Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Yes. Mr. TABER. And to what date? Mr. KURTH. As of December 31, the expenditures were $2,831,756, leaving a balance of $2,774,394. That is taking into consideration the fact that $518,150 under Public Law 106 will be approved. If that is not approved, the deficiency would be that much greater. We are assuming that is automatic. MISCELLANEOUS SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES, FOREIGN SERVICE Mr. CANNON. For miscellaneous salaries and allowances, foreign service, 1946, you are asking $258,800 for additional positions and salary adjustments. Let us have a statement on that. NEED FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDS Mr. KURTH. Mr. Cannon, the supplemental estimate of $258,000 is submitted in addition to the current appropriation of $1,958,000 and the pending deficiency of $55,850 for the purpose of Public Law 106, and will provide for the following: 200 additional American positions requested in the 1947 annual budget, necessary in 1946 for an average of 31⁄2 months, $223,500; adjustments in temporary salary increases of 365 aliens at approximately $200 per annum for 3%1⁄2 months, $21,300; additional funds for promoting 143 Americans at an average of $66 per annum, and 1,171 aliens at $33 per annum for an average of 321⁄2 months, $14,000. With respect to the additional personnel of 200 additional Americans, 30 of those are cryptographic technicians. They are to replace personnel that we had from the Army and Navy during the war. The Army and Navy detailed its men to our missions to help out with the heavy volume of work, and they are now withdrawing those men. Thirty-one are couriers, again to replace military personnel which was assigned to us during the war. Forty-eight are American guards, again to replace military and naval personnel. Fourteen are radio operators who are to replace Navy personnel. Five are supervisors of construction who need to be sent out to look into the situation with respect to damages to buildings we own and rent, and six are building custodians. Sixty-six are officers. On May 6, 1945, the Congress passed Public Law 48. Section 10 (c) of Public Law 48 provided there might be detailed to the Department of State from other agencies of the Government for periods of time not to exceed 4 years, special technicians. These special technicians are drawn from such Departments as the Department of Commerce, the Department of Justice for immigration problems, the Bureau of Mines, and Department of Agriculture. I might say incidentally that we are encountering a serious immigration problem because there are potentially 20,000,000 applicants for visas in Europe alone. And while we cannot possibly admit that many people, nevertheless, they are flocking to our foreign missions and making applications and we must borrow people from the Department of Justice, Immigration Bureau, to help out. With respect to the second item, which is the adjustment in temporary salary increase of 365 aliens, we pay the alien employees the 83715-46- -33 local prevailing wage rates. The inflationary situation in every one of those countries means we have to compensate them through increases in pay in order to pay the local going rate, and that is the second item. The third item is for promoting 143 Americans. STATUS OF CURRENT APPROPRIATION Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. What is the expenditure picture? Mr. KURTH. The original appropriation was $1,958,000; Public Law 106 is $55,850, making a total of $2,013,850. On December 31 the reported obligations were $890,625, leaving a balance of $1,123,225. Mr. LUDLOW. You say $66 per annum average. What is the range of promotions? Mr. HARRINGTON. Around $100 a year is the maximum. Mr. KURTH. These are very low graded personnel in this appropriation. They are all guards, radio operators, cryptographic technicians, and the great bulk of our alien employees are paid from this appropriation. Mr. HARRINGTON. $100 a year would be the maximum. Mr. KURTH. They are translators, messengers, guards, and so forth. Mr. TABER. What did you pay out in the month of December? Mr. KURTH. I do not have that figure. I can give it to you in the record. (The information requested is as follows:) The obligation for the pay periods December 2 to 29, inclusive, is $127,524. Mr. TABER. You have plenty of money there to kind of finish that off, have you not; you have $233,000 to spare for the last half of the year. That ought to take care of it. Mr. KURTH. We will give you what our estimated obligations from January 1 to June 30 are. The basic salaries of the personnel at the old rate was $734,076. Salary increases authorized by Public Law 106 were $4,081. Overtime is $8,941; temporary salary increases are $142,382. Retroactive salary increases approved in the first deficiency which we have not yet paid, which are not reflected in the obligations, are $65,898. The additional personnel approved in the first deficiency is $192,102. Then there is a miscellaneous item of $1,060 for pay of consular agents. Those are foreigners to whom we pay consular fees where we have no missions, in small towns. Is not that correct? Mr. HARRINGTON. Usually in seaports. They perform certain shipping and commercial functions. Mr. KURTH. The total of that is $1,148,540, which leaves us- Mr. KURTH. Well, the deficit according to the way we figure is $81,165. Mr. TABER. Well, you had $1,123,000 and you require $1,148,000. That leaves $25,000 in ordinary arithmetic; is not that correct? Mr. HOLMES. That is correct. $25,000 is about right. We deduct from the $85,000 Public Law 106. Mr. KURTH. $55,000 deducted from $81,165 comes out at the same figure $25,315 that you are talking about. FOREIGN SERVICE, AUXILIARY (EMERGENCY) Mr. CANNON. For the foreign service, auxiliary (emergency), 1946, you request $1,163,800 for additional positions and for salary readjustments. This has been a war emergency appropriation and you seem to be dropping the "emergency" appendage in the 1947 budget. You do not want to let go of it; you want to hang onto it? NEED FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDS Mr. KURTH. No, Mr. Chairman. We intend to liquidate this organization and our plans for next year call for quite a sizable reduction and, as a matter of fact, the number of man-years in the next fiscal year, I believe, are a total of 231. Primarily the $1,000,000 requirement here which is the larger part of this, is to bring those people back home so that we can liquidate them. The additional requirement is for travel. The most of those are wartime employees who have served in the period of the war and want to come back home, and it is necessary that we bring them back. So that our plans do contemplate at the present time, I believe-Mr. Harrington can verify this-the liquidation of the foreign service, auxiliary, at the expiration of the next fiscal year. But during the next fiscal year, 1947, it will be operated on a drastically reduced basis. To compensate for that, to take up the slack there, our plans call for bringing in from the Armed Forces in the regular career foreign service about 300 to 400 additional foreign-service officers. The number of officers now under the Auxiliary is about 800. Also, a number of those foreign service auxiliary clerks will be shifted over in the next fiscal year to the clerical, administrative and fiscal service of the Foreign Service. It won't be possible to eliminate this appropriation entirely the next fiscal year, but we expect at the end of the next fiscal year it will be wiped out entirely. Mr. CANNON. At the end of the next fiscal year? STATUS OF CURRENT APPROPRIATION Mr. CANNON. What are your obligations through December 31, 1945? Mr. KURTH. The amount of the appropriation is $10,585,000. Under Public Law 106, there is an addition of $400,000, bringing the total of the appropriation to $10,985,000. The obligations to December 31 are $5,085,350. The balance is $5,899,650. Our estimated obligations from January 1 to June 30 are basic salary at the old rate, $3,496,230; retroactive payments that we are talking about amount to $821,887, not included in the obligations because we have not paid it; overtime from December to March, $74,982. After March 1, I believe it is, we are eliminating the overtime in the foreign service and bringing it down to a 40-hour week. The cost of allowances projected for the next 6 months for living quarters, cost of living, etc., is $1,215,328; temporary salary increases for alien personnel is $58,247; promotions in accordance with Public Law 48 to those employees who are entitled to them is $36,820; travel and transportation is $1,196,156. That is a total of $6,899,650, leaving us with a deficit of $1,400,000. SPECIAL ECONOMIC MISSION TO KOREA Mr. CANNON. For your Korean Mission you estimate a cost of $143,735 for 3%1⁄2 months. How long will that expense on account of this mission continue? Mr. KURTH. It is a special mission requested by General MacArthur to survey the economic situation in Korea, particularly the agricultural and textile situation and the economic potential of the country. Mr. HARRINGTON. I would not be able to guess the duration. It possibly would be on a basis of 6 months at the outside. Mr. CANNON. It is the idea of the committee here that this ought to be closed up by June 30, at the end of this fiscal year and, if you are going to do that-and I see no reason why you should not do ityou should begin now in order that the present balance will need no later supplement to clean the slate. Definitely, what harmful results would follow from such a course? Mr. KURTH. This is an aftermath of the war project and Mr. CANNON. Why should not you close it down by June 30? Mr. KURTH. General MacArthur has requested this mission. We do not know, of course Mr. CANNON. I mean this whole appropriation. Mr. CANNON. Yes. Mr. KURTH. That would make the transition, Mr. Chairman, we feel, too abrupt. We cannot possibly recruit all of the needed foreign-service officers under the examination procedure. We are bringing the most of those foreign-service officers in from the armed forces. I believe originally 20,000 men were eligible to take the examination. How many passed the examination, Mr. Harrington? Mr. HARRINGTON. 6,000 were designated to take the examinations in November. Some 600 passed the written examination and the oral examinations are being conducted starting the end of this week. My guess is that out of this lot there will be roughly 300 who will pass the entire examination. We are conducting a second examination for members of the armed forces later this year, for all of those members of the forces who were ineligible to take the first examination. Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Why the 20 additional positions? Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. At the regular posts; are they not? Mr. HARRINGTON. Yes; they are entirely at regular posts. Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. That does not look like you are cutting down. Mr. HARRINGTON. The most of those people are in the category who will be transferred on July 1 to the fiscal and administrative services, such as the disbursing service. Mr. KURTH. All of those 20 will be taken over on the other appropriation on July 1. Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. If approved. Mr. KURTH. If they are approved; yes. THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1946. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR GRAZING SERVICE STATEMENT OF CLARENCE L. FORSLING, DIRECTOR OF GRAZING SALARIES AND EXPENSES Mr. CANNON. We have an estimate here for a deficiency appropriation of $14,000 for added expenses incident to the reemployment of returning veterans. You previously had $979,470 and under Public, 106, $142,000, so that this would give you a total of $1,135,470. How does that compare with your 1947 budget? Mr. FORSLING. That is approximately the same. Mr. CANNON. There is no increase in your 1947 budget? Mr. FORSLING. I beg your pardon. There is an increase. Mr. FORSLING. The increase requested in the 1947 budget, as approved by the Bureau of the Budget is $415,555. MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSES Mr. CANNON. Besides your pay roll I see that you have a considerable portion of your appropriation available-about 20 percent-for miscellaneous expenses. In a budget of this size, with 20 percent sequestered for miscellaneous expenses, could you not save $14,000 for this purpose? Mr. FORSLING. We have given attention to that, Mr. Chairman. Mr. CANNON. You have always turned back a balance, heretofore. We have always dealt with you very generously when you have turned back a balance and it occurred to me that in a budget of this size you should be able to salvage $14,000 without coming up to us for this deficiency appropriation. Mr. FORSLING. We took that into account and we have already, in addition to the $14,000 requested, absorbed, or will have to absorb, $60,000. The $14,000 was the remainder which we could not absorb and that is the reason we are asking for the additional $14,000. Mr. CANNON. You are not expanding your force beyond the force contemplated by the original appropriation? Mr. FORSLING. No, sir; we are not. REEMPLOYMENT OF VETERANS Mr. CANNON. When these veterans come back, they replace warservice employees? Mr. FORSLING. Yes, sir; in all cases. Mr. CANNON. And the present incumbent is dismissed? Mr. FORSLING. He is dismissed. And in a great many cases, they have accumulated leave that must be paid to them, and in a few instances, it is necessary to have overlapping service between the incumbent and the returning veteran, when he comes back. Mr. CANNON. You discourage that; do |