any supporting documents; that they will furnish the supporting documents when the project is completed; and that if we inspect their system of accounting and say that it is all right, then we should accept their audit on faith.

Mr. DIRKSEN. That is not what the law says?

Mr. BELL. I told them that we had a duty, that the Comptroller General under the Budget and Accounting Act had a duty to make a proper audit of these expenditures. I believe they will furnish in the near future the same documents that are now being furnished by the War Department and Maritime Commission.

WORK IN CONNECTION WITH NEGOTIATION OF ARMY AND NAVY

CONTRACTS

Mr. DIRKSEN. Let me ask one other question. Do you do any work for the War and Navy departments in respect of the renegotiation clause in Public, 529?

Mr. BELL. No. Under their broad authority, I doubt whether we are able to question those unless they appear unreasonable.

Mr. DIRKSEN. That was not quite the purport of my question. I wanted to know whether or not they borrowed any help from you, or handed over to you any responsibility and functions in carrying out that renegotiation power. Have they appealed to the General Accounting Office for assistance?

Mr. BELL. So far as I know, they have not.

UNVOUCHERED EXPENDITURES FOR OBJECTS OF A CONFIDENTIAL NATURE

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Let me ask Mr. Bell one question. You referred to the fact that the President had about $2,500,000 of unvouchered expenditures in the fiscal year 1943. Are there some other similar examples of authority for unvouchered expenditure, and, if so, what agency or agencies have the authority and what would the total amount to?

Mr. BELL. Offhand, some of the departments may have that authority for small funds. Most of this money is being used by the Office of War Information, as I recall.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. That comes from the President, does it not? Mr. BELL. That is allocated from the President's emergency fund. Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Is there any agency on its own with similar authority at this time? The O. S. S.-that comes from the President also, does it not?

Mr. BELL. I cannot think of any other agencies.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. How about the new stabilization set-up; does that have any similar authority?

Mr. BELL. I am not so familiar with that.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Would you give that a little thought, and if there are any agencies having a similar authority, will you put in the record a list of the agencies, and the total in each case?

Mr. BELL. I will do that. I may State, however, that recently I was informed by the Office of War Information that they intended to voucher some of these expenditures, although under the law they were not required to voucher them. I feel that a number of those that had heretofore not been vouchered, will be vouchered.

(The statement referred to is as follows:)

STATEMENT OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR UNVOUCHERED EXPENDITURES AND FOR OBJECTS OF A CONFIDENTIAL NATURE

Unvouchered expenditures in amounts authorized by the President to be reported in gross sums so authorized not itemized:

Expenditures for objects of a confidential nature, in which case the certificate of the expending agency as to the amount of the expenditure and that it is deemed inadvisable to specity the nature thereof shall be deemed to be a sufficient voucher:

Mr. NEUMANN. Mr. Chairman, I think I have the information that the gentleman asked for. It is in our annual report which I have before me. It has been worked out and put in statement form.

Mr. WOODRUM. You may either show it to Mr. Hendricks or put it in the record, as Mr. Hendricks wishes. Thank you, gentlemen.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1943.

TARIFF COMMISSION

STATEMENTS OF OSCAR B. RYDER, CHAIRMAN; EDGAR B. BROSSARD, COMMISSIONER; EBEN M. WHITCOMB, ACTING SECRETARY; LAWRENCE W. MOORE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY; LOUIS S. BALLIF, CHIEF OF TECHNICAL SERVICE, AND DR. W. Y. ELLIOTT, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF STOCKPILING AND TRANSPORTATION, WAR PRODUCTION BOARD

SALARIES AND EXPENSES

Mr. WOODRUM. Mr. Ryder, the appropriation estimate $853,000 for 1944 is the same as for 1943, less $200 which the Budget lopped off? Mr. RYDER. That is right.

Mr. WOODRUM. The item for salaries and expenses reads as follows:

For salaries and expenses of the Tariff Commission, including personal services in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, for traveling expenses not to exceed $16,200, purchase and exchange of lawbooks, books of reference, gloves and other protective equipment for photostat and other machine operators, subscriptions to newspapers and periodicals not to exceed $2,250, and contract stenographic reporting services, as authorized by sections 330 to 341 of the Tariff Act of 1930, approved June 17, 1930 (U. S. C. 1330-1341), $853,000, of which amount not to exceed $2,500 may be expended for attendance at meetings concerned with subjects under investigation by the Commission; and not to exceed $7,500 for allowances for living quarters, including heat, fuel, and light, as authorized by the Act approved June 26, 1930 (5 U. S. C. 118a), but not to exceed $1,700 for any one person: Provided, That no part of this appropriation shall be used to pay the salary of any member of the Tariff Commission who shall hereafter participate in any proceedings under sections 336, 337, and 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, wherein he or any member of his family has any special, direct, and pecuniary interest, or in which he has acted as attorney or special representative.

JUSTIFICATION OF ESTIMATE

Mr. RYDER. I offer for the record the following justification:

The following statement compares the financial requirements of 1943 and 1944. The figures do not reflect the reimbursements or working funds received for services rendered to other Government agencies They are shown in the estimate

The $853,000 approved by the Budget Bureau for 1944 is $200 less than the sum appropriated for 1943; is $282,425 less than the estimated total expenditures for the current year; and is $282,625 less than the estimated expenditures for 1944. The situation whereby the Commission's expenditures have materially exceeded its direct appropriations in each of the last several years is explained by the fact that the regular appropriations have been supplemented by reimbursements and working funds from other agencies for services furnished by the Commission. Although the trend in recently authorized appropriations gives the impression of a lessening in the Commission's activities, the work of the Commission has actually increased and recently its staff has, of necessity, been enlarged to meet the growing demands of the war agencies upon its services.

The following table compares the trend of Tariff Commission appropriations and expenditures for each year 1936 through 1944, showing the increasing importance of reimbursement and of working funds supplied by other organizations.

Summary of the Tariff Commission's financial situation in each year, 1936–44

The Commission requests the inclusion of new language which will provide a limitation of $2,250 for the purchase of newspapers and periodicals which are needed for its official use.

Because of the $50 limitation in section 6 of the current appropriation act as interpreted by the Comptroller General, the efficient discharge of the Commission's work has been hampered, and it is important that remedial steps be taken to avoid recurrence of this deterrent next year.

The Commission has subscribed only to those newspapers and periodicals that are essential to the proper conduct of its work. But the $50 limitation precludes the subscription to more than one or two of the papers such as the New York Journal of Commerce and the Wall Street Journal, which are included by the Comptroller General in the $50 limitation, but which must be regularly used by us for the important technical, industrial, and trade information they contain, In recent years the Commission has spent approximately $2,250 annually for newspapers and periodicals used in its work.

WITHIN-GRADE SALARY ADVANCEMENTS

Statement of automatic promotions under the Ramspeck Act is shown on the following page.

Estimate of amount required for within-grade salary advancements for the fiscal

The Commission was created during a world-wide war and only 7 months before the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917. In its very first days the Commission exercised its functions to assist in meeting war problems. As stated in its first annual report to Congress, "Our entrance into the conflict brought the problems of the Commission * * * into an even closer relation to military problems and preparation therefor." The incumbent Commissioners all performed special war duties, and its staff was called "to aid in various war activities."

Again, after the outbreak of the war in Europe in 1939, both prior and subsequent to the entry of this country into the conflict, the Tariff Commission turned its attention toward those war-created economic problems with which its experience specially equipped it to deal. In its annual report to Congress for 1940 the Commission fully advised Congress of its emergency activities. In the Commission's annual report for 1941, Congress was further advised that "the Tariff Commission has shifted the emphasis of its work because of the demands upon its services by agencies administering the defense program and because of special trade problems arising in a war economy."

The Tariff Commission has now completed the mobilization of its resources for full wartime duty. These resources are being concentrated on rendering direct assistance in the war effort and on studies of war-created economic problems which must be dealt with during or after the war. The shift from peacetime to wartime activity has occasioned no fundamental change in the Commission's functions and duties, but has involved a change in the emphasis and direction of its work.

The primary function of the Tariff Commission has always been to supply the Government with analyses of the facts bearing upon the position of United States industries in the production and distribution of specific commodities and to furnish information in the field of international trade and trade policies. In performance of this function, the Tariff Commission has, of necessity, become a storehouse of information useful in many directions and for many purposes. was, no doubt, in advance recognition of this fact that the Congress included in the organic act creating the Commission the unique provision that it "shall in appropriate matters act in conjunction and cooperation with" other Government

It