First. It should be amended in line 6, by inserting between the words "made" and "to" the following: "in good faith on public account." Second. It should be amended in line 8, by inserting between the words "suggest" and "fraud" the following: "negligence or". Third. It should be amended in line 9, by striking out the "comma" after the word "appearing" and inserting in its place a "period", thereafter striking out the balance of said line 9, and all of lines 10, 11, and 12. The fact that the committee has been hesitant to recommend this bill to the House for passage is proven by the fact that a similar bill was introduced in the last session of Congress and was not reported favorably by said committee, and this bill has remained in the committee without action since January 3, 1935. RANDOLPH CARPENTER. VIEWS OF MR. RICH H. R. 151, a bill authorizing the Comptroller General of the United States to allow credit in the account of disbursing officers and overpayment of wages on Civil Works Administration projects and waiving recovery of such overpayments, this bill in the judgment of the minority members of the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments establishes an unparalleled precedent in permitting the Comptroller General to "cover up" poor business on the part of Government officials and is contrary to all good, sound principles of business. For that reason we oppose this bill. Harry Hopkins, when he was given permission to spend money in Civil Works projects, started out on a lavish scale of expenditures of the taxpayers' money for the purpose of relief. So much stress. was placed on the desire and advisability of spending this money fast, to get it into the hands of the citizens of this country, that sound business principles were overlooked. The 4,100 disbursing officers who handled these funds over the United States and who were responsible that the money be placed in the hands of the individuals. working under the Civil Works Administration simply credited up to each man who was given a job the money due him each week, without proper accounting. In the expenditure of some $750,000,000 there is about $750,000 to $1,000,000 that cannot be given credit for by the Comptroller's office. Mr. Hopkins, through the chairman of our committee who introduced the bill, Mr. Cochran, is seeking relief for the disbursing officers who were bonded under the Veterans' Administration and would now like to have the bonding companies and the disbursing officers released of this responsibility of overpayment. When we do that it means that the taxpayers of this country must pay the bill for inefficient Government service. When we start this precedent in this particular instance-and we are now faced with expenditure of $4,880,000,000 more under the supervision of the President of the United States, how much money must be passed out from that bill in the same manner not legally authorized? Will we be requested in the future to exonerate disbursing officers whose salaries are paid out of the taxpayers' money and who make errors for which the taxpayers of the country are compelled to make up the deficit. No sound sensible business organization would do what we are requested to do in this bill, especially since the disbursing officers have given bond for the faithful performance of their duty. On the other hand, we do realize that this money was passed out under the guise of emergency. We today are doing many unheard of things in the guise of emergency. We are passing many laws under the guise of emergency and if we continue under this guise of emergency to spend lavishly and foolishly the money of the taxpayers of this country we are placing a mortgage on the future generations that will stagger and shackle them and will also endanger the welfare of our country if it does not wreck it. The point to be considered by the membership of the House is, Are you under the guise of emergency going to absolve the disbursing officers of this responsibility; are you going to excuse the bonding companies of their responsibilities and saddle the burden on the taxpayers? That is for the membership of this House to decide. Having had business training that would not permit a blanket order of this kind as is represented by H. R. 151, proposing to exonerate the disbursing officers of this responsibility, I cannot recommend it to the Members of the House that they adopt this legislation as it is written, for the reason that it will establish a precedent that will be detrimental to good government and to orderly procedure of the operation of affairs of this country. O ROBERT F. RICH. INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF MILITARY MEDICINE AND PHARMACY APRIL 23, 1935.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. McREYNOLDS, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. J. Res. 249] The Committee on Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred the resolution (H. J. Res. 249) to provide for participation by the United States in the Eighth International Congress of Military Medicine and Pharmacy to be held at Brussels, Belgium, in June 1935, having considered the same, report it to the House with the following amendment and recommend that it do pass. At the end of the resolution on page 2 add a new section as follows: SEC. 2. The funds made available under this authorization shall be expended under the supervision of the Secretary of State. The facts in support of this legislation are fully set forth in a message from the President of the United States dated April 15, 1935 (H. Doc. No. 154, 74th Cong., 1st sess.), which is made a part of this report as follows: To the Congress of the United States of America: I commend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the enclosed report from the Secretary of State with an accompanying memorandum, to the end that legislation may be enacted authorizing an appropriation of the sum of $8,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary, for the expenses of participation by the United States in the Eighth International Congress of Military Medicine and Pharmacy to convene at Brussels in June 1935. THE WHITE HOUSE, April 15, 1935. (Enclosures: Report memorandum.) FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. The PRESIDENT: DEPARTMENT OF STATE, At the request of the Secretary of War and of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, I have the honor to recommend that the Congress be requested to enact legislation authorizing the appropriation of the sum of $8,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, for the expenses of participation by the United States in the Eighth International Congress of Military Medicine and Pharmacy to convene at Brussels in June 1935. The congress was first scheduled to be held at Bucharest in 1935, and later postponed until 1936. Under date of March 14, 1935, however, the Belgian Ambassador informed the Department of State that the congress would now be held at Brussels from June 27, to July 3, 1935, and this Government was invited to be officially represented. In a letter dated March 5, 1935, the Secretary of War stated: "It is believed of the utmost importance to the Medical Department of our Army that officers of the Medical Corps of the Regular Army be sent to represent the United States at this congress. The congresses consider advances in medicomilitary sciences and their application to the military service in both peace and war, and in the past information acquired at such gatherings has been of great value to the United States Army. The War Department has no funds to defray the expenses of such delegates. * * * "It is believed that no less than 10 delegates should be sent from the United States to the 1935 congress and it is requested that the proper steps be taken to ask Congress to appropriate sufficient funds to cover the expenses of such delegates." I transmit herewith for your information a memorandum concerning the International Military Medicine and Pharmacy Congress, and a draft resolution designed to carry out the above recommendation. Respectfully submitted. The PRESIDENT, The White House. CORDELL HULL. MEMORANDUM The Association of Military Surgeons of the United States was organized in 1891 for the patriotic purpose of keeping alive a knowledge of military medicine, a special branch of medical science which in time of peace is quickly forgotten. In 1903 the Congress of the United States gave it a charter, and in recognition of its national importance provided an advisory board for it composed of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, and the surgeons general of the medical services connected with these three Departments. Since that time it has acquired a certain international status as invitations to attend its annual meetings have been sent through the State Department to the nations having diplomatic representatives at Washington to send delegates. As a result many distinguished officers of other nations have attended the meetings and have shared their knowledge and experience with our own medical officers. In 1921 the King of the Belgians, recognizing the importance to humanity of preserving and standardizing the dearly bought experience of the World War as regards the rescuing of the wounded in battle and the preserving of the armed forces from disease, called an International Congress of Military Medicine and Pharmacy, which met at Brussels July 15 to 20, 1921. Twenty countries sent delegates to this congress, and its results were deemed so valuable that a permanent committee, composed of representatives of eight countries, was inaugurated at the Brussels meeting for the purpose of internationalizing medical and surgical knowledge. The United States was represented at the congress by a delegate who later became a member of the permanent committee. This committee organizes the biennial meetings of the congress, which have been held as follows: The second congress met at Rome, Italy, May 28 to June 2, 1923, at which 27 nations sent delegates, and the United States was again unofficially represented. The third congress was held at Paris, France, April 19 to 25, 1925, with 42 countries participating, and the United States represented by two delegates. The fourth congress convened at Warsaw, Poland, May 29 to June 5, 1927, attended by representatives of 32 countries, to which the United States sent five. Forty-one countries sent delegates to the fifth congress, held at London, England, May 6 to 11, 1929. The United States sent eight delegates. The sixth congress met at The Hague, the Netherlands, June 14 to 19, 1931. Thirty nations sent delegates. As a result of a request to the Congress of the United States by the President, the sum of $10,000 was authorized and appropriated for the expenses of the attendance of delegates to this congress. Ten delegates were designated with the approval of the President. (See for legislation S. Doc. 53, 71st Cong.; Public Resolution 113, 71st Cong.; Public Act 869, 71st Cong.) The seventh congress convened May 29 to June 3, 1933, at the city of Madrid, Spain, at which time 28 countries were represented, and to which the United States sent four delegates. The eighth congress is to convene at Brussels, Belgium, June 27 to July 3, 1935, and the United States has been invited by the Belgian Government to be officially represented. At each congress, four or more main topics are presented for consideration. The following subjects were decided upon for consideration at the forthcoming congress: Principles of organization and functioning of the medical service in mountain warfare (Rumania-Italy). Determination of the aptitude of the land, sea, and air forces for various specialties (Rumania-Italy). Results of abdominal wounds (Rumania-United States). Researches directed toward the standardization of methods of analysis of foods and beverages used for soldiers' subsistence (Rumania-Czechoslovakia). Front bucco-dental care (Rumania-Lithuania). Comparative study of the functions of administrative medical services in the various land, sea, and air forces (Rumania-Chile). |