Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. You do not want all of this $100,000 for that preliminary work, do you?

Mr. HOLMES. No, sir.

Dr. WARBURTON. We would not, of course, expend the entire amount in this fiscal year, but we propose to have the appropriation available until December 31, 1939. We will expend only so much during this fiscal year as is necessary, but it did not seem desirable to ask for separate appropriations when the total amount involved is comparatively small.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. How much will you expend during the current fiscal year.

Dr. WARBURTON. There has been no definite estimate on that, but my guess would be, perhaps, not more than $10,000.

Mr. LUDLOW. I notice that you have set up in the estimates a total of $6,000 for entertainment, and I wonder if all that amount would be required for that purpose. You also have an estimate of $3,000 or dinners to official delegates. How many delegates will there be? Dr. WARBURTON. There will probably be five or six hundred, or, perhaps, not quite that many. There may be only three or four hundred, or, perhaps, five hundred delegates from the various foreign countries.

Mr. WOODRUM. What was the attendance on the former Congress? Dr. WARBURTON. There have been as many as 65 hundred participating in the conferences. In view of holding the conference in the United States, it is expected that there will be a larger participation on the part of the Latin-American countries than there has ever been. The number of countries represented will be larger than in the case of previous conferences.

Mr. LUDLOW. You set up $2,000 for a tour to Mount Vernon. What is included in that estimate?

Dr. WARBURTON. There will be a tour to the Beltsville Research Center of the Department of Agriculture, where we have extensive poultry investigations, and included in that will doubtless be a visit to the poultry experiment station of the University of Maryland. It is proposed to take the foreign delegates on visits to points of interest around Washington, including Mount Vernon. We would provide bus transportation for them.

Mr. LUDLOW. There is an item of $1,000 for a reception: What is the purpose of that?

Dr. WARBURTON. I think that, perhaps, Mr. Holmes can answer that question. The State Department is more accustomed to those things than we are.

Mr. LUDLOW. Is this based on the entertainment experience at other conferences?

Mr. HOLMES. Yes, sir.

Mr. LUDLOW. Where was the last one held?

Mr. HOLMES. At Leipzig, Germany.

Mr. SNYDER. Is it held every year?.

Mr. HOLMES. It is held every 3 years.

The last one was in 1936.

Mr. TABER. Where will you need these stenographers?

Mr. HOLMES. Here in Washington and at Cleveland, when the conference starts.

Mr. TABER. Why do you have it at two places?

Mr. HOLMES. Because we thought that the official congress should have its opening session here in Washington, the capital of the country,

which is customary, and foreigners will come pursuant to an official invitation issued by the President. We feel that the whole thing would be more successful if it began here, but there is no place in Washington to house the enormous exposition that goes along with it. Mr. SNYDER. For how many years has this been in progress? Dr. WARBURTON. There have been six congresses.

Mr. WOODRUM. How much does the poultry industry amount to? Mr. TERMOHLEN. It averages about one billion dollars a year income. That is the average for the last 12 years.

Mr. TABER. It ranks among the first?

Mr. TERMOHLEN. It has averaged fourth in importance during the past 12 years, exceeded only by dairy products, by hogs, and by cotton and cottonseed.

Mr. LUDLOW. How many poultry congresses have been held? Dr. WARBURTON. This will be the seventh. There have been six previous congresses, beginning in 1921, at The Hague, Holland. Mr. SNYDER. I saw in some magazine the statement that the poultry business constituted one-fiftieth of the gross business of the country.

Dr. WARBURTON. That would seem to be a reasonable figure, or about 10 percent of the agricultural income.

Mr. LUDLOW. Is the organization one of international cooperation, or is it simply educative?

Mr. HOLMES. Only insofar as it concerns types of international cooperation to help the farmers to improve their poultry and to improve marketing conditions. It involves matters of public health, and so forth. It is an opportunity that we have to show the rest of the world that we are perfectly willing to cooperate and work with other countries in any kind of international service, so long as it is not political. We feel in the State Department that there is some intangible value in taking part in scientific and humanitarian work in collaboration with other countries.

TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1937.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT

OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF ACCOUNTS AND DEPOSITS

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM T. HEFFELFINGER, EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE COMMISSIONER OF ACCOUNTS AND DEPOSITS

APPROPRIATION TRANSFER FROM CONTINGENT EXPENSES, PUBLIC MONEYS TO SALARIES OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER

Mr. WOODRUM. We have before us in House Docket No. 309 the following provision under the Office of Commissioner of Accounts and Deposits.

Not to exceed $6,260 of the amount appropriated for "Contingent expenses, public moneys" in the act making appropriations for the Treasury Department for the fiscal year 1938, may be transferred to the appropriation "Salaries, Office of Commissioner of Accounts and Deposits, 1938".

What is the reason for that request?

Mr. HEFFELFINGER. That is to take care of the personnel required for the administration of the Government losses in Shipment Act, approved July 8, 1937. The fund for the payment of losses was approved July 1. The new act does away with insurance by the Government on shipments, and sets up what is in the nature of a Government self-insurance plan. It is estimated that three persons will be required to administer this new act.

Mr. WOODRUM. How much will be saved out of the appropriation for contingent expenses by reason of the passage of that act?

Mr. HEFFELFINGER. We will save about $38,000 from the appropriation "Contingent expenses, public moneys," and possibly $100,000 to $200,000 a year for the entire Government. Premiums have ranged as high as $370,000 a year.

Mr. WOODRUM. This does not reqiure an additional appropriation. Mr. HEFFELFINGER. No, sir.

Mr. WOODRUM. What personnel will be involved in this $6,260? Mr. HEFFELFINGER. We plan on having one administrative assistant, at grade 9, to be charged with developing the entire system, and he will be assisted by a stenographer and one typist.

Mr. WOODRUM. Will they be civil-service employees?

Mr. HEFFELFINGER. Yes, sir.

Mr. WOODRUM. At what rates of pay?

Mr. HEFFELFINGER. The chief administrative assistant at $3,200; the stenographer at $1,620, and the typist at $1,440.

Mr. WOODRUM. You will not spend all of the contingent appropriation.

Mr. HEFFELFINGER. No, sir; we have impounded $38,000 of the appropriation. The 1938 appropriation included $44,000 for insurance, and we will pay insurance premiums for about one and one-half months.

Mr. WOODRUM. That will be a saving to that particular fund. Mr. HEFFELFINGER. That will be a saving to our particular appropriation under the Treasury Appropriation Act.

THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1937.

BUREAU OF CUSTOMS

STATEMENT OF FRED W. GAST, CHIEF, DIVISION OF ENGINEERING

CONSTRUCTION OF GATE ACROSS INTERNATIONAL HIGHWAY AT NOGALES,

ARIZ.

Mr. WOODRUM. The following proposal is submitted in House Document No. 309, under the head of the Bureau of Customs:

The appropriation "Collecting the revenue from customs", fiscal year 1938, is hereby made available for the construction of a gate on one of the two highways across the international boundary at Nogales, Ariz., at a cost of not to exceed $3,500.

Please give us an explanation of this item.

Mr. GAST. The travel over the international boundary at Nogales, Ariz., has increased so that our customs forces are overworked.

148745-37-36

The

main traffic at Nogales, enters the United States over two highways. The border at Nogales is protected by a large iron fence, and at these two highways there are traffic openings (Morley and Grand Avenues). We propose to put gates at the Morley Avenue opening, to be closed at night; so that our customs inspectors and officials may work at the Grand Avenue opening. The Comptroller General has ruled that we cannot spend money for the construction of gates out of our regular appropriation where it is not appropriated for that specific purpose. Mr. WOODRUM. This does not call for an additional appropriation. Mr. GAST. No, sir.

Mr. LUDLOW, That is an important port of entry.

Mr. GAST. Yes, sir; I have some traffic figures for that port.
Mr. WOODRUM. You may place them in the record.

Mr. GAST. I will do so.

(Said figures are as follows:)

OFFICE OF THE TREASURER OF THE UNITED STATES
STATEMENT OF G. O. BARNES, EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

REFUNDING TO NATIONAL BANK ASSOCIATIONS EXCESS OF DUTY, 1937

Mr. WOODRUM. You have an item in House Document No. 309 of $276.36 for refunding excess duty collected during the fiscal year 1937 and prior years, the item being under the head of "Refunding to National Bank Associations Excess of Duty."

Please explain this item.

Mr. BARNES. Before the passage of the act abolishing permanent, indefinite appropriations, that act being called the Permanent Appropriations Repeal Act of 1934, these claims by national banks for duty on circulation paid in excess of the amount actually due were paid out of that appropriation; but since the passage of the Permanent Appropriations Repeal Act we have not had any appropriation from which to make these payments. We have certain duty claims amounting to the sum of $276.36, covering nine of those claims.

Mr. WOODRUM. Just what is the general nature of these claims?

Mr. BARNES. As you know, the national banks circulating notes were required to pay a one-half of 1 percent duty per annum, assessed semiannually and these are amounts that the banks paid in excess of the actual duty.

Mr. WOODRUM. How do you ascertain the amount of the claims? Mr. BARNES. This has been submitted to the Comptroller General, and he has approved the claims.

Mr. WOODRUM. How many are there in number?

Mr. BARNES. There are nine all together.

Mr. WOODRUM. What is the largest amount involved in one claim? Mr. BARNES. $69.70.

Mr. WOODRUM. These are refunds.

Mr. BARNES. They are refunds of excess duty paid. The Treasury Department collects the duty on the basis of the returns, and the returns are checked up by national-bank examiners. They are then submitted to the Comptroller General, and these are amounts that have been found due.

TRANSFER TO CERTAIN APPROPRIATIONS OF TREASURY DEPARTMENT FROM FUNDS OF CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS AND FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK BOARD

Mr. WOODRUM. On page 4 of Document No. 309, there is a draft of a proposed provision pertaining to existing appropriations, as follows:

The provision in the Treasury Department Appropriation Act for 1938 authorizing transfers to certain appropriations of the Treasury Department from funds available to the several agencies enumerated therein, to cover the expenses incurred on account of said agencies in the clearing of checks, servicing of bonds, handling of collections, and rendering of accounts therefor, is hereby amended to authorize transfers to the same appropriations from funds available to the Civilian Conservation Corps and to corporations and banks under the supervision of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, and the limitation contained in such act on the total amount which may be transferred to such appropriations is hereby increased from $250,000 to $400,000.

Mr. BARNES. In the Treasury Appropriations Act for 1938 we have a provision authorizing transfers of funds from certain emergency organizations, but in that act we did not include the Civilian Conservation Corps for the reason that the C. C. C. act had not been passed. There was no authority for the continuation of the C. C. C. beyond 1937, and we did not submit language in the regular appropriation act for covering transfers from that organization. This provision has the effect of amending the language to bring the C. C. C. into the same category with the other organizations for whom the Treasury performs service.

Mr. LUDLOW. Do you do a great deal of work for the C. C. C.? Mr. BARNES. We clear all of their checks. We estimate that for 1938 there will be 6,000,000 checks to be cleared.

Mr. WOODRUM. In dollars and cents, what would they amount to? Mr. BARNES. That would be hard to say.

Mr. WOODRUM. $350,000,000 will be cleared in checks.

Mr. BARNES. Yes, sir; in checks.

Mr. LUDLOW. In terms of personnel, how much work does that mean?

Mr. BARNES. For the C. C. C. work, we estimate 67 employees. Mr. WOODRUM. How much did you transfer in 1936 and 1937 on account of the work for the C. C. Č.?

Mr. BARNES. For 1937 we spent $100,362 for personal services and $9,866 for other obligations. A total of $110,228. We had an average of 67 employees in 1937. I do not have the number for 1936.