"No new division or directorship is created under the amended bill and the administration of the premium-price plan is left in the Commerce Department where it now is. The Director of the Premium Price Plan, under the Secretary of Commerce, will be in sole charge of the administration of the plan and control by reviewing officers is eliminated. The war agencies of which these reviewing officers formerly were a part are now being liquidated,

"The ceiling on RFC expenditures is lowered to $35,000,000 per year.

"The committee wishes to repeat the statement made in its Report No. 311 that 'encouragement of exploration programs especially is desirable and that those programs already in force should be expanded and extended,' and it further feels that the methods now in use under Public Law 548 should be retained, improved, and expanded.

"The phrase 'in the simplest manner' in the opinion of the committee will enable, at the discretion of the Director, the payment of maximum premiums to operators producing copper, lead, or zinc at a rate of only 500 tons of recoverable metal a year or less on an automatic monthly basis, without economic analysis along the lines suggested on page 51 of the text and in exhibit 2 of Senate Smal: Business Committee subcommittee print No. 6 entitled 'Survey of the Nation's Critical and Strategic Minerals and Metals Program.' In addition, other administrative simplification is desirable.

"It is believed the requirement that 'payments for any particular metal con-į tained in an ore' will greatly facilitate the administration of the plan.

"Under the bill the maximum limits of payment specified in the act may not, be changed except in unusual circumstances.

"As present authority to make premium payments expired midnight June 30, 1947, the committee earnestly requests the bill be passed with the greatest expe dition, although it is intended that in becoming law after July 1, 1947, its provisions will apply to all ores mined during the interim lapse of the authority to make premium payments."

EXHIBIT 51

THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT ON VETOING THE ALLEN BILL

Immediate Release

MEMORANDUM OF DISAPPROVAL

AUGUST 8, 1947.

I am withholding approval of H. R. 1602, a bill to stimulate exploration,| development, and production from domestic mines by private enterprise, andį for other purposes.

I am taking this action only after the most careful consideration of its effects upon the mining industries directly concerned and its relation to the general, interests of the public.

This bill would require the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to continue to make premium payments to subsidize high-cost production of copper, lead,, and zine and would provide new subsidies for domestic manganese production. Payments of $70,000,000 would be authorized for the 2-year period ending June 30, 1949, with not to exceed $35,000,000 of this available in the fiscal year 1948. | The premium price plan was initiated early in the war. It was effective in stimulating production of nonferrous metals for war purposes, while maintaining price ceilings at prewar levels. Two years ago in signing Public Law 88 of the Seventy-ninth Congress, authorizing continuance of these and other wartime subsidies, I urged that these programs be reduced or discontinued as rapidly as feasible whenever such payments became no longer necessary for war purposes. With the end of hostilities and the decontrol of prices, almost all other wartime subsidy programs have been discontinued. No adequate reason is apparent for continuing to subsidize the output of copper, lead, and zinc; and even less reason exists for adding to the list of subsidized commodities.

Continuance of the present plan would contribute very little, if at all, to production of the metals now in shortest supply. Since the removal of price ceilings, prices of all these metals have risen sharply. The market prices of copper and lead, the two scarcest of these metals, have been high enough in the last 6 months so that only a negligible share of the total output has been eligible for subsidy payments. With the minor exception of payments for exploration and development work, therefore, continuance of the present plan could not materially

increase the supply of these metals. If the plan were restored, the great bulk of the subsidy payments, in fact, would continue to go for high-cost production of zine, the supply of which is becoming relatively ample. Similarly, the industrial demand for manganese does not now justify subsidy payments to make available a relatively minor increase in low-grade domestic ore.

Even if there were sufficient justification for continuing to subsidize production of these metals, the plan provided in this bill would be too inflexible to meet present needs. Since it was specifically designed to meet wartime needs, the largest amounts of subsidies were authorized for production of zinc and copper, the metals then in shortest supply. Now, lead is the scarcest of these three metals and zinc is in relatively adequate supply. Yet this bill would not permit any major revisions in payments to shift the emphasis from zinc to copper and lead production. If it were to become law, the taxpayer would be subsidizing primarily zinc production, and the benefits to lead and copper production would be of minor significance.

Most important, continuation of this wartime subsidy program would conflict with our long-run peacetime objective of conserving domestic mineral resources. While the provisions of the bill would encourage exploration and development of new ore bodies, other more efficient methods would be preferable-methods which do not inevitably involve the premature exhaustion of the newly discovered reserves. It is particularly short-sighted in time of peace to continue to encourage extraction of metal from previously produced dumps and tailings instead of allowing these to remain available for future emergencies.

H. R. 1602 would authorize $35,000,000 in subsidy payments in both the present fiscal year and the fiscal year 1949. The bill, however, would provide subsidy payments at rates which would probably require even larger amounts than those authorized, especially in the event of a decline in market prices of any one or more of these metals. Accordingly, supplemental authorizations might well be necessary to carry out the provisions of the bill. In the present fiscal situation, neither the expenditures specifically authorized by the bill nor such possible additional expenditures appear justified.

I am not unmindful of the dislocations in the mining industry which are caused by the expiration of the premium price plan. We must all agree, however, that we cannot regard this plan as a permanent part of our econmy. It is clear that the changes in employment and other adjustments which are necessary at the time of the plan's termination, whenever it occurs, can be made more readily and with less hardship in a period of high employment and business activity, such as the present, than at any other time. Consequently, this seems to be the best time for making this inevitable postwar adjustment.

HARRY S. TRUMAN.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

August 8, 1947.

EXHIBIT 52

[H. R. 6623, 80th Cong., 2d sess., Rept. No. 2041, Union Calendar No. 1000]

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 19, 1948

Mr. RUSSELL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Public Lands

MAY 26, 1948

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and

ordered to be printed

A BILL To stimulate the production and conservation of strategic and critical ores, metals, and minerals and for the establishment within the Department of the Interior of a Mine Incentive Payments Division, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "National Minerals Development and Conservation Act of 1948."

STATEMENT OF POLICY

SEC. 2. It is the policy of the Congress that every effort be made to stimulate the exploration, development, mining, and production of strategic and critical metals and minerals by private enterprise to supply the industrial, military, and naval needs of the United States by providing for the development and conservation of these materials in order to decrease and prevent, wherever possible, a dangerous and costly dependence of the United States upon foreign nations for supplies of such materials. To this end it is the further policy of the Congress that every effort be made to stimulate, stabilize, and maintain a sound and active mining industry within the United States and to coordinate the programs now provided for or to be provided for by law for making scientific, technologic, and economic investigations concerning the extent and mode of occurrence; the development, mining preparation, treatment, and utilization of ores and other mineral substances found in the United States or its Territories or insular possessions which are essential to the common defense or the industrial needs of the United States; and to stimulate the commercial extraction and production of the same.

SEC. 3. (a) There is hereby created within the Department of the Interior a Mine Incentive Payments Division, hereinafter called the "Division."

(b) The administrative officers of the Division shall be a Director, suitably qualified in actual administrative and mining experience, and an Assistant Director. The salaries of the Director and Assistant Director shall be $12,000 per annum and $10,000 per annum, respectively. In the absence of the Director his duties shall be performed by the Assistant Director.

(c) It shall be the duty of the Director, and he is hereby authorized and directed, (1) to perform the functions hereinafter specifically authorized, aħd (2) to prescribe rules and regulations for carrying out the provisions of this Act in the simplest manner.

(d) The Director may select, employ, and fix the compensation of such engineers and other experts as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act without regard to the civil-service laws and the Classification Act of 1923 and shall employ such other staff as he may deem necessary.

SEC. 4. All of the functions of the Office of Premium Price Plan for Copper. Lead, and Zinc, pertaining to the administration of said plan are hereby transferred to the Division, together with all pertinent records and equipment.

SEC. 5. (a) To carry out the purposes of this Act, development and conservation payments shall be made hereunder for all ores, metals, and minerals determined to be strategic or critical, pursuant to section 2(a), Public Law 520 (Seventy-ninth Congress, ch: 590, second session), and included in group A of the Munitions Board list of strategic and critical materials, dated January 1948, together with any minerals or metals that subsequently may be added thereto, produced from ores, dumps, tailings, slag piles, and residues (excluding scrap materials), except that in the event that the Munitions Board shall find that further purchases of particular ores, metals, or minerals for national security stock-pile purposes are no longer necessary or shall within one year of the date of finding cease to be necessary, then (1) if such finding is made within thirty days after the effective date of this Act, no payments shall be made under the authority of this Act with respect to such ores, metals, or minerals, and (2) if such finding is made more than thirty days after the effective date of this Act, no payments under the authority of this Act shall be made with respect to such ores, metals, or minerals, produced after one year from the date of such finding: Provided, That in the event any such findings are amended by the Munitions Board to the effect that purchases of such ores, metals, or minerals have again become necessary for national security stock-pile purposes the payment provisions of this Act shall again become applicable subject to the limitations of this paragraph. Such payments shall be made at such rates within the limitations defined in this Act so as to encourage development, production, and conservation and make adequate allowances for depreciation, amortization, and depletion and shall include a reasonable profit to the producer based upon the values of all recoverable metals and minerals contained in the ores. Exploration payments shall be made in addition to development and conservation payments without regard to payment limitations provided in this Act, and not in excess of a total maximum to be determined by the Director.

It shall be a condition of the making of all such payments that recipients thereof shall pay no royalties on exploration payments or on such portion of the amount received by the producer as is in excess of market prices, except where landowners share in the expense of transportation, milling, and smelting of ores.

(b) In addition to the other powers and duties created by this Act, the Director may authorize the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to enter into such contracts as would aid in effectuating the policies of this Act.

SEC. 6 (a) Development and conservation payments for any particular metals or minerals shall be in addition to the amount received per unit from other sources by the producer of the metal or mineral. Such payments shall not exceed the difference between the current market price and (1) in the case of metals produced under the premium-price plan, an amount equal to the highest market price plus the highest production premiums received by any domestic producer during the years 1942 to 1946, inclusive, and (2) in the case of other ores, metals, and minerals, an amount equal to the highest amount paid any domestic producer for such metals and minerals during the years 1942 to 1946, inclusive, by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation or its subsidiaries or by other Government departments or agencies, such amounts specified in clauses (1) and (2) hereof to be adjusted by the Director in proportion to the changes in the Bureau of Labor Statistics wholesale price index of all commodities (1926 equals 100) since such highest sums or amounts were first offered or paid. Hereafter all maximum development and conservation payments limitations provided in this section shall be adjusted by the Director in proportion to each five-point change in the Bureau of Labor Statistics wholesale commodity price index of all commodities (1926 equals 100). These maximum limitations shall apply unless in the opinion of the Director special consideration is necessary for further stimulation of development or production of a particular metal or mineral. All ores, concentrates, metals, and minerals on which payments are made shall meet minimum specifications determined by the Munitions Board for the national security stock pile.

(b) All additional ores, metals, and minerals or the equivalent thereof resulting from incentive payments shall be purchased by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation shall transfer such ores, metals, and minerals to the national security stock pile established pursuant to Public Law 520 (Seventy-ninth Congress, ch. 590, second session), except such ores, metals, and minerals as the Munitions Board shall from time to time determine are in excess of the then current procurement program requirements for the national security stock pile: Provided, That any producer may deliver an equivalent quantity of recoverable metal in form and grade satisfactory to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in lieu of the particular metal or mineral resulting from payments hereunder.

(c) The Bureau of Federal Supply of the Treasury Department shall reimburse the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to the extent of the current market price for all metals, minerals, and ores placed in the national security stock pile under this section and such credits may be expended for purchases and development and conservation payments over and above the limitations imposed in section 7 (a) hereof.

(d) Each producer shall at all times have access to a complete file of all copies of all calculations and analyses and all other information or determinations used as a basis for his individual assignment, revision, or denial of development and conservation payments or prices and exploration premiums.

(e) Copies of all rules, regulations, and policies and changes therein shall be furnished to each producer registered with the Division and shall be published in the Federal Register.

SEC. 7. (a) All disbursements for exploration and development and conservation payments as authorized by this Act shall be made by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and shall not exceed $80,000,000 in any one year.

(b) The provisions of paragraph (a) of this section shall expire June 30, 1952. (c) There is hereby authorized to be appropriated sums sufficient to carry out the provisions of this Act.

[SUBCOMMITTEE NOTE.-This bill was not permitted a rule by the Rules Committee and therefore it failed to reach the floor of the House for debate.]

EXHIBIT 53

[H. Rept. No. 2041, 80th Cong., 2d sess.]

STIMULATING THE PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION OF STRATEGIC AND CRITICAL ORES, METALS, AND MINERALS AND ESTABLISHING WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, A MINE INCENTIVE PAYMENTS DIVISION

MAY 26, 1948.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. WELCH, from the Committee on Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 6623]

The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 6623) to stimulate the production and conservation of strategic and critical ores, metals, and minerals and for the establishment within the Department of the Interior of a Mine Incentive Payments Division, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

EXPLANATION OF THE BILL

This bill is a modification of H. R. 2455 which was previously reported with a rule. The report on H. R. 2455 is No. 311 from the Committee on Public Lands, The present bill H. R. 6623 contains certain changes which were desirable because of changes in conditions since Report. No. 311 was written.

Section 2: As with H. R. 2455, the bill is drafted to accomplish a threefold purpose (1) to aid in formulating and carrying out a uniform and consistent domestic mineral policy for the United States as outlined in section 2 of H. R. 6623; (2) to conserve marginal ores of the strategic and critical minerals considered by the Munitions Board to be required for the national defense and security, to stimulate production of the same; and (3) to provide means for encouraging exploration and development of additional domestic reserves of strategic and critical minerals. It is an important move in the attempts to make the United States independent of foreign sources of strategic and critical minerals and is considered by your committee to be an important auxiliary to the Stockpile Act of 1946.

Section 3 (a): The bill will create within the Department of the Interior a Mine Incentive Payments Division. The committee considered carefully the proper and appropriate Department within which this function should reside. It also considered whether or not the function should be placed within the Bureau of Mines or whether a separate Division should be set up. The evidence, cautiously weighed, indicated the creation of a separate Division would not entail substantially greater expense and would better preserve the integrity of the Bureau of Mines as a fact-finding organization without administrative functions as is contemplated in its organic act, and the committee understands that this is the preference of the Bureau.

Section 3 (b): A director and an assistant director are designated, at salaries of $12,000 and $10,000 per annum. There is some question about procuring adequate technical administrative personnel at this rate but the committee considered it possible.

Section 3 (c): Authorizes the Director to prescribe the necessary rules and regulations to carry out the purposes of the act in the simplest manner. The words "in the simplest manner" were injected because of the unnecessary complexities injected into the old premium-price plan by the agencies as uncovered by the Mining Subcommittee of the Senate Small Business Committee and enumerated in Committee Print No. 8 of that committee.

Section 3 (d): The provisions of the civil-service laws and Classification Act of 1923 are waived with respect to the compensation of engineers and other experts but not with regard to the regular staff of the Division. This provision was included because of the probable necessity of employing experts (1) on short notice in emergencies and (2) for short term projects. The committee also took note of the fact that the Office of Premium Price staff has been dispersed