PREFACE. This volume contains all the hearings held before the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds during the Sixty-seventh Congress. In the Sixty-sixth Congress when the question came up for consideration as to whether or not an omnibus public buildings bill should be reported, the committee decided, in view of the condition of the Government finances and the consequent necessity for the most rigid economy, not to report such a bill or any individual bill authorizing an appropriation of money, and it was expected that public building work would be resumed in this Congress. However, the same policy was adopted by the committee in the Sixty-seventh Congress, as it was not considered that the condition of the Treasury warranted the authorization of the large appropriation which would be involved in an omnibus public buildings bill. The most important bill coming before the committee was H. R. 10864, authorizing an appropriation of $17,000,000 to enable the Director of the United States Veterans' Bureau to provide for the construction of additional hospital facilities and to provide medical, surgical, and hospital services and supplies for persons who served in the World War, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine insurrection, and the boxer rebellion and are patients of the United States Veterans' Bureau. It will be noted that the furnishing of hospital facilities had previously been under the control of the Secretary of the Treasury, but in view of resolutions which were adopted by the Federal Board of Hospitalization recommending that the location and nature of all hospitals hereafter constructed should be determined by the Director of the Veterans' Bureau, subject to the approval of the President, and also in view of the further fact that by section 9 of the Sweet bill (Public No. 47, 67th Cong.), the Director of the Veterans' Bureau was made wholly responsible for the hospitalization of our disabled ex-service men, the committee decided that the Director of the Veterans' Bureau should have direct charge not only of the location of the hospitals but of their construction as well. The committee was influenced in reaching this decision by the fact that the Sweet bill took these activities out of the hands of the Treasury Department and created a separate bureau for the purpose, the director of which is responsible directly to the President. The bill was first introduced as H. R. 8791 and several hearings were had thereon. Among others who appeared before the committee were Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Clifford; Col. C. R. Forbes, Director of the United States Veterans' Bureau; Brig. Gen. Charles E. Sawyer; Hon. James A. Wetmore, Acting Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department; Mr. Hanford MacNider, national commander of the American Legion; specialists on tubercular and mental and nervous diseases; various Members of Congress, et al. H. R. 10864, which was substituted for H. R. 8791, was reported to the House on March 14, 1922, and was approved April 20, 1922. (Public, No. 194, 67th Cong.) An important hospital bill reported by the committee was H. R. 6263, amending the act of March 4, 1921, which authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to provide additional hospital facilities for our ex-service men and women. This act contemplated the use of $12,500,000 of the appropriation of $18,600,000 for the construction of new hospitals, leaving only $6,100,000 for "remodeling and extending existing plants." The purpose of the amendment was to enable the Secretary of the Treasury to use such additional portion of the $12,500,000 as he might deem proper for remodeling and extending existing plants, which it was considered would enable the Treasury Department to provide the additional facilities in the most immediate and economic way for the proper care of the beneficiaries of the Government. Another hospital bill reported by the committee was H. R. 6874, increasing the limit of cost for the United States Public Health sanatorium at Dawsonsprings, Ky., and providing for additional facilities for the United States Public Health hospital at Broadview, Cook County, Ill. In order to expedite action on H. R. 6263 and H. R. 6874, above mentioned, both were included in the second deficiency bill for 1921, which was approved June 18, 1921 (Public, No. 18, 67th Cong.). 38341-23 III A bill of some importance, upon which a hearing was held, was H. R. 12105, authorizing the erection of additional buildings for the National Leper Home at Carville, La. A similar bill, S. 3721, was also reported by the committee and was taken up in the House instead of H. R. 12105 in order to save time and was enacted into law. Hearings were held on H. R. 6321 and S. 1905, providing for further relief for contractors and subcontractors for the post offices and other work under the supervision of the Treasury Department on account of losses on contracts caused by war conditions, but some opposition developed in the committee and neither was reported. Hearings were also held on the following measures, which were favorably reported by the committee, but owing to the congested condition of the legislative calendar in the closing days of Congress some of these failed of passage: H. R. 89, sale of post-office site, Bethlehem, Pa.; H. R. 5700, sale of old subtreasury property, San Francisco, Calif.; H. R. 6514, American Legion Memorial Building on Federal building site, Abilene, Tex.; H. R. 8297, conveyance of lands to State of Missouri for enlargement of State capitol grounds; H. R. 8401, transfer of custody of United States Customhouse Wharf, Charleston, S. C.; H. R. 8840, widening street in front of Federal building, Plainfield N. J.; H. R. 9021, acquisition of Government property for street purposes. by city of Chicago, Ill.; H. R. 9528, transfer of Detention Hospital Building, Nome, Alaska, to Interior Department; H. R. 9577, relating to title to land for post-office site, Tamaqua, Pa.; H. R. 9604, post-office site, Madison, Wis.; H. R. 9597, amendment of act to provide housing for war needs; H. R. 10799, widen Haines Street in front of national cemetery, Philadelphia, Pa.; H. R. 11040, sale of marine hospital, Cleveland, Ohio; H. R. 11298, post office, Paris, Tex.; H. R. 11579, amendment of act providing for acquisition of Government property in Chicago, Ill.; H. R. 11588, amendment of Dawson Springs (Ky.) Hospital act; H. R. 11731, rental of first floor of customhouse, Mobile, Ala.; H. R. 12007, conveyance of land to and from the city of Boise, Idaho; H. R. 12174, widen McDonough Road in front of United States penitentiary, Fulton County, Ga.; H. R. 12751, conveyance of portion of hospital reservation of United States Veterans' Hospital No. 78 (Fort Logan H. Roots, Ark.); H. R. 13046, conveyance of marine hospital reservation, Wilmington, N. C.; H. R. 13596, public building, Belding, Mich.; H. R. 13961, sale of marine hospital reservation and erection of Public Health Service hospital, Detroit, Mich.; H. R. 14039, public building, Keytesville, Mo.; H. R. 14183, sale of portion of post-office site, Duquoin, Ill.; H. J. Res. 257, exchange of sites for post-office and courthouse building, New York, N. Y.; H. J. Res. 347, transfer of jurisdiction of portion of Anacostia Park for tree-nursery purposes; H. J. Res. 462, lease of land for Government hotels; S. 3046, donation of gates at head of West Executive Avenue, Washington, D. C., to Hayes Memorial Museum; S. 3163, public building, East Las Vegas, N. Mex.; S. J. Res. 186, extension of United States Botanic Garden; S. J. Res. 192, survey of Potomac River banks and adjacent lands from Washington, D. C., to Great Falls; and S. J. Res. 218, create a commission to consider proposal of a central building for art and industry, Washington, D. C. One very important bill upon which a hearing was had was H. R. 9240, providing for the erection of a vault building for the use of the Tresaury Department, Washington, D. C. A number of officials of that department appeared before the committee and urged early and favorable action on this bill and it was favorably reported. It, however, failed of passage in the House. |