It seems to me there ought to be some system whereby there would be a clearinghouse where we would get the benefit of all their thinking. Mr. DRYDEN. Well, Senator, we serve to some extent for this purpose because we have a series of advisory committees and subcommittees whose membership is partly government, partly industry and partly military. There are about 500 or so people who serve on these committees without compensation, apart from their travel expenses, and these people meet and talk about technical matters. I think what you are concerned with is a slightly different question, which is the actual development projects that are approved. Senator BARRETT. I will tell you what I have in mind. Dr. von Braun has about 160 scientists working at Redstone and in California they are doing a big scientific job under General Schriever, and the Navy has a program, and they are all working independently, as I see it. It seems to me that if we could bring them together and let them use their brains collectively we would accomplish a lot more, somehow or other. Mr. DRYDEN. I think there is much more interchange of scientific information between them than is ordinarily realized, and the problem is a matter of how many missile development projects, for example, you have in the same service, and in other services. You have General Schriever dealing with the missile development project, the Thor and the Atlas, and the Titan, and then you have the Army dealing with the Jupiter, and you now have one dealing with the Polaris program in the Navy, Senator. However, the scientists do get together and exchange views, though they are working on work related to different development projects. We are involved in all these I have mentioned. I do not mean to say we are a large percentage of it or anything of that sort, but we are doing jobs connected with the Jupiter and the Polaris and the Titan and the rest of them, using facilities and the people that we have. When Polaris was first set up, for example, the Navy asked us to lend them a technical expert to work on the committee that made the general specifications, in this instance the nose cone. That committee got together and they selected a shape of nose cone which was the result of prior research that we had been doing, and this man still sits with this committee and he follows through. As I say, I do not pretend that the money we are spending or the effort that we are expending is a major share of any of these missiles programs, but there is much more contact than I think you see from the outside as you look about in these missiles projects. Senator BARRETT. And the name of your agency is the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics? Mr. DRYDEN. Yes, sir; more commonly known as NACA. Chairman RUSSELL. I might say, Senator Barrett, when I first came on the Committee on Appropriations 25 years ago I was of the opinion that this organization was sort of a fifth wheel. I could not see where it had any place in the scheme of things, because the Army had vast research programs, and the private aeronautic business had great research, and even CAB had some, and, of course, we have got the Navy with tremendous research in the field of aviation; but it seems that if you take it up with any of these people that are doing research, they immediately claim that Dr. Dryden's organization is of tremendous importance, and whether it is just to get together, or whatever, they are apparently important. Mr. DRYDEN. Mr. Chairman, if I may use an analogy, the architect or engineer who designs a bridge or a building gets a very small amount of the credit for it. It is very hard to see exactly what he does. It is the contractor that builds it, and you will never find a missile or an airplane or a ship except perhaps one of our test planes which will have "NACA" on it. ⚫ And as an illustration, the 102 and the B-52 were two airplanes which were literally saved because of the work of the NACA. They were not reaching their performance and the projects were just about to be canceled when we came through with aid to enable them to develop their performance. We find that we are much more effective in doing our job if we do not go around trying to compete for the headlines. Senator STENNIS. And I may say, Mr. Chairman, that a few years ago you had a building program for Dr. Dryden's organization here before the subcommittee, and we were most favorably impressed indeed with the modesty and the way he was making ends meet, and the tremendous work that he was doing, too, and the building program out there was of very far-reaching significance-fine work. One more question, Mr. Chairman, about this Viscount. Dr. Dryden, you say that there are four 1,000-horsepower engines. Taking the DC-4, that has four engines, too, or what do they havewhat does the DC-7 have? Mr. DRYDEN. The DC-7 I think has four 3,500-horsepower engines, something of that kind. Senator STENNIS. And the old DC-4, what did it have? Mr. DRYDEN. I don't recall about the DC-4, probably four 1,800. Senator STENNIS. I see. That is quite different. Chairman RUSSELL. Thank you, Dr. Dryden. (Subsequently, in executive session, the committee voted to report the bill favorably, without amendment, as covered by S. Rept. 1329.) H. R. 3604 AND H. R. 6710 Chairman RUSSELL. We next have two bills that relate to the operations of the Panama Canal Zone. H. R. 3604 is a proposal by the Canal Zone Government. This bill proposes to extend and broaden existing law against willful or malicious interference with public utility installations in the Panama Canal Zone. This would be accomplished by amending the Canal Zone Code to make it a felony to injure or destroy public utility installations. H. R. 6710 is another proposal by the Canal Zone Government. This bill would establish a 20-year statute of limitations on the payment of money orders issued by the Canal Zone Government. Approval of the bill apparently would result in approximately $29,000 being recovered into the United States Treasury, and it would also conform the Canal Zone law on this subject with that in effect in the United States and remove a considerable amount of bookkeeping costs for such small amounts of money orders outstanding. (H. R. 3604 and H. R. 6710 follow :) [H. R. 3604, 85th Cong., 1st sess.] AN ACT To amend section 831 of title 5 of the Canal Zone Code to make it a felony to injure or destroy works, property, or material of communication, power, lighting, control, or signal lines, stations, or systems, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 831 of title 5 of the Canal Zone Code is hereby amended to read as follows: § 831. Communication, power, lighting, control, or signal lines, stations, or systems "Whoever (a) willfully or maliciously injures or destroys any of the works, property, or material of any radio, telegraph, telephone, cable, or television line, station, or system, or other means of communication, or of any power or lighting line, station, or system, or other means of power or lighting transmission or distribution, or of any control or signal line, station, or system, whether any such line, station, or system be constructed or in process of construction, or (b), willfully or maliciously interferes in any way with the working or use of any such line, station, or system, or (c), willfully or maliciously obstructs, hinders, or delays the transmission of any communication or signal, or the transmission or distribution of power or lighting by means of any such line, station, or system, is guilty of a felony." Passed the House of Representatives July 1, 1957. RALPH R. ROBERTS, Clerk. [H. R. 6710, 85th Cong., 1st sess.] AN ACT Relating to Canal Zone money orders which remain unpaid Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That chapter 14 of title 2 of the Canal Zone Code, as amended by section 2 of the Act of June 13, 1940 (ch. 358, 54 Stat. 389), is amended by adding at the end thereof a new section numbered 282 and reading as follows: "§ 282. Money orders unpaid after lapse of twenty years "No money order heretofore or hereafter issued by the Canal Zone postal service shall be paid after twenty years from the last day of the month of original issue. Claims for unpaid money orders shall be forever barred unless received by the Canal Zone postal service within such twenty-year period. Funds accrued because of money orders remaining unpaid shall be treated as revenues of the Canal Zone postal service. The records of the Canal Zone postal service shall serve as the basis for adjudicating claims for payment of money orders." SEC. 2. This Act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth calendar month beginning after the date of its enactment. Passed the House of Representatives July 1, 1957. RALPH R. ROBERTS, Clerk. Chairman RUSSELL. The witness on both of these bills is Mr. W. M. Whitman, Secretary of the Panama Canal Company. STATEMENT OF W. M. WHITMAN, SECRETARY, PANAMA CANAL COMPANY We are glad to have you here, Mr. Whitman, and you may make a brief statement with respect to these bills. Mr. WHITMAN. These bills were each introduced at the request of the Government of Panama to fill lacks in the present provisions of the Canal Zone Code. The first bill relates to injury or destruction of public utility systems down there and it was introduced because of the fact that at the present time the only penalty for such injury and destruction in the Canal Zone is that attached to misdemeanors or malicious mischief or petty larcency, carrying a penalty of 30 days in jail or a $100 fine. The United States Code provides for a felony punishment for injury or destruction of property belonging to the United States and that provision does not apply to the Panama Canal Zone proper. Accordingly, we are recommending that the Canal Zone Code be amended to provide the same type of penalty in the Panama Canal Zone that is now applied in the United States Code for injury or destruction of property belonging to the United States Government. That is about the substance of that first bill and if there are any questions I would be glad to answer them. Chairman RUSSELL. Any questions, Senator Smith? Senator STENNIS. What is the penalty now? You say it is a felony? Mr. WHITMAN. At the present time it is a misdemeanor down there and under the United States Code the felony is punishable by 5 years imprisonment or $5,000 fine, or both. Senator STENNIS. Or any part of both. Mr. WHITMAN. Yes, sir. Chairman RUSSELL. Any other questions on that bill? (No response) (Subsequently, in executive session, the committee voted to report the bill favorably, without amendment, covered by S. Report 1327.) Chairman RUSSELL. The next bill, Mr. Whitman. Mr. WHITMAN. The second bill H. R. 6710 is even more simple. The Canal Zone Government operates its own postal system and has, since the date of the construction of the canal. It issues money orders and at the present time there is no limitation on those money orders. Last year, in the 84th Congress, the postal law was amended to provide for a 20-year period of limitation on United States postal money orders, so that money orders remaining unpaid after that time will be taken into the Treasury and the obligation is canceled. The Canal Zone Government is recommending a similar 20-year limitation period on Canal Zone Government money orders. Chairman RUSSELL. Any questions? (No response.) Chairman RUSSELL. Thank you, Mr. Whitman. (Subsequently, in executive session, the committee voted to report the bill favorably, without amendment, as covered by S. Rept. 1328.) H. R. 7912 Chairman RUSSELL. The next bill is H. R. 7912, a proposal by the Department of Defense that would authorize survivors of members of the uniformed services who live in trailers to receive a trailer allowance for movement of the trailer after the member's death. (H. R. 7912 is as follows:) [H. R. 7912, 85th Cong., 1st sess.] AN ACT To authorize, in case of the death of a member of the uniformed services, certain transportation expenses for his dependents Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the tenth sentence of the last proviso of section 303 (c) of the Career Compensation Act, as amended (37 U. S. C. 253 (c)), is further amended (1) by inserting immediately after the words "who transports" the words ", or in the case of his death his dependents who transport," ; and (2) by inserting immediately after the words "whichever he" the words "or they". Passed the House of Representatives July 15, 1957. RALPH R. ROBERTS, Clerk. Chairman RUSSELL. The members of the committee may recall that in 1955 we approved legislation authorizing a trailer allowance of not to exceed 20 cents per mile. This language is so drawn that the Comptroller has ruled that the right to this payment does not survive the member although survivors of members other than those residing in trailers are entitled to transportation of their baggage and household effects after the member's death. The witness from the Department on this bill is Col. Fred W. Vetter, Jr., Office of Director of Personnel Planning, Department of the Air Force. STATEMENT OF COL. FRED W. VETTER, JR., DIRECTORATE OF PERSONNEL PLANNING, OFFICE, DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, PERSONNEL, HEADQUARTERS, USAF Chairman RUSSELL. Colonel Vetter, the purpose of this bill, as I understand, is to allow the small number of survivors of those who live in trailers to enjoy a benefit comparable with those who do not live in trailers. Colonel VETTER. That is right. Chairman RUSSELL. And it is a very small number of people that are involved? Colonel VETTER. Very small. Chairman RUSSELL. Do you have any estimate of the annual cost? Colonel VETTER. The animal cost should not exceed $10,000 a year. Chairman RUSSELL. $10,000 a year? Colonel VETTER. And that is for the entire Department of Defense. Chairman RUSSELL. That is for the entire Department? Colonel VETTER. Yes; and it would be absorbed by the Department of Defense by the various services. Chairman RUSSELL. And that is designed to equalize the benefit to those who could not take advantage of the act that we passed? Colonel VETTER. That is right, the problem being that the household goods of people who live in trailers are an integral part, very often, of the trailers themselves, and it is impossible for them to take advantage of shipping their household goods, they must leave them with the trailer. This would provide an allowance for the movement of the trailer which would include household goods. |