WAR DEPARTMENT APPROPRIATION BILL, 1932 JANUARY 5, 1931.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. BARBOUR, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 15593] The Committee on Appropriations submits the following report in explanation of the accompanying bill making appropriations for the military and nonmilitary activities of the War Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1932. SCOPE OF THE BILL The bill carries the regular annual appropriations for all activities under control of the War Department, including both the military activities, which are chargeable to the national defense, and the nonmilitary activities (including the Panama Canal), which are not directly so chargeable. The various items in the bill have been separated into two main divisions, the first, Title I, being made up of the appropriations for military activities and the civil expenses of the War Department, and the second, Title II, carrying the appropriations for the nonmilitary activities. Within these two main divisions the items are grouped so as to bring together all of the appropriations administered by each bureau or service, with the exception of the salary and contingent appropriations for the department proper and the appropriations on account of seacoast defenses, which are carried under separate headings. The activities provided for in Title I, military activities, fall into the following main classifications: First deficiency appropriation bill, fiscal year 1931-Continued Object of appropriations Budget estimates Amounts recommended in the accompanying bill Increase (+) or decrease (-) bill compared with Budget estimates 15 + $82, 842. 78 CLAIMS AND JUDGMENTS 688 Damage claims, loss or injury to privately owned property, 1931. $25, 938. 90 $25, 938. 90 694 Audited claims, 1928, and prior years, allowed by the General Accounting Office. 227, 673. 82 227, 673. 82 689 Claims allowed by General Accounting Office under special acts, 1931. 5, 256. 75 Total, claims and judgments. 764, 656. 58 5, 256. 75 764, 656. 58 Grand total_ 92, 310, 485. 37 37 92, 92, 393, 328. 15 O WAR DEPARTMENT APPROPRIATION BILL, 1932 January 5, 1931.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. BARBOUR, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 15593] The Committee on Appropriations submits the following report in explanation of the accompanying bill making appropriations for the military and nonmilitary activities of the War Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1932. SCOPE OF THE BILL The bill carries the regular annual appropriations for all activities under control of the War Department, including both the military activities, which are chargeable to the national defense, and the nonmilitary activities (including the Panama Canal), which are not directly so chargeable. The various items in the bill have been separated into two main divisions, the first, Title I, being made up of the appropriations for military activities and the civil expenses of the War Department, and the second, Title II, carrying the appropriations for the nonmilitary activities. Within these two main divisions the items are grouped so as to bring together all of the appropriations administered by each bureau or service, with the exception of the salary and contingent appropriations for the department proper and the appropriations on account of seacoast defenses, which are carried under separate headings. The activities provided for in Title I, military activities, fall into the following main classifications: Support of the Regular Army, including the Military Academy and excluding seacoast defenses. Construction and maintenance of seacoast defenses, including armament therefor. Military activities other than the Regular Army, which include the National Guard, the Organized Reserves, the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, and training at other schools and colleges, the citizens' military training camps, and the National Board for Promotion of Rifle Practice. Civilian employees and contingent expenses of the War Department in the District of Columbia. While carried under Title I, civilian officers and employees and operating expenses of the War Department have to do with the administration of both military and nonmilitary activities. The items provided for in Title II, nonmilitary activities, are enumerated under that head on page 17 hereof. APPROPRIATIONS AND ESTIMATES The Budget estimates for the War Department for the fiscal year 1932 will be found in detail in Chapter XII of the Budget, pages 509 to 613, inclusive, and in House Documents Nos. 669 and 699 of the present session. A summary of the appropriations for 1931 and the amounts recommended in this bill, together with the increases and decreases in the bill as compared with the 1931 appropriations and as compared with the 1932 estimates, follows: In addition to the sum of the current 1931 appropriations above stated, the last War Department appropriation act carried appropriations on account of nonmilitary activities, as follows: Finance Department-payment of annuities... $28, 500 42, 900 10, 630, 220 560, 000 11, 261, 620 In consequence of the act to authorize the President to consolidate and coordinate governmental activities affecting war veterans, approved July 3, 1930 (46 Stat., p. 1016), duties in relation to the foregoing objects have been transferred to the Veterans' Administration and estimates of appropriations therefor for the fiscal year 1932 are included in the Budget under that head. They have not been considered, therefore, in connection with this bill. The foregoing summation as to the current appropriations, the estimates, and the committee's recommendation also excludes purchase-of-discharge funds, which, as the words imply, represent receipts from enlisted men who buy their discharges under the act of June 16, 1890 (U. S. C., title 10, sec. 651). Such act provides that money thus derived may be used to supplement current appropriations for the support of the Army. The current appropriation act provides for the use of $800,000 of the receipts from such source to supplement the appropriation for pay of the Army, and it is proposed in the Budget and in the accompanying bill that a like amount be used similarly in 1932. Neither does the foregoing summation include the permanent annual and indefinite appropriations. They are available without action by Congress and a list of them appears on pages 40 to 43 of this report. They amount to $14,305,415, which exceeds the current year total by $4,678,000, practically all of which is composed of estimated larger contributions incident to river and harbor and flood control work. The estimates the committee considered totaled $450,340,391, exclusive of the so-called purchase-of-discharge funds. This sum exceeds the comparable 1931 figure ($446,414 536) by $3,925,855, being the difference between a reduced amount by $748,905 on account of military activities and a larger amount by $4,674,760 for nonmilitary items. The latter amount is analyzed under "nonmilitary activities" commencing on page 17 hereof. The smaller sum ($748,905) proposed by the Budget under the military classification is the net of changes affecting numerous items as will be seen from the table at the end of this report. Those of any consequence, and the changes proposed by the committee, will be explained herein under "military activities" in the order of their appearance in the accompanying bill. As would be inferred from such a relatively small difference, the Budget in a broad sense provides. for an establishment of about present proportions without marked. variation in training, experimental, and development programs. Provision is made for advancing the Air Corps 5-year program and practically for all housing that has been authorized to date. Continuance of the civilian components about as at present is provided for except the National Guard. While no additional amount is included for this arm the Budget contemplates an increase in the authorized strength from 190,000 to 195,000 officers and men. For military expenses the committee is proposing the sum of $334,956,880, exclusive of purchase of discharge funds. This figure is $4,717,884 less than the sum of the current appropriations and $3,968,979 less than the sum of the Budget estimates. With respect to the action proposed by the committee touching both military and nonmilitary items, the changes recommended for the most part are traceable to two factors (1) the policy pursued in connection with previous appropriation bills to eliminate amounts submitted as the first installment of the Budget's 3-year program to raise the pay of employees in the so-called underaverage grades under the classification act, and (2) reductions made as the result of a |