to provide for improving the navigable capacity of the Sabine and Neches rivers and the canal connecting the Sabine and Neches rivers with the mouth of Taylors Bayou." 2. Sabine and Neches rivers are navigable waters of the United States which have been improved from time to time with funds appropriated, and in accordance with projects formally adopted, by Congress. The canal connecting the mouths of Sabine and Neches rivers with the mouth of Taylors Bayou is an artificial channel 100 feet wide and 9 feet deep, constructed in accordance with projects adopted by Congress, at a cost of more than $450,000. It is understood that the local citizenship desire wider and deeper channels and greater facilities for navigation, and are willing to execute the necessary work for this purpose at their own expense, the object of the bill under consideration being to secure this privilege. So far as the Sabine and Neches rivers are concerned they, being highways for commerce in their natural state, may be improved under the general authority contained in the river and harbor act of June 13, 1902; but the canal being more or less an artificial channel, special authority from Congress for its enlargement is necessary. 3. While the proposition embraced in the bill appears unobjectionable, and the department can urge no reasonable opposition to an enlargement of navigation facilities at the cost of the parties interested, it should be remembered that the extent and scope of an improvement of this character necessary to meet the requirements of commerce is a matter that rests with the judgment of Congress, and that as a usual thing, where the necessity for an enlarged improvement is shown, it is not difficult to secure the authority of Congress for the execution of the work at the public expense. In cons dering this proposition, therefore, it should be distinctly understood that the favorable consideration of this measure shall not be construed as a declaration by Congress that increased facilities at the loca ity are needed at this time to meet the demands of public commerce, nor be used as a basis for future claims for reimbursement for any moneys that may be expended thereunder. 4. So far as the form of the bill is concerned I have indicated certain amendments which, in my judgment, should be adopted to make the bill thoroughly acceptable. I inclose herewith a substitute bill, however, which I believe preferable, but I make no direct recommendation that it be substituted for the one referred by the committee. Very respectfully, The SECRETARY of War. W. L. MARSHALL, Chief of Engineers, U. S. Ármy. [First indorsement.] WAR DEPARTMENT, February 6, 1909. Respectfully transmitted to Hon. Theodore E. Burton, chairman Committee on Rivers and Harbors, House of Representatives, inviting attention to the views herein expressed by the Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army, and to the accompanying amended copy of pending H. R. 27363 and draft of substitute bill referred to. O LUKE E. WRight, 2d Session. No. 2199. CRYPT OF CHAPEL AT NAVAL ACADEMY AS PERMANENT RESTING PLACE FOR BODY OF JOHN PAUL JONES. FEBRUARY 15, 1909.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. OLCOTT, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 5434.] The Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 5434) to provide for finishing the crypt at the chapel at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., as a permanent resting place for the body of John Paul Jones, having had the same under consideration, report the same favorably without amendment and recommend that it do pass. This report is based upon the facts set forth in the following letters of the Hon. Charles Joseph Bonaparte, Secretary of the Navy, dated April 25, 1906; of the Hon. Victor H. Metcalf, Secretary of the Navy, dated January 11, 1908, both addressed to the Hon. Eugene Hale, chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs of the Senate; and the Hon. Truman H. Newberry, the present Secretary of the Navy, dated December 4, 1908, addressed to the Hon. George E. Foss, chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs of the House of Representatives: NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, April 26, 1906. SIR: The crypt of the chapel at the Naval Academy, Annapolis, having been selected as the place of final deposit of the body of John Paul Jones, I have the honor to recommend that suitable provision be made for finishing this part of the building in a manner appropriate to such purpose. Under existing contracts the crypt of the chapel will be left in the rough, with exposed concrete and brickwork. The department has been in correspondence with the architect of the building, Mr. Ernest Flagg, and has received from him an estimate and tentative plans for the finishing of the crypt. A copy of the letter of the architect is inclosed for the information of the committee. It will be seen that Mr. Flagg's suggestions are based upon a substantial, though not the more costly, style of finish and decoration. Inasmuch as the appropriations heretofore made for the erection of buildings at the Naval Academy are not sufficient to cover the finishing of the crypt in the manner herein suggested, even if such action could appropriately be taken without the special sanction of Congress, the draft of a measure authorizing the work and providing an appropriation of $135,000 therefor is inclosed. Learning that, in the preliminary steps connected with this matter, before it was taken up by the Government, Gen. Horace Porter, ambassador of the United States at Paris, had expended from his private purse the sum of $35,000, this department was prepared to recommend that he be reimbursed therefor; but he has most generously and patriotically declined to accept such reimbursement, suggesting that, instead, the sum originally proposed for the finishing of the crypt, $100,000, and which, it was feared, would be inadequate to do so appropriately, be increased by the amount of any reimbursement to which he might be supposed to be entitled. In view of this public-spirited suggestion by General Porter, the sum named in the estimate for the finishing and decoration of the crypt is made $135,000. This sum, it is believed, is barely sufficient to complete the work in a simple but suitable and substantial manner. Very respectfully, Hon. EUGENE HALE, CHARLES J. BONAPARTE, Chairman Committee on Naval Affairs, United States Senate. Secretary. NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, January 11, 1908. SIR: Under date of April 26, 1906, my predecessor addressed a letter to you, inviting attention to the crude and unfinished condition of the crypt of the chapel at the Naval Academy, which had been selected as the place of final deposit of the body of John Paul Jones, and recommending that suitable provision be made for completing this part of the building in an appropriate manner. Under existing contracts the crypt of the chapel has been left in the rough, with exposed concrete and brick, and appropriations heretofore made for buildings at the Naval Academy are not sufficient to cover the finishing of the crypt in the manner desired, even if such action could properly be taken without the special sanction of Congress. Before submitting its letter above mentioned the department obtained an estimate and tentative plan for the completing of the crypt in a substantial, though not expensive, style of finish and decoration, at a proposed cost of $135,000. Believing that from all considerations the crypt of the chapel at the Naval Academy should not be left in its present condition, I have the honor to submit a draft of a bill making provision for its proper completion, concurring in and renewing the recommendation made by my predecessor that the matter receive your favorable consideration and that of the committee. The amount to be appropriated for this purpose is, in the draft submitted, left blank. Very respectfully, Hon. EUGENE HALE, V. H. METCALF, Chairman Committee on Naval Affairs, United States Senate. Secretary. NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 4, 1908. SIR: The department has the honor to inform the chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, House of Representatives, that the crypt of the chapel at the United States Naval Academy, selected as a permanent resting place for the body of John Paul Jones, has been left with only the foundation prepared. Appropriations heretofore made for buildings at the Naval Academy are not available for further preparing this crypt. In the search for the body of John Paul Jones, Gen. Horace Porter, ambassador of the United States to France, expended from his private purse the sum of $35,000, and patriotically declined reimbursement for the same, generously suggesting that the amount be added to the sum of $100,000 originally proposed for the crypt, but thought to be inadequate. In view of this public-spirited suggestion by General Porter, the department recommends that there be inserted in the estimates for naval appropriation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1910, an item of $135,000 for completing and finishing in every respect the crypt of the chapel of the United States Naval Academy in accordance with plans obtained by the department. Very respectfully, TRUMAN H. NEWBERRY, Secretary. CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS, 60TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 2d Session. ASSAY OFFICE, LOS ANGELES, CAL. February 15, 1909.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. KNOWLAND, from the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 5727.] The Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures, having had under consideration the bill (S. 5727) to establish an assay office at Los Angeles, State of California, report the bill with amendments and recommend that the bill as amended be passed. On page 1, line 14, strike out the words "chief clerk" and insert the word " cashier;" and in line 15 of the same page, after the word "annum" insert "who shall perform the duties of the assayer in charge in his absence." On page 2, line 5, strike out the words "chief clerk" and insert 66 assayer and cashier." The State of California produces about $18,000,000 in gold per year, and one-third of this amount comes from the portion of the State of which Los Angeles is the commercial center. Arizona produces about $4,500,000 in gold and silver annually, nearly all of which is tributary to Los Angeles. Nevada's production last year was nearly $20,000,000 in gold and silver, and since the completion of the new railroads, making direct connection from Los Angeles with the heart of the richest gold districts of Nevada, Los Angeles is now more accessible to those regions in time, distance, and convenience than any other city. It is estimated that from one-third to one-half of the gold produced in Nevada would come to Los Angeles if the convenience of a federal assay office existed there. Many large producing mining companies operating in southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico have their main offices in Los Angeles, and it would be a great convenience to them to have their bullion sent to this city, melted and stamped and deposited in local banks, upon which they could at once draw for supplies which would be purchased there. Los Angeles is the headquarters for a very extensive gold and silver production in the Republic of Mexico, and with the extension of the Southern Pacific lines down the western coast to Gaudalajara it is destined to be much more extensive, and a government assay office at Los Angeles would attract this Mexican gold as the Seattle office attracts the gold from the Canadian-Yukon country, thus making it a matter of national as well as local importance, and performing for the Southwest the important function of convenience and facility to the mining interest of the great Southwest that Seattle performs to those of the Northwest. The nearest government assay office to Los Angeles is the one at San Francisco, which is practically 500 miles distant, while the mines of Arizona and Mexico are several hundred miles farther away. The assay office at Carson City, Nev., is much nearer San Francisco than is Los Angeles, and Charlotte, N. C., where there is also a government assay office, is but little farther from the mint at Philadelphia than Los Angeles is from San Francisco. The bill proposes to appropriate the sum of $20,000 for the expenses of establishing the office, including salaries of officials and wages of workmen. The Secretary of the Treasury, in a letter dated February 16, 1909, states: * * *The amount provided in the bill for the establishment of the office (at Los Angeles) and the payment of salaries for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1910, to wit, $20,000, is about the amount that would be required for the purpose. In other words, I think the sum named is sufficient to accomplish the objects named in the bill. |