HEALTH AND SERVICE PROGRAM

DOMESTIC EXPENSES

The CHAIRMAN. Taking up those in the United States, the one at Gladstone, N. J.; Oyster Bay, N. Y.; Bay Ridge, Md.; Kittiwake, Pass Christian, Miss.; and the San Mateo at Millbrae, Calif.; the cost of each is $65,260.

Admiral LAND. Yes, sir. That is our estimate of operating costs. Most of those places have been given to us by responsible and patriotic citizens.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have a fee title, or merely for the duration of the war?

Admiral LAND. There are various conditions; it is mostly on a rental basis. It is done by patriotic citizens for the duration. It is surprising how many we had offered to us. We have tried to be selective, tried to be conservative, and have tried to give these people a chance to rehabilitate themselves from shell shock, torpedo shock, and to bring them back to proper physical condition.

OVERSEAS EXPENSES

The CHAIRMAN. I see you have four homes in the British Isles.
Admiral LAND. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. At Gourock, Glasgow, Liverpool, and Cardiff; you have one in Iceland, and there is none indicated here at Trinidad. It says "Iceland, one; North Africa, two; South Africa, one; Near East, one; Australia, one," and two in Russia. Now all of those are listed at $20,000 apiece?

Admiral LAND. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And those governments in which they are located supply the quarters and you merely furnish the operating expenses. How is that arranged?

Admiral LAND. We rent these places and pay the operating expenses. For some of them there are payments made by our own people, but we have to operate them and to take care of our people who come into these ports.

Again, it is a question of housing them, furnishing them with clothing, furnishing them with food and lodging when they come in.

The CHAIRMAN. But you give practically the same service at all of these places throughout the world?

Admiral LAND. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And why the increased cost of service at the two Russian homes, where they run from $30,000 up to $50,000, at Archangel and Murmansk?

Admiral LAND. That is our estimate for operations and will include some initial installations.

The CHAIRMAN. How far apart are Murmansk and Archangel?
Admiral LAND. Two hundred miles, I think.

The CHAIRMAN. One is $50,000 and the other is $30,000. One, perhaps, provides larger accommodations than the other.

Admiral LAND. I think so. They are not completely set up and we do not know. We know pretty well what these others are going to cost, because they are set up.

Mr. DIMOCK. That will require construction cost.

The CHAIRMAN. Title to remain in the Russian Government?

Mr. DIMOCK. Yes. We cannot take title to these things; it is on a rental basis.

MERCHANT MARINE INSIGNIA

Mr. RABAUT. What about the insignia?

Admiral LAND. The merchant marine insignia is the result of a law recently passed by Congress, under which these men may have their insignia, and we are delighted that Congress saw fit to pass it. It is an identification of them, so that they won't be considered as draft dodgers, or anything like that, when they go around without uniform..

GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES-MARITIME TRAINING FUND

The CHAIRMAN. For general administrative expenses you ask. $2,600,000.

Admiral LAND. Yes.

JUSTIFICATION OF ESTIMATE

The CHAIRMAN. At this point we will include schedule 8 in the record.

(The schedule above referred to is as follows:)

INCREASE OF PERSONNEL

The CHAIRMAN. Give us a statement on that, if you will, Admiral Land.

Admiral LAND. As you will see by examination of schedule 8, there are 717 regular employees and 28 contract employees, the expansion of which is necessary in accordance with the general expansion of the personnel which, in turn, follows the number of ships in operation.

The break-down is: For the training division, a total of 333; recruitment and manning, 372; maritime labor relations, 40, or a total of 717 regular and 28 contract.

We have kept those in what we believe to be reasonable bounds and yet to fill the demands and requirements in order to take care of the expanding training program, recruiting and manning program; and that, in turn, follows the increased number of ships in operation. I think, percentagewise, it is very closely amalgamated to the ship operation expansion.

ADVERTISING

The CHAIRMAN. You are spending $165,000 here for advertising, Admiral LAND. That is true. That is principally for recruiting and manning. We are trying to get back to sea those men with experience that will not have to be trained. There are now in the shipyards and industrial plants, various kinds of men. We are making a special drive for engineers, for bakers, cooks, and some of the second and third mates, that is, the licensed officers which we have difficulty in getting as fast as we would like to get them. Furthermore, they have little need of training, some of them being as good as what we have, and some of them even better. If we can attract them back, we feel they will do more for the war effort than if they stay on the job at which they may now be working.

Furthermore, we are getting some of the older men who are entirely outside of the draft, who are willing to come back as a patriotic duty.

The CHAIRMAN. Is that an advantage, to get men beyond the draft age who have had experience?

Admiral LAND. Yes, sir. In many cases, they are excellent, because of the fact that they have had all of those years of experience and, if they are physically fit and can stand the gaff, it is a great asset to us to have such men.

The CHAIRMAN. Do not they usually come out of the service physically fit?

Admiral LAND. By the same token, there are a great many Army and Navy officers who are retired who have come back on active duty, and some of them are doing a splendid job. It is a question of their physical capacity and even those who are retired for certain physical disability can do some jobs. We try to be selective and give severe physical requirements, and we are getting a splendid group of men voluntarily to come back and take on this service.

The CHAIRMAN. Is this advertising in newspapers and magazines, or on billboards?

Admiral LAND. I do not think there are any billboards. It is newspapers and magazines.

Mr. DIмOCK. It is newspapers almost exclusively. Through such expenditures, we get experienced men back to sea at a cost much less than any other method. Our experience during the past year has proved this.

The CHAIRMAN. And it is limited to a strict announcement of the conditions?

Admiral LAND. Oh, yes.

Mr. DIMOCK. The committee may be interested to know that the average pay roll and advertising cost of recruiting and assigning men for the merchant marine is now only $7.65, which compares with an average pay roll and advertising cost of $13.24 in November of last year. It may also be interested in the fact that during the past 2 weeks the recruitment and manning organization actually placed on board ship 4,140 officers and men, as compared with a figure of approximately 1,200 for a 2-week period at the beginning of November of 1942. In other words, our manning operations are now three and a half times as heavy as they were 6 months ago. Our budget estimates are based upon the assumption that by the middle of the fiscal year (January 1, 1944), we will be assigning 2,500 officers and men a week. It can readily be seen that with approximately 2,100 assignments last week, that figure will probably be reached before the end of the present fiscal year. With our manpower requirements increasing 100 percent in a year's time, it is obvious that we have a big problem of upgrading and securing officer personnel. The funds for advertising are absolutely essential in reaching the men who need to be brought back to the sea.

COMPARISON OF ESTIMATES 1944 WITH ESTIMATE, 1943 AND OBLIGATIONS INCURRED THROUGH MARCH 31, 1943

Mr. TABER. On that $2,600,000, in schedule No. 8, please give us a memorandum on that indicating the amount of your appropriation for 1943 and the amount spent to April 30.

(Discussion off the record.)

ADDITIONAL CASH REQUIRED TO LIQUIDATE MARITIME TRAINING FUND OBLIGATIONS INCURRED TO JUNE 1943

The CHAIRMAN. I see here that you have $5,500,000 additional cash required to liquidate obligations incurred to June 1943. What obligations are referred to here?

Admiral LAND. Those that we inherited by virtue of the Executive order which transferred this from the Coast Guard back to us.

Mr. TABER. You mean the Coast Guard was running a deficit of that?

Admiral LAND. I would not say that, but it is in connection with the expansion that went on, and it took some time to orient ourselves. I think that the same deficit would have obtained either way. There is no criticism of the Coast Guard on that.

Mr. KNIGHT. The deficit of $5,500,000 for the fiscal year 1943 in the maritime training fund is explained on pages 39 and 40 of the justifications. The principal part of it is for an increase in the pay scales established by the Congress for the Coast Guard and other services after the appropriations for fiscal 1943 were made retroactive