1937

Inc., portions of the Fort Niagara Military Reservation, N. Y.; to the Committee on Military Affairs.

By Mr. BACON: A bill (H. R. 3124) to assure to persons within the jurisdiction of every State the equal protection of the laws by discouraging, preventing, and punishing the crime of lynching; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Also, a bill (H. R. 3125) to amend section 1001 (a) of the Revenue Act of 1932; to the Committee on Ways and Means. Also, a bill (H. R. 3126) to provide for the application of 2-cent rate on first-class mail matter for delivery within the confines of any incorporated city and to contiguous cities; to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Also, a bill (H. R. 3127) providing for the examination and survey of Orowoc Creek, Long Island, N. Y.; to the Committee on Rivers and Harbors.

Also, a bill (H. R. 3128) to amend the Tariff Act of 1930; to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Also, a bill (H. R. 3129) to extend the civil-service merit system by placing the position of postmaster in first-, seccnd-, and third-class offices in the competitive classified service; to provide for promotion within the Postal Service to the position of postmaster as a reward for merit; and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Civil Service.

Also, a bill (H. R. 3130) to extend the status of veterans of the World War to persons enlisted and serving on United States Shipping Board vessels during the World War in war zones; to the Committee on Naval Affairs.

Also, a hill (H. R. 3131) to repeal the Silver Purchase Act; to the Committee on Ways and Means.

By Mr. BLAND: A bill (H. R. 3132) to provide for a preliminary examination and survey of Garden Creek, Mathews County, Va., and channel connecting with the Chesapeake Eay; to the Committee on Rivers and Herbors.

By Mr. ELOC? : A bill (H. R. 3133) to promote the general welfare through the appropriation of funds to assist the States and Territories in providing more effective programs of public pregrade education; to the Committee on Education. Ey IT. BOLAND of Pennsylvania: 4. hill (H. R. 3134) to impose taxes on fuel oil; to the Committee on Ways and Means.

By IT. CLUETT: A bill (H. R. 3135) for the exchange of land in Hudson lulis, N. Y., for the purpose of the post-once site; to the Commitihe on Public Buildings and Grounds.

By IT. CCLG of New York: A bill (H. R. 3133) to amend the Federal Corrupt Practices Act, 1925, approved February 23, 1975, and acts atcadstory and supplementary thereto; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

By IT. CULTET: & bill (H. R. 3137) to authorize appropriation for construction at Pine Camp, N. Y.; to the Committee on Lallery Allairs.

Also, a EU GL 2. 3133) to authorise appropriations for construction at lison Barracks, N. Y.; to the Committee on Ilitary Añairs.

Alto, a bill (H. R. 3133) to authorize appropriations for construction at Fort Ontario, N. Y.; to the Committee on Military Affairs.

Alto, a bill (H. R. 3140) to prohibit the advertising of alcoholic beverages by radio, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce.

By 1r. DISCCY: A bill (H. R. 3141) to establish the National Academy of Public Affairs, providing for a board of supervisors therefor, and making an appropriation for its establishment and maintenance; to the Committee on Education.

By Mr. GREEN: A bill (H. R. 3142) to provide for the Establishment of a Coast Guard station on the coast of Florida at or near Cedar Key; to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries.

By Mr. LEA: A bill (H. R. 3143) to amend the act creating the Federal Trade Commission, to define its powers and duties, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce.

Also, a bill (H. R. 3144) to amend section 601 of the Revenue Act of 1932, as amended, to provide for an excise tax on egg products; to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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By Mr. MAHON of Texas: A bill (H. R. 3145) to provide reamortization of Land Bank Commissioner loans which have heretofore been made by the Land Bank Commissioner and which provide for the liquidation of principal and interest in a 10- or 13-year period; to the Committee on Agriculture.

By Mr. SCHNEIDER of Wisconsin: A bill (H. R. 3146) to amend the laws relating to postal savings depositories, increasing the limitation on the amounts which may be deposited; to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.

Also, a bill (H. R. 3147) to provide for the establishment of a Coast Guard station at Marinette, Wis.; to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries.

By Mr. STARNES: A bill (H. R. 3148) granting the consent of Congress to the State of Alabama, or Etowah County, or both, to construct, maintain, and operate a free highway bridge across the Coosa River at or near Gilberts Ferry in Etowah County, Ala.; to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce.

By Mr. SWEENEY: A bill (H. R. 3149) for the relief of the postal employees; to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.

Also, a bill (H. R. 3150) to reclassify the salaries of watchmen, messengers, and laborers in first- and secondclass post offices and the Railway Mail Service; to the Committce on the Post Office and Post Roads.

By Mr. WILCOX: A bill (H. R. 3151) to create an Air Corps under the Secretary of War to be known as the United States Air Corps and to provide for the organization, disposition, and administration of said corps, and for other purposes; to the Coinnuttce on Military Affairs.

By Mr. LAMNECK: A bill (H. R. 3152) for the allowance of certain claims for extra labor above the legal day of 8 hours performed by engineers, firemen, laborers, and mechanics while employed in the care of public buildings of the United Elates outside the District of Columbia certified by the Court of Claims; to the Committee on Claims. By Mr. LIDAD: A til GH. R. 3153) authorizing the erection of a memorial to Erig. Gen. Casimir Fulosti at Savannah, Ga.; to the Committee on the Library.

By 1r. SCOTT: A LEI CH. R. 3151) to provide for the appointunent of a public defender in the District of Columbia; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Also, a l (H. R. 3155) to provide for the appointment of a Public Defender in each United States district court; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

By Mr. WELCHELL: A bill (H. R. 3156) making it unlawful to pay or agree to pay any ranson or reward for the release of hidasped parsons; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

By hr. HILL of Oklahoma: A Hill (H. R. 2157) to provide for the establishment of an instit e of Indian Education at the University of Oklahoma, ¡lazing saldi institute under the direction of the board of reg's of the University of Oklahoma, in cooperation with the Dureau of Indian Affairs of the Deportment of the Interior, and authoring Congress to make appropriations therefer; to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

By Mr. THOMAS of New Jersey: A bill (H. P. 3153) to provide that the punishment of death for transporting any kidnarod person in interstale or foreign commerce shall be by hanging in public; to the Committce on the Judiciary.

By Mr. DION: A WI (F. R. 3152) to amend the act entitled "An act to authorize the colbage of 50-cent places in commellomtion of the fiftieth anniversary of Cincinnati, Chio, es a center of music, and its contribution to the art of music for the past 50 years", approved March 31, 1936; to the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures.

By Mr. RYAN: A bill (H. R. 3160) to provide aid for the operation and maintenance of adequate public-school facilities throughout the country; to the Committee on Education. By Mr. BOLAND of Pennsylvania: A bill (H. R. 3161) to increase the efficiency of the United States Navy, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Military Affairs.

1937

capita expense for health in one city is twice that of another city of comparable size is not nearly so important as the fact that the number of people who die is one-half that of the city with the low per-capita cost. In other words, it is a question of value. It is not always the fact that we are a $6,000,000,000 Government that makes so much difference. It is the question of whether we get $6,000,000,000 worth of value for the people of the country in return for the expenditure that is made.

The CHAIRMAN. The time of the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. DIRKSEN] has expired.

Mr. DIRKSEN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 5 additional minutes.

It seems to me that more and more we can place emphasis upon that matter of getting our money's worth and at the same time have proper regard for the aggregate size of the expenditure.

It comes back to a statement that Gladstone once made to some statesman in England, who said, “In Heaven's name, Mr. Premier, why don't you let England live like a gentleman?" Gladstone looked at him quizzically and said, "Because it costs five times more than it ought to to let the country live like a gentleman.”

What he meant was that if you are going to raise the country to the gentlemanly stage and you have to do it through ponderous governmental machinery, it was going to cost more than it should. I think that is true. I hope the chairman of the subcommittee [Mr. WOODRUM] talks a little more on the bill this afternoon to say something about an idea he had in mind about setting up some kind of an agency as an arm of the Congress, so that we can find out just what the people are going to get for their money.

These people from time to time come before the committee. We ask them questions and they answer the questions very freely but that is about as far as it goes. We do not know overly much about what is going on down at the other end of the Avenue. We do not know a great deal about the operations of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation, the Federal Housing Administration, or the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. For the most part, we take their word for it. I thoroughly agree in the sort of informal proposition which the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. WOODRUM) has in mind, namely, some adjunct of the Congress so that we can send experienced auditors and investigators down there and see precisely what we are getting for our money. Until that is done, let no one hope there is going to be any great recession from this $6,000,000,000 or $7,000,000,000 level we have reached; because these bureaus and commissions become entrenched, and they will continue, and we have no way of evaluating the necessity for their functions, and until we do, we will be in something of a dimculty.

It seems to me, then, that as a thesis for these informal remarks which I have made this afternoon, both sides of the aisle can give a little more thought and emphasis to the question of getting our money's worth while we are also thinking of the aggregate amount of money that is being spent.

With that in mind I am going to utter one little defense for politicians. I suppose in a personal way we all own to the fact that we are politicians. We are subject to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortunes, as Shakespeare used to say. When they cannot think of any other protest, it is always easy to stoop down and get half a brick and throw it at the gentry known as politicians. I want to utter a little defense for them right now, because I believe it is the politician as a class who has lifted this country up, who has harmonized its adverse factions and sought to satisfy all sides. If it had not been for the politician to throw the oil of harmony here and there, you would have two bickering sides to almost every controversy, both of whom would insist they were right, both of, whom would not budge 1 inch, with the result that the growth of this country would have been steadily retarded. I think we have served a very useful purpose in somehow ironing out those controversies, bestowing a little here and bestowing a little there, and

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gradually bringing progress to the country. We can continue to do that. Let us refine our destres and be a little more discerning when it comes to this matter of expenditure. Let us put the emphasis upon the value received as much as upon the aggregate expenditure, and I think it will be rather healthy for the country as a whole. [Applause.) Mrs. O'DAY. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield? Mr. DIRKSEN. I yield.

Mrs. O'DAY. Does the gentleman agree with me that one step in the direction which he has indicated would be the speedy passage of the pure food and drug bill, and thus obviate the necessity for a national cosmetician? [Laughter.)

Mr. DIRKSEN. I will say to the lady from New York that I have been heartily in favor of the pure food, drug, and costmetics bill.

Mrs. O'DAY. I am getting many letters asking for its speedy passage.

Mr. DIRKSEN. I was only indulging in a little levity this afternoon for the purpose of showing how, in my judgment, bureaucracy grows, and how necessary it is for us to constantly examine these functions to find out whether they are necessary.

Mr. MICHENER. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. DIRKSEN. I yield.

Mr. MICHENER. Does that bill which the gentleman favors require another agency?

Mr. DIRKSEN. Does the gentleman mean the cosmetician?

Mr. MICHENER. No, no. I mean the pure food and drug bill. Does that require another one of those boards? Mr. DIRKSEN. No. It will be administered partly in the Federal Trade Commission and partly in the Department of Agriculture, where they are already administering such laws as are already on the books with reference to pure foods and drugs. They may have to employ other personnel a little, but I do not know.

Mr. MARTIN of Colorado. May I ask the gentleman without embarrassing him which pure food and drug bill he is for?

Mr. DIRKSEN. I will say to the gentleman from Colorado that if he has introduced one I am for that. [Laughter.) Mr. MARTIN of Colorado. I have not introduced one, but I am a member of the committee that is to consider

one.

Mr. DIRKSEN. I will be over to the gentleman's office this evening. [Laughter.]

It would appear that my remedy for bureaucracy is more bureaus. The answer is that bureaus spring from public demand for an extension of the functions of government and that our duty is to keep them within bounds. It would appear that the people of this Nation are pretty much reconciled to the agencies of government and that our hope is to keep the number down and give more attention to securing efficient administration from those we have. On that basis another agency, strictly under the control of Congress, to investigate existing agencies and ascertain where there is waste and inefficiency and duplication and overlapping would actually result in a great saving to the people. When an agency of the Government comes before the Appropriations Committee with its justification for administrative expenditures and informs the committee what it has to do, how many people it needs to carry on its functions, there is little else for the committee to do except to accept that justification, because we now have no means or method by which we can learn where economies might be effected and efficiency promoted. I venture the opinion that such a legislative bureau would save 20 times its cost every year.

If perchance the commerce clause of the Constitution should be expanded in its purport, either by constitutional amendment or otherwise, to embrace the broad subject of wages and hours, the number of agencies of Government and the personnel to administer them will be greatly expanded. If health insurance becomes a part of the security program of the Nation, there will be an increase in personnel and