ADDITION OF LANDS TO SISKIYOU NATIONAL FOREST, OREG. MAY 9, 1935.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. MOTT, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 7164] The Committee on the Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 7164) to add certain lands to the Siskiyou National Forest in the State of Oregon, after careful consideration of same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that the bill do pass the House without amendment. A similar bill, S. 1513, passed the Senate on March 29, 1935. Facts concerning the proposed legislation are set forth in the favorable report of the Secretary of Agriculture, dated April 25, 1935, and the Secretary of the Interior, under date of April 23, 1935, which reports are herein below set out in full and made a part of this report, as follows: Hon. RENÉ L. DEROUEN, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Chairman Committee on the Public Lands, House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. DEROUEN: I have received your request for report on H. R. 7164, to add certain lands to the Siskiyou National Forest in the State of Oregon. Similar legislation is pending before the Congress in S. 1513, on which this Department submitted a report under date of March 19. The area described in the bill, amounting to nearly 60,000 acres, has largely passed out of Government ownership under the public-land laws. The inclusion of the nonpublic lands in the description is evidently for the purpose of placing them within the exterior boundaries of the national forest in order that they may be subject to the national forest exchange law of March 20, 1922 (42 Stat. 465). This would permit private owners to exchange their lands within the area for an equal value of national forest land or timber within the State, the reconveyed land to become a part of the national forest. The unappropriated public lands in the area aggregate approximately 2,700 acres, of which all but 200 acres are undisposed of Oregon & California Railroad grant lands, title to which revested in the United States under the act of June 9, 1916 (39 Stat. 218). The bill provides that such lands shall remain subject to all laws relating to said grant. Of the remaining 200 acres of public land, 160 acres are embraced in a pending homestead entry which would be protected under the terms of the bill. In view of the small amount of public land affected, I will interpose no objection to the enactment of the bill. I am not informed as to the necessity for the exchange legislation proposed, which is primarily a matter for consideration by the Secretary of Agriculture. Sincerely yours, T. A. WALTERS, Acting Secretary of the Interior. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Chairman Committee on the Public Lands, Hon. RENÉ DEROUEN, House of Representatives. DEAR MR. DEROUEN: Receipt is acknowledged of your letter of April 3, transmitting a copy of the bill (H. R. 7184) to add certain lands to the Siskiyou National Forest in the State of Oregon, and requesting the views of this Department thereon. The proposed legisltion would extend the boundaries of the Siskiyou National Forest so as to include within that national forest certain described lands aggregating in area approximately 59,000 acres. These lands are some of the best timber-producing lands in the State of Oregon but are unsuited to agriculture. All but a very small portion are now in private ownership. In other words, the privately owned lands aggregate in area approximately 57,000 acres and the remaining 2,000 acres are either public domain, State, or lands of the Oregon & California Railroad land grant lands title to which revested in the United States under the act of June 9, 1916 (39 Stat. 218). The area of these revested Oregon & California Railroad grant lands is approximately 1,000 acres. Practically all of the privately owned lands are owned by the Coos Bay Lumber Co. of Marshfield, Oreg. This company is now operating within the area. Some of the lands have all of the commercial timber removed each year. The company does not feel warranted in retaining title to such lands and paying taxes and protection costs on them while producing a new crop of timber and has expressed a willingness to donate the lands to the United States, provided they are included in the national forest. If the lands were abandoned by the company they, of course, will become tax delinquent and would receive no care other than that the county might be able to give them. The information given this Department is to the effect that the county could not afford to incur the expense incidental to protecting these lands from fire. These lands would undoubtedly serve their highest use if so managed to insure a future crop of timber. Since they lie adjacent to the Siskiyou National Forest they could be administered by the Forest Service as a part of the Siskiyou National Forest by the personnel now provided for looking after that national-forest property. The increased cost of administering the Siskiyou National Forest would be nominal and for the time being would call for no increase whatever. Section 2 of the bill provides that any revested Oregon & California Railroad grant lands, title to which is still in the United States, shall be handled subject to the Revesting Act of June 9, 1918 (39 Stat. 218). As before stated, the area of such lands is approximately 1,000 acres and there is no objection insofar as this Department is concerned to this section of the bill. In the judgment of this Department the enactment of the proposed legislation would be in the public interest and, therefore, it recommends to your favorable consideration H. R. 7164. Very sincerely yours, H. A. WALLACE, Secretary. UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA MAY 9, 1935.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. ELLENBOGEN, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 7167] The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred bill H. R. 7167, to provide for unemployment compensation in the District of Columbia, authorize appropriations, and for other purposes, having considered the same reports it back to the House with the following amendments and recommends that the amendments be agreed to and the bill do pass: Page 3, line 21, strike out the comma and insert in lieu thereof "and Members of Congress,". Page 6, line 7, after the period strike out the words "Except as provided in any recip-". Page 6, line 8, strike out the words "rocal benefit arrangement made pursuant to this Act, employ-" and insert in lieu thereof "Employ-". Page 6, line 12, strike out the words "Nor shall the term 'employment' apply to-" and insert in lieu thereof "The term 'employment' shall not apply to-”. Page 7, line 19, after the word "the" strike out the words "full time". Page 7, line 20, after the word "for" strike out the word "full" and insert in lieu thereof "the majority of the employees in the par ticular division or department,". Page 7, line 21, strike out the words "time employees". Page 7, line 21, strike out the words "full time" Page 10, line 6, strike out the period and insert in lieu thereof a semicolon and add the words "And provided further, That the weeks during which benefits are paid shall not be counted." Page 12, line 10, strike out the figures "11⁄2" and insert in lieu thereof "3" Page 12, lines 11 to 13, beginning with line 11 after the word "roll" strike out the comma and the following words "and the average contribution rate of all employers shall be approximately 3 per centum of all pay rolls for any calendar year." and insert in lieu thereof a period. Page 12, line 14, strike out the words "reduced or". Page 13 at the end of line 9 add a new subsection as follows: (5) In payment of any contribution, a fractional part of a cent shall be disregarded unless it amounts to one-half cent or more, in which case it shall be increased to one (1) cent. Page 13, lines 18 to 24, strike out all of lines 18 to 24, inclusive, and insert in lieu thereof the following: (b) Section 903 (a) (2) of the Social Security Act (H. R. 7260) is hereby amended by striking out at the end thereof the semicolon and inserting in lieu thereof "except in the District of Columbia". Page 14, line 15, strike out the word "earings" and insert in lieu thereof the word "earnings". Page 16, line 10, strike out the word "seventeen" and insert in lieu thereof the word "thirteen". Page 19, line 3, strike out the period at the end of the sentence and add "subsequent to such failure to accept suitable employment". Page 20, line 22, after the word "where" insert the following "either party appeals to". Page 20, line 23, strike out the word "act" and insert in lieu thereof "or the Board". Page 28 at the end of line 2 add a new subsection as follows: (8) Upon request the Board shall make available to any agency of the United States or of the District of Columbia, charged with the administration of public works or assistance through public employment, the name, address, ordinary occupation and employment status of each recipient of employment compensation under this Act. Page 28, line 3, strike out "(8)" and insert in lieu thereof “(9)”. Page 31, line 2, strike out the word "willfully" and insert in lieu thereof the word "wilfully". Page 31, line 11, strike out the word "willfully" and insert in lieu thereof "wilfully furnishes a false record,". The subcommittee on fiscal affairs held hearings on H. R. 5534 on March 5, 7, 12, and 14. The Honorable Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor, Dr. Edwin E. Witte, executive director, and Merrill G. Murray, associate consultant, of the Committee on Economic Security, and representative of civic and employer organizations were given a full hearing. The subcommittee, in a series of executive sessions, incorporated a number of amendments to the bill. The bill, as amended, was reintroduced as H. R. 7167. No one appeared in opposition to the bill although objections were raised to several of its features. These objections were given full consideration in the redraft of the measure, some of them being incorporated and others rejected. THE NEED FOR UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION There was unanimity of opinion among those appearing at the hearings on this bill that unemployment compensation is needed for the District of Columbia. While the District has been in a more favorable position than the country as a whole in regard to the volume of unemployment, there has, nevertheless, been a large volume of unemployment in the District in recent years. In April 1930 the United States census showed 4.9 percent of all gainful workers in the District unemployed. Unemployment increased until the average unemployment in 1933 reached 21 percent of all gainful workers, as estimated by the President's Committee on Economic Security. For the entire period of 1930-33 the Committee on Economic Security estimated that the percentage of gainful workers unemployed was 18.3 percent. If Federal and District of Columbia employees are excluded from these compilations, the proportion of gainful workers unemployed is even larger. In round numbers, an average of 14,000 gainful workers were unemployed in 1930; 31,000 in 1931; 47,000 in 1932; 37,000 in 1933; and 42,000 in 1934. Indications are that unemployment increased in that year slightly over 1933. According to statistics offered by Dr. Leroy A. Halbert,' director of research of the public assistance division, Board of Public Welfare, District of Columbia, there were 22,938 cases receiving relief in the District in January 1935, with an expenditure of $697,948.21, on an average of $30.43 per case. From August 1932 to January 1935, a total of $9,093,715.01 was spent for relief. Table 1 gives the total number of cases which received relief, the total amount of expenditures for relief, and the amount of relief per case from August 1932 to January 1935. While unemployment compensation could not provide benefits for the unemployed throughout the entire period of unemployment during a prolonged depression, such as we have gone through, it would materially reduce the relief burden. According to a recent analysis of 6,631 relief cases in the District of Columbia, 817 or 13.9 percent have been unemployed less than 6 months (the maximum normal duration of benefits proposed in H. R. 7167). TABLE I.a—Total amount of expenditures for relief, number of cases which received relief, and amount of relief per case, District of Columbia, August 1932 to January 1935 1 Hearings before the subcommittee on fiscal affairs of this committee, p. 69. |