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ARLINGTON MEMORIAL BRIDGE COMMISSION

Appropriations to date for the Arlington Memorial Bridge, including $1,000,000 estimated by the Budget for 1931, which is included in this bill, total $10,825,000, and are within $200,000 of the amounts authorized in the program of construction as laid down by the act providing for the bridge. A deficiency estimate of $200,000 is now pending for inclusion in the deficiency bill, which, if granted, will bring the appropriations even with the authorizations. Colonel Grant, executive officer of the commission, anticipates the bridge will be available for use at the end of the working season of the calendar year 1931, and that the entire project, including the approaches and all ornamental features, will be completed in 1935, within the original limit of cost of $14,750,000.

BOARD OF MEDIATION

The total funds available for "general expenses" of the board for the current year is $156,570, of which $110,570 is a direct appropriation and $46,000 is a reappropriation of an unexpended balance. The Budget estimate of $136,680 for this purpose for 1931, while $26,110 in excess of the amount of the direct appropriation for 1930, is $19,890 less than total funds made available for the current year. The reduction in the appropriation for next year does not reflect a diminution of the work, but rather an increase in efficiency. The Hon. Samuel E. Winslow, former Member of Congress, and now chairman of the Board of Mediation, reports, "a very great advance in the morale of railway industrial relations. No longer is there any hostile talk or acrimonious expression, save as there may be between any two people who are discussing earnestly." The carriers and the employees, he says, "are approaching a state-not the millenium by any means of a practical working desire for harmony as well as peace."

Following is a brief résumé of the work of the board, as submitted by Mr. Winslow:

THE WORK OF THE BOARD

Of the 428 cases involving rates of pay, rules, and working conditions submitted to our board, 385 had been disposed of by June 30, 1929; 129 of these were acted upon during the fiscal year covered by this report. Of these 129 cases, 46 were settled through mediation, 10 were submitted to arbitration, 37 were withdrawn through mediation, 6 were withdrawn without mediation consideration, and 30 were closed by action of the board. At the end of the year 9 out of the 10 cases submitted to arbitration had been concluded. (Details regarding settlements appear in tabular form hereafter.) At the end of the year 43 of the total of 428 cases received remained unsettled. Of this number, 41 had been assigned for mediation and 2 had not been so assigned.

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1929, the board received 37 applications for its services in the adjustment of grievances which had not been decided by the appropriate adjustment board by which they had been considered. This made a total of 69 such cases received by the board since its creation.

Of the 69 grievance cases herein referred to as having been submitted to our board, 45 had been disposed of during the year covered by this report. Of the remaining cases before the board, 19 had been assigned for mediation and 6 remained unassigned.

In our report of 1928 the following appeared:

"The consideration of grievance matters by the Board of Mediation, as provided by the railway labor act, contemplates the creation of appropriate adjustment boards. Such adjustment boards have not been generally created. Consequently, the Board of Mediation has been hampered in its efforts to render services in such cases.'

During the past year this condition has been improved by the voluntary action of the parties in interest.

BOARD OF TAX APPEALS

Salaries and expenses: The Budget estimate of $645,000 is an actual decrease of $40,863 under the amount available for expenditures for the current year. Although the estimate includes an increase of $4,800 for two additional employees, there are substantial cuts in the items for travel, printing and binding, equipment, etc. The committee has cut the appropriation in the sum of $50,000, representing the Budget estimate for rent. Inasmuch as the board will occupy its new quarters in the new Internal Revenue Building before July 1, the amount estimated for rent will not be needed.

Printing and binding: A Budget increase of $5,000 has been allowed for the purpose of bringing the bound volumes of the board decisions more nearly current.

The board reports substantial progress in the disposition of pending cases. There is a steady gain in the monthly rate of cases disposed of as compared to the monthly rate of docketing new cases. During the fiscal year 1928, the board docketed 10,165 cases and closed 7,090. During the fiscal year 1929, there were 5,458 cases docketed and 8,969 cases closed. On December 1, 1928, the board had pending a total of 20,241 cases. By November 1, 1929, this number had been reduced to 17,124, showing a gain of over 3,000 cases. "Based on this performance," the chairman of the board told the committee, "I know of no reason why the board should not be almost current in its work within the next two or three years."

BUREAU OF EFFICIENCY

The Budget estimate of this bureau's needs for the fiscal year 1931, reflect no increase over the current year.

Last year, the committee inserted a provision in the bill requiring the chief of this bureau to certify each year, along with his annual estimates to the Bureau of the Budget, a statement of the savings which he estimates have been effected as a result of the investigations made by his bureau during the preceding fiscal year. The provision also requires the Bureau of the Budget, upon the request of any appropriations committee of the House or Senate, to supply such committee with a statement of the reductions or adjustments in appropriations resulting from the savings effected by the Bureau of Efficiency. The statements required by that provision have been supplied to the committee and they have been incorporated in the hearings, pages 239 to 250, inclusive.

CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION

Salaries, District of Columbia: A Budget increase of $27,390 has been granted by the committee. Fourteen additional positions in the Washington office are contemplated. Last year's bill carried an

increase of 12 positions under this head. These increases are accounted for largely by the prohibition and customs patrol work, examinations for which, under the policy recently adopted, involve in most cases character investigations. At the present rate of turnover in the ranks of prohibition agents, the commission estimates it will be required to fill practically 500 positions annually in the field service of the Bureau of Prohibition from examinations in which character investigations will be essential.

An increase of 28,000 in the total number of employees in the executive civil service in the past two years, together with the additional record work of the commission due to the retirement and classification acts, also account in part for the necessity for increases in the personnel of the Civil Service Commission.

Field Force: The Budget estimate of $447,000 represents an actual reduction of $37,480 under the total sum of appropriations available for this purpose for the current year, but is an increase over last fiscal year. Prohibition and customs patrol examinations, involving character investigations, largely account for the permanent enlargement of the field force from 165 positions for the fiscal year 1929 to 200 positions for the fiscal year 1931.

Traveling expenses: A substantial increase over the customary amount for this item is also accounted for, largely, by the character investigations incident to the prohibition and customs patrol examinations.

Contingent expenses: A Budget increase of $1,000 over the amount available for this purpose for the fiscal year has been granted by the committee.

Tables showing the number of employees in the executive civil service at various dates, from June 30, 1916, to the present may be found on pages 35 to 39, inclusive, of the hearings. On June 30, 1929, the total number on the rolls was 587,665, of which 63,904 were in the District of Columbia and 523,761 in the field.

FINE ARTS COMMISSION

This commission now has two paid employees, a secretary at $3,200 and a messenger boy at $1,080. The Budget estimate for 1931 provides for an addition to the present force of one stenographer at $1,440, which has been granted. A decrease of $1,440 in the printing and binding appropriation, due to the nonrecurring item of printing the commission's report, leaves the total appropriation for 1931 in the same amount as for the current year.

The members of the commission serve without pay, but their expenses incident to the attendance upon meetings of the commission are paid for from this appropriation. During the fiscal year 1929, much time was devoted by the Commission of Fine Arts to the publicbuildings program. The commission have also given particular attention to the Arlington Memorial Bridge, which is nearing completion; to World War memorials in Europe; and to projects pertaining to the approaching George Washington bicentennial celebration in 1932, such as the Mount Vernon Highway and Wakefield. Also to the George Rogers Clark Memorial. Also there have come before the commission the municipal civic center; the plans for the Union Station Plaza and enlargement of the Capitol Grounds, the United

States Supreme Court building, the House of Representatives' new office building, the Mall plan, and the restoration of the Arlington Mansion.

EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION COMMISSION

The Employees' Compensation Commission administers three different workmen's compensation laws, as follows: One relating to the civil employees of the Federal Government, covering practically 500,000 employees; one for longshoremen and others employed upon the navigable waters of the United States, embracing between 300,000 and 400,000 employees; and one for employees in private industry in the District of Columbia.

The Budget increase of $37,674 in administrative expenses, which the committee has granted, is due principally to the increased cost of administration of the longshoremen's act, to provide additional personnel in the district offices in the field, and to cover the increased cost of medical examinations and stenographic reporting service resulting from a larger number of claims.

The Budget increase carried in the bill of $100,000 in the appropriation for compensation benefits is due entirely to the increased number of cases under the several acts. The number of injuries to Federal employees reported during the calendar year 1928 was 22,189. For the first 10 months of 1929, the number reported was 21,219, or at a rate of increase over the previous year of approximately 15 per cent. Injuries to longshoremen during the first four months of the current fiscal year showed an increase of 22 per cent over the same period of the previous year. The District of Columbia workmen's act has been in operation since July 1, 1928. The average number per month of injuries reported during the first four months of the current fiscal year is 38 per cent in excess of the average monthly rate for the previous year.

A statement of the number of injuries reported under each of the acts may be found on pages 65 and 66 of the hearings.

FEDERAL BOARD FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

Cooperative vocational education: Permanent appropriations for this purpose are available each year, as follows:

In agriculture..

In home economics, trades, and industries..

For teacher training for above subjects.

For administrative expenses incident to disbursement of above appropriations__.

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There is an annual appropriation, carried in the accompanying bill of $13,400, to effectuate Welch Act increases for persons employed under the $200,000 permanent appropriation for administrative

expenses.

On March 10, 1924, an act was approved extending to Hawaii the benefits of the vocational education act, and annual appropriations of $30,000 were authorized for the purpose. An appropriation of $30,000 for Hawaii is, accordingly, included in the accompanying bill.

On February 5, 1929, the so-called George-Reed Act was approved authorizing an appropriation of $500,000 for the fiscal year 1930, and for each year thereafter for four years, a sum exceeding by $500,000

the sum appropriated for each preceding year, for the further development of vocational education in the several States and Territories. The authorized amount of $500,000 was appropriated for the fiscal year 1930. The authorized amount for 1931 is $1,000,000. The Budget has estimated but $900,000 for this purpose for next year, with the proviso that the apportionment to the States shall be computed on the basis of not to exceed $1,000,000. It is anticipated that some of the States will not match their full quotas, and that $900,000 will be sufficient for allotments to all States appropriating their share.

The Budget estimate of $95,000 for administrative expenses in connection with the George-Reed Act appropriations has been included in the bill, as well as $15,000 for the vocational rehabilitation of disabled residents of the District of Columbia, under the act of February 23, 1929.

Vocational rehabilitation: Appropriations heretofore carried in the bill for vocational rehabilitation work were not included in the Budget estimates because of the expiration of the act authorizing the work. Legislation is pending to extend the authorization for this activity and in the event of its passage it is anticipated that the Budget will report the necessary supplemental estimates to continue the work next year.

State and local contributions: The ratio of State and local moneys expended for vocational education, as compared with Federal moneys, has constantly increased from year to year. For the year 1929, $2.99 of State and local money was expended for every $1 of Federal money; that is, of a total expenditure of $3.99 only $1 was invested from Federal funds. The total of Federal funds for this same year amounts to $6,878,530, while the total of all funds, Federal, State, and local, amounts to $27,474,306, the State and local investment being $20,595,776.

Comprehensive tables showing the allotments of the various funds to the various States may be found on pages 85 to 92, inclusive, of the hearings.

FEDERAL FARM BOARD

The Budget estimate of $1,900,000 for the Federal Farm Board has been granted. The board was first organized on July 15, 1929. The character of the work to date is shown by the following excerpt from the hearings:

During the first several months of its existence the board has confined its efforts primarily to the development of policies and procedure and to assisting existing cooperative associations in perfecting better organization plans, as well as operating procedure. It has encouraged cooperative associations handling similar commodities to coordinate their business activities by joining into regional and national sales agencies. In this connection, the board has assisted some 4,000 farmer elevators, the 8 State-wide wheat pools, and the 8 or 9 farmers' terminal elevator sales agencies to centralize their selling activities. This has resulted in the formation of the Farmers National Grain Corporation. The wool cooperatives have formed the National Wool Marketing Association, and the existing cotton cooperatives have recently set up a central selling agency to be known as the American Cotton Cooperative Association. Once such regional and national organizations are set up and functioning, it is the policy of the board to deal with the member units through the central.

As a second means of strengthening existing cooperative associations the board has granted both commodity and facility loans to qualified organizations that have shown the need for such loans.

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