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In view of the fact that the increased rates carried in the bill are new legislation and do not merely repair losses resulting from a misconstruction of the Welch Act, the committee deems it unjustifiable to make such increases retroactive.

The estimated cost of the increased schedules carried in the bill will approximate $2,875,000.

Section 4: An intelligent employment policy by the Government to secure, among other desirable objects, a uniformity of compensation to employees for like work throughout the various departments was urged for years before the law designed as a basis upon which to build such a system was enacted, the classification act of 1923. The basic plan of this act was to divide the services, such as professional, subprofessional, clerical, administrative, and fiscal, custodial, and other services into grades according to the importance, difficulty, responsibility, and value of the work of positions in the respective services. The act created a central agency with final jurisdiction to assign all positions to their appropriate grades, for without such agency diverse opinions among heads of the departments as to the standards by which positions were to be weighed and allocated to grades would defeat the purpose of uniformity of pay for like work. The central agency thus to determine finally the allocation of positions to grades and secure uniform allocations for like positions throughout the departments of the Government was by the act called the Personnel Classification Board, comprising the Director of the Budget, the Chief of the Bureau of Efficiency, and a member of the Civil Service Commission or their alternates.

The classification act provides "such allocations shall be reviewed and may be revised by the board and shall become final upon their approval by said board." Hence such allocations are conclusive on all officials and employees of the Government and no appeals therefrom may be lodged with anyone, the classification board itself included. But the inherent right of an administrative agency currently to correct mistakes in matters entrusted to its discretion is generally recognized. Accordingly requests to correct alleged misallocations began to be addressed to the board, and under the assumption of the right to correct its own mistakes it took cognizance of such requests. Eventually, under the right to make rules and regulations, the board prescribed a form of orderly procedure to be followed in such appeals, invoking its inherent power to correct its own alleged mistakes. But such appeals are based on no right of department heads or employees to lodge them, but solely on the rules of the board prescribing the manner in which requests currently to correct its own errors on its own motion in initial allocations may be brought to its attention.

This right of the board to pass finally on all allocations of positions and currently to review and change them has been challenged in a ruling by the Comptroller General. Without restoration of these functions the entire plan and scope of the reclassification system crumbles. Thus section 4 of the bill adds nothing to the original functions and jurisdiction of the Personnel Classification Board, but by the proviso rigidly limits them.

Sections 5 and 6: These sections merely clarify in matters of procedure certain general provisions of the classification act of 1923 and

have express legislative authority to existing practices which are now deemed within the scope of the act. They are included in this bill merely to safeguard the raising of meticulous questions in the future.

Section 5 authorizes appropriations to carry on the work of the board and section 6 permits the board to function in routine matters through an administrative subordinate under the board's direction.

UNITED STATES BORDER PATROL

JUNE 9, 1930.—-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. Hocн, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 11204)

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 11204) to regulate the entry of persons into the United States, to establish a border patrol in the Coast Guard, and for other purposes, having considered and amended the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it pass.

Amend the bill as follows:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the following in lieu thereof:

That this act may be cited as the "Border patrol act, 1930.

SEC. 2. (a) There is hereby established in the Department of the Treasury an organization to be known as the United States border patrol. In order to secure close cooperation between the patrols along the land and water boundaries of the United States the United States border patrol shall be assigned, for administrative purposes, to the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury having supervision of the United States Coast Guard.

(b) The President is authorized to transfer to the United States border patrol all or any part of the personnel of the border patrols of the Bureau of Immigration of the Department of Labor and of the Bureau of Customs of the Department of the Treasury, or of other border patrols, together with their equipment and appurtenances, and to discontinue such border patrols, or parts thereof, from time to time, when in his judgment such action is advisable by reason of the establishment and effective operation of the United States border patrol created by this act. In case of any such transfer or discontinuance, any unexpended appropriations apportioned for expenditure for the compensation of, or in connection with the performance of the duties of, the personnel transferred or the patrol discontinued, shall be available for expenditure in carrying out the provisions of this act.

(c) The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to appoint such officers and employees, in accordance with the competitive provisions of the civil service law, and to purchase such motor vehicles, boats, horses, supplies, and equipment as are necessary in the administration of this act.

SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the United States border patrol to enforce the provisions of this act against unlawful entry of persons into the United States,

except at ocean boundaries of the United States, and to perform under regulations that may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury such other duties as are, in his judgment, advisable in connection with the unlawful entry of persons or property into the United States.

SEC. 4. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to enter the United States from a foreign country at any place other than a point of entry which shall be designated by the President, except that this section shall not be applicable in the case of

(1) Any person who in entering the United States complies with regulations which shall be prescribed by the President for the convenience of persons residing or owning property on or in the neighborhood or vicinity of the boundaries of the United States;

(2) Any person who in entering the United States complies with the air commerce act of 1926 and the regulations prescribed thereunder.

(b) Any officer or member of the United States border patrol may arrest any person unlawfully entering the United States; may seize any merchandise unlawfully transported into the United States or in the possession of any person unlawfully entering the United States, or any vessel, vehicle, or aircraft, in which such unlawful entry is made; and shall promptly deliver any such person, merchandise, vessel, vehicle, or aircraft, into the custody of the appropriate officer. (c) Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor subject to a penalty of $100. Such penalty shall be a lien against any vessel, vehicle, or aircraft in which the entry in violation of this section is made. Such penalty may be enforced, or may be remitted or mitigated, in the same manner as a penalty for a violation of the customs revenue laws of the United States. Action to enforce the penalty provided in this paragraph shall not be taken if in violating the provisions of this section a penalty (whether criminal or civil) has been incurred for violation of any other law of the United States.

(d) Any vessel or vehicle seized by officers or agents of the Treasury Department and forfeited to the United States as specified in sections 1 and 2 of the act entitled "An act relating to the use or disposal of vessels or vehicles forfeited to the United States for violation of the customs laws or the national prohibition act, and for other purposes," approved March 3, 1925, as amended, may, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, be taken and used, or may, upon application of the Secretary of the Treasury, be ordered by the court to be delivered to the Treasury Department for use in the enforcement of the provisions of this act instead of for use as provided in such act of March 3, 1925.

SEC. 5. There are authorized to be appropriated such amounts as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this act and for the establishment and maintenance of points of entry designated under this act, including the acquisition of necessary sites and the construction of necessary buildings, or in the execution of the customs, immigration, and other laws regulating or prohibiting the entry into the United States of persons and merchandise as a result of the establishment of such points of entry.

SEC. 6. This act shall take effect upon its approval, except that sections 3 and 4 shall take effect upon the 1st day of the seventh month after its approval. Amend the title so as to read:

A bill to establish the United States border patrol, to regulate the entry of persons into the United States, and for other purposes.

The purpose of this measure is to establish a unified patrol service along the land borders of the United States, to make more effective the laws against unlawful entry of persons and property, and at the same time to serve the convenience of those lawfully crossing the borders. The establishment of this unified patrol service was recommended by the President in his message to Congress at the opening of the present session and is earnestly favored by all departments involved.

The two principal patrol services now maintained along the Canadian and Mexican borders are the immigration patrol service in the Department of Labor and the customs patrol service in the Treasury Department. There are now in the immigration patrol 847 men and

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