Mr. CLASON. So this flood protection that West Springfield is getting is what is saving the town from disaster. The CHAIRMAN. Now, the W. P. A. did some work up there? The CHAIRMAN. It was not worth much, either? And that foundation is defective and you are having trouble and are being called upon to make these large expenditures because of that W. P. A. project. While it might have provided for some kind of employment, it is not proving permanent and lasting; is that true? Mr. JOHNSTON. Well, I think it is true, although it is not altogether the fault of the W. P. A. The CHAIRMAN. Whose fault is it, then? Mr. JOHNSTON. Well, perhaps it is the fault of the town officials, to some extent. They did not understand the situation when they went to rebuild those dikes. The CHAIRMAN. Yes; in other words, I think that is a fair statement. I am not criticizing the W. P. A. any more than I would criticize a town. The W. P. A. never did anything in anybody's town unless the town asked for it. I may say, if the W. P. A. or the town make mistakes on flood-control projects, if they have not got competent engineers when the Government spends money, they have nothing to show for it up there. When I say "up there," I mean everywhere in the United States. Mr. JOHNSTON. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. That is the reason I think we better have thorough examinations and competent engineers and proper execution of flood-control works. I asked you a minute ago about your supplying of dirt because your statement was a rather unique one to me. I think, however, here is what you did. Under the law, you are required to furnish lands and rights-of-way. And the lands and rights-of-way and easements would include the borrow pits. And you do not have the land along the river, so what you did was to go out and get dirt somewhere else and haul it in there, and that took the place of moving houses and factories back? Mr. JOHNSTON. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. Are there any other witnesses now in the Hartford matter? Are there any other witnesses, Mr. Treadway, on this expenditure of $6,000,000? We have got accounted for about $1,250,000 or $1,500,000 for West Springfield. There are other cities involvedChicopee, Holyoke, and Northampton. Mr. TREADWAY. I have three from Holyoke. The mayor of Holyoke could not come, and he authorized the city engineer to represent him. I will call on him first. STATEMENT OF EDWARD MAHER, CITY ENGINEER, The CHAIRMAN. What is your name? Mr. MAHER. Edward Maher. The CHAIRMAN. You are the city engineer? Mr. MAHER. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. How long have you been city engineer? Mr. MAHER. Two years. I graduated from Polytechnical Institute in 1926. The CHAIRMAN. You represent the city of Holyoke? The CHAIRMAN. What is the population of Holyoke? Mr. MAHER. Fifty-six thousand. The CHAIRMAN. What is the amount of the present authorization for flood protection there? Mr. MAHER. $1,398,000. The CHAIRMAN. What is the amount involved in the modification? Mr. MAHER. I believe about $1,100,000. The CHAIRMAN. How much additional local interest will there be to put up? Mr. MAHER. I should say, in a word, it would probably be in the neighborhood of $100,000. The CHAIRMAN. What for? Mr. MAHER. Intercepting sewers, moving transmission lines, and rights-of-way. The CHAIRMAN. What else? Mr. MAHER. I believe that pretty near covers it. The CHAIRMAN. What is the assessed valuation of Holyoke? Mr. MAHER. $73,000,000. The CHAIRMAN. Prior to the act of 1936 and the act of 1938, what local protective works had been done by Holyoke? Mr. MAHER. We had an area which adjoins the area which this new act proposes to protect, called the Springdale section of Holyoke, that was subject to many spring floods. After the 1927 flood, the city of Holyoke erected an earth dike to protect that particular area. The CHAIRMAN. What was the value-what was spent on that? Mr. MAHER. The city of Holyoke spent in the neighborhood of $100,000 for that dike. The CHAIRMAN. What other prominent expenditures have been made by your local communities to protect yourselves from floods prior to the time of the National Flood Control Act and which you still have something to show for? Mr. MAHER. That is the major work immediately following the 1936 flood. I do not know whether it was prior to the act or not. The Boston & Maine Railroad built a dam which cost $50,000, I believe. The CHAIRMAN. How much did the city of Holyoke contribute? Mr. MAHER. That did not cost the city of Holyoke anything. The CHAIRMAN. I asked for the local community's expenditure. Mr. MAHER. I thought you meant the industries. The principal figure that the city has spent prior to 1936 was the $100,000. The CHAIRMAN. Very well. What do the additional works involve here? What are your present works authorized up there? Mr. MAHER. The present work authorized includes this particular work that we are requesting now, but the money appropriated was not sufficient to complete the job. The CHAIRMAN. Why? Mr. MAHER. I believe that substantial protection just requires more money than was understood at that time. The CHAIRMAN. I see. And there are no additional works contemplated? Mr. MAHER. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. The works contemplated in the act of 1938 cost how much more in Holyoke? Mr. MAHER. I believe about $1,200,000. The CHAIRMAN. The same character of work, the same kind of works, and the same location? Mr. MAHER. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. No higher and no broader? Mr. MAHER. Not that I know of. The CHAIRMAN. And this work consists of leeves and what else? Mr. MAHER. Principally concrete dikes, pumping stations, gate structures, and so forth. The CHAIRMAN. You say that you made a mistake of a million and a half dollars? Mr. MAHER. No; $1,100,000. The CHAIRMAN. $1,250,000? The CHAIRMAN. And it is going to cost $1,250,000 more? Mr. MAHER. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. And they are going to put up some sort of gates and some sort of construction? Mr. MAHER. I do not know about that. I do not know what they anticipate at that time. The CHAIRMAN. You are representing the city. You are going to find out what they are going to do, are you not? Mr. MAHER. In the preliminary report, I do not believe they had all the information available at that time that they have today. The CHAIRMAN. What is it you have in mind? What statement did you want to make? Mr. MAHER. I would just like to state that Holyoke is purely an industrial city, and that the area involved here is right in the industrial section. There are probably about 20 industrial concerns in the area which are involved to a greater or less extent. There are also 1,500 or 2,000 families in the area affected. It is a tenement section. I believe that the War Department is the only organization that is properly capable of carrying out flood-protective works of this nature. That the city of Holyoke has attempted flood-protective works in the Springdale area and was not too successful in carrying out their own flood-protective works and that the War Department is the organization that is capable, and is the only organization capable, of doing it. The CHAIRMAN. The city has an assessed property value of how much? Mr. MAHER. Approximately $73,000,000. The CHAIRMAN. Have you reduced taxes in your city in the last year or two? Mr. MAHER. It has dropped down in the past, probably, 10 years, and picked up again to $117,000,000. The CHAIRMAN. You have reduced your taxes in the last 2 or 3 years? Mr. MAHER. The tax rate, do you mean? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. MAHER. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Did you not reduce-did not the present administration reduce taxes up there $3 a thousand? Mr. MAHER. The tax rate is not set yet for the coming year. The CHAIRMAN. It has not been fixed for the coming year or for the present year? Mr. MAHER. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. You know whenever there is a project suggested in any community we usually hear from local citizens whom we do not know. And I happen to have a letter here from a citizen in your town objecting very much to the Federal Government spending any more money there, saying that your city is quite able to spend some money for purposes of its own protection and should do it. Mr. MAHER. Could I have the man's name, if that is part of the record? The CHAIRMAN. I will be glad to give it to you any time you would like to see it, but I just asked you as to the fact. Mr. MAHER. The tax rate has been raising the last few years in the city. The CHAIRMAN. It has not been reduced, you would say? Mr. MAHER. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. The next witness, Mr. Treadway. Mr. CLASON. Did you say you were the city engineer? Mr. MAHER. Yes. Mr. CLASON. What is this map that you brought along with you? Mr. MAHER. This map indicates the area we seek protection in and some industries of the area. Mr. CLASON. Some of these are the largest industries that Holyoke possesses? Mr. MAMER. Yes; they are large industries. In paper mills only one machine in the mill amounts to a considerable item, so far as assessments are concerned. Mr. CLASON. There are a great many paper mills along the canals there in Holyoke? Mr. MAHER. Yes, sir. It is quite a small area, but it is entirely industrial. Mr. CLASON. In regard to this preliminary report, this calls for an additional length of levees there in Holyoke also, does it not? Mr. MAHER. This interim report? I do not believe so. Mr. CLASON. Have you seen the report? Mr. MAHER. Yes. Mr. CLASON. You would say it does not contain that? Mr. MAHER. Not in this report. Mr. CLASON. Further down in the Springdale section, have you not lowlands which run down along the river a bit also? Mr. MAHER. Yes. Mr. CLASON. And that is the same type of land that gets flooded in Northampton and East Hartford and all those other places? Mr. MAHER. The same type of land. Mr. CLASON. I mean, this lowland runs right along the river edge? Mr. MAHER. Yes. Mr. CLASON. And in addition to local protective works, then, in order to have an adequate flood-control system, it is going to be necessary to have a complete system of reservoirs? Mr. MAHER. Yes, sir. I believe that the protection that we are getting in the way of local walls is not adequate for full protection. As you know, the 20 reservoirs have been recommended by the War Department. To get full protection it is necessary, I believe, that they should be pushed through and money appropriated for them. Mr. CLASON. Right across from your city of Holyoke is the town of South Hadley, which suffers considerably from any one of these floods also? Mr. MAHER. Yes. Mr. CLASON. And the only protection that they have been receiving, at any rate, depends upon reservoirs? Mr. MAHER. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. I would say, generally, and this is for the record, as shown by the project the local contribution up there is smaller than almost any other local contribution for protective works than I can think of anywhere in the United States. The amount you are required to pay in the act we passed here 2 years ago for Holyoke was $147,000 against $1,333,000. And the amount you would be required to put up here is exceedingly small compared with the local contribution and I judge from your statement that is made necessary by the fact what you are trying to do up there is to make walls where you have not any local room to make them and protect those factories. Mr. MAHER. I imagine that is true. I believe it is much more expensive. There are more concrete walls than there are earth dikes. This is such a congested area there is no room for earthworks. The CHAIRMAN. The paper mills-are they pulp mills? Do they use wood pulp? Mr. MAHER. I believe they do. The CHAIRMAN. Is your river filled with wood pulp? Mr. MAHER. No. The CHAIRMAN. They do not bring pulpwood down the river? Mr. MAHER. I believe they use pulpwood in making sulfite. Mr. Tucker of the Chemical Paper Co. is here. The CHAIRMAN. I am just asking with this thought in mind. I was just wondering if there was any obstruction in the river from floating down of pulpwood. Mr. MAHER. South of the city of Northampton there is what we call the Ox Bow and there is a pulp mill there. They usually loosen their pulp and it comes floating down the river. The CHAIRMAN. The next witness, Mr. Treadway. Mr. TREADWAY. Mr. E. C. Tucker, of the Chemical Paper Manufacturing Co., representing the chamber of commerce. STATEMENT OF E. C. TUCKER, OF THE CHEMICAL PAPER MANUFACTURING CO., AND REPRESENTING THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF HOLYOKE The CHAIRMAN. What is your name and your residence? Mr. TUCKER. E. C. Tucker, and I live in Holyoke, Mass., and I represent the Chemical Paper Manufacturing Co. and the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce. As I understand it, I am down here to ask this committee to appropriate enough money to continue the sea wall, so-called, in this Holyoke section to cover the requirements of |