Mr. BUCHANAN. Does that statute require the establishment of negligence on the part of the United States employee? The CHAIRMAN. I think that applies only to automobile accidents. Mr. PUTNAM. I do not think there is any requirement of that kind. The CHAIRMAN. It must be shown that the Government is responsible. These claims are adjusted under section 4 of the act approved June 17, 1910. Mr. PUTNAM. I would like to say that we have a great many of these claims in the course of a year against private steamship companies and other private parties, and I suppose there are 10 times as many claims of this kind adjusted in favor of the United States as there are against the United States. In other cases the companies make good unless they can avoid it in some way. Generally they do make good the damage, or pay into the Treasury the amount of the damage. Mr. BUCHANAN. You try to render your decisions in accordance with the same principles that govern the decisions in cases between private owners? Mr. PUTNAM. Yes, sir. Mr. BUCHANAN. Do you know whether or not the law or the decision of the courts in admiralty, or otherwise, require the establishment of negligence? Mr. PUTNAM. It is my impression that they do not. Mr. BUCHANAN. Really, that is a very important point. If you find that there was no negligence on the part of the Government, under the findings of your board, and if the laws require the establishment of negligence, you will have a finding at variance with the law, which ought not to be. The CHAIRMAN. This act of June 17, 1910, provides: The Commissioner of Lighthouses shall make an annual report to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, who shall transmit the same to Congress at the beginning of each regular session thereof; and such commissioner, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, is hereby authorized to consider, ascertain, and adjust and determine all claims for damages, where the amount of the claim does not exceed the sum of $500, hereafter occasioned by collisions, for which collisions vessels of the Lighthouse Service shall be found to be responsible, and report the amounts so ascertained and determined to be due the claimants to Congress at each session thereof, through the Treasury Department for payment, as legal claims out of appropriations that may be made by Congress therefor. Mr. PUTNAM. We are dealing with the steamship interests of all kinds on these questions of damage to our boats and occasionally on questions of damage that we do to them. We try to treat them in the same way that we require them to treat us. Mr. BUCHANAN. I think that statute would mean the requirement of the establishment of negligence. It says "for which the Lighthouse Service shall be found to be responsible." and I believe that would be construed to mean negligence. NOTE. On further consideration, it is believed that the question of negligence does enter in the settlement of these claims, and that the presumption is that there is negligence on the part of the vessel causing damage to a wharf, and that the burden of proof is on the owners of that vessel to prove that there was no negligence. In the last two cases above, while it is held that there was no culpable negligence on the part of the officers navigating the Lighthouse Service vssels, it is probable that there were errors of judgment, reasonably incident to the navigation of vessels under the circumstances stated, which would make it difficult for the Government to prove that there was no negligence on its part. Claims are not allowed by the Lighthouse Service, nor enforced against private vessels or parties, which result from entirely unavoidable conditions, with no negligence, presumptive or otherwise. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1924. PRINTING AND BINDING. STATEMENTS OF MR. THOMAS F. McKEON, CHIEF, DIVISION OF PUBLICATIONS; MR. GRIFFITH EVANS, EDITOR, BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE; AND MR. E. J. AYERS, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DO MESTIC COMMERCE. The CHAIRMAN. You have an item for printing and binding for the Department of Commerce, for the fiscal year 1924, $20,000. Why do you want that? You had an appropriation for 1924 of $460,000 for this activity. Mr. MCKEON. No, sir; no appropriation was made for printing and binding incident to these investigations The CHAIRMAN (interposing). Tell us what the investigations are, and what advantage there is in this printing and binding proposition. What are the investigations that have been made, and when were they made? Mr. MCKEON. Mr. Evans is the editor of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, and he can speak concerning the publications that represent the result of the investigations that were made under this appropriation of $500,000 to investigate conditions of marketing of other essential raw materials. The appropriation was made subsequent to the time the estimate was submitted for printing and binding. ALLOTMENT OF CURRENT APPROPRIATION. The CHAIRMAN. Let us find out how you allotted the $460,000, before we go into this $20.000 appropriation. Mr. EVANS. That appropriation was for the regular printing and binding. This is entirely a deficiency estimate. The CHAIRMAN. How did you allot that appropriation, Mr. MCKEON. We allotted the $460,000 to the various bureaus and services of the department. The CHAIRMAN. Give us the details of that. Mr. McKEON. For the office of the Secretary, including the Assistant Secretary, the solicitor, the chief clerk, and the division of publications, we allotted $20,000; appointment division, $900; disbursing office, $600; division of supplies, $1,000; Bureau of the Census, $110,000; Coast and Geodetic Survey, $37.000; Bureau of Fisheries, $16,000; Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, $160,000; Bureau of Lighthouses, $16,000; Lighthouse Service, that is, the field service, $6,500; Bureau of Navigation, $20,000; shipping and radio services, $7,000; Bureau of Standards, $37,000; Steamboat Inspection Office in Washington, $1,000, and for the field service, $13,000; customs service, $8,000; and we hold in reserve $6,000 to meet emergencies. INVESTIGATION OF RUBBER INDUSTRY. The CHAIRMAN. How do you get the need for a supplemental appropriation of $20,000? I understand you to say that out of this $460,000 the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce got $160,000. What is this printing and binding for? Mr. EVANS. For printing and binding the regular publications of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce and for miscellaneous printing supplies. The CHAIRMAN. This is a supplemental appropriation? Mr. EVANS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. You knew you had $460,000, did you not? Mr. EVANS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. You knew that Congress did not expect you to engage in any activity that would make it necessary to expend more that $460,000? Mr. MCKEOWN. But these were new activities authorized subsequent to the time when the appropriation was made for 1924. The CHAIRMAN. Who authorized them? Mr. MCKEOWN. The third deficiency bill for the fiscal year 1923 and prior years, approved March 4, 1923, authorized the Department of Commerce to investigate and report upon the possibilities of developing the rubber plantation industry in the Philippine Islands and Latin America; to investigate the conditions of production and marketing of other essential raw materials for American industries. including nitrates and sisal; and to investigate related problems in the development of the foreign trade of the United States in agricultural and manufactured products. The CHAIRMAN. Yes, and we appropriated the money to cover that. Mr. MCKEOWN. But it did not include any appropriation for . printing and binding, and no part of the appropriation was available for printing. The CHAIRMAN. Is there nothing in the appropriation you already have to enable you to print the results of the investigations of the rubber industry? Mr. MCKEOWN. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Is there enough money in the appropriation for that investigation? How much of that appropriation of $500,000 remains? Mr. EVANS. But the special appropriation did not provide funds to print the results of the investigation. The CHAIRMAN. But suppose we authorized printing to be paid for out of that appropriation? Have you not enough money left in the appropriation to do that? Mr. EVANS. No, we will not have when we get through with our investigations. We expect to continue the work until the end of the fiscal year. The CHAIRMAN. When are you going to get through with them? Mr. EVANS. We have people in the field making investigations. The CHAIRMAN. How did you apportion the $500,000? You got $500,000 for the rubber investigation. Give us the apportionment of it and tell us over what period that apportionment was made. so we can see what you have done with that money so far and what you have obligated. Mr. EVANS. We can not give you that date now. The CHAIRMAN. But you will have to give it to us so that we can act intelligently in regard to the request you are making now. Mr. EVANS. Of the total, $100,000 was given to the Department of Agriculture as provided in the bill. The CHAIRMAN. We want a systematic statement of what apportionments you have made out of the $500,000. We do not want you to come here with a blind request for $20,000, without giving us any knowledge of what has been done with the money already granted and without tellling us the existing state of the appropriation. We want to know about that, and you are not going to get any money for this purpose until we do know. Whether you get it afterwards or not will be a question, but certainly you will not get it until we do know. You have got to come here with a case. What are you going to print? Mr. EVANS. We are going to print about 20 short publications on international trade in agricultural products, such as wheat, corn, cotton, fruits, and other commodities. Here is a copy of one of the first of that particular series. We have about 20 of that kind, which will be for the use of people who are interested in the foreign field in these commodities. They will discuss not only the markets for those products, but the methods of marketing and also the output of agricultural products in various countries, and other pertinent information. The CHAIRMAN. Does not the Department of Agriculture do this work? Mr. EVANS. We were authorized to proceed to do that work according to the act of March last. The CHAIRMAN. How much publication have you done in connection with that work? Mr. EVANS. We have published about 12 publications on the special investigations referred to. The CHAIRMAN. And the $20,000 you want is to be used in connection with the rubber industry? Mr. EVANS. It is to include not only rubber, but the foreign markets for agricultural products, the nitrogen situation, as well as the rubber situation. When we realize that the United States consumes 80 per cent of the rubber produced in the world and that 75 per cent of it is controlled by a foreign country, it is very essential that we should find out some means of producing our own rubber. The CHAIRMAN. That has all been disposed of: you have the money for that, and the investigation is being made. That is not before us now. Mr. EVANS. I was trying to emphasize the importance of publishing all this information. The CHAIRMAN. Is the entire $20,000 for the publication of information connected with the rubber investigation? Mr. EVANS. No. The CHAIRMAN. How much of it is for that purpose? You said a moment ago that it was all for that purpose. Mr. EVANS. For printing data pertaining to the marketing of agricultural products, the amount asked was $18,000, and crude rubber. $10,000. The CHAIRMAN. Marketing crude rubber? Mr. EVANS. No; investigating the sources of crude rubber. The CHAIRMAN. That is being done out of the appropriation already in existence, is it not? Mr. EVANS. Not the publishing of information pertaining to the results of the investigation that is being made. We are asking for this money for the purpose of publishing the results of the investigation. The CHAIRMAN. Why do you not pay for that out of the $500,000? Mr. EVANS. We are not allowed to use such funds for printing and if we were permitted it is doubtful whether we would have sufficient funds left. The CHAIRMAN. You do not know whether you would or not? The CHAIRMAN. You are not in a position to say whether you have or not, are you? Mr. EVANS. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Go ahead with the rest of that. Mr. EVANS. For customs statistics, $15,000. Customs statistics is another activity taken over by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, transferred from the Treasury Department after the regular appropriation was made. The CHAIRMAN. After the regular appropriation was made when— for 1924? Mr. EVANS. Yes, sir; that is included in the recommendation of the Bureau of the Budget. The CHAIRMAN. The money was transferred, was it not? Mr. EVANS. Not for printing. We are anxious to get funds to publish the results of all these investigations. The CHAIRMAN. Let us find out what you have done with the $500,000. What about this $500.000? There is a part of this money which you are seeking to have appropriated which you intend to use for the purpose of printing information in regard to the investigation of the possibilities of rubber development, is that true? Mr. EVANS. Not all of it. The item in the third deficiency bill last year provided for Investigating sources of crude rubber: To enable the Department of Commerce to investigate and report upon the possibilities of developing the rubber plantation industry in the Philippine Islands, Latin America The CHAIRMAN (interposing). We know all about that. Mr. EVANS. And to investigate the conditions of production, etc. The CHAIRMAN. Yes; and $160,000 was allotted to the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, and that was intended to cover printing and binding in connection with all the activities authorized, except the statistics of the Customs Division of the Treasury Department and the information connected with this special investigation. Mr. EVANS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What is the condition of the $160,000? Mr. EVANS. In the first place, there is $65,000 to take care of our regular publications. We have weekly commerce reports which cost about $1,100 a week. The CHAIRMAN. How many weeks have you to run on that? |