IN DISAGREEMENT The committee of conference have not agreed with respect to the following amendments: No. 38, pertaining to the Housing Corporation: The Senate amendment strikes out the entire House provision relating to this establishment and proposes no language in lieu of the provision stricken out. No. 53, pertaining to the National Capital Park and Planning Commission: The Senate amendment, with reference to the employment of real estate and other technical services, provides that same may be employed "without reference to civil service rules and the classification act of 1923, as amended." No. 69, pertaining to purchases by the United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corperation of articles of foreign growth or foreign production or manufacture. No. 70, increasing the authority of the United States Shipping Board to enter into contracts to make loans from the construction loan fund, from $150,000,000 to $185,000,000. EDWARD H. WASON, JOHN W. SUMMERS, Nanagers on the part of the House. CONSTRUCTION OF BRIDGE AT FORT BENNING, GA. FEBRUARY 16, 1931.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. MCSWAIN, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 8161] The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 8161) to authorize appropriation for construction of bridge at Fort Benning, Ga., introduced by Mr. James (by request of the War Department), having considered the same, report thereon with the recommendation that it do pass. This measure authorizes the appropriation of not to exceed $170,000 for the construction at Fort Benning, Ga., of a combination railway and highway bridge across the Upatoi Creek, on the main highway and railway into Fort Benning from Columbis, Ga. The bridge which is now being used is a temporary structure. During floods last spring to save the bridge it was necessary to anchor it by filling it with loaded freight cars. This bridge is the only means of communication between Fort Benning and Columbus. When the bridge is submerged during the flood seasons, Fort Benning is practically cut off from the outside world. The bridge is within the reservation on a military road and the present bridge was built by Army engineers from secondhand and scrap material. Your committee recommends that this construction be authorized. The letter of the Secretary of War, recommending the enactment of this bill, is as follows: The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. DECEMBER 21, 1929. DEAR MR. SPEAKER: There is inclosed a draft of a bill to authorize_appropriation for construction of bridge at Fort Benning, Ga., which the War Department presents for the consideration of the Congress with a view to its enactment into law. There is no existing law on this subject. The present bridges and approaches, which carry also the electric power lines to Fort Benning, are subject to extreme floods which render them impassable for days at a time and cut off all electric power. As an only means of communica tion with the adjoining communities as well as a means of protection against fire and pestilence, it is essential that bridges and power lines be provided which will not be rendered useless by floods. Such has not been the case in the past. The records for the 10 years, 1919-1929, indicate that in 1919 the flood stage at Fort Benning lacked only 2 feet of being as high as that reached last spring and. that in 1924 the high-water mark was about the same as in 1919. Last March the Upatoi Creek was swollen by torrential rains to flood stage and before it had completely subsided additional rains in March and April brought it to the highest recorded mark. Highway and railway bridges were entirely inundated. To save the railway bridge it was necessary to anchor it by filling it with loaded freight cars. Telephone and power lines were completely disrupted. Several photographs showing the conditions as they existed at Fort Benning during March and April, 1929, are attached for your information. In other years while the flood danger has not been so acute, there has occurred inconvenience and loss to the Government and to individuals, due to lack of suitable bridges over the Upatoi Creek. The estimated cost is $170,000. The proposed legislation has been submitted to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget who advises, under date of December 13, 1929, that the expenditures contemplated by this proposed legislation would not be in conflict with the financial program of the President. Sincerely yours, AMEND SECTION 3 OF THE FLOOD CONTROL ACT OF MAY 15, 1928 FEBRUARY 16, 1931.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. Kopp, from the Committee on Flood Control, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 17074] The Committee on Flood Control, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 17074) to amend the first paragraph of section 3 of the Mississippi River flood control act (Public Act No. 391, 70th Cong.) approved May 15, 1928, having considered the same, report it to the House with the recommendation that it do pass. THE PURPOSES AND EFFECTS OF THIS AMENDMENT The flood control act of May 15, 1928, in section 1 adopts the project which provides for flood control on the main stem of the Mississippi River from Cape Girardeau, Mo., to the Gulf as a national problem and provides for the construction works entirely at national expense, and declares that there shall be no local contributions except as designated in section 3. Prior to the passage of the flood control act all rights of way for levees had been provided by the States and local interests, and levees had been constructed upon such rights of way practically along the entire stretch of the Mississippi River involved in the project. Between the then existing levee lines and the low water channel of the Mississippi River there were certain land areas. Flowage rights over such lands are not provided for in this amendment, since conditions have not been changed. Recent hearings before the Flood Control Committee disclose that by reason of set backs, extensions, or other changes in the levee lines found necessary in the execution of the adopted project as recommended by the engineers, large areas of valuable and highly improved lands will be used for the passage of the flood waters of the Mississippi River, because such lands will be included and embraced between the new levee lines and the main river channel. At the time of the passage of the flood control act it was not foreseen, contemplated, nor shown in the engineering features of the adopted project that such extensive relocations, set backs, and changes in levee lines would be made. The burden of providing levee foundations and levee rights of way for the new locations remains upon the States and local levee districts as in the original act. For the owners of many thousands of acres of valuable lands, improved and in cultivation, thrown between the new levee lines and the channel of the Mississippi River, no provision has heretofore been made by Congress. The amendment proposes that the United States shall provide flowage rights over such lands. The definite obligation is set forth in the amendment, as follows: In the execution of the adopted project the United States shall provide flowage rights over all lands which are not now between the existing levees and the low-water channel of the Mississippi River and which will be between the levee lines of the adopted project and the low-water channel of the Mississippi River by reason of set backs, extensions, or other changes in the levee lines on the main stem of the Mississippi River between Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and the Head of the Passes. In compliance with paragraph 2a of Rule XIII, the following shows the insertion made in the law by the bill: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the first paragraph of section 3 of the act entitled "An act for the control of floods on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, and for other purposes," approved May 15, 1928, be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows: "SEC. 3. In the execution of the adopted project the United States shall provide flowage rights over all lands which are not now between the existing levees and the low-water channel of the Mississippi River and which will be between the levee lines of the adopted project and the lou-water channel of the Mississippi River by reason of setbacks, extensions, or other changes in the levee lines on the main stem of the Mississippi River between Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and the Head of the Passes. The States or levee districts may provide for the United States, upon its request and at its expense, such flowage rights, and the United States shall reimburse the States or levee districts in full for all payments made and expense incurred in providing such flowage rights upon proof that they have been obtained at fair valuation and at reasonable expense. Except when authorized by the Secretary of War upon the recommendation of the Chief of Engineers, no money appropriated under authority of this act shall be expended on the construction of any item of the project until the States or levee districts have given assurances satisfactory to the Secretary of War that they will (a) maintain all flood-control works after their completion. except controlling and regulating spillway structures, including special relief levees; maintenance includes normally such matters as cutting grass, removal of weeds, local drainage, and minor repairs of main river levees; (b) agree to accept land turned over to them under the provisions of section 4; (c) provide without cost to the United States all rights of way for levee foundations and levees on the main stem of the Mississippi River between Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and the Head of Passes.' Sec. 2. This act shall take effect from and after the date of the enactment of the flood control act of May 15, 1928. |