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It has the hearty approval of the National Engineering Council, as well as the indorsement of the Nation's leading scientists and hydraulic engineers. The hearings on this measure since it was first introduced eight years ago clearly indicate that it will supply a longfelt want in the study of some of the greatest problems confronting our people. These are problems of hydraulics, and the Federal Government is called upon to assist in solving them in innumerable activities requiring annual expenditure of millions of dollars. We are confronted with many of them in the Departments of War, Interior, and Agriculture, as well as those arising from other sources. No stronger statement of the need for this laboratory could be made than that of President Hoover, issued when he was Secretary of Commerce two years ago, printed as a part of this report. With the trained eye of a great engineer he saw the necessity for such an institution as this hydraulic laboratory, and gave it his unqualified support.

It is felt that the creation of this proposed national hydraulic laboratory will result in the saving of many times its cost, and at the same time relieve our country of the humiliating situation in which we found ourselves of being dependent upon European institutions for much of the information and data that this laboratory is intended to furnish.

The House Report on H. R. 8299 is attached and made a part of this report.

House Report No. 798, Seventy-first Congress, second session

NATIONAL HYDRAULIC LABORATORY

FEBRUARY 28, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. O'CONNOR of Louisiana, from the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 8299]

The Committee on Rivers and Harbors, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 8299) authorizing the establishment of a national hydraulic laboratory in the Bureau of Standards of the Department of Commerce and the construction of a building therefor, having considered the same, report it to the House with the following amendments:

On page 1, strike out the period at the end of line 10, insert a colon in lieu thereof, and add the following proviso:

Provided, That no test, study or other work on a problem or problems connected with a project the prosecution of which is under the jurisdiction of any other bureau or department of the Government shall be undertaken in the laboratory herein authorized until a written request to do such work is submitted to the Director of the Bureau of Standards by the head of the department or bureau charged with the execution of such project.

On page 2, strike out all of section 2.

On page 2, line 9, strike out the figure "3" and insert in lieu thereof the figure "2",

pass.

As so amended the committee recommends that the bill do Extensive hearings were held by your committee on this bill during this Congress, and on a smiliar bill which had passed the Senate (the Ransdell bill, S. 1710), in the Seventieth Congress. Many distinguished scientists and engineers engaged in hydraulic work, as well as representatives of the field services of the Government concerned with hydraulic operations, testified, all of whom earnestly advocated the passage of this bill.

Maj. Gen. Lytle Brown, Chief of Engineers, United States Army, in the hearings of February 4, 1930, made the following statements:

I am of the opinion that there is need for a national hydraulic_laboratory, as indicated in the bills introduced by Senator Ransdell and Representative O'Connor. It is evident that such a thing is required in this country because of

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the numerous efforts on the part of private interests to establish these laboratories. They have been established over the country by colleges, and the Corps of Engineers, in its work, has felt the need of such an instrument.

In the flood control act of 1928, an hydraulic laboratory was authorized on the Mississippi River for special investigation of problems that occurred out there, or might occur, during the prosecution of that flood-control work. I believe that the Corps of Engineers needs data from such a laboratory, perhaps as much as any other agency of the Government, but there are other agencies that also require much data on the subject of hydraulics. In my experience in the brief time I have spent in visiting works on the Mississippi River the character of information that we need there is not so much the fundamental laws of hydraulics but to try out certain situations that exist there, the answer to which nobody can give. They are matters of opinion only. Hydraulic formulas are not absolutely reliable. It is necessary, therefore, in many cases, to make a model of the situation and try it out by actual flow of water.

I understand, however, that rather more fundamental things are contemplated in this bill than that. We would like to have the privilege of trying out things of a very special nature that occur in our work, which I believe we would have, and I do not anticipate that there is anything in this bill that would interfere with us in any way in that line.

*

I do not feel that this (the establishment of an hydraulic laboratory in the Bureau of Standards) is any threat to the initiative or responsibility, or anything else, of the Corps of Engineers. I feel that it is brought about by a demand for hydraulic tests and investigation of fundamental hydraulic policies on the part of some agency of the Government that is not responsible for these results, and to which everybody can go freely and feel that there is no idea of being partial to anybody at that point. I believe that that is the best place to go to get it.

The following are letters received from Major General Brown approving the object of this bill, and the amendments suggested by the Director of the Bureau of Standards, whose communication is also appended herewith:

Hon. S. WALLACE DEMPSEY,

Chairman Committee on Rivers and Harbors,

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, February 6, 1930.

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. DEMPSEY: In reference to your advice to me at the recent hearing on the national hydraulic laboratory, I wish to inform you that I have gone over a good portion of the previous hearings on the subject, and I am prepared to inform you as to any new impressions that I have. In further explanation of my views before the committee I wish to say that I appeared before the committee as free from the ideas of anyone else as it was possible to do, not wishing to be influenced in any way thereby.

My conviction that a laboratory in the Bureau of Standards for general service is desirable is strengthened.

If there is any danger, of which I believe there is none, that the Bureau of Standards will be used to meddle with the business of others, then I favor the amendment mentioned by Mr. Hull. The amendment only provides that the laboratory shall act in what all know to be the proper way.

I do not favor the board of secretaries contained in the bill because I do not see that it will ever be called upon to function, and it is not a body calculated to expedite work in any way. A board can not of itself settle anything; it can only advise, and I see no occasion for advice in this matter.

I am informed by a credible witness that opposition to the laboratory formerly on the part of some engineer officers was through an impression that the laboratory might be used by irresponsible parties to dictate to the Corps of Engineers as to how the work intrusted to its care should be executed, and so be constituted as an origin of controversy, delay, and confusion. I see no foundation for that view and have not the least fear of any such evil.

I notice in former testimony a tendency to confuse this laboratory with experimental work to be done by the Corps of Engineers which may lead one to the belief that it is desirable to entrust the laboratory to that corps rather than to the Bureau of Standards. Such action would be unwise as I have probably

pointed out in my testimony. The work entrusted to the Corps of Engineers is specific in character, and does not pertain to other departments of the Government, and is not for general informative purposes.

Trusting that this letter complies fully with your wishes and that of the committee in this matter, I am

Sincerely yours,

LYTLE BROWN,

Major General, Chief of Engineers.

Hon. S. WALLACE DEMPSEY,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, February 10, 1930.

MY DEAR MR. DEMPSEY: I am forwarding herewith a letter from Doctor Burgess, Director of the Bureau of Standards. The date of the letter is the 8th instant, file number D.

I concur with the ideas expressed by Doctor Burgess as you may see by reference to a letter already written by me to you. Sincerely yours,

LYTLE BROWN,

Major General, Chief of Engineers.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE,

BUREAU OF STANDARDS, Washington, February 8, 1930.

Hon. S. WALLACE DEMPSEY,

Chairman Rivers and Harbors Committee,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR CONGRESSMAN: In order to meet comments expressed in committee with respect to the text of bill H. R. 8299, pending in the Rivers and Harbors Committee, I venture to suggest the following modifications to the bill:

(1) Page 1, paragraph 1, line 10, add: "Provided, That no test, study, or other work on a problem or problems connected with a project the prosecution of which is under the jurisdiction of any other bureau or department of the Government shall be undertaken in the laboratory herein authorized until a written request to do such work is submitted to the Director of the Bureau of Standards by the head of the department or bureau charged with the execution of such project."

(2) Page 2, lines 1 to 9, strike out all of section 2.

The proposed proviso to be inserted in paragraph 1 appears on page 284 of the hearings before the committee and is the wording suggested by General Taylor. As to the elimination of section 2, this was originally suggested as a safeguard to the Chief of Engineers, which safeguard, however, would be given by the proviso proposed. There seems to be a general feeling, which I understand is shared by General Brown, the present Chief of Engineers, that the proposed board is an unnecessary administrative body.

I inclose copy of the proposed amended bill.

Respectfully,

GEORGE K. BURGESS, Director.

[H. R. 8299, Seventy-first Congress, second session]

A BILL Authorizing the establishment of a national hydraulic laboratory in the Bureau of Standards of the Department of Commerce and the construction of a building therefor

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby authorized to be established in the Bureau of Standards of the Department of Commerce a national hydraulic laboratory for the determination of fundamental data useful in hydraulic research and engineering, including laboratory research relating to the behavior and control of river and harbor waters, the study of hydraulic structures and water flow, the development and testing of hydraulic instruments and accessories: Provided.

That no test, study, or other work on a problem or problems connected with a project the prosecution of which is under the jurisdiction of any other bureau or department of the Government shall be undertaken in the laboratory herein authorized until a written request to do such work is submitted to the Director of the Bureau of Standards by the head of the department or bureau charged with the execution of such project.

SEC. 2. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, not to exceed $350,000, to be expended by the Secretary of Commerce for the construction and installation upon the present site of the Bureau of Standards in the District of Columbia of a suitable hydraulic laboratory building and such equipment, utilities, and appurtenances thereto as may be necessary.

The bill, as printed above, is in the form in which it is reported herewith.

Section 2 of the O'Connor bill (H. R. 8299) reads as follows:

SEC. 2. A board to be known as the national hydraulic laboratory board is hereby created, the four members of which shall be the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Agriculture, or in lieu thereof such other officer of each department as the Secretary thereof may designate. It shall be the duty of the board to determine from time to time a program of the projects to be undertaken and the manner in which the work is to be performed.

It is the opinion of your committee that, owing to the fact that Cabinet officers. are now overburdened with duties, such a board would not prove practicable in its workings; and that the bill as amended, under which the determination of the projects to be undertaken and the manner in which the work is to be performed is left with the Director of the Bureau of Standards, is the most feasible. Below is printed a letter, written on March 18, 1928, by the then Secretary of Commerce (now the President of the United States), indorsing the Ransdell bill; also a very comprehensive report of the Department of Commerce on "The need for a national hydraulic laboratory in the Bureau of Standards," which accompanied the letter referred to.

Hon. W. L. JONES,

Chairman Committee on Commerce,

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE,
Washington, March 18, 1928.

United States Senate.

MY DEAR SENATOR: In reply to your request for a report on bill S. 1710, authorizing the establishment of a national hydraulic laboratory in the Bureau of Standards of the Department of Commerce, I inclose a revision of S. 1710, which I am informed by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget is not in conflict with the President's financial program.

The revised wording provides for a board with the three Secretaries of Commerce, War, and Interior to determine projects for the laboratory, and also increases the estimate from $300,000 to $350,000 to provide for permanent equipment.

There is an urgent need for a national hydraulic laboratory equipped to carry out hydraulic experiments on an adequate scale. I am satisfied that such a laboratory at the Bureau of Standards would be of great service to the Nation and that it would soon repay the investment many times over through the savings effected in the cost of hydraulic structures resulting from the information gained through laboratory tests. Such savings have already been demonstrated by the work of several hydraulic laboratories in Europe, where great emphasis is being placed upon the value of the results obtained from experiments with models. A national laboratory of this kind would be of direct value and assistance to all Government field services concerned with hydraulic questions, such as the Mississippi River Commission, Federal Power Commission, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, Geological Survey, Reclamation Service, and the Department of Agriculture.

SR-71-2-VOL 2-7

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