed that the maintenance of present agricultural development as well as the future growth of the eastern valleys will depend on these diversions.

It appeared in the hearings that the Colorado delegation in Congress had endorsed the proposed survey and that it had received the preliminary approval of the Bureau of Reclamation. It is deemed by your committee to be of first importance to the Western States, all of which are dependent upon irrigation and reclamation for their water supplies for all purposes, that their possibilities in the way of conservation and use of their water supplies should be fully explored by the methods involved in this legislation, and it accordingly unanimously report the bill favorably as amended and recommend its passage.

JANUARY 25, 1938.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

Mr. HEALY, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 1691]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1691) to provide that residence requirements for judges shall not be held to apply to judges who have retired or resigned, after consideration, report the same favorably to the House with amendments, with the recommendation that as so amended the bill do pass. The committee amendments are as follows:

Page 1, line 6, strike out the words "or resigned".
Amend the title so as to read:

A bill to provide that residence requirements shall not be held to apply to judges who have retired.

The law requires every district judge to reside in the district, or one of the districts, for which he is appointed. Likewise a circuit judge must reside in the circuit, or one of the circuits, for which he is appointed.

The reported bill, as amended, provides that this requirement shall not be held to apply to judges who have retired.

With retired judges, further judicial service is optional in any event. To be eligible for retirement a judge must have reached the age of 70 years and have had at least 10 years' service on the bench. There appears no good reason why the law should not make it clear that retired judges may live wherever their health requires or inclination leads them.

The committee amendment strikes out as unnecessary the language bringing resigned judges within the terms of the bill. Resigned judges are no longer judges. Residence requirements of judges could not be construed to apply to them.

H. Repts., 75-3, vol. 1-25

A communication addressed by the Attorney General to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which the Attorney General states he finds no objection to the enactment of the bill, follows: AUGUST 7, 1937.

Hon. HENRY F. ASHURST,

Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary,

United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR SENATOR: This acknowledges your request for my views relative to a bill (S. 1691) to provide that residence requirements for judges shall not apply to retired or resigned judges.

The existing law requires that every district judge reside in the district, or one of the districts, for which he is appointed (U. S. C., title 28, sec. 1), and that every circuit judge shall reside within his circuit (U. S. C., title 28, sec. 213). The bill under consideration would provide that these provisions of law shall not be applicable to any judge who has retired or resigned.

While a retired judge may be called upon to perform judicial duties, he may not be required to do so except to the extent to which he is willing to undertake the work (U. S. C., title 28, sec. 375). A judge who has resigned, of course, does not perform any duties of his former office.

In view of the foregoing circumstances, I find no objection to the enactment of the bill.

Sincerely yours,

HOMER S. CUMMINGS,
Attorney General.

3d Session

No. 1721

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA APPROPRIATION BILL, FISCAL YEAR 1939

JANUARY 26, 1938.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. COLLINS, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 9181]

The Committee on Appropriations submit the following report in explanation of the accompanying bill making appropriations for the expenses of the government of the District of Columbia for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1939.

SCOPE OF THE BILL

The bill embraces all regular annual appropriations chargeable to the revenues of the District of Columbia, including the Federal payment adjusting fiscal relations; also appropriations on account of park areas under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, the National Capital Park and Planning Commission, the Zoological Park, and for certain work being performed under the supervision of the Engineer Department of the Army.

APPROPRIATIONS AND ESTIMATES

The estimates of appropriations upon which this bill is based were submitted by the President in the Budget for the fiscal year 1939 and will be found in detail on pages 766 to 829, inclusive.

There follows a summary of the regular annual appropriations for 1938, and the amounts proposed in the bill for 1939, separated so as to indicate, in a general way, the sources of revenue from which the appropriations will be met.

The annual appropriations under which the District of Columbia government is operating for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1938, amount to $45,465,576. The Budget estimates for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1939, amount to $47,344,702. The amount recommended in the bill is $45,827,322, which is $396,746 more than the 1938 appropriation and $1,517,380 less than the Budget estimates.

APPROPRIATIONS AND REVENUES

General fund.-The total amount allowed by the committee and chargeable to the general fund of the District and the Federal contribution is $38,247,762. The estimated revenue collection of the District for the fiscal year 1939 available to meet the payment of the amount recommended by the committee is $31,275,262. This would leave a revenue deficit next year of $6,972,500. This amount, however, is reduced by the recommended Federal contribution of $5,000,000, to $1,972,500, which the District of Columbia will be required to raise by local taxation.

Gasoline tax and motor-vehicle fees.-The total amount approved by the committee, payable from the gasoline tax and motor-vehicle registration fund, is $5,793,740. The estimated revenue availability of the fund for 1939 is $5,815,167. The appropriation of the full amount approved by the committee will leave an estimated balance in the fund at the close of the fiscal year 1939 amounting to $21,423.

Water fund. The committee has approved a total of $1,785,820, payable from the water fund of the District. The estimated revenue availability of that fund for the fiscal year 1939, on the basis of applying the water rates fixed by basic law, is $2,439,631. This will leave an estimated balance in the water fund at the end of the next fiscal year of $653,811.

CHANGES IN CURRENT APPROPRIATIONS AND ESTIMATES

The changes recommended in the Budget estimates by the committee are set forth in the following explanation of the action of the committee thereon. Where no reference is made to an item it can be assumed that the committee has made no substantial change in the recommendation of the Budget.