(Witness: Zappone.) The language of the law under which these expenditures were incurred is similar to that for the preceding year, and reads: Every expenditure requisite for and incident to the establishment, equipment, and maintenance of meteorological observation stations in the United States And in addition are the following words: for aerial observations and reports; * Passing to the next fiscal year, 1907, so far as the expenditures are concerned for the period from July 1, 1906, to January 10, 1907, the date on which Professor Moore stated that the total expenditures incurred to that time at Mount Weather, Va., were about $130,000, I will state that the expenditures from the appropriation for general expenses were as follows: Repairs to buildings in connection with their maintenance, including installation of instruments. Building fences, making walks and roadways, improving grounds, ete -- Apparatus, machinery, implements, etc. Miscellaneous supplies, equipment, fuel, forage, etc. Construction of telegraph and telephone lines, repairs, etc... Total $1,960.90 1, 649. 77 960.49 2. 262.92 1, 782.89 75.56 21.20 S. 713. 73 Returning to the amounts set aside for buildings, 1907, I wish to say that they are estimated. No building has been contracted for, nor has any construction been started to this date, except at Mount Weather; but the other places at which it is proposed to erect buildings, provided reasonable bids can be obtained, are Anniston, Ala., Iola, Kans., and Sandy Hook, N. J. As Professor Moore stated, the appropriation act for the fiscal year 1907 authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to erect not more than five buildings. He has planned to erect five buildings, but as a matter of fact he might, if he so desired, expend the whole amount for one building. Mr. SAMUEL. Have you had any trouble in securing suitable bids for those buildings? Mr. ZAPPONE. We have had a large amount of trouble on account of the high prices prevailing for building materials all over the country. Bids have already been received, but they have all been too high to be considered, and new proposals have been ordered invited by the Secretary. Mr. SAMUEL. How do you arrive at the conclusion that a bid is too high-by comparison with others? Mr. ZAPPONE. By comparison with the proposals received for similar buildings in other years. Mr. SAMUEL. Not by proposals received this year from other places for similar buildings? Mr. ZAPPONE. No, sir; because all the proposals received this year have been unreasonably high. Before leaving this subject I wish to call the attention of the committee to the fact that either or both of. the appropriations that I have named are available for the purposes to which they have been applied. Several decisions on the subject of (Witness: Zappone.) closely related appropriations such as these have been rendered by the Comptroller. I will read them, as in my judgment they show that the administrative officers of the Department have confined themselves to the laws in question. The decisions of the Comptroller bearing on the use of two appropriations which are closely related, either of which may be used for a purpose named, are as follows: While it is a rule that a specific appropriation excludes the use, for the same objects, of a general appropriation, yet when there are two appropriations both applicable to the same object, they are to be treated as cumulative, and either or both can be used, in the discretion of the head of the Department. 121; 9 MS., 1008; 17 id., 1256; 18 id.. 727, 838.) (4 Pub., There being two appropriations, either of which may be used for the payment of veterinary inspectors in the animal quarantine service of the Department of Agriculture, the Secretary may direct the use of either or both for such purpose. (4 Pub., 121.) The appropriations for the Gettysburg National Park, made in the acts of August 18, 1894, and February 11, 1895, to the extent that they provide for objects common to both, are cumulative, while each is available for certain objects not provided for in the other. (2 Pub., 59.) By the act of March 1. 1895, the judge of the United States court in the Indian Territory then in office became entitled to a salary of $5,000 per annum. In the act of March 2 the regular appropriation of $3,500 was made for his salary, and on the same day the appropriation of $50,000 for salaries of judges, etc., in the Indian Territory was passed. Held, That the two provisions are cumulative, and the first named may, when exhausted, be supplemented by the second. (1 Pub., 357.) Under the act of June 7, 1897, which provided that where a specific appropriation under the control of the Interior Department is not sufficient for the completion of the object for which it was made the Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion, use any other appropriation, general in its terms, which would otherwise be available for the accomplishment of the object for which the specific appropriation was made, the Secretary is authorized to use the general appropriation for surveys of public lands for completing the survey of lands ceded to the United States by the Shoshone Indians, for which object an insufficient specific appropriation was made by the act of March 3. 1905. (XI Pub., 800.) This covers all the expenditures made by the Weather Bureau at Mount Weather. The original construction of buildings was made solely from the building fund, as there is a general statute which provides that public buildings must not be erected unless specifically appropriated for by Congress. All of the other expenses may be incurred under the general lump-sum appropriation termed "General expenses, Weather Bureau," or under the appropriation Buildings. Weather Bureau.” I would like to add, in connection with the scope of the appropriations and the authority vested in the head of the Department, the decision of the Comptroller as to the discretion of the head of the Department. This appears in another part of the record, but as it has a direct bearing here I feel that it should be repeated. It is as follows: The question whether a particular expense is necessary or appropriate to the object for which an appropriation is made is one which is ordinarily within the discretion of the head of the Department having control of the disbursement of (Witness: Zappone.) the moneys appropriated; but this discretion is not an unlimited discretion; it is a legal discretion, subject to the terms of the particular appropriation and to restrictions imposed by other laws. (7 Pub., 31; 8 id., 327; 15 MS., 88, 313.) Under the appropriation acts and the decisions bearing upon this subject which I have read, in my judgment, it is shown that each and every expenditure of the Weather Bureau, either from the fund for general expenses or the fund for buildings, has been fully authorized. As to the scope of the authority for the erection of buildings, that is one which has been passed upon by several persons before this committee, and I think that the consensus of their opinion is that the expenditures thereunder are entirely a matter within the discretion of the Secretary of Agriculture. The appropriation acts, already very broad in their terms, were further increased in their scope by the language employed in the bill for the present fiscal year. Mr. Chairman, I have nothing to add unless you desire to ask some further questions. Mr. SAMUEL. In the Sandy Hook building there is no expense for grounds? Mr. ZAPPONE. None whatever. We will erect a building on the Government reservation. We do not have to purchase a site, Mr. Chairman, every time we erect a building. In other words, as I have tried to explain previously, a station does not necessarily mean both a site and a building. It may be either or both, as circumstances may require. Where we can get the ground for nothing, as a voluntary contribution or by the use of a Government reservation, it is in the interest of economy for the Government to do so, and we always avail ourselves of the opportunity. In one or two cases universities have donated ground for the erection of our building on the campus. Of course under the law the Government can not accept a gift from a private individual, so that some nominal consideration, usually $1 or $5, is named in the deed; but to all intents and purposes the site is a contribution to the Government. Mr. SAMUEL. Was there not some trouble in the erection of one of the buildings at Mount Weather, owing to the failure of the contractor, which increased the cost of that building? Mr. ZAPPONE. Yes; there was. The contractor, not realizing the conditions in that section of the country, placed a very small bid for the erection of the building in question, and, as I recall it, he lost money on the job; at least he said so. But I think that the additonal work that was done on the building afterwards, and which was done by him or by day labor, enabled him to offset his losses to some extent. But even after his contract was entirely completed he always made the statement that he lost money on the work. Mr. SAMUEL. Did not the Government complete that by day's wages after his failure? · Mr. ZAPPONE. Yes; in a way. He did complete his contract, but they made certain additions and alterations, which action was permissible under the contract, and which is permissible in the erection of every public building. Every contract for the erection of a public building contains a clause under which additional work may be done by the contractor who received the award for constructing the building. That additional work need not necessarily be done under 23848-07- -69 (Witness: Zappone.) competition, because the contract provides that, as the emergency for the work arises, it can be done by the contractor. Mr. SAMUEL. Do you know how the price of that building was increased by his failure over the contract price that was given? Mr. ZAPPONE. No, sir: I do not. I want to say that there was no failure at all. He was perfectly willing to complete the building according to the specifications, but our change in the scope of the work as outlined made it necessary to make a change in the construction of the building. The top floor was originally designed for storage purposes, the sloping walls in the rooms rendering them unsuitable for other use. Afterwards it became necessary to change the character of this floor by straightening the walls and installing proper plumbing, in order that the space might be used as laboratories. Mr. FLOOD. The only question, as I understand it, is whether the Department was authorized to put these buildings at Mount Weather. Mr. ZAPPONE. That is the sole point at issue--the scope or the authority of the law under which the buildings were erected at Mount Weather and of the authority to install a project or plant there, the ultimate cost of which, as stated by Professor Moore, will be about $250,000. I have held in my testimony throughout that the laws as passed from year to year have been sufficient to cover it. Mr. FLOOD. I have not heard it all, but it seems to me that the statement is very satisfactory. Mr. ZAPPONE. I do not understand that there is any other question involved at all. Mr. FLOOD. That is my understanding of it. Mr. ZAPPONE. Except the scope of the authority. There has certainly been no collusion or dishonesty on the part of any employee of the Weather Bureau. Mr. SAMUEL. Professor Moore stated in his testimony that the buildings at Mount Weather had cost about $130,000 up to that time. which was the 10th of January. What do the figures show to have been the expense up to that time? Mr. ZAPPONE. The sum named by Professor Moore was an approximation. I have before me a copy of the records of the Weather Bureau in general form, showing that the total expenditures at Mount Weather from July 1, 1902, to January 10, 1907, were $161,093.26. I desire to add in this connection that some expenses for Mount Weather during the present year have not yet been actually incurred. but have been contracted for; therefore I will give you the sum actually disbursed for the fiscal year 1907. The amount really expended to date during the present fiscal year is $11,800. The CHAIRMAN. Have you any other statement bearing on the subject at present under consideration? Mr. ZAPPONE. None whatever, Mr. Chairman, except that I am ready to answer any questions, and I know that Professor Moore is, regarding anything about which the committee wish to inquire. The CHAIRMAN. Will you, in connection with the other schedules, be kind enough to furnish us, and make it a part of your examination, a list of expenditures from July 1, 1902, to January 10, 1907, under each of the two appropriations "Buildings, Weather Bureau," and "General expenses, Weather Bureau," at Mount Weather, Va.? (Witness: Zappone.) Mr. ZAPPONE. Here is the desired statement, Mr. Chairman: Expenditures at Mount Weather, Va., July 1, 1902, to January 10, 1907. Repairs to buildings in connection with their maintenance, including installation of instruments. Building fences, making walks and roadways, improving grounds, etc Apparatus, machinery, implements, etc. Miscellaneous supplies, equipment, fuel, forage, etc- Horses, wagons, and repairs___ Construction of telegraph and telephone lines, repairs, etc Total under above appropriation___. 9,422, 75 10, 164.63 33.770.06 18, 075. 78 8, 240, 72 1, 466. 86 1,962. 54 84, 842.03 161,093. 26 The CHAIRMAN. And will you be kind enough to examine your files and ascertain how much has been expended for equipment at Mount Weather under appropriations other than that for the purchase of sites and the erection of buildings. Do I make that clear? Mr. ZAPPONE. Not exactly, I think; I have already done that. The CHAIRMAN. I do not wish you to give the items in detail, but please give the aggregate for the fiscal years 1903, 1904, 1905, and 1906, of the sums expended for equipment of the observatories that are not included in the items that you have already given us, in the statement that you have made. Will you take the stations that have been constructed under the appropriations for the years 1903, 1904, 1905, and 1906, and ascertain, in connection with those stations, what sums have been expended for equipment under the appropriation for "General expenses, Weather Bureau?" Mr. ZAPPONE. I will be glad to furnish the information desired. The CHAIRMAN. Then when you get the figures, if it is divisible in the accounts under the heads of furniture, supplies, and so forth, simply make the division so that we can get the amount for each item, so far as it may be divisible. Mr. ZAPPONE. I will do so. Of course it will only be approximately. |