CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. No.

TRAVEL ALLOWANCE FOR CERTAIN RETIRED ENLISTED MEN, ETC.

SEPTEMBER 11, 1919.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. GREENE of Vermont, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany S. 2624.]

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the Senate bill 2624, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass.

The reason for the passage of this legislation is fully set forth in the following extract from hearings before the Committee on Military Affairs July 24, 1919, the Secretary of War at that time testifying with regard to H. R. 7197, a bill of similar tenor:

Secretary BAKER. Mr. Chairman, I can read to you from my letter addressed to you in reference to this bill, in which I said:

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, June 26, 1919.

SIR: Herewith is a proposed bill, as follows: "A BILL To provide travel allowances for certain retired enlisted men and Regular Army Reservists. "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 126 of the 'Act for making further and more effectual provisions for the national defense, and for other purposes,' approved June 3, 1916, as amended by section 3 of an act entitled 'An act permitting any person who has served in the United States Army, Navy, or Marine Corps in the present war to retain his uniform and personal equipment, and to wear the same under certain conditions,' approved February 28, 1919, shall be held to apply to any enlisted man for whom the law authorizes travel allowances as an incident to entry upon and relief from active duty with the Army who has been called into active service during the present emergency, or who shall hereafter be called into active service."

The foregoing is for the purpose of affording relief for those enlisted men who have previously been retired or furloughed to the Reserve, and later were called to active service during the present emergency, the Comptroller of the Treasury having held that the act approved February 28, 1919, does not permit the payment of 5 cents per mile to these men upon being placed upon inactive duty for the second time. The comptroller has ruled that these men, upon being relieved from active duty, shall receive travel pay at 34 cents per mile only, as provided by the act approved July 9, 1918.

This situation arises by reason of the choice of words in the law of July 9, 1918, enacted to cover the cases of certain enlisted men (retired enlisted men and Reservists called to active duty), which provides for these men the same allowance "now prescribed by law for discharged soldiers," the word "now" limiting the allowances to those in effect at the date of the passage of the law-July 9, 1919.

It is not believed that Congress contemplated such discrimination, and it is hoped that the above proposed legislation may receive early and favorable consideration by your committee.

Respectfully,

NEWTON D. Baker,

Secretary of War.

Mr. ANTHONY. It would cover a very small number of men, would it not? Secretary BAKER. It would cover a very small number of men, and places those who have the status of once having been retired and recalled to active duty or furloughed to the Reserve in the same situation as anybody else in the matter of his travel pay home, or wherever he goes.

Mr. GREENE. How about the man who, having served his enlistment in the Regular Army during the emergency, desires to continue in the regular service upon discharge from his emergency enlistment? Does he receive travel pay and allowances before his reenlistment so that he is equal with the emergency men who have returned and gone to their homes?

Secretary BAKER. That is the rule applying to everybody except the class we discussed the last time I was here, the men who were in the Regular Army before the war broke out, under a long period of enlistment, in the Reserve. There was a small class there because their discharge was a conditional discharge, conditional upon reenlistment. We have a bill before you to bring them into the same class.

Senate bill 2624, having passed the Senate August 2, 1919, the committee has directed that it be favorably reported to the House, and, if it shall pass, will then move that H. R. 7197 be laid upon the table.

CONGRESS

THANKS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO GEN. JOHN J.

PERSHING.

SEPTEMBER 11, 1919.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. KAHN, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. J. Res. 202.]

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the resolution (H. J. Res. 202) tendering the thanks of the American people and the Congress of the United States to Gen. John J. Pershing and to the officers and men of the American Expeditionary Forces, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass.

The Congress has on a number of occasions authorized the presentation of swords or medals to officers of the Army and Navy. In the case of Admiral Dewey a sword was presented. Gen. Grant received a medal. In view of the high honors conferred by Great Britain, France, Italy, and the other allied nations upon their commanding generals, your committee thought it would be exceedingly appropriate to present Gen. Pershing with the sword for which appropriation is made in the joint resolution. The resolution also expresses the thanks of the American people and of the Congress to Gen. Pershing and to the officers and men under his command.

O

CONGRESS,

FIRST DEFICIENCY APPROPRIATION BILL, FISCAL YEAR 1920.

SEPTEMBER 11, 1919.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. GOOD, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 9205.]

The Committee on Appropriations submit the following report in explanation of the accompanying bill, making appropriations to supply deficiencies in appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920, and for other purposes:

The estimates upon which the bill is based were submitted in the following documents of the present session: House Documents Nos. 4, 7, 19, 25, 41, 42, 43, 56, 58, 64, 81, 83, 85, 97, 99, 108, 110, 114, 125, 130, 137, 142, 143, 144, 151, 152, 154, 155, 160, 161, 164, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 191, 192, 193, 199-205, 206, 208, 210, 213, 214, 238, 240, and 241, and Senate Documents Nos. 21, 24, 36, and 80, and otherwise, aggregating $47,752,481.94.

The amount recommended in the accompanying bill is $14,184,704.67, which is $33,567,777.27 less than the amount of the estimates considered by the committee.