SENATE ROAD BILLS

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1928

UNITED STATES SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICES AND POST ROADS,

Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 2 o'clock p. m. in the committee room, Capitol, Senator George H. Moses presiding.

Present: Senators Moses (chairman), Phipps, Frazier, and Brookhart.

The CHAIRMAN. This hearing is called for the purpose of considering the various highway bills before the committee; and in order that there may be no playing of favorites the Chair, unless otherwise ordered, will call the bills for hearing in the order in which they appear upon the calendar of the committee which is before each member.

Also, inasmuch as the entire hearing is to be taken and printed, we will not insist upon the physical presence of a quorum of the committee, and the hearing, if not finished to-day, will be carried over daily and continuously until all the road bills have been finished, and at a future executive session of the committee action will be taken regarding them.

The first bill on the calendar is Docket No. 3, Senator Pittman's bill, S. 659.

(The bill referred to is as follows:)

[S. 659, Seventieth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend an act entitled "An act to amend the act entitled 'An act to provide that the United States shall aid the States in the construction of rural post roads, and for other purposes,' approved July 11, 1916, as amended and supplemented, and for other purposes," approved November 9, 1921, known as the Federal highway act, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 14 of said act be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 14. A State that has accepted the benefits of this act shall maintain the Federal-aid highways within such State, at its own expense, except that in the case of any State containing unappropriated public lands exceeding 5 per centum of the total area of all lands in the State, the share of the United States to be payable under this act on account of the costs of such maintenance shall equal the percentage which the area of the unappropriated public lands in such State bears to the total area of such State.

"That should any State fail to maintain any highway within its boundaries after construction or reconstruction under the provisions of this act, after the Federal Government has made available its share for such purpose, the Secretary of Agriculture shall then serve notice upon the State highway department of that fact, and if within ninety days after receipt of such notice said highway has not been placed in proper condition of maintenance, the Secretary of Agriculture shall proceed immediately to have such highway placed in a proper condition of maintenance and charge the cost thereof against the Federal funds allotted to such State, and shall refuse to approve any other project in such State, except as hereinafter provided.

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"Upon the reimbursement by the State of the amount expended by the Federal Government over and above its share for such maintenance, said amount shall be paid into the Federal highway fund for reapportionment among all the States for the construction of roads under this act, and the Secretary of Agriculture shall then approve further projects submitted by the State as in this act provided. "Whenever it shall become necessary for the Secretary of Agriculture under the provisions of this act to place any highway in a proper condition of maintenance, the Secretary of Agriculture shall contract with some responsible party or parties for doing such work: Provided, however, That in case he is not able to secure a satisfactory contract he may purchase, lease, hire, or otherwise obtain all necessary supplies, equipment, and labor, and may operate and maintain such motor and other equipment and facilities as in his judgment are necessary for the proper and efficient performance of his functions."

The CHAIRMAN. Upon that bill the Department of Agriculture has reported adversely, the language of the department being that—

This bill would amend section 14 of the Federal highway act, which relates to the maintenance of roads built with Federal aid by the States at their expense. The bill would change the existing law as to States which contain unappropriated public lands in excess of 5 per centum of the total area of all lands therein, and provide that in such States the United States shall pay a share of the cost of such maintenance equal to the percentage which the area of the unappropriated public lands in each such State may bear to the total area thereof. In this connection, it would seem well to direct the attention of the committee to the fact that the funds derived from motor-vehicle license fees and from gasoline taxes in each of the States which would be affected by the bill are more than sufficient to do the maintenance work required on the highways built with Federal aid in such States and provision should be made by the States concerned for the use of a sufficient amount of these funds to accomplish necessary maintenance work. It may be mentioned also that these sources of revenue have been conceded to the States by the Federal Government and there is no Federal levy imposed which could have the effect of curtailing the income derived therefrom by the States.

Are there any who wish to be heard in advocacy of this bill? [After a pause.] If not, the bill will be passed over.

The CHAIRMAN. The next measure on the calendar is Docket No. 12, S. 1286, introduced by Senator Capper. (The bill referred to is as follows:)

[S. 1286, Seventieth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend the act entitled "An act to provide that the United States shall aid the States in the construction of rural post roads, and for other purposes," approved July 11, 1916, as amended, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the act entitled "An act to provide that the United States shall aid the States in the construction of rural post roads, and for other purposes," approved July 11, 1916, and all acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto, there is hereby authorized and directed to be appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the following sums, to be expended in the improvement of rural post roads over which rural carriers travel in serving the rural routes other than those now included in the Federal-aid road system: The sum of $50,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1929, and the sum of $65,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1930. The sum of $75,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1931.

SEC. 2. For carrying out the provisions of this act the Secretary of Agriculture shall apportion to each of the States according to the mileage of rural routes, provided that the States appropriate a like amount. The money shall be apportioned to each rural route in the United States in proportion to its mileage, but none of this appropriation shall be spent in the construction or maintenance of roads built by Federal aid heretofore and known as the Federal road system. The expenditure of this money shall be by the highway departments of the various States in cooperation with the Bureau of Public Roads, United States Department of Agriculture, and the Post Office Department of the United States.

SEC. 3. All acts or parts of acts in any way inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed and this act shall take effect immediately upon its passage.

The CHAIRMAN. The Department of Agriculture also makes an adverse report upon this measure, arguing in a letter to the chairman that serious legal difficulties would be encountered in undertaking to administer the bill in its present form and that the appropriation of the amount of money involved would be in conflict with the financial program of the President.

The letter of the department will be printed in the record so that in printed form it may be before the members of the committee when they come to consider the measure in executive session; and I now hand to the reporter a copy of Secretary Jardine's letter for insertion in the record at this point.

(The letter referred to and submitted by the chairman is as follows:) FEBRUARY 2, 1928.

Hon. GEORGE H. MOSES,

Chairman Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads,

United States Senate.

DEAR SENATOR: Further reference is made to letter of January 4 from the clerk to your committee, transmitting a copy of S. 1286 for the information of the department and such suggestions concerning the subject matter of the bill as the department might wish to make.

This bill would amend the Federal highway act of November 9, 1921, by authorizing an appropriation of $50,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1929; $65,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1930; and $75,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1931, to be apportioned by the Secretary of Agriculture among the States according to the mileage of rural routes and on condition that the States appropriate a like amount and to be further apportioned to each rural route in the United States in proportion to its mileage and be spent in the construction of roads over which rural carriers travel in serving the rural routes other than those now included in the Federal aid road system. The bill contains a provision that the expenditure of the money which it would authorize to be appropriated shall be by the highway departments of the various States in cooperation with the Bureau of Public Roads of this department and with the Post Office Department.

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Under the provisions of section 21 (third paragraph) of the Federal highway act, the Postmaster General is directed to make and furnish annually to the Secretary of Agriculture a certification as to the total mileage of rural delivery and star mail routes in all of the States at the close of each fiscal year. certificate was furnished this department at the close of the fiscal year which ended June 30, 1927, and shows that at that time the mileage of rural delivery routes was 1,270,746 and the mileage of star routes was 179,945.44

The bill proposes to apportion the appropriations which it would authorize among the States according to the mileage of rural routes in each State, and provision also is made in the bill for a further apportionment of the appropriation to each rural route in the United States in proportion to its mileage. Under the language of the bill it apparently would not apply to star routes. If the apportionment were made to each rural route in proportion to its mileage, as certified by the Postmaster General at the close of the last fiscal year, without making any deduction for administrative expenses, the $50,000,000 which the bill would authorize for the fiscal year 1929 would be at the rate of about $39 per mile; the $65,000,000 which would be authorized for the fiscal year 1930 would be at the rate of about $51 per mile, and the $75,000,000 which would be authorized for the fiscal year 1931 would be at the rate of about $59 per mile. Of course, the States would be required under the provisions of the bill to provide a like amount each year. It would seem to the department that an appropriation of the kind proposed under the scheme of apportionment and expenditure outlined would be so dissipated that but little, if any, improvement would result to the rural mail routes.

As is well known, the Federal Government is now engaged, through a plan of cooperation with the States under the provisions of the Federal highway act, in the development and improvement of a system of Federal aid highways consist

ing of 187,000 miles of the most important of the Nation's highways. The major portion of all traffic of the country passes over the highways embraced in this system, which makes it an economic necessity that their improvement be accomplished as expeditiously as possible. Provision is made in the Federal highway act also for additions to this system in each of the States after the construction and maintenance of the original 7 per cent of the total road mileage therein which it may include has been provided for. It is believed, therefore, that it would be unwise for the Federal Government to embark upon any program of highway work which would commit it to any policy of apportioning funds for use on roads other than those embraced in the system of Federal-aid highways and extensions thereof which may be made from time to time, in accordance with the provisions of section 6 of the Federal highway act. This is in line with the policy for the Federal Government suggested by the President in the following paragraph from his recent message to Congress:

"The importance and benefit of good roads is more and more coming to be appreciated. The National Government has been making liberal contributions to encourage their construction. The results and benefits have been very gratifying. National participation, however, should be confined to trunk-line systems. The national tax on automobiles is now nearly sufficient to meet this outlay. This tax is very small, and on low-priced cars is not more than $2 or $3 each year."

It is believed also that serious legal difficulties would be encountered in undertaking to administer the bill in its present form because of the fact that most of the roads to which it would apply are not under the jurisdiction of the State highway departments but are under control of local officials. This would be

true in every State, for the reason that as a general rule the State highway systems coincide with the system of Federal-aid highways and the jurisdiction of the State highway departments does not extend beyond the State highway systems and the system of Federal-aid highways.

The department would recommend against favorable action on the bill.

Sincerely,

W. M. JARDINE, Secretary.

Submitted to the Bureau of the Budget, pursuant to Circular No. 49 of that bureau and returned to the Department of Agriculture under date of February 1, 1928, with the advice that the legislation proposed in S. 1286 would be in conflict with the financial program of the President.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any witnesses who wish to be heard in favor of this bill? [After a pause.] There being none, this bill will be passed over.

The CHAIRMAN. The next measure is Docket No. 24, S. 1718 introduced by Mr. Oddie.

(The bill referred to is as follows:)

A BILL To authorize the President to detail engineers of the Bureau of Public Roads of the Department of Agriculture to assist the governments of the Latin-American Republics in highway matters

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and hereby is, authorized, upon application from the foreign governments concerned, and whenever in his discretion the public interest renders such a course advisable, to detail engineers of the Bureau of Public Roads of the Department of Agriculture to assist the governments of the Republics of North America, Central America, and South America and of the Republics of Cuba, Haiti, and Santo Domingo, in highway matters: Provided, That the engineers of the Bureau of Public Roads of the Department of Agriculture so detailed be, and they are hereby, authorized, to accept from the government to which detailed offices and such compensation and emoluments thereunto appertaining as may be first approved by the Secretary of Agriculture: Provided further, That while so detailed such engineers shall receive, in addition to the compensation and emoluments allowed them by such governments, the pay and allowances whereto entitled in the Bureau of Public Roads of the Department of Agriculture and shall be allowed the same credit for longevity, retirement, and for all other purposes that they would receive if they were serving with personnel of the United States.