Page images
PDF
EPUB

Hon. HATTON W. SUMNERS,

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D. C., April 17, 1935.

Chairman Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives,

Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: In accordance with your request of March 25, 1935, I have carefully considered the bill (H. R. 6476) to amend the act of May 18, 1934, which made it a Federal offense to kill or assault certain Federal officers, by including within its terms, officers and employees of the Department of Agriculture authorized to enforce laws for the protection of wild animals and birds.

I am advised that this proposal is in response to a very urgent need in the administration of the Bureau of Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture, and I approve its purpose.

My attention has also been called to the necessity of affording similar protection to the personnel of several other groups, such as officers and employees of the National Park Service; officers, employees, and other persons assigned to duty in the Division of Grazing of the Department of the Interior, and officers and employees of the Indian Field Service.

I have prepared a new draft of the bill, which is enclosed herewith, embodying the above-mentioned suggestions as well as certain clarifying amendments, and I recommend the enactment of the bill as so amended.

Sincerely yours,

HOMER CUMMINGS,
Attorney General.

In compliance with clause 2 A of the rule XIII, there is printed below the existing law with matter proposed to be stricken out in brackets and new matter proposed to be inserted in italics.

"That whoever shall kill, as defined in sections 273 and 274 of the Criminal Code, any United States marshal or deputy United States marshal, special agent of the [Division] Federal Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice, post-office inspector, Secret Service operative, any officer or enlisted man of the Coast Guard, any employee of any United States penal or correctional institution, any officer of the Customs Service or of the Internal Revenue Service, any immigrant inspector or any immigration patrol inspector, any officer or employee of the Department of Agriculture to enforce any Act of Congress for the protection, preservation, or restoration of game and other wild birds and animals, any officer or employee of the National Park Service, any officer or employee of, or assigned to duty in, the Field Service of the Division of Grazing of the Department of the Interior, or any officer or employee of the Indian Field Service of the United States, while engaged in the performance of his official duties, or on account of the performance of his official duties, shall be punished as provided under section 275 of the Criminal Code."

O

COMPENSATING THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT FOR

THE RETURN OF UNDELIVERABLE LETTERS AND
VALUABLE PACKAGES

MAY 4, 1935.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. DOBBINS, from the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 6374]

The Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, having had under consideration the bill (H. R. 6374) providing compensation for the Post Office Department for the extra work involved in the return of valuable packages from the dead-letter office to the writers, report the same back to the House with the recommendation that the bill do pass.

The purpose of the bill is for increasing the fee for the return of ordinary dead letters from 3 to 5 cents, to eliminate to some extent the present cost of handling. During the past year over 11,000,000 dead letters were handled by the Postal Service. The fees for the return of those found returnable provided a revenue of $4.33 per thousand letters, based upon the total number of letters handled; the actual cost of handling was $10.58 per thousand.

The authority requested for the charge of the minimum registration fee of 15 cents for ordinary letters found to contain $1 or more in cash, or first-class parcels containing valuable inclosures, is to offset the present cost of slightly over 29 cents for official registration. Last year the approximate cost of returning dead letters by official registered mail was about $6,000, and the proposed charge of 15 cents in addition to the 5-cent fee will produce about $3,000 in additional revenue to offset the deficit.

This legislation is recommended by the Post Office Department in the following statement:

It is believed that the Post Office Department should be compensated for the extra work involved in the return of valuable parcels from the dead-letter office to the writers.

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 2a of rule XIII of the House, the changes proposed by the bill (H. R. 6374) in existing law (39 U. S. C. 406) are shown as follows (the matter proposed to be stricken out by the bill is shown in black brackets and the new matter proposed to be inserted by the bill is shown by italics; the existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman):

The Postmaster General may regulate the period during which undelivered letters and parcels of the first class shall remain in any post office and when they shall be returned to the dead-letter office; and he may make regulations for their return from the dead-letter office to the writers when they cannot be delivered to the parties addressed. When letters and parcels of the first class are returned from the dead-letter office to the writers, a fee of [3] 5 cents shall be collected at the time of delivery, and in addition a charge shall be made of the minimum registry fee for the return of all ordinary dead letters containing $1 or more in cash, and parcels of the first class apparently valued at $1 or more, under such rules and regulations as the Postmaster General may prescribe.

[ocr errors]

74TH CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1st Session

APPROPRIATION FOR CERTAIN MUNICIPAL EXPENSES INCIDENT TO THE CONVENTION OF THE IMPERIAL COUNCIL OF THE MYSTIC SHRINE IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA IN 1935

MAY 6, 1935.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. BUCHANAN, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. J. Res. 272]

The Committee on Appropriations, to whom was referred the joint resolution "To enable the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to defray certain expenses incident to the convention of the Imperial Council of the Mystic Shrine, June 8 to 17, 1935, both inclusive" (H. J. Res. 272), report the measure without amendment and with a recommendation for its early consideration and enactment.

The joint resolution appropriates $54,000 to enable the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to furnish the additional municipal services and to perform the additional duties that will be imposed in connection with the holding in Washington during the second week in June of the convention of the Imperial Council of the Mystic Shrine. Vast throngs of people from all over the Nation are expected to attend this gathering and estimates of attendance in some authentic quarters run over 300,000. The Commissioners should be in a position properly to protect, direct, and handle the crowds in the city during this period.

The appropriation of $54,000 is payable wholly from the revenues of the District of Columbia pursuant to Public Resolution No. 14 of this Congress, approved April 24, 1935, and is composed of $50,000 for maintenance of public order and the protection of life and property and $4,000 for the establishment and operation of temporary publicconvenience stations, first-aid stations, and information booths.

The recommendation for the appropriation at this time is urgent, due to the fact that supplies and equipment must be advertised and contracted for and the necessary publication of special municipal regulations for the occasion may comply with legal requirements.

The amount recommended is pursuant to a Budget estimate submitted in House Document No. 169 of the present session. The committee has conducted hearings upon this request and has received from the representatives of the municipal government the details of the estimated expenditures contemplated under the special appropriation. The amount allowed is identical with the sum appropriated for a similar convention held in the District of Columbia in 1923.

« PreviousContinue »