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The Antideficiency Act requires that apportionments of this kind be promptly reported to Congress. Section (e) (2) states that:

In each case of an apportionment or a reapportionment which, in the judgment of the officer making such apportionment or reapportionment, would indicate a necessity for a deficiency or supplemental estimate, such officer shall immediately submit a detailed report of the facts of the case to the Congress. In transmitting any deficiency or supplemental estimates required on account of any such apportionment or reapportionment, reference shall be made to such report.

Pursuant to this requirement, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget on September 24, 1953, reported his determination to the Congress by letters addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate and attached a statement showing the basis for the determination.

NEED FOR ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL

Mr. ANDERSEN. What I had in mind was whether or not you people could not do with your present employment? If you take care of that up to June 30, why do you need additional men beyond that? You are evidently carrying on the job all right now, are you not? Mr. RICHARDS. No, sir.

Mr. ANDERSEN. You need extra men?

Mr. BEACH. May I explain why we cannot do that? No. 1 is that we have a big increase in workload when the takeover time comes at the maturity of our small grain loans, around April 30. Furthermore, the existing limitation would not pay the present employment for the rest of the fiscal year. In May and June our workload will increase substantially.

BUDGETARY PLANS FOR COMMODITY OFFICES

Mr. ANDERSEN. Are those two of your heaviest months? Mr. BEACH. Yes, sir. I have a chart which shows the budgetary plans for each commodity office and for all of them combined and the data that goes with it which I can discuss in as much detail as you like. We have these offices on a system of budgeting which requires a plan of their operations for the year in advance by months. That is kept up to date on the basis of current circumstances as they occur. It is based on and tied right back to this detailed work system we have in the offices. In other words, as program volume estimates change, these budget plans must change. For example, cotton; if we raise the estimate of cotton to be placed under loan from 6,500,000 to 7,250,000 bales, immediately we reflect in the estimate for the New Orleans office an indicated requirement for manpower based on the 7,250,000 bales.

That is subject to mathematical calculation with very little error because of past experience with production rates and cost per manmonth of time expended. We are constantly increasing our efficiency. I think this will be apparent if you will notice this one particular aspect of this chart here. We set a budgetary goal for each of the offices this fiscal year which was in excess of the production rate they actually accomplished in the fiscal year 1953. Now, that budgetary goal is set on this chart at 100 percent. We have accomplished a production index above 100 percent throughout the year thus far. We have actually employed less people than the workload volume increase

would indicate to be needed on the basis of past experience, and we hope we will be able to improve further. In fact, I think we will have to do so in order to live even with this supplemental and get the job done.

DELAY IN PROCESSING COTTON LOAN APPLICATIONS

Mr. HUNTER. I notice you indicate a backlog in the workload for loading orders unsettled with warehousemen, unpaid freight bills, and loan notes not fully recorded. What is the situation with respect to applications to get cotton out of loan? I have heard from several people in California who complain that they must wait so long to get their cotton out of loan through New Orleans that their opportunities to make a good sale are passed by.

Mr. RICHARDS. That has been a very serious situation and the New Orleans office has more than doubled its personnel in the last 8 months. First we had a space problem in New Orleans. We finally got that worked out but got it worked out late. We are now getting these loan papers back to producers, so that they either can redeem their cotton or sell their equity. We have been working on that now for 2 months and I think we are getting about current. We have received complaints like those you mentioned, too-a number of them. I think if we are not current we can expect to be in a couple of weeks, but we were far behind, I can assure you of that. We are also still behind in our Chicago office.

I think the problem that you mentioned regarding cotton is rather serious. By reason of our failure to get the paper out there the cotton could not be redeemed. We were just failing to do our job. We felt we had to do something to correct the other situation in Chicago where we had warehouse bills for storage that were 6 months or more behind in payment.

I think whether you are in Government or whether you are in private business, one of the things you have got to do is pay your debts fairly promptly. Frankly, the way this thing was snowballing in the latter part of 1953, we were just failing to get that job done. We are improving, and I think the cotton work is closer to being. current than warehouse bills are.

CLOSING OF THE NEW YORK AND SAN FRANCISCO COMMODITY OFFICES

Mr. HUNTER. As things have turned out, has there been any real saving resulting from closing the San Francisco office? I made no objection at the time because I thought that if I was going to talk about economy I could not complain when an office was closed in my own State for the purposes of cutting down expenses. However, if no economy is resulting, I would like to know about it.

Mr. BEACH. We have no reason to change our estimate of savings resulting from closing both the New York and San Francisco offices. The change taking place is really a change in volume rather than anything else, largely in locations other than the San Francisco and New York areas. It is largely in the Midwest where you have your grain and your dairy products that big increases in volume have taken place, and in the cotton area. Those increases in volume other than cotton would not particularly have affected the New York or San

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Francisco offices. Cotton would have affected New Orleans, and would have added to the San Francisco volume.

Mr. HUNTER. San Francisco is closer to Arizona and California than New Orleans. With the tremendous volume of cotton produced in those States, I was wondering whether the disadvantages that are resulting are offset by the few economies effected?

Mr. RICHARDS. Mr. Hunter, of course hindsight is better than foresight, I guess. The Cotton Advisory Committee, in fact the cotton industry generally, recommended centralizing all the work on cotton in one office. And I think the general feeling of the administration was that we should follow that recommendation. Of course that change reduced the volume of work to be handled in the San Francisco office considerably. Of course, the New York office did not serve an area which was normally a big volume area. Frankly I do not know, if I had known then all the things I know now, whether I would have recommended the closing of the New York and San Francisco offices or not. Again I say, the volume of work that has developed was far greater than any of us anticipated.

Mr. WHITTEN. Our experience on this committee in dealing with CCC and we have had it investigated regularly-in fact, most of the statements and findings that appeared in the press due to public hearings by other committees were actually rehashing the reports which this committee had issued.

But from all of that I am convinced that you never save money by having a lag in handling the paperwork, bills of lading, receipts and various other things connected with commodities. In fact, when you get behind, it is more expensive and more time consuming and will take more manpower in the long run than if you stay current. None of us on this committee wants to spend any more money handling these problems than we have to, but we will spend less money to handle them as they arise than we will by having too small a force and thereby getting behind. I would like to also point out that this being a corporation, one of the primary purposes of or for having a corporation is to permit it to expand its force to meet the problems as they arise and contract or reduce the employees as the workload may fall off. So I am hopeful that at all times we will try to keep current with this problem from the standpoint of the farmers and those dealing with it; they are entitled to it. And then from the standpoint of Government we will save money by it.

Mr. BEACH. With respect to the last comment, we save money immediately in eliminating overtime. Overtime is one of the most expensive ways to get this job done that there is because you lose efficiency and you pay a higher rate of cost for these less efficient people.

Mr. WHITTEN. How many man-hours or man-months it takes to count up something that is out of date or where the commodity has gotten off one place and the warehouse receipt has gotten someplace else, we have seen just a little bit of that in the problem that Mr. Hunter pointed out. That is where folks have a sale for cotton, and I have heard many of the same comments and by the time they can run the actual commodity down, some of them say they have missed the sale. And the more you get behind with the handling of all these problems, the more that kind of problem will arise,

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Chairman, is there any portion of this request of $3 million that is used for the payment of interest on commodity credits?

Mr. BEACH. No, sir.

EFFECTS OF LOWERING SUPPORT LEVEL ON DAIRY PRODUCTS

Mr. MARSHALL. On the basis of the announcement that the Secretary has made of the lowering of the price supports on dairy products, what effect has that had upon the accelerated accumulation of stocks of dairy products, particularly butter?

Mr. RICHARDS. I do not have the exact figures.

Mr. MARSHALL. Could you have that put in the record?

Mr. RICHARDS. Yes, sir.

Mr. MARSHALL. Could you also estimate what that is going to be between now and April 1?

Mr. BEACH. Yes, sir.

Mr. RICHARDS. We can give you a guess on it. Of course, I think, Mr. Marshall, any decrease at all in the support level means thatMr. ANDERSEN. More stocks will be applied. This is almost axiomatic. If there are no further questions, the hearing on this item is completed.

(The information requested follows:)

It is estimated that additional purchases in March, due to a speedup in the offerings in late March, will be as follows:

Butter 10 million pounds; cheese 20 million pounds; and nonfat dry milk solids 20 million pounds.

It is estimated also that the same quantities would have been purchased in April at substantially the same prices had the same support level been continued. These increased deliveries in March will result in expenditures of about $18 million more than would have occurred in March with no change in the support level, but it is anticipated that purchases in April will be less than otherwise would have occurred by approximately the same amount.

TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1954.

FOREST SERVICE

WITNESSES

EDWARD P. CLIFF, ASSISTANT CHIEF, FOREST SERVICE

JOSEPH C. WHEELER, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND BUDGET OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

FIGHTING FOREST FIRES

Mr. ANDERSEN. Gentlemen, the committee will take under consideration a request for a deficiency for $4,500,000 for the Forest Service contained in House Document 330.

We will place in the record at this point pages 1 to 12 of the justifications.

(The pages of the justifications referred to are as follows:)

: Roquest--

Salaries and expenses, Forest Service, fighting forest fires, 1954

Appropriation to date

Obligations to Jan. 31, 1954.

Expenditures to Jan. 31, 1954

Budget estimate next fiscal year__.

Employment:

Average number current appropriation.
Average number involved this estimate.

Actual employment Jan. 31, 1954. -

$4,500,000 6, 000, 000

9, 133, 480

8, 509, 946

6, 000, 000

1, 312 658

36

PURPOSE AND NEED FOR SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDS

The purpose of this estimate is to reimburse the national forest protection and management appropriation in the amount which was borrowed from it for fighting forest fires during the period July 1953, to January 1954, and to provide for emergency fire-fighting expenses during the last 5 months of the fiscal year (February 1, 1954-June 30, 1954).

JUSTIFICATION FOR SUPPLEMENTAL ESTIMATES OF $4,500,000

The following tabulation and narrative statement give detailed information on forest fire fighting obligations and estimates pertaining to national forests in fiscal year 1954:

Obligations to January 31, 1954.

Estimated requirements February 1 to June 30, 1954.

$9, 133, 480

Total for period July 1, 1953 to June 30, 1954 is estimated at
Less amount available from fiscal year 1954 appropriation:
(a) Appropriated for fiscal year 1954.
(b) Plus estimated reimbursements___

1, 441, 520 10, 575, 000

$6, 000, 000

75,000

-6, 075, 000

Total of estimate___.

4, 500, 000

ESTIMATE FOR THE FEBRUARY 1 TO JUNE 30, 1954, FIRE SEASON January and February are usually relatively free from fires and high fire fighting expenditures. Unfortunately such is not the case for January and February 1954. Due to the extended drought, in large areas of the United States, the fire potential is so serious that disastrous fires of the type which occurred in southern California in late December are likely to start again. The Weather Bureau's national weather summary for the week e ding February 8 states:

"Mostly dry, sunny weather has persisted for more than 8 weeks over the northcentral Mississippi Valley and middle and southern portions of the Western Plains and Rocky Mountains. Severe dryress, *** is centered over northwestern Missouri, Iowa, southern South Dakota, southeastern Wyoming, Nebraska, most of Kansas, central and western Oklahoma, western Texas, and much of New Mexico and Colorado, where the total moisture received during the S weeks was less than one-fourth ich which is generally less than 25 percent of normal. During the period precipitation was below 1 ormal over practically the entire Country, except the Teni essee-North Carolina area, far northwestern border districts, and along the north Pacific coast."

A report as of February 15 from the De ver, Colo., office, an area which normally has no fire occurrence during this period, states: The

"Extreme deficiency of snowfall is resulting in unseasonal fire hazard. Black Hills area and the front range in Colorado are becoming particularly acute. There are today 3 fires on the Roosevelt."

Because of critical areas such as these, it is anticipated that fire-fighting expenditures for the period February 1 to June 30 will exceed average obligation during past years for this same period.

Past records indicate that under average weather conditions it would be necessary to put out 3,500 to 4,000 forest fires, ing of in excess of 1,000 miles of fireline. the States of Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Mexico, Arizona, and southern California.

involving the construction and hold-
Most of these fires would occur in
Louisiana, Illinois, Missouri, South
North Carolina, Tennessee, New
In part because of the carryover

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