76TH CONGRESS 3d Session SENATE { REPORT No. 1787 ACQUISITION OF ADDITIONAL LAND FOR MILITARY PURPOSES JUNE 10 (legislative day, MAY 28), 1940.-Ordered to be printed Mr. SHEPPARD, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 4057] The Committee on Military Affairs to whom was referred the bill (S. 4057) to authorize the acquisition of certain additional lands for military purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that it do pass, amended as follows: Page 2, line 5, strike out the words "Great Salt Lake Basin, Utah, three thousand acres." and substitute therefor the words "Fort Dix, New Jersey, sixteen thousand three hundred and forty-six acres." Page 2, lines 6 and 7, strike out the words "Fort Sill, Oklahoma, thirteen thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight acres." and substitute therefor the words "Fort Lewis, Washington, five thousand and sixty-one acres." The foregoing amendments were requested by the War Department representatives who appeared before this committee in behalf of the proposed legislation. The reasons advanced for the changes being greater need for additional land at Fort Dix, N. J., and Fort Lewis, Wash., than at Great Salt Lake Basin, Utah, and Fort Sill, Okla. While the War Department requires this additional land to meet peace time requirements of the Army, it is obvious, in view of existing world conditions and the necessity for strengthening our national defenses, that this measure should be enacted at once as there is great likelihood that this land may be immediately required by the Army in carrying out its defense plans. War Department report on the proposed legislation follows: Hon. MORRIS SHEPPARD, Chairman, Committee on Military Affairs, WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, May 23, 1940. United States Senate. DEAR SENATOR SHEPPARD: There is enclosed herewith draft of a bill "To authorize the acquisition of additional land for military purposes," which the War Department presents for the consideration of Congress with a view to its enactment into law. There is no existing law authorizing the acquisition of the properties enumerated in the bill. This measure, if enacted, would authorize the Secretary of War to acquire title to the areas indicated, or interest therein, or right pertaining thereto, in such order of priority as he may determine. The purpose of the bill is to provide for the establishment, enlargement, and essential improvement of reservations, posts, and facilities as listed. The bill, if enacted, would authorize an appropriation of $3,500,000. The necessity for acquiring additional lands to meet essential peacetime requirements has long been recognized by the War Department. Due to the more urgent needs for construction of barracks and quarters, the submission of recommendations to Congress for the acquisition of land was postponed until April 1939, at which time, for reasons of policy, only part of the lands required for national defense was recommended for acquisition. Congress authorized the purchase of this partial list of requirements by the act approved July 26, 1939 (Public, No. 231, 76th Cong.). Peacetime requirements for land have been restudied in the light of the recent increase in the strength of the Army and changed conditions affecting the national defense. The items included in the attached bill supplement those enumerated in the act approved July 26, 1939, and are limited to critical training needs, essential water supply, and storage requirements. Tracts desired for sanitation, health, administrative and communication purposes have been omitted. All items included in the proposed bill represent needs of unquestionable merit. While recommendations contained herein are based entirely upon peacetime needs, the lands proposed for acquisition will constitute a most valuable asset for mobilization. The additional facilities proposed for acquisition in the bill are moderate in extent, and the needs therefor are urgent. The War Department is prepared to supply detailed and comprehensive data concerning the items listed in the bill. The Bureau of the Budget advises that there would be no objection to the submission of this proposed legislation to the Congress. Sincerely yours, HARRY H. WOODRING, О 76TH CONGRESS 3d Session SENATE { REPORT No. 1788 CHANGES IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NATIONAL GUARD JUNE 10 (legislative day, MAY 28), 1940.-Ordered to be printed Mr. SHEPPARD, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 3619] The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 3619) relating to changes in the administration of the National Guard of the United States bearing on Federal recognition, pay, allotment of funds, drill, training, and so forth, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that it do pass amended as follows: Strike out all of the language following the enacting clause and substitute the following: AMENDMENTS TO NATIONAL DEFENSE ACT SECTION 1. That section 90 of the National Defense Act of June 3, 1916, as amended, be, and the same is hereby, repealed and reenacted to read as follows: "SEC. 90. That funds allotted by the Secretary of War for the support of the National Guard shall be available for the purchase and issue of forage, bedding, shoeing, and veterinary services, and supplies for the Government animals issued to any organization, and for animals owned or hired by any State, Territory, District of Columbia, or National Guard organization, not exceeding the number of animals authorized by Federal law for such organization and used solely for military purposes, and for the compensation of competent help for the care of material, animals, armament, and equipment of organizations of all kinds, under such regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe. "The compensation paid to caretakers who belong to the National Guard, as herein authorized, shall be in addition to any compensation authorized for members of the National Guard under any of the provisions of the National Defense Act. "Under such regulations as the Secretary of War shall prescribe, the material, animals, armament, and equipment, or any part thereof, of the National Guard of any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, or organizations thereof, may be put into a common pool for care, maintenance, and storage; and the employment of caretakers therefor, not to exceed fifteen for any one pool, is hereby authorized. "Commissioned officers of the National Guard shall not be employed as caretakers except that, under such regulations as the Secretary of War shall prescribe, one such officer not above the grade of captain for each heavier-than-air squadron, and one such officer not above the grade of captain for each such common pool, may be employed. Either enlisted men or civilians may be employed as caretakers, but if there are as many as two caretakers in any unit, one of them shall be an enlisted man. "Funds hereafter appropriated under the provisions of the National Defense Act, as amended, for the support of the National Guard of the several States, Territories, and the District of Columbia, shall be supplemental to moneys appropriated by the several States, Territories, and the District of Columbia, for the support of the National Guard, and shall be available for the hire of caretakers and clerks: Provided, That the Secretary of War shall, by regulations, fix the salaries of all caretakers and clerks hereby authorized to be employed, and shall also designate by whom they shall be employed: And provided further, That payments heretofore made which now stand disallowed or would hereafter be disallowed but for this Act, are hereby ratified and validated as to the disbursing officers making the same, in such amounts as the Secretary of War may determine have been actually expended in the administration, supply, maintenance, and training of the National Guard, and the determination of the Secretary of War shall be final and conclusive; and the Comptroller General of the United States is hereby directed to allow credit in the accounts of said disbursing officers for and on account of such payments in said amounts." SEC. 2. That section 92 of the National Defense Act of June 3, 1916, as amended, be, and the same is hereby, repealed and reenacted to read as follows: "SEC. 92. TRAINING OF THE NATIONAL GUARD.-Under such regulations as the Secretary of War shall prescribe, each company, troop, battery, and detachment in the National Guard shall assemble for drill and instruction, including indoor target practice, not less than forty-eight times each year, and shall, in addition thereto, participate in encampments, maneuvers, or other exercises, including outdoor target practice, at least fifteen days in training each year, including target practice, unless such company, troop, battery, or detachment shall have been excused from participation in any part thereof by the Secretary of War: Provided, That an assembly for drill and instruction may consist of a single duly ordered formation of a company, troop, battery, or detachment, or when so authorized by the Secretary of War of a series of duly ordered formations of subdivisions of parts thereof, but in the latter case the series of formations of subdivisions or groups must comprehend and include the entire organization, and must be included within the time limit of seven consecutive days within a calendar month. The sum total of the attendance at all the separate consecutive formations announced as constituting that assembly shall be counted as the attendance at the actual military assembly for the required period of time; but no officer, warrant officer, or enlisted man shall be counted more than once, nor receive credit for more than one required period of actual military attendance even though he may have attended more than one of the formations which constitute the assembly for the required period of time: Provided further, That credit for an assembly for drill or for indoor target practice shall not be given unless the number of officers and enlisted men present for duty at such assembly shall equal or exceed a minimum to be prescribed by the President, nor unless the period of actual military duty and instruction participated in by each officer and enlisted man at each such assembly at which he shall be credited as having been present shall be of at least one and one-half hours' duration and the character of training such as may be prescribed by the Secretary of War: Provided further, That any flight ordered by competent authority and performed by an appropriately rated Air Corps officer or enlisted man of the National Guard assigned to an Air Corps unit thereof, or so performed by an officer or enlisted man of the Medical Department of the said National Guard regularly attached to an Air Corp unit of the National Guard by appropriate authority, may be credited for the same purpose and to the same extent as attendance at drill: Provided further, That in performing the flight so ordered the officer or enlisted man is prevented, by the making of such flight, from attending a regularly scheduled drill formation of his unit or the unit with which the said officer or enlisted man is required to drill." SEC. 3. That section 109 of the National Defense Act of June 3, 1916, as amended, be, and the same is hereby, repealed and reenacted to read as follows: "SEC. 109. PAY FOR THE NATIONAL GUARD OFFICERS.-Under such regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe, officers and warrant officers of the National Guard, except general officers, shall receive compensation at the rate of onethirtieth of the monthly base pay prescribed for them in sections 3 and 9 of the Pay Readjustment Act of June 10, 1922, for each regular drill, period of appropriate duty, or other equivalent period of training, authorized by the Secretary of War, not exceeding eight in any one calendar month and not exceeding sixty in any one fiscal year, at which they shall have been engaged for the entire period of not less than one and one-half hours: Provided, That such pay shall be in addition to compensation for attendance at field- or coast-defense instruction or maneuvers, and that nothing in this Act shall operate to reduce the present pay of majors and lieutenant colonels. General officers shall receive $500 a year in addition to compensation for attendance at field- or coast-defense instruction or maneuvers, for satisfactory performance of their appropriate duties. In addition to pay herein before provided officers commending organizations less than a brigade and having administrative functions connected therewith shall, whether or not such officers belong to such organizations, receive not more than $240 a year for the faithful performance of such administrative functions under such regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe; and for the purpose of determining how much shall be paid to such officers so performing such functions, the Secretary of War may, from time to time, divide them into classes and fix the amount payable to the officers in each class. Pay under the provisions of this section shall not accrue to any officer during a period when he shall be entitled under any provision of law to the full rate of his base pay prescribed in section 3 or section 9, as the case may be, of the Pay Readjustment Act of June 10, 1922: Provided further, That section 9 of the Act entitled 'An Act amending the Act entitled "An Act to authorize the President to increase temporarily the Military Establishment of the United States", approved May 18, 1917', approved August 31, 1918, shall also apply to the purchase of uniforms, accouterments, and equipment for cash by officers of the active and inactive National Guard, whether in State or Federal service, on proper identification and under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe." SEC. 4. That section 3618, Revised Statutes, as amended, be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding the following additional language: "That, under such regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe, the commanding officers of mounted units of the National Guard may sell all stable refuse and empty grain sacks and containers at public or private sale and apply the proceeds derived therefrom to the purchase of feed, supplementing the regular allowance and issue for the animals of the said units, and for the purchase of stable equipment, and horseshoers', saddlers', blacksmiths', and wagoners' tools not an article of issue to such organizations." SEC. 5. That the Act of July 15, 1939 (53 Stat. 1042), be, and the same is hereby, repealed and reenacted to read as follows: "That neither of the provisions of the Act of June 15, 1936 (49 Stat. 1507), nor any other law of the United States shall be construed as limiting the power and authority of the Secretary of War, under such regulations as he may prescribe, to require the hospitalization, medical, and surgical treatment and domiciliary care so long as any or all are necessary of persons who suffer injury or contract disease in the active military service or on active duty, or in training under the provisions of sections 92, 94, 97, 99, and 113 of the National Defense Act of June 3, 1916, as amended, and to incur obligations with respect thereto, without reference to their line-of-duty status: Provided, That this Act shall not include those individuals who are on an armory-drill status except officers, warrant officers, and enlisted men of the National Guard who suffer personal injury (as distinguished from disease) when participating in aerial flights prescribed under the provisions of section 92: And provided further, That this Act shall not apply to officers and enlisted men who are treated in private hospitals or by civilian physicians while on furloughs or leaves of absence in excess of twenty-four hours." Section 1: Briefly, the changes in section 90, National Defense Act, are: (1) Removes the limitation on the number of caretakers authorized to be employed by any one organization of the National Guard. (2) Provides for employment of caretakers from among officers and enlisted men of the National Guard and civilians. (3) Makes funds appropriated for support of the National Guard available for hire of clerks and caretakers. (4) Authorizes Secretary of War to fix salaries of clerks and caretakers. (5) Authorizes Secretary of War to designate by whom such clerks and caretakers shall be employed. |