FEBRUARY 25, 1938.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. TAYLOR of Colorado, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 9621]

The Committee on Appropriations submit the following report in explanation of the accompanying bill making appropriations for the Department of the Interior for the fiscal year 1939.

The bill embraces regular annual appropriations for the various branches of the service under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department, including several independent agencies, such as the Bituminous Coal Commission, the Fine Arts Commission and the Bonneville project. In addition to appropriations for operation and maintenance of the several activities coming under the jurisdiction of the Department, funds for the purpose of carrying forward such public works as are under the supervision of the Department, are also contained in this bill and are discussed in succeeding paragraphs.

A detailed tabulation will be found at the end of this report giving each appropriation in the bill for 1939, the amounts appropriated for the fiscal year 1938, and the Budget estimates for the fiscal year 1939, together with the increase or decrease in appropriations and estimates as compared with the amounts recommended in the bill.

APPROPRIATIONS AND ESTIMATES

The estimates of regular annual 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 in that document beginning with page 345. The amount of the estimates submitted and considered by the committee in connection with this bill, including supplemental estimates, is $127,489,266.66. Of this amount, $50,876,000 was submitted by the President in the Budget under the general Public Works program and will be found beginning with page 126 of that document. A supplemental estimate (H. Doc. 522) contains an additional estimate of $2,050,000 for the Bonneville project, providing a total of $3,500,000 for this purpose under the Public Works program, and making a total estimate of $52,926,000 for public works considered by the committee in connection with this bill.

The total appropriation recommended in this bill is $124,998,730.84, which is $7,947,557.01 less than the 1938 appropriation and $2,490,535.82 below the estimates submitted in the 1939 Budget.

Permanent annual appropriations and trust accounts.-The permanent annual appropriations and trust accounts are those which occur automatically each year without annual action by Congress, having been created specifically by Congress in previous years and continuing as such until modified or discontinued. "It is estimated that $21,433,759 will be expended under permanent appropriations during the fiscal year 1938, as compared with an estimated expenditure of $20,650,840 during the fiscal year 1939.

PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAM

That portion of the General Public Works program having to do with the Department of the Interior and beginning on page 126 of the Budget as submitted by the President (including a supplemental estimate in H. Doc. 522) has been considered by the committee in connection with this bill. The action recommended by the committee in connection with each of these estimates is explained in detail under appropriate heads in this report. A comparative statement of the amounts appropriated during the fiscal year 1938, the Budget estimates for the fiscal year 1939, and the amounts recommended in this bill are set forth below as follows:

Comparative statement of Public Works appropriations and estimates—Continued

Additional activities placed under Interior Department. During the last 5 years 22 new or additional activities have been established under or transferred to the Interior Department, the most recent being the Bonneville project and the United States Housing Authority. A complete list of these agencies will be found on page 42 of the printed hearings.

STRATEGIC WAR MINERALS

The committee recommends that the Secretary of the Interior utilize available personnel and equipment for continuing and initiating further studies and investigations of critical war minerals and raw materials, especially relating to the location of deposits of such minerals and raw materials within the continental limits of the United States, and studies of mining and beneficiation thereof looking to their availability domestically in time of war.

SECRETARY'S OFFICE

For the various activities comprising the office of the Secretary there is recommended $2,794,920, which is $154,820 more than the 1938 appropriation and $79,420 less than the Budget estimates. For salaries in the office of the Secretary and his assistants there is recommended $505,860, an increase of $85 860 over the current appropriation and $30,900 above the estimates. The increase in the estimate recommended by the committee is accounted for by the consolidation of the estimate of $50,900 for a proposed Division of Information with the salary item for the office of the Secretary, under which appropriation this activity is now provided for. The committee sees no reason why this activity should be set up as a separate entity. Similar activity is now carried on under the existing appropriation

for the Secretary's office and the proposed enlargement of the amount to be so allotted can be administered as heretofore. The denial of $20,000 in the estimate of $474,960 for the office of the Secretary represents the disallowance by that amount of a net increase of $54,960 proposed by the Budget for additional personnel, and accounts for the reduction by that amount in the combined total of the two estimates. Office of the Solicitor. For this office there is recommended $280,000, which is the amount of the 1938 appropriation and $5,600 less than the Budget figure, the decrease being due to the disallowance of one attorney at $3,800 and one assistant librarian at $1,800. Last year the committee ascertained during hearings on the bill that numerous attorneys are being carried on the rolls of the various bureaus and offices, although an order of the Secretary dated June 9, 1933, provided that all attorneys in the several bureaus and offices should be transferred to the office of the Solicitor. This order has not been followed during recent years in the appointment of additional attorneys and as a result the committee has had difficulty in determining how many attorneys are employed. Until the situation is improved the committee is not disposed to allow increases in this office. Division of Grazing. For this Division there is recommended a total of $900,000, which is $100,000 more than the 1938 appropriation and the amount proposed in the estimates. The appropriation of $550,000 for the current year for administrative purposes has proved inadequate for proper enforcement of the act and the increase of $100,000 proposed by the Budget is recommended. Increases in personnel both in the field and in the Washington office are urgently required to meet with any degree of efficiency the demands of the enlarged area recently placed under the supervision of this office. This Division is now charged with the administration of 49 grazing districts in 10 western public-land States, involving a total area of more than 120,000,000 acres. Receipts from grazing fees during the fiscal year 1939 are estimated to amount to $1,000,000. The Taylor Grazing Act provides that 25 percent of such receipts shall be available for range improvements, 50 percent shall be distributed to the States in which grazing districts are established, and 25 percent shall be covered into miscellaneous receipts of the Treasury.

Petroleum Conservation Division.-The act of June 14, 1937, proIvided that the so-called "Hot Oil Act" should be continued in effect until June 30, 1939, and the committee has considered an estimate of $285,000 for this purpose. During hearings on the bill information was obtained to the effect that the total expenditures for this agency during the first 6 months of the fiscal year 1938 amounted to only $124,000. On this basis it is apparent that an appropriation of $250,000 will be adequate for the fiscal year 1939 and for this reason the committee has recommended a reduction of $35,000 in the estimate of $285,000.

Contingent expenses.-The committee recommends a reduction of $3,500 in the estimate of $115,500 for this purpose. The 1939 estimates were prepared on the basis of a higher cost in the charge for paper to be used. The committee is advised that the schedule of costs prepared for the Joint Committee on Printing and effective on January 1, 1938, will permit a reduction of $3,500 in the estimate without requiring a reduction in the amount of paper which will be obtained.

Printing and binding.-For printing and binding there is recommended $250,000, which is $7,000 more than the current appropriation and $13,000 less than the estimates. Of the decrease in the estimate, $2,000 is accountable for by the decrease in the cost of paper referred to in the preceding paragraph and the remainder is applied to a proportionate reduction in the several items provided for under this appropriation.

MOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMORIAL COMMISSION

In authorizing this project the Congress provided that funds made available from the Treasury must be matched by private gifts and contributions. The original act provided a total authorization of $250,000. The requirement that appropriations be matched has been met only to the extent of $96,615, Congress having subsequently been called upon to abolish the matching feature. The act of August 29, 1935, authorized an additional appropriation of $200,000, making a total authorization of $450,000. All of this latter sum has been appropriated with the exception of $50,000, which is the amount of the estimate and the sum recommended by the committee. In recommending this appropriation, which will provide a total of $70,724 for the working season of 1938, the committee urges that the funds to be made available be so apportioned as to complete the essential features of the project and that no further attempt be made to extend the work by requesting additional appropriations.

NATIONAL BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION AND CONSUMERS' COUNSEL

The committee recommends an appropriation of $2,700,000 for the National Bituminous Coal Commission and $270,000 for the office of the consumers' counsel. The amount of the Budget estimate for the Commission for 1939 is $3,000,000 and for the counsel's office is $300,000. The appropriation for the Commission for 1938 is $3,600,000 and for the counsel's office is $300,000. The amount recommended by the committee for the Commission for the fiscal year 1939 is $900,000 less than the current appropriation and $300,000 less than the Budget estimate and the amount recommended for the counsel's office is $30,000 less than the current appropriation and that amount below the Budget estimate.

The amount allowed in the bill for the consumers' counsel, $270,000, will permit an average monthly rate of expenditure in the next fiscal year considerably in excess of the amount expended in the month of February of this year. While the committee realizes that the office has not operated as the law intended it should, through no fault of the consumers' counsel, they do feel that now that the essential data and information is being furnished by the Commission, the office of consumers' counsel will be able to function in the interest of the consumer and that the amount allowed should provide an adequate organization operating on an efficient and economical basis.

The reduction of $300,000 in the Budget estimate of the Commission is made in the belief that $2,700,000 is sufficient for all operating expenses for the next fiscal year. The organization of necessity was recruited somewhat expeditiously to perform a new function under the law and there have been uncertainties arising out of invalidation of the first law and court decisions under the new law negativing some