Alameda site instead of just the Alameda site as approved by the act of June 24, 1936. This bill also reduces the $15,000,000 authorization for the Alameda site to $14,500,000 for the combined sites. The Committee on Naval Affairs recommends that this authorization be further reduced to $13,500,000.

Insofar as the operations of the Navy are concerned, the west coast of the United States is divided into three areas; namely, the San Diego-San Pedro area; the San Francisco area; and the Puget Sound area.

In each of these areas there are bases and facilities for the vessels of the fleet, but in only two are there facilities for aircraft; one at San Diego and the other at Seattle, or the Puget Sound area.

For the efficient operation and maintenance of the fleet in these areas, it is essential that each should have bases for both ships and aircraft. At the present time there are bases and facilities in each of these areas for the service of the ships, while but two of them, the Puget Sound area at the northern extremity of the Pacific coast and the San Diego-San Pedro area at the southern extremity, have bases and facilities for aircraft. The object of this bill is to provide such a base for the aircraft in the vital San Francisco Bay area.

An air base, fully to meet the requirements, must, among other essentials:

(a) Have docks with sufficient water to permit vessels to go alongside to receive or discharge aircraft in a knocked-down condition, crated or uncrated, and aviation material.

(b) Be so accessible by water to carriers, battleships, and cruisers that the transfer of personnel and equipment between the ships and shore may be expeditiously handled.

(c) Have adequate facilities for the maintenance and operation of the fleet air squadrons which are temporarily based on shore.

(d) Have adequate facilities, including the necessary water areas, for the maintenance and operation of patrol planes as a part of the naval local defense forces.

This proposed site in the San Francisco Bay area meets all of these requirements.

Aside from the necessity of having an air base for the fleet in the San Francisco Bay area, it is also necessary to have facilities to accommodate the additional aircraft that will be assigned to the fleet with the commissioning of the three aircraft carriers now under construction. The Navy how has no adequate facilities between the Puget Sound area and San Diego, and the authorization contained in this bill will meet a need which is considered urgent.

The amendment recommended by the committee to restrict the expenditure of money to carry out the purposes of this act is not intended to prohibit the Navy from spending such funds as may be necessary for purely maintenance purposes.

The Navy Department favors the proposed legislation as is indicated by the letter from the Secretary of the Navy to the Speaker of the House of Representatives which is hereby made a part of this report.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, March 24, 1937.

The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. SPEAKER: There is transmitted herewith a draft of a proposed bill to authorize the establishment of a naval air station on San Francisco Bay, Calif., and for other purposes.

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to authorize the Secretary of the Navy to establish a naval air station on San Francisco Bay, Calif., which shall be composed of Benton Field as transferred from the War Department to the Navy Department by Executive order dated October 7, 1936, and land heretofore or hereafter acquired by the Navy Department under the provisions of the act of June 24, 1936 (49 Stat. 1901); and to further authorize the construction, installation, acquisition, and equipping of buildings and utilities, landing fields and mats, and other utilities and appurtenances necessary for the operation, maintenance, and repair of landplanes and seaplanes.

The act of June 24, 1936, authorized the acquisition of certain lands at Alameda, Calif., for use as a naval air station and further authorized the appropriation of not more than $15,000,000 to be expended thereon. Since the enactment of that act the Navy Department has acquired Benton Field. The authorization contained in the act does not authorize the expenditure of any of the $15,000,000 on the Benton Field tract. As the Navy Department desires to develop the two tracts as one project looking forward to the establishing of one naval air station, it now seeks authority so to do including authorization for the necessary appropriations. It is to be noted that the authorization for the appropriation of not more than $14,500,000 takes the place of the previous authorization for the expenditure of not more than $15,000,000 which was contained in the act of June 24, 1936, and, accordingly, a net saving of as much as $500,000 may result from the enactment of this legislation.

The Navy Department recommends the enactment of the proposed legislation. The proposed legislation is in accord with the program of the President.

Sincerely yours,

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CLAUDE A. SWANSON.

AMEND THE BANK-ROBBERY STATUTE TO INCLUDE BURGLARY AND LARCENY

APRIL 30, 1937.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

Mr. HEALEY, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 5900]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 5900) to amend the bank-robbery statute to include burglary and larceny, after consideration, report the same favorably to the House with an amendment with the recommendation that, as so amended, the bill do pass.

The committee amendment is as follows:

Page 2, line 2, after the word "any" insert "felony or", and after the word "larceny" strike out "or other depredation."

The Attorney General has recommended the enactment of this proposed legislation which is designed to enlarge the scope of the bank robbery statute, enacted in 1934, (48 Stat. 783; U. S. C., title 12, sec. 588b) to include larceny and burglary of the banks protected by These are national banks, member banks of the Federal Reserve System, and banks insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Your committee concurs in this recommendation. There is attached hereto and made a part of this report the following communication from the Attorney General to the Speaker of the House in which he explains the desirability of the proposed amendment. OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY General, Washington, D. C., March 17, 1937.

Hon. WILLIAM B. BANKHEAD,

The Speaker, House of Representatives,

Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. SPEAKER: The act of May 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 783; U. S. C. title 12, secs. 588a to 588d), penalizes robbery of a national bank or a member bank of the Federal Reserve System. The class of banks protected by this statute was enlarged by section 333 of the act of August 23, 1935 (49 Stat. 720), to include all banks insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The fact that the statute is limited to robbery and does not include larceny and burglary has led to some incongruous results. A striking instance arose a short

time ago, when a man was arrested in a national bank while walking out of the building with $11,000 of the bank's funds on his person. He had managed to gain possession of the money during a momentary absence of one of the employees, without displaying any force or violence and without putting any one in fearnecessary elements of the crime of robbery-and was about to leave the bank when apprehended. As a result, it was not practicable to prosecute him under any Federal statute.

The enclosed bill which has been drafted in this Department proposes to amend subsection (a) of section 2 of the above-mentioned statute so as to include within its prohibitions, the crimes of burglary and larceny of a bank covered by its provisions.

I am informed by the Acting Director of the Bureau of the Budget that this legislation is not in conflict with the program of the President and I recommend its enactment.

Sincerely yours,

HOMER S. CUMMINGS, Attorney General.

In compliance with clause 2a of rule XIII there is printed below existing law in roman with new matter proposed to be inserted printed in italics:

(a) Whoever, by force and violence, or by putting in fear, feloniously takes, or feloniously attempts to take, from the preson or presence of another any property or money or any other thing of value belonging to, or in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of, any bank; or whoever shall enter or attempt to enter any bank, or any building used in whole or in part as a bank, with intent to commit in such bank or building, or part thereof, so used, any felony or larceny; or whoever shall take or carry away, with intent to steal or purloin, any property or money or any other thing of value belonging to, or in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of any bank, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both."

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