Page 2, line 23, strike out the word "bridge" and insert in lieu thereof the word "bridges". Page 2, line 23, strike out the word "its" and insert in lieu thereof the word "their". Page 3, line 2, strike out the word "bridge" and insert in lieu thereof the word "bridges". Page 3, line 2, strike out the word "its" and insert in lieu thereof the word "their". Page 3, line 7, strike out the word "bridge" and insert in lieu thereof the word "bridges". Page 3, line 9, strike out the word "tolls" and insert in lieu thereof the word "toll". Page 3, line 11, strike out the word "bridge" and insert in lieu thereof the word "bridges". Page 3, line 11, strike out the word "its" and insert in lieu thereof the word "their". Page 3, line 13, strike out the word "bridge" and insert in lieu thereof the word "bridges". Page 3, line 13, strike out the word "its" and insert in lieu thereof the word "their". Amend the title so as to read: A bill granting the consent of Congress to the county of Georgetown, South Carolina, to construct, maintain, and operate a bridge across the Pee Dee River and a bridge across the Waccamaw River, both at or near Georgetown, South Carolina. The bill thus amended has the approval of the Departments of War and Agriculture, as will appear by the annexed communications, the amendment referred to therein having been incorporated in the bill as reported. WAR DEPARTMENT, April 22, 1930. Respectfully returned to the chairman Committee on Commerce, United States Senate. The accompanying bill, S. 4182, Seventy-first Congress, second session, proposes to grant the consent of Congress to the county of Georgetown, S. C., to construct a bridge across the Black-Peedee River and Waccamaw River at or near Georgetown, S. C. It is understood that it is the intention of the county to build two bridges, one across the Peedee River and the other across the Waccamaw River, both at or near Georgetown, S. C. The bill has been amended accordingly, and as thus amended I know of no objection to its favorable consideration so far as the interests committed to this department are concerned. Attention is invited to S. 2114, Seventy-first Congress, first session, which proposed to grant the consent of Congress to the county of Georgetown to build two bridges, one across the Peedee River and the other across the Waccamaw River, upon which a favorable report was submitted under date of December 28, 1929, to the Committee on Commerce. While the passage of either bill is unobjectionable, the passsge of both seems unnecessary. F. TRUBEE DAVISON, lieu Hon. HIRAM W. JOHNSON, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Chairman Committee on Commerce, United States Senate. DEAR SENATOR: Receipt is acknowledged of your letter of April 17 transmitting a copy of a bill, S. 4182, with the request that the committee be furnished with such suggestions touching its merits and the propriety of its passage as the department might deem appropriate. This bill would authorize the Board of County Commissioners of Georgetown County, S. C., its successors and assigns, to construct, maintain, and operate a bridge and approaches thereto across Black-Pee Dee River and Waccamaw River from a point within the city of Georgetown to a point opposite on the eastern shore of Waccamaw River. The county would be authorized to charge tolls for transit over such bridge, the rates of toll to be so adjusted as to provide a fund sufficient to pay the reasonable cost of maintaining, repairing, and operating the bridge and its approaches, to pay an adequate return on the cost thereof, and to provide a sinking fund sufficient to amortize the cost of the bridge and its approaches, including reasonable interest and financing costs, within a period of not to exceed 25 years from the completion thereof. After a sinking fund sufficient for such amortization shall have been provided the bridge would have to be operated free of tolls or the rates of tolls thereafter would be so adjusted as to provide a fund sufficient only for the proper maintenance, repair, and operation of the bridge and its approaches. Section 5 of the bill grants to the county the unlimited right to sell, assign, transfer, and mortgage all rights, powers, and privileges conferred upon it by the bill. The proposed authorization for the construction of the bridge would be granted to Georgetown County, and the resulting bridge should be a public structure for public use. The department questions the advisability of the assignment provisions of section 5 other than to such extent as may be necessary to mortgage the bridge as security for loans which may be made by the county to finance its construction. Since the bridge will be a publicly owned and operated toll bridge, it is not entirely clear why, in adjusting the toll rates as provided in section 4, the item "to pay an adequate return on the cost thereof," appearing in line 24, page 2, and line 1, page 3, should be included. It would seem that only such tolls as would produce sufficient revenues to meet the reasonable repair, operation, and maintenance costs and provide a sinking fund for the amortization of the cost of the bridge, including interest and financing costs, should be charged. The attention of the committee is invited to these features of the bill, which otherwise is without objection so far as this department is concerned. Sincerely, APRIL 21 (calendar day, APRIL 25), 1930.-Ordered to be printed Mr. STEPHENS, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 7410] The Committee on the Judiciary to which was referred the bill (H. R. 7410) to establish a hospital for defective delinquents, has given full consideration to the same and now reports favorably thereon with the recommendation that the bill pass without amendment. This bill, which is one of the series designed to enable the Department of Justice to cope with the present unsatisfactory condition in our prisons, presents an important opportunity for further relief from overcrowding in our Federal penal institutions. As at present constituted, the Federal penal system makes no special provision for the cases of convicts who are insane, tubercular, or chronically sick. Two hundred and four Federal insane convicts are now crowded into unsuitable and insufficient quarters at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D. C. The superintendent of that institution is recorded as strongly in favor of this legislation. Tubercular prisoners must, under the present arrangements, be cared for in tents or in portions of buildings located within the prison reservations. The chronically sick among the inmate population, who present but slight necessity for that close restraint typical of a prison, must now be placed in prison cells or in prison environment. The bill as here proposed would authorize the establishment of a general hospital for the care, custody, and treatment of this difficult and pitiable class of prisoners. The common dictates of humanity would seem to demand something better for them than is possible under existing facilities. Their segregation would form an important element in the program of penal treatment as planned by the group of bills herewith recorded by the committee. The bill provides for the manner of commitment and discharge, has been carefully studied by the committee and meets its entire approval. There follows a statement from the Department of Justice explaining the aims and purposes of the bill: BILL TO ESTABLISH A HOspital for DEFECTIVE DELINQUENTS A special hospital is needed for the care and treatment of the relatively large percentage of the prison population which is defective mentally or physically. It is well recognized that very often the cause of crime is some mental or physical handicap which must be removed if the man or woman who gets into prison is to be improved by his confinement. It is generally assumed that about 6 per cent of the whole population is so defective mentally that they ought to be segregated. To house and care for even this percentage of the prison population would require an institution built to accommodate about 600 patients. In addition to the mental defectives, a large number of the inmates of correctional institutions are afflicted with diseases which demand special treatment. These include tuberculosis cases, advanced venereal cases, senility, and other types of chronic, degenerative, or incurable diseases. Those mental cases which are so apparent thay can be recognized by the regular prison officials are now sent to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington. Less apparent cases of mental instability and those who are suffering from disease are retained at the prison and treated in the prison hospital. The government hospital for the insane, in the District of Columbia, is badly overcrowded. The criminally insane ward is particularly congested and can not house any more insane convicts. Moreover, the cost of transporting insane convicts from all over the country is high. It is for these reasons that a medical center for prison cases should be established somewhere in the central part of the United States. The bill as drafted is substantially the same as the ones authorizing two new correctional institutions. It has, however, one section which provides a board of examiners to pass on all cases to be sent to the hospital for defective delinquents. The reason for this provision was the feeling that no person, even though he is in prison, ought to be stigmatized as insane except by formal proceedings of a qualified board. Moreover, it was felt some such board was desirable to make certain that only cases really demanding special treatment would be transferred to the hospital for defective delinquents. The bill also has a section which makes it the duty of the prison officials to see that no person who is suffering from a mental disease is turned loose upon the public without first trying to get the particular State concerned to take him in charge. At present, if the officials believe a convict whose sentence has expired is still insane, they continue to hold him unless his release is sought by one of his friends through legal process. In such cases they have no alternative but to release him, as their jurisdiction ended with the expiration of the sentence. The proposed provision would authorize a definite procedure for handling such cases. |