works alone, including the improvement of rivers and harbors, flood control works, and lake surveys, from $60,000,000 to $116,000,000 annually, of which it is estimated by the Office of the Chief of Engineers that approximately 2.1 per cent was spent on all kinds of surveying activities. Expenditures by years are shown in the accompanying table, which includes the abnormal expenditure in 1934 of over $154,000,000, nearly half of it in connection with the National Recovery Administration:

It we subtract from the above figures for "Surveys, etc." the amounts expended by the Mississippi River Commission in mapping the alluvial valley of the Mississippi (approximately $240,000 annually for the fiscal years 1930-34 inclusive, this being the only important civil topographic mapping project then being prosecuted by the Corps) and the amounts expended annually by the Lake Survey (from $120,000 to $200,000 annually as shown in detail under the section dealing specifically with that organization), it will appear that in recent years the Corps of Engineers has repeatedly expended from $1,750,000 to more than $2,000,000 annually on miscellaneous civil surveying. Miscellaneous military surveying activities will increase these figures but not greatly.

The necessary incidental surveying discussed above is handled as an integral part of the various civil and military projects and under direct control of those responsible for their proper execution. Much of the surveying is done by, or under immediate supervision of, the men who must write reports on the projects concerned and gives them first-hand personal knowledge necessary to proper discussion of the merits or demerits of each proposed undertaking. Intimate acquaintance with the engineering phases of each project is in turn essential to intelligent and efficient prosecution of the necessary surveys. Most surveying enterprises immediately precede, are carried on simultaneously with or are conducted as "follow up work" dependent upon other engineering activities.

Civil Mapping. In connection with the investigation and planning of civil works the Corps of Engineers makes topographic maps and hydrographic charts of many areas. For the most part these are on large scales and the results are not usually published. They include a large group of strip maps of rivers showing soundings in the stream and contours and culture along the banks, issued on such scales as 1 inch = 800 feet, 1:15,000, etc.; occasional parts of topographic quadrangles on standard scales to supplement areas mapped by the Geological Survey; and occasional quadrangle mapping. The river strip maps are more in the nature of charts and are not usually published. They are essential to the execution of studies imposed upon the Corps of Engineers by law and do not duplicate work done by other mapping agencies. Quadrangle mapping on standard scales is engaged in to a limited extent only, to meet emergencies caused by lack of essential cartographic data, except in the case of work done for the Mississippi River Commission. Here wholesale mapping of standard quadrangles was prosecuted over a great area, an enterprise discussed in connection with activities of that Commission.

The civil mapping activities of the Corps are closely interwoven with the miscellaneous surveying activities previously discussed and costs are included in the gross figures given under that heading. It is not easy to segregate figures which would apply only to mapping of the ordinary type, except in the case of the Mississippi River Commission and the Lake Survey.

Military Mapping. Geodetic small-scale topographic mapping, more or less comparable with work performed by the Geological Survey, is prosecuted according to an extensive program formulated by the Corps of Engineers for the military purposes of affording training to army personnel in map making and map reproduction; to maintain under army control a special mapping unit for emergency use; to develop mapping methods and mapping equipment suitable for use in war, including the development of aerial mapping methods; to provide suitable maps for use in connection with the issuance and execution of orders for military operations, including the determination. of the most effective disposition of troops, field fortifications, artillery or other means of combatting an enemy; to show the disposition of our own and enemy troops and to facilitate tactical movements in battle.

The maps produced by the Army Engineers are known as "tactical maps (formerly "progressive military maps "), are now published on the standard scale of 1:62,500 commonly employed by the Geological Survey (prior to 1917 the military maps were issued on the scale 1:63,360) and are designed to cover a broad border zone of the country. To date approximately 1,200 quadrangles have been issued of which 350 are said to be revisions of old maps, 400 are without contours, being the results of reconnaissances in

previously unmapped areas, while 450 are contoured maps. Of the latter, 250 are described by the Office of the Chief of Engineers as "of the present day standard of accuracy and completeness," the remainder being regarded as obsolete because of changes in culture since the original surveys. Approximately 15 quadrangles on the scale of 1:62,500 have been published annually in recent years. Many quadrangles are reproduced in black only but many others are reproduced in three colors, after the general pattern of standard Geological Survey topographic maps.

The military personnel engaged in mapping includes the 29th Engineers' Topographic Battalion (some 200 men) and two smaller units reported as constantly engaged in mapping activities since the World War; certain combat units extensively but less continuously engaged in mapping; and infantry and cavalry officers temporarily prosecuting such work. At least some of these units employ a limited number of civilian draftsmen and possibly other civilian aid; but we are informed that the field work is executed by Army personnel. The Army possesses an aerocartograph for drawing contours from aerial photographs, has prosecuted some topographic mapping by this method and is contemplating the purchase of additional equipment for the expansion of such work. Military surveying and mapping activities involved the expenditure of $75,000 in 1930, $85,000 in 1931 and $117,000 in 1932, of which part was expended in military mapping, part in reproducing such maps, part in developing aerial mapping equipment and part in procuring foreign and domestic maps and equipment.

Map Reproduction. The Corps of Engineers' main reproduction plant, located in Washington, is fully equipped to reproduce plans, maps, charts, posters and other matter for its own use and as required by other Federal bureaus. No engraving is done, reproduction being by photolithography from finished drawings on one flatbed and three offset presses. Map reproduction accounts for something over half the activity of the plant, nearly half the total recent output being maps for the Mississippi River Commission. A volume of business amounting annually to more than $200,000 goes through this plant, including reimbursable work for other Federal agencies. Other Army reproduction plants reproduce some tactical maps and other material, and that of the Lake Survey reproduces hydrographic charts.

Discussion of Findings

Your Committee finds that the vast amount of miscellaneous surveying carried on by the Corps of Engineers in immediate connection with the planning and construction of various military and civil works constitutes a subsidiary service essential to the proper performance of the major functions of the Corps. Dependence upon any outside surveying agency for

work of this type would involve endless complications and misunderstandings, lost motion, vexatious and costly delays, and a general lowering of the efficiency of the Corps. So long as the Corps of Engineers engages in civil works, the surveying incidental to the planning and construction of such works must also be under control of the Corps. If such works are ever transferred to a civil authority, control of the incidental surveying should be transferred to the same authority. This applies to all large-scale cadastral and planimetric, hypsometric and hydrographic surveying intimately involved in and essential to civil works of whatever kind. In general these surveys are on larger scales than those appropriate to any standard mapping program for the country as a whole; but they develop data valuable for such a program. These data should automatically be made available to the central mapping. agency, just as hydrographic data secured by the Corps of Engineers are now made available to the Coast and Geodetic Survey for incorporation in its. cartographic products.

It should be fully appreciated that practically all of the miscellaneous surveying described above, including the hydrographic surveys, is performed by civilian engineers under Army direction. There is a widespread but quite erroneous impression that such surveying is performed by Army officers and enlisted men and that training valuable in case of war is thereby secured by Army personnel. Such experience as is gained by Army officers in supervising civilian forces engaged in performing tasks in which the officers themselves are not expert should not be overrated, especially where civilian supervisors. are in immediate charge of the civilian personnel engaged in performing actual work. Justification for leaving control of this work with the Army engineers must be based on the considerations cited in the preceding para graph, which in the opinion of your Committee are of compelling force.

Your Committee finds that the civil mapping prosecuted by the Corps of Engineers, except that performed in connection with the activities of the Mississippi River Commission and the Lake Survey (discussed under separate headings) does not seriously infringe upon a national standard mapping program. Such incidental small-scale topographic and hydrographic charting as is practiced is not extensive in quantity and appears to be undertaken as an emergency measure where suitable maps are not otherwise obtainable. This work can, however, best be performed by a central mapping agency and should be allotted to such agency whenever the latter can execute the work when and where the needs of the Corps of Engineers require.

Your Committee finds that the military topographic mapping of the Corps of Engineers presents a problem of peculiar difficulty. Although the tactical maps made by the Corps are now executed on the standard scale of 1:62,500, are planned to fit into the standard system of quadrangles and are prepared according to the terms of a cooperative agreement between the

Corps of Engineers and the Geological Survey approved by the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Interior, the results from the standpoint of a national mapping program are far from satisfactory. The conditions under which the Army mapping is executed make it peculiarly difficult to attain the highest standards of cartographic work. The enlisted personnel forming the special topographic mapping units is not a personnel of which previous engineering training is required. Army authorities report that "the pay of Army enlisted men is generally not sufficient to attract and hold men who have taken engineering courses at colleges and universities." The foundation of the mapping units is thus not well adapted to producing the highest grade of geodetic and topographic engineers. According to the information before your Committee the officers assigned to duty with the topographic units are always men who have had experience in mapping, and in some cases have been topographic engineers formerly on duty with the Geological Survey or other agencies; but are not always specialists in the fields of geodetic or topographic surveying. We further understand that these officers do not remain permanently with the mapping units, but after a few years of service may be transferred to other military duties. The conditions stated are not those most favorable to the development of maximum efficiency in cartographic work, although they may be well adapted to the particular situation with which the Army is confronted. Where combat units are engaged in mapping, the situation must be even less satisfactory from the standpoint of high-grade mapping. Your Committee is advised that "the limit on funds, and the necessity of obtaining maps hastily for immediate military uses, have governed the character of many of the maps produced by the Army."

Whatever the relative importance of these several factors, the result so far as concerns efficient and economical mapping of the country is unsatisfactory. Out of some 1200 quadrangles published by the Army Engineers, some are highly creditable as military products and a limited number are of such quality that they can replace Geological Survey sheets. Comparatively few, however, are of sufficiently high quality to be incorporated into the standard map of the country, or to obviate the necessity of resurvey before satisfactory maps of the areas involved are available. Many of the Army maps reproduced in three or four colors are either but cultural revisions of areas already mapped by the Geological Survey or areas newly mapped on standards inferior to those of the Survey. Such a map in colors may have contours highly generalized or even contain gross errors.

It should further be noted that these maps, such as they are, do not effectively serve urgent public needs. Although editions without confidential military information exist and may be secured by one who knows how