Station time.-Local station time for rebroadcast of short-wave programs in the other American republics purchased through the contractual arrangements with the National Broadcasting Co. and the Columbia Broadcasting System is estimated at $333,000 for the 1946 fiscal year, an increase of $15,000 over the previous year's estimate, due primarily to increased time rates of some of the affiliated stations of the National Broadcasting Co. and the Columbia Broadcasting System.

Point-to-point facilities. This estimate includes the facilities for special programs in Argentina and Brazil, overseas battle-front pick-ups, and contemplated special events such as VE-day, world conferences, etc.

Mr. OGILVIE. You will notice that the primary increase there comes in the item "Transmitter facilities." Transmitter facilities represent the short-wave transmitters in the United States which, you will recall, were taken over in 1942 and are operated by the licensees for O. W. I. and ourselves on a one-third and two-thirds basis.

The increase that is represented this year in our budget is due to the fact that the transmitters which were ordered in 1942 and have been under construction since that time came into operation during the 1945 fiscal year, so that in the 1946 fiscal year we will have a full complement of 36 transmitters working.

Mr. TABER. Does this mean the purchase of facilities?

Mr. OGILVIE. No, sir; that is the actual cost to the United States. Government for the operation of 36 short-wave transmitters jointly used by the O. W. I. and O. I. A. A.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. How do you get your frequencies?

Mr. OGILVIE. The frequencies are assigned to us through the Federal Communications Commission, through a joint board with the Army, and the Navy, and the Federal Communications Commission. Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. And how did you get these facilities?

Mr. OGILVIE. Some of these facilities were taken over from private licensees and 22 transmitters were obtained by the Government through the Office of War Information.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. From private companies?

Mr. OGILVIE. There were 14 original transmitters which were taken over from the private licensees.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. I wish you would give us a statement for the record that would show the amounts paid for the purchase or lease of facilities by the concerns from which they have been acquired.

Mr. OGILVIE. Fourteen of the transmitters, sir, were taken over from the private licensees and are now operated under cost contract for the Government. Likewise, the additional 22 transmitters are operated by licensees under cost contracts for the Government through O. W. I. and O. I. A. A.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. I would like to see a list of the companies and the rental that is paid in each instance.

Mr. HISLE. We have a list showing the transmitters, what the O. W. I. pays and what we pay.

(The list referred to is as follows:)

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. This is a joint operation with the O. W. I.? Mr. HARRISON. The O. W. I. has about two-thirds of the time and we have about one-third.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Does the O. W. I. broadcast to South America?

Mr. HARRISON. No; they use the transmitters about two-thirds of the time broadcasting to other parts of the world. They do not broadcast to South America. The O. I. A. A. does that.

AVERAGE OF SALARIES PAID

Mr. CASE. I have just been making a little quick calculation of the average salaries paid in the Radio Division and other divisions, some of which we have not come to yet, but it seems to me in running through a description of the various positions that the average salaries run higher here than they do in the average Government agency. If my quick figuring is correct, the average salary for 84.7 man-years for the Radio Division is $3,300; the average salary for the Motion Picture Division for 30.4 man-years, is $3,510; the average salary for 35.7 positions or man-years in the Guidance and Reference Division is $3,700. Do you know how those average salaries compare with like personnel in other Government agencies?

Mr. HISLE. I am familiar with one other war agency, the Foreign Economic Administration, and I think theirs run around $2,900 or $3,000. The over-all average salary in our estimates here in $3,049.

Mr. HARRISON. We have one major problem that we have to meet, and that is the problem of getting people to work for us who speak Spanish and Portuguese. It means that we have to employ generally a higher caliber of, or higher priced personnel, than the average agency which can hire clerks and stenographers to do their work in only the English language. Also, we are dealing with highly technical and professional operations, radio, press, and motion pictures, which require highly skilled and experienced personnel.

Mr. CASE. Does that apply to such things as the Radio Division and the Motion Picture Division where most of your work is here in the United States?

Mr. HARRISON. Yes; it does. The Radio Division personnel generally must be able to speak Portuguese and Spanish.

Mr. OGILVIE. Yes; because most of our programs are broadcast in Spanish and Portuguese.

Mr. CASE. In all of these sections, too, it appears that you have quite a group of writers and editors, and in all of them chiefs of the economic section, and chief economic assistants or economic analysts. Have you tried budgeting your work so that your economic analysts, for instance, might serve the Radio Section as well as the Motion Picture Section, and also the Guidance and Reference Section, for example?

Mr. HARRISON. Yes, sir; we have. If you will look at this year's estimate of personnel, you will see that we are tightening up in all of our departments. Permanent positions decrease from 847 to 705, man-years from 827 to 670, and total salaries, excluding overtime, from $2,407,452 to $2,043,666. I would like to make another point here. You will find that generally our salaries are far below the average radio or motion-picture industry salaries.

Mr. CASE. That is true of a good deal of the Government, as far as that is concerned.

Mr. HARRISON. We have had to go more or less into their own field, sir.

ACTIVITIES OF COMMERCIAL ADVERTISERS

Mr. TABER. I have a question or two that I would like to ask Mr. Harrison, or somebody on this thing. Is there a practice in this territory of folks who have a commercial interest down in South America and who want to sell some of their goods, to hire radio news folks and commentators to talk over the radio?

Mr. HARRISON. Yes, sir. United States firms today are spending between $14,000,000 and $16,000,000 in the other Americas for radio and other advertising.

Mr. TABER. I am wondering why they do not take over this particular activity so that we could gradually be working out of it. It is to a certain extent a promotion activity, and we should begin to work out of it, instead of holding it up.

Mr. HARRISON. We have worked very closely with them, Mr. Taber. In a great many cases United States advertisers have done a great deal of good for the program. They have included interAmerican material in their programs, and, as a matter of fact, we have already turned over something like 23 or 27 of our local programs to them.

On the question of decrease, we feel today that we are only able to do an adequate job with the funds requested here, and that we have cut back as far as we can at the present time.

INTERNATIONAL RADIO BROADCASTING

Mr. TABER. You know there is going to be, and there is bound to be, resentment on the part of these countries against radio broadcasts that are paid for by another government, shooting into them all of

the time. They will take, just like our folks here will take, the broadcasts from commercially sponsored commentators or news folks to very much better advantage. Now, that is a good deal better longrange approach to them, and one that would not create the resentment that would be expected ultimately from this sort of thing.

Mr. HARRISON. Our short-wave programs for Latin Americans are produced for us by the National Broadcasting Co. and the Columbia Broadcasting System so that these programs do not appear as Govern ment programs.

Mr. TABER. You mean they have not the facilities to handle that sort of thing?

Mr. HARRISON. That is correct, sir. All of the short-wave transmitter facilities are operated for the Government for the duration of the emergency. The interest in short-wave broadcasts from the United States among listeners in the other American republics clearly indicates the value of short-wave broadcasting not only as an informational service but as a great vehicle in future economic relations.

I think the important thing to keep in mind, however, is that international short-wave radio and local broadcasting in the other American republics are essential parts of an over-all information program which involves radio, press, and movies and also the fact that there has been no decision as yet concerning the extent to which the Government information program will be continued.

Mr. TABER. You are putting out mostly news or comments or what?

Mr. HARRISON. About 25 percent of our programs are news reports and commentaries.

LOCAL RADIO ACTIVITIES

Mr. TABER. Are you running anything presently except these short-wave set-ups?

Mr. HARRISON. Yes, sir; we have local programs in the other hemisphere countries that are going over the regular local broadcasting stations. I offer the following justification for these activities:

The estimate to provide funds for local radio activities in the fiscal year 1946amounts to $1,131,000, which represents a decrease of $13,000 from the funds available for this activity under the appropriation for the fiscal year 1945.

The activities in the other American republics under this budget title cover broadcasts of radio programs developed and scheduled by the coordination committees and local representatives of the Radio Division.

Under the supervision of specially trained radio representatives, local productions enable the Radio Division to carry out the program of the Office in a manner most suited to local conditions.

The specific programs and activities are those which, on the basis of surveys and reports from coordination committees and the field representatives, have proved to be the most valuable of those produced and to have the widest local listening audiences.

The changes in the estimates are explained as follows:

Station time. Decrease $21,000. The transcribed program series produced by the Division have been accepted by the radio stations in the other American republics as a service to the stations and their listeners. Consequently, the purchase of station time for transcriptions in all countries will be reduced, thus effecting the decrease.

Advertising. The increase of $8,000 is necessary to meet increased advertising expenditures.

REGIONAL DIVISION

Mr. RABAUT. We will take up tab No. 7, the regional division. Mr. TABER. Why do you need to keep this going, for the maintenance of coordination committees? You have an estimate of $776,289. Why do you need that?

JUSTIFICATION OF ESTIMATES

Mr. HARRISON. This relates to our information work in the field. I offer for the record the following justification:

REGIONAL DIVISION

Objectives. The primary objective of the regional division is to service the coordination committee system which was established in 1941 by joint action of the Department of State and the Office of Inter-American Affairs. The coordination committee system is designed to utilize the voluntary services of experienced United States residents in the other American republics in the formulation of local policy, adaptation of program, and execution of those phases of the Inter-American program of the United States Government which are appropriately handled outside of the diplomatic missions of the United States. In particular, the coordination committee system is designed to secure guidance from qualified United States residents in the other American republics so that each program may adequately meet the requirements of the individual countries.

As it is now organized, there are more than 600 United States citizens resident in the other American republics serving as members of the coordination committees on a voluntary basis. These members have been carefully selected and approved by the Office of Inter-American Affairs and State Department missions in the field as qualified by reason of character, background, experience and knowledge of countries in which they are resident to contribute to the program of the Office and the United States Government.

The purpose of the regional division is to provide these coordination committees located in all the principal cities of the 20 American republics, with efficient administration in Washington in order that they may carry out under varying local conditions the programs of the Office developed with the approval of the Department of State to unify and strengthen the relationships between the United States and her Latin-American neighbors.

Plan of operation. The regional division performs a liaison function with respect to the committees. The regional division functions through desk sections each of which is responsible for servicing the activities of the coordination committees in a given area. The desk officers are in personal day-to-day contact with the officials of the operating divisions responsible for policy on committee matters in the press, radio, motion-picture, and educational fields. In addition to the desk sections, there is a control unit responsible for maintaining an efficient flow of coordination committee correspondence. The State Department Liaison Section services all of the Office on matters requiring State Department clearance. Through grants-in-aid the regional division provides the coordination committees with funds required for their administrative operations. Such funds are granted upon receipt of estimates prepared by the committees on an annual basis. The committees are required to submit monthly accounts of their expenditures for examination and verification by the Office of Inter-American Affairs and their accounts are periodically audited locally by the fiscal auditors of the Comptroller's Office.