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The $200,000 authorized in the present bill (S. 4586) would make possible the purchase of the remaining parcels of privately owned land from M Street and Mount Olivet Road on the south to R Street on the north, and eastward to the Anacostia marshes, totaling 126 acres. The eastern border of the area would extend from M Street northward to the Pennsylvania Railroad. The land avail

able for arboretum purposes would then lie in a fairly symmetrical compact body, much more useful and convenient, and more economical of operation than the unconsolidated parcels thus far acquired. Because of the steady advance of land values in that section and the probability that such advance will continue as additional streets are opened, purchase of this land at an early date is important from the standpoint of economy as well as to make possible the orderly and effective development of the arboretum project.

Sincerely yours,

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71ST CONGRESS 2d Session

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SENATE

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REPORT No. 1101

AUTHORIZE AND DIRECT THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL TO ALLOW CERTAIN EXPENDITURES IN THE WAR DEPARTMENT

JUNE 26, 1930.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. REED, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 2980]

The Committee on Military Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 2980) to authorize and direct the Comptroller General to allow certain expenditures in the War Department, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that it do pass.

This bill is suggested by the Secretary of War and there is made a a part of this report his letter to the chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, December 18, 1929, proposing the bill and explaining its purpose, which reads as follows:

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 18, 1929.

The CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON MILITARY AFFAIRS,

United States Senate.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: There is inclosed a draft of a bill to authorize and direct the Comptroller General to allow certain expenditures, which the War Department presents for the consideration of the Congress with a view to its enactment into law.

There is no permanent statute upon this subject. For many years the matter has been covered in the annual appropriation acts. In the last appropriation act the pertinent language appeared as follows:

"For transportation of the Army and its supplies * * * of authorized baggage * * * * * and including packing and crating Since the law does not define what constitutes authorized baggage and the question had arisen, the Secretary of War, on September 20, 1927, caused to be published in Army Regulations, No. 30-960, a definition as follows:

"Authorized baggage consists of household goods and other personal property including automobiles and personal effects except checkable personal baggage carried free on tickets, professional books and papers, and groceries and provisions."

Prior to publication, this regulation was submitted to the Judge Advocate General of the Army, the official legal adviser of the Secretary of War, to determine its legal validity, and was held to be in conformity with existing law.

Pursuant to this regulation, automobiles were included in shipment of authorized baggage of personnel of the Military Establishment under the assumption that transportation thereof would be legally defrayed at public expense.

Subsequently, however, the Comptroller General held that payment for shipments would be, without exception, at rates for household goods.

Under this decision, the personnel concerned have been required to reimburse the Government for excess rate on automobiles over and above rate on household goods; although shipments were made with the belief that the regulation, by defining authorized baggage as including automobiles, thereby provided for transportation at Government expense, when total weight did not exceed authorized allowances.

In view of the fact that shipments were made in good faith between September 20, 1927, when the regulation was published, and October 10, 1929, when the regulation was changed to include a specific statement that excess rate on automobiles must be borne by persons making shipment, it is believed to be unfair to hold those concerned pecuniarily liable for such excess.

Therefore, the War Department seeks enactment of the inclosed bill, which will allow the items, will relieve personnel of a liability incurred through no fault of their own, and will have no other effect.

Sufficient funds are available in an appropriated status to defray the costs involved. In view of the fact, however, that the proposed legislation would authorize payment from public funds of claims which, in the view taken by the General Accounting Office, can not be so paid under the existing law, this proposed legislation has been submitted to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget who advises that it is not in conflict with the financial program of the President. Sincerely yours, PATRICK J. HURLEY, Secretary of War.

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Mr. REED, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 3592]

The Committee on Military Affairs, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 3592) to further amend section 37 of the national defense act of June 4, 1920, as amended by section 2 of the act of September 22, 1922, so as to more clearly define the status of reserve officers not on active duty or on active duty for training only, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with the recommendation that it do pass.

The purpose of the bill is set forth in the House report thereon, which is made a part of this report, and reads as follows:

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 3592) to further amend section 37 of the national defense act of June 4, 1920, as amended by section 2 of the act of September 22, 1922, so as to more clearly define the status of reserve officers not on active duty or on active duty for training only, introduced by Mr. James, having considered the same, report thereon with the recommendation that it do pass with the following amendments:

Line 5, add an "s" to the word "section"; strike out "356" and insert in lieu thereof "351, 352, 353, 356, and 360”.

Line 8, page 1, and line 1, page 2, strike out the phrase "or while on active duty for instruction or training only".

Section 37 of the national defense act as amended, with this proposed amendment shown in italics, reads as follows:

"SEC. 37. Officers' Reserve Corps.-For the purpose of providing a reserve of officers available for military service when needed there shall be organized an Officers' Reserve Corps consisting of general officers of sections corresponding to the various branches of the Regular Army, and of such additional sections as the President may direct. The grades in each section and the number in each grade shall be as the President may prescribe. Reserve officers shall be appointed and commissioned by the President alone, except general officers, who shall be appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Appointment in every case shall be for a period of five years, but an appointment in force at the outbreak of war or made in time of war shall continue in force until six months after its termination. Any reserve officer may be discharged at any time in the discretion of the President. A reserve officer appointed during the

existence of a state of war shall be entitled to discharge within six months after its termination if he makes application therefor. In time of peace a reserve officer must at the time of his appointment be a citizen of the United States or of the Philippine Islands, between the ages of twenty-one and sixty years. Any person who has been an officer of the Army at any time between April 6, 1917, and June 30, 1919, or an officer of the Regular Army at any time may be appointed as a reserve officer in the highest grade which he held in the Army or any lower grade. Any person commissioned in the National Guard and recognized as a National Guard officer by the Secretary of War may, upon his own application, be appointed as a reserve officer in the grade held by him in the National Guard. No other person shall in time of peace be originally appointed as a reserve officer of Infantry, Cavalry, Field Artillery, Coast Artillery, or Air Service in a grade above that of second lieutenant. In time of peace appointments in the Infantry, Cavalry, Field Artillery, Coast Artillery, and Air Service shall be limited to former officers of the Army, officers of the National Guard recognized as such by the Secretary of War, graduates of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, as provided in section 47b hereof, warrant officers and enlisted men of the Regular Army, National Guard, and Enlisted Reserve Corps, and persons who served in the Army at some time between April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918. Promotions and transfers shall be made under such rules as may be prescribed by the President, and shall be based so far as practicable upon recommendations made in the established chain of command. So far as practicable reserve officers shall be assigned to units in the locality of their places of residence. Nothing in this act shall operate to deprive a reserve officer of the reserve commission he now holds. Any reserve officer may hold a commission in the National Guard without thereby vacating his reserve commission. Reserve officers while not on active duty shall not, by reason solely of their appointments, oaths, commissions, or status as reserve officers, or any duties or functions performed or pay or allowances received as reserve officers, be held or deemed to be officers or employees of the United States, or persons holding any office of trust or profit or discharging any official function under or in connection with any department of the Government of the United States."

This comprises section 2 of the act of September 22, 1922, in its entirety as referred to in paragraph (a), page 2 of the Secretary of War's letter. The act is amended by adding a new sentence.

The purpose of the proposed legislation, as embodied in H. R. 3592, is to remedy a condition occasioned by a ruling of the Attorney General that prevents reserve officers, who are attorneys at law, from practicing before the Treasury Department or from performing any other work that the law forbids officers of the Government to undertake.

The Attorney General has recently handed down an opinion, which supports the contention of the Treasury Department, that reserve officers are "officers of the Government" under the penal statutes of the United States. Unless remedial legislation is enacted it is feared that there will be many resignations from the Officers' Reserve Corps because of this restrictive construction. The bill has the approval of the War Department, other than that it recommends the elimination of the clause in line 8, page 1, and line 1, page 2, as follows: "or while on active duty for instruction and training only." This amendment the committee adopted for the reasons as given by the War Department, as follows:

"The bill, H. R. 3592, defines the status of reserve officers so broadly that the well-established and desirable relation of these officers to our military law would be disturbed in time of peace. Thus reserve officers might be held ineligible to sit on military courts or boards in time of peace and the legality of the orders issued by reserve officers on active duty for training purposes might be successfully questioned."

The War Department also suggested the striking out of the word "office" in line 6, page 2, and substituting the word "place", but the committee believed that the clause "office of trust" has a more general acceptation in legal terminology than "place of trust."

A further amendment is suggested by the War Department, which the committee adopts, to add certain sections of the statutes, which this legislation also affects. This provides for striking out section 356, in line 5, page 1, and inserting in lieu thereof sections 351, 352, 353, 356, and 360. The reason for this is as given by the War Department, as follows:

"The reference to section 356, title 10, United States Code, in lines 5 and 6, page 1, of H. R. 3592, is believed to be incomplete as the citation therein given evidently refers to section 2 of the act of September 22, 1922, in its entirety."

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