C

4. Rail transportation between Astoria and Seaside, Oreg., should be improved by the (a) reestablishment of an additional passenger train between Astoria and Seaside, and (b) revision of the present train schedule to provide transportation in the morning from Seaside to Astoria and return to Seaside in the evening.

5. Drydock facilities of this area should be expanded, and more efficiently utilized by the armed services.

POLICE AND FIRE PROTECTION

1. Adequate safeguards against disastrous drafting of policemen and firemen in this area must be adopted by Selective Service and the War Manpower Commission.

2. Priorities should be granted for the following:

(a) New motor equipment and parts and traffic lights for Vancouver.

(b) Five hundred street lights for Portland.

3. Fire-fighting facilities of this area should be improved with:
(a) A new centralized fire station in Vancouver.

(b) Installation of a suitable fire-alarm system in Vancouver.
(c) More fire hose for the Portland Fire Department.

(d) Approval of the Lanham Act application for a fire station to serve the Guild Lake housing project.

4. Police protection facilities of this area should be improved with(a) Completion of the Multnomah County jail in Rocky Butte. (b) Expansion of the Vancouver jail into space now occupied by the fire department (with steps taken to provide other quarters for the fire department).

5. The sale of fortified wines should be restricted to liquor stores.

MANPOWER

1. Manpower shortages in the meat, dairy, transportation, fuel, lumber, food, and utility industries must be met.

2. More women should be encouraged to enter war industries and essential service industries, by assurances of full shopping opportunities after work, and adequate child care and nursery establish

ments.

3. In-plant stores for the issuance of vital clothing and food should be established in the shipyards. Necessary advances for such clothing and food should be financed through pay-check deductions.

4. The War Production Board should immediately grant necessary priorities for in-plant facilities at the shipyards in this area, including heated shelters for those who carry lunches, clothes driers, and lunchroom facilities for serving hot lunches to workers.

5. More authority for "on the spot" decisions should be delegated to the local office by the War Manpower Commission.

FOOD

1. Price ceilings on dairy products and stock feed in this area should be lifted by the Office of Price Administration, to ease the shortages on those products.

2. The bottleneck in Portland railroad yards, causing considerable delay in delivery of critical food supplies, should be broken.

3. The Office of Price Administration should provide for an adequate dissemination of its food regulations.

EDUCATION

1. The double-class shift (200 percent utilization) of school facilities has been overexploited in this area, to the extent of increasing juvenile delinquency. We, therefore, recommend that this requirement be relaxed for this area.

2. School facilities in this area should be improved and increased by the following:

(a) Expediting construction on the FWA 45-251 Vancouver project.

(b) Expediting construction on the FWA 35-167 Guild Lake project.

(c) Increasing Vanport facilities with (1) an additional intermediate school, (2) an additional primary school, and (3) four more schoolrooms in the upper school.

(d) The increase of indoor recreation facilities.

3. More around-the-clock nurseries and child-care centers must be provided for this area. These facilities must be utilized more, through the education of mothers as to the use of such facilities and an improvement in access to the facilities.

NAVY

1. The Naval Receiving Station in Portland should be increased from a present capacity of 1,450 to 3,000. This should include the following additions:

(a) Barracks.

(b) Recreation facilities.

(c) A supply department building.

(d) A training and instruction building.

(e) A chief petty officers' barracks.

(f) A fumigating chamber.

2. A second-floor addition should be made to the dispensary, to provide for 100 more beds to accommodate Navy families and dependents in this area.

3. The shore patrol should be increased to a complement of 60. 4. The Federal public housing project in Astoria, Oreg. (with existing vacancies of 175), should be made available to servicemen and their families in that area.

5. The Navy should provide housing quarters in close proximity to the United States Naval Hospital at Astoria for medical officers and maintenance personnel assigned to the hospital.

Respectfully submitted.

[No. 173]

TO PROVIDE TITLES FOR HEADS OF STAFF DEPARTMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES (H. R. 4029). MR. MAAS

Hon. SAM RAYBURN,

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, January 15, 1944.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

MY DEAR MR. SPEAKER: There is transmitted herewith a draft of a proposed bill to provide titles for heads of staff departments of the United States Marine Corps, and for other purposes.

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to clarify the titles of heads of the Paymaster's Department and the Quartermaster's Department of the United States Marine Corps.

The titles "The Paymaster" and "The Quartermaster" are ambiguous and confusing titles and carry no definite designation commonly associated with the heads of staff departments in the Marine Corps. The titles "The Paymaster" and "The Quartermaster" are anachronisms carried over from earlier days. When first established by law "The Paymaster" and "The Quartermaster" were the only officers of the Marine Corps performing these designated staff duties. Later, other officers were needed for this class of duty and, as they were appointed or detailed, they became assistant paymasters and assistant quartermasters.

The titles "The Paymaster General of the Marine Corps" and "The Quartermaster General of the Marine Corps," would more accurately describe the officers serving as heads of the Paymaster's and Quartermaster's Departments, respectively.

The enactment of the proposed legislation would result in no additional cost to the Government.

The Navy Department recommends enactment of the proposed legislation.

The Navy Department has been advised by the Bureau of the Budget that there would be no objection to the submission of the proposed legislation to the Congress.

Sincerely yours,

FORRESTAL, Acting.

[No. 174]

TO AMEND THE ACT APPROVED MARCH 2, 1895, AS AMENDED (H. R. 4030). MR. VINSON OF GEORGIA

Hon. SAM RAYBURN,

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, January 14, 1944.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

MY DEAR MR. SPEAKER: There is transmitted herewith a draft of a proposed bill to amend the act approved March 2, 1895, as amended. The purpose of the proposed bill is to amend the act approved March 2, 1895 (6 U. S. C. 3), as amended, so that it will provide that the payment and acceptance of the annual premiums on corporate surety bonds shall be a compliance with the requirement for renewal of such bonds of bonded officers and enlisted men of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. At present the law so provides as to postal officers and employees and the bill would extend the provision to cover bonded officers and enlisted men of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.

Under the act of March 2, 1895, every official charged with the approval of official bonds is required to cause all bonds under his cognizance to be renewed every 4 years or oftener if deemed necessary. Treasury Department Circular No. 197 issued December 1, 1898 (5 Comp. Dec. 988) requires that, upon the execution of a new bond, the bonded officer or man must close out his accounts under the old bond and deposit any unexpended balances before any advances are made under the new bond.

Literal compliance with these instructions in a number of cases is impossible and, with the approval of the Comptroller General, they have been modified to permit an officer to deposit funds needed for immediate use with some other proper disbursing officer, if it is not practicable to deposit any unexpended balances. When even this procedure is not feasible, officers outside the United States have retained their unexpended balances but have had such balances verified by two disinterested persons and have supported their accounts current under the old bonds with certificates signed by such persons. To follow any of the above procedures is impossible in many cases, particularly in time of war and the proposed bill, by eliminating the requirement for formal renewal of bonds every 4 years, would correct such situations.

The amendment to the act of March 2, 1895, by the act of March 8, 1928 (45 Stat. 247), was enacted, apparently at the behest of the Post Office Department following the receipt by that Department of an opinion of the Comptroller General (7 Comp. Gen. 43) to the effect that annual payment of premiums on corporate surety bonds could not be construed as compliance with the provisions of the act of March 2, 1895, requiring renewal of such bonds every 4 years.