FEBRUARY 1, 1930.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

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

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 9235]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 9235) after consideration, reports the same favorably and recommends that the bill do pass.

This bill has the approval of the Attorney General. The enactment of the proposed bill would be to the mutual advantage of both the Department of Justice and the Treasury Department. It will allow the United States Public Health Service to assume the responsibility for all necessary psychiatric and other medical work in the Federal prisons under the control of the Department of Justice. In his communication to the Attorney General approving the bill the Secretary of the Treasury, under date of November 2, 1929, writes as follows:

Your proposal presents a desirable opportunity for further coordinating and increasing the efficiency of Federal public health and medical services and is in keeping with the policies of this and previous administrations. The project has been given serious study and has the sympathetic approval of this department. The committee earnestly hopes that this bill will receive the approval of the Congress at an early date.

TRANSFER THE BUREAU OF PROHIBITION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

FEBRUARY 3, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. WILLIAMSON, from the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 8574)

The Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 8574) to transfer to the Attorney General certain functions in the administration of the national prohibition act, to create a Bureau of Prohibition in the Department of Justice, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report thereon with the recommendation that it do pass with the following amendments:

Page 2, line 4, insert after the word "with" the words "the competitive provisions of".

Page 2, line 12, after the word "officer" insert the words "or employee".

Page 2, line 24, after the word "laws" strike out the period, insert a colon, and add the words "Provided, That all officers and employees of the Bureau of Prohibition who the Attorney General finds have heretofore or shall hereafter violate any penal provisions of the Federal prohibition laws shall be dismissed."

Page 3, line 15, strike out the comma at the end of the line.

Page 4, line 15, after the word "shall" strike out the words "have power to".

Page 4, line 16, after the word "necessary" insert the words "to prevent violations of, or".

Page 4, line 17, after the word "of" insert a comma.

Page 5, line 18, after the words "prohibition act" and before the comma insert the words "relating to permits".

Page 5, line 20, after the word "acts" strike out the period, insert a colon, and add the words "Provided, That all regulations relating to the Bureau of Prohibition in the Department of Justice shall be made by the Attorney General."

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Page 6, line 3, after the word "General" strike out the words "and the Secretary".

Page 6, line 4, strike out the words "of the Treasury" and the word "jointly".

Page 6, line 6, after the word "Treasury" strike out the word "of".

Page 6, line 14, after the words "for permits" insert the words "to be issued for more than ninety days".

Page 6, line 15, after the word "amendments" strike out the words "of permits" and insert in lieu thereof the words "thereof to extend for more than ninety days".

Page 6, line 18, after the word "granted" insert a comma and the words "renewed, or amended".

Page 6, line 22, after the word "any" strike out the word "such" and after the word "application" strike out the comma and insert the words "for any permit or any renewal or amendment thereof, which may be issued under the national prohibition act, ".

Page 6, line 23, after the word "granted" insert a comma and the words "renewed, or amended".

Page 6, line 24, after the word "permit," insert the words "renewal, or amendment,"

Page 7, line 5, after the word "shall" strike out the word "thereafter" and insert the word "hereafter".

Page 7, line 6, strike out the words "Narcotics and".

Page 7, line 8, after the words "Commissioner of" strike out the words "Narcotics and".

Page 7, line 12, after the words "1919," strike out the words "as amended and supplemented" and insert in lieu thereof the words "and all acts amendatory thereof or supplementary there to".

The purpose of the bill is to transfer that portion of the Bureau of Prohibition now engaged in the enforcement of prohibition from the Treasury Department to the Department of Justice. The industrial alcohol section, having to do with the granting of permits, remains in the Treasury Department.

Government activities with respect to prohibition are primarily those of law enforcement. The detection of crime, gathering of evidence, and trial of accused are essentially legal. Such activities bear little relation to a fiscal agency. They belong to the law-enforcing arm of the Government and should go into the Department of Justice. Upon that there is no division of opinion in your committee.

Division of authority, duties, and responsibilities is not conducive to the best results where a specific end is sought. This is especially true where the object in view is law enforcement. Simplicity of procedure, unity of direction, and definite responsibility for results are greatly in the interest of efficiency and certainty. Not until authority and responsibility for the enforcement of prohibition are centered in one head can there be a real test of the mooted question, "Can prohibition be enforced?" Upon that there now seems to be common agreement by both wets and drys. Such unity and cohesion of purpose is what this bill seeks to bring about.

In order to accomplish this purpose the bill transfers from the Treasury Department and creates in the Department of Justice a Bureau of Prohibition and places at its head, subject to the direction of the Attorney General, a Director of Prohibition at an annual salary of $9,000.

The director, assistant director, and attorneys are appointed by the Attorney General. None of these are in the classified civil service, but, with the exception of the director, all are classified under the classification act of 1923, as amended (U. S. C., title 5, ch. 13; U. S. C., Supp. III, title 5, ch. 13) for the purpose of fixing salaries. The balance of the personnel are appointed under the competitive provisions of the civil service laws and regulations. With the exception of the attorneys, such of the employees of the Bureau of Prohibition as are taken over from the Treasury Department are transferred without change in classification or compensation.

Provision is made also for the transfer of the necessary and appropriate records, files, property, and appropriations from the Treasury Department to the Department of Justice.

Inasmuch as the Attorney General will be charged with full responsibility for the enforcement of prohibition under the act, it was thought that he should have a veto power in the matter of granting permits, which function now rests exclusively with the Secretary of the Treasury. This is accomplished by providing that the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury shall jointly prescribe the necessary regulations for the classification and issuance of permits. Except as otherwise provided by regulations, the Secretary of the Treasury is required to file with the Attorney General complete copies of all applications for permits, including renewals and amendments. No permit may issue within 10 days of such filing without the consent of the Attorney General. As to all applications so filed, the Attorney General may act jointly with the Secretary of the Treasury and in every such case no permit shall issue without their joint approval. This gives the Attorney General a veto upon the issuance of a permit to any applicant of which he does not approve, subject to the right of the applicant to appeal to a court of equity as provided by sections 5 and 6, Title II, of the national prohibition act. (U.S. C., title 27, secs. 14 and 16.) The bill does not contemplate that the Attorney General shall investigate every application for a permit. The total number issued annually is in the neighborhood of 155,000. As to most of these, no question of diversion occurs. There are,

however, certain classes and types of permittees that have come under suspicion. These will be segregated from the known lawabiding permittees and be investigated by the Attorney General before permits are issued.

The duties, rights, powers, and privileges now conferred and imposed upon the Secretary of the Treasury and the officers of the Bureau of Prohibition, except the granting of permits-and here the Attorney General may exercise a veto power-are transferred to the Attorney General. He is specifically required to make all necessary investigations of violations of the national prohibition act and the internal revenue laws for the purpose of enforcing the penal provisions thereof and punishing the offenders. The act leaves no room or place for shifting responsibility. The Attorney General must definitely assume it and is given ample power to conduct any investigations, with reference to permits or otherwise, that may be necessary to discover violations of the prohibition law. He has full control of the means for discovering illegal diversion of industrial alcohol or other violations of the law, and can not escape being held responsible for enforcement. If unity of command and direction is the solution of the successful enforcement of the prohibition law, this bill, if enacted,

should go a long way toward solving the present difficulty in securing obedience to the eighteenth amendment.

The bill does not change substantive law except so far as may be necessary to effect the transfer of the enforcement activities of the Bureau of Prohibition to the Department of Justice. The duties, powers, and functions imposed upon the Secretary of the Treasury by the act of March 3, 1927, creating the Bureau of Prohibition, with respect to prohibition enforcement are transferred to and imposed upon the Attorney General. For the information of the House the act is appended hereto:

[PUBLIC-No. 751-69TH CONGRESS]

[H. R. 10729]

AN ACT TO create a Bureau of Customs and a Bureau of Prohibition in the Department of the Treasury

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be in the Department of the Treasury a bureau to be known as the Bureau of Customs, a bureau to be known as the Bureau of Prohibition, a Commissioner of Customs, and a Commissioner of Prohibition. The Commissioner of Customs shall be at the head of the Bureau of Customs, and the Commissioner of Prohibition shall be at the head of the Bureau of Prohibition. The Commissioner of Customs and the Commissioner of Prohibition shall be appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, without regard to the civil service laws, and each shall receive a salary at the rate of $8,000 per annum.

SEC. 2. (a) The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to appoint, in each of the bureaus established by section 1, one assistant commissioner, two deputy commissioners, one chief clerk, and such attorneys and other officers and employees as he may deem necessary. One of the deputy commissioners of the Bureau of Customs shall have charge of investigations. Appointments under this subdivision shall be subject to the provisions of the civil service laws, and the salaries shall be fixed in accordance with the Classification Act of 1923. (b) The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to designate an officer of the Bureau of Customs to act as Commissioner of Customs, during the absence or disability of the Commissioner of Customs, or in the event that there is no Commissioner of Customs; and to designate an officer of the Bureau of Prohibition to act as Commissioner of Prohibition during the absence or disability of the Commissioner of Prohibition, or in the event that there is no Commissioner of Prohibition.

(c) The personnel of the Bureau of Prohibition shall perform such duties as the Secretary of the Treasury or the Commissioner of Prohibition may prescribe, and the personnel of the Bureau of Customs shall perform such duties (other than duties in connection with the administration of the National Prohibition Act, as amended, or any other law relating to the enforcement of the eighteenth amendment), as the Secretary of the Treasury or the Commissioner of Customs may prescribe.

SEC. 3. (a) The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to confer or impose upon the Commissioner of Customs or any of the officers of the Bureau of Customs any of the rights, privileges, powers, or duties, in respect of the importation or entry of merchandise into, or exportation of merchandise from, the United States, vested in or imposed upon the Secretary of the Treasury by the Tariff Act of 1922 or any other law.

(b) The records, property (including office equipment), and personnel of the Division of Customs are hereby transferred to the Bureau of Customs.

(c) The Division of Customs and the offices of director of customs, assistant directors of customs, and director and assistant directors, Special Agency Service of the Customs, are hereby abolished.

SEC. 4. (a) The rights, privileges, powers, and duties conferred or imposed upon the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and his assistants, agents, and inspectors, by any law in respect of the taxation, importation, exportation, transportation, manufacture, production, compounding, sale, exchange, dispensing, giving away, possession, or use of beverages, intoxicating liquors,