manufacture; the design is too elaborate for the small surface, and it is almost impossible to bring the details into proper relief.

The Treasury Department has no objection to the enactment of this legislation, as evidenced by the following letter:

WASHINGTON, D. C., February 11, 1931.

MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This department is in receipt of your letter of February 10, requesting a report on H. R. 16973, a bill to authorize a change in the design of the quarter dollar to commemorate the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of George Washington.

I take pleasure in stating that this department would interpose no objection to the enactment of this legislation.

Very truly yours,

ADVANCE TO THE RECLAMATION FUND

February 14, 1931.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. SMITH of Idaho, from the Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 6046]

The Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation, to whom was referred the bill (S. 6046) to authorize advances to the reclamation fund, and for other purposes, having carefully considered the same, recommend its passage.

This is an emergency measure which passed the Senate on the 10th instant, and its enactment into law will prevent the discharge of over 1,500 men engaged in construction work throughout the West; the tying up in idleness of over a million dollars worth of construction equipment; and will insure water to thousands of people for the irrigation of their lands, without which they can not raise their crops. The reclamation fund, authorized by the reclamation act, is made up from the receipts of the sale of public lands, oil royalties on Government land, repayments, etc. As the fund was inadequate to inaugurate the policy to any great extent, $20,000,000 was advanced to the reclamation fund under the act of June 25, 1910, of which $10,000,000 has already been returned to the Treasury.

The pending legislation authorized the return of $5,000,000 of this $10,000,000 to the fund in order to meet an emergency situation which, if not relieved, will result in the closing down of construction work on several projects, the throwing out of employment of more than 1,500 men who are employed on the projects, some of which are nearing completion, and great hardship to thousands of farmers living on these projects who have been relying on the Government to complete the projects, in order to furnish water for this year's crops, soon to be planted.

The drought conditions which have brought such distress to the people in the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, extended into the arid

West, the precipitation of snow being in many instances less than 50 per cent of the normal supply. This shortage of water last year resulted in the loss of crops on some of the projects, which makes it impossible for them to make their payments to the reclamation fund. The order of the Secretary of the Interior nearly two years ago curtailing oil development deprived the reclamation fund of nearly $2,000,000 last year.

As appropriations and contracts are based on anticipated revenues, the department is now confronted with a deficit and is unable to meet payments on contracts already made totaling nearly $5,000,000, thus necessitating relief by Congress in order to complete existing contracts and provide water for the farms which have heretofore had an insufficient supply.

On the Salt River project in Arizona the shortage of snow has resulted in the storing of only 11,000 acre-feet of water in the reservoir, which has a capacity of 1,250,000 acre-feet. Because of this shortage of gravity water, the farmers have been forced, at heavy additional expense, to pump water from the reservoir. The December payment of this district, amounting to $1,900,000, has therefore not been paid, the drought conditions and the low price of farm products making it impossible for them to secure the necessary credit to meet their obligations.

Conditions on the Gooding extension of the Minidoka project, in Idaho, on the Kittitas division of the Yakima project, in Washington, and on the Owyhee project, in Oregon, if not relieved will result in depriving lands which heretofore have been irrigated of a supply of water for this year's crops, due to the rearrangement of canals in combining smaller irrigation projects, the work on which was to have been completed under the contracts by April 1.

The necessity of this legislation was presented in detail by the Secretary of the Interior to the Bureau of the Budget, and was approved by the bureau and the President, as indicated in the following letter: FEBRUARY 9, 1931.

The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

MY DEAR MR. SECRETARY: I have the letter of February 6, 1931, of your Budget officer transmitting copy of proposed report on S. 6046, to authorize advances of not exceeding $5,000,000 to the reclamation fund.

You are advised that the proposed legislation would not be in conflict with the financial program of the President if amended as follows:

Page 1, line 4, after the word "Interior", insert the words "and upon approval of the President."

Very truly yours,

J. CLAWSON ROOP, Director.

The Commissioner of Reclamation, Dr. Elwood Mead, appeared before the Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation of the Senate, and also before this committee, explaining in detail the necessity for the enactment of this legislation and the status of the different projects, as follows:

Construction work contracted (unearned portion of contract):

Construction program, Bureau of Reclamation, fiscal years 1931-32

$15, 500

393, 000

39, 000

Owyhee project, Oregon --

Vale project, Oregon...

Klamath project, Oregon-California.

Salt Lake project, Utah, first division..

Yakima project, Washington, Kittitas division....

Shoshone project, Wyoming___

Construction work by Government forces-drainage, canal enlargement, etc....

3, 820, 000

17, 000 2, 500 30, 000

148, 000

110,000

4,575,000

Materials and supplies furnished contractors, and equipment and supplies for Government force account work....

800,000

1, 425, 000

6, 800, 000

1931 appropriations available for construction work, expenditure of which is dependent upon income to the reclamation fund:

Boise project, Idaho...

Minidoka project, Idaho..

Sun River project, Montana..

Owyhee project, Oregon.

Vale project, Oregon..

Salt Lake Basin project, Utah..

Belle Fourche project, South Dakota___

Yakima project, Washington

Kennewick division.......

Cle Elum Reservoir..

Appropriations for continuation of construction, fiscal year 1932,

expenditure of which is dependent upon income to the reclamation

Estimated income, Jan. 1 to June 30, 1931, available for construc

tion work..

Estimated income during fiscal year available for construction work.

Estimated funds available...

Estimated deficiency - -

HR-71-3-VOL 2—22

Senator Thomas of Idaho also appeared before this committee and explained that unless money was made available to complete the canal carrying water from the Snake River to the land on the gravity division of the Minidoka extension, 3,200 acres of land heretofore receiving water under the old system would be without water, which would bankrupt the occupants of the land and adversely affect the 10,000 people living on these and adjoining lands and in the surrounding communities. In addition, the failure of the pending bill will result in throwing out of employment over 1,500 men now at work on the project, and the financial status of the contractors would be jeopardized, as their machinery and equipment would become idle. Representative Summers of Washington, in whose district the Kittitas division of the Yakima project is located, submitted the following statement:

The urgent need for this $5,000,000 loan to the reclamation fund can well be illustrated and the loan justified by the following:

The Yakima project in the State of Washington is recognized as one of the most successful and best paying projects in the United States. It has an unsurpassed record for repayments to the Federal Government. However, 300,000 acres of land and orchards now valued at fifty to a hundred million dollars are in peril for lack of storage water. The Federal Government holds millions in mortgages on this project and is, therefore, deeply interested in its continued

success.

An appropriation has twice been made for the necessary storage dam, but no funds are available.

Another unit of this same project with orchards valued at $2,000,000 certainly will perish if construction long since provided for by act of Congress is not carried forward this year.

Thirty thousand acres on the Kittitas unit of the Yakima project is in dire distress till the completion of a tunnel which is now 90 per cent completed but where construction must stop unless this loan is secured.

This unit is 75 per cent complete. However, millions of dollars invested in this project during the past five years serve no useful purpose to the farmer and hence can not be repaid till the works are completed and water turned on.

The Director General of the United States Employment Service also appeared before the committee and urged that it would be a tragedy to permit the discharge of 1,500 or 2,000 men in these remote communities who would necessarily drift to the populous centers and swell the army of unemployed.

O