in light of national budgetary considerations and of national planning policies. When the National Planning Board is established I should expect to use that agency to coordinate the development of regional planning to insure conformity to national policy, but not to give to the proposed National Planning Board any executive authority over the construction of public works or over management of completed works.

Projects authorized to be undertaken by the Congress could then be carried out in whole or in part by those departments of the Government best equipped for the purpose, or if desirable in any particular case by one of the regional bodies. There should be a close coordination of the work done by the various agencies of government to prevent friction, overlapping, and unnecessary administrative expense, and to insure the integrated development of related activities. There should be the closest cooperation also with the developing State and local agencies in this field, particularly the State, regional, and local planning boards and the commissions on interstate cooperation which work through interstate compacts ratified by the Congress and through interstate administrative arrangements. And provision should be made for the effective administration of hydroelectric projects which have been or may be undertaken as a part of a multiple purpose watershed development. The water-power resources of the Nation must be protected from private monopoly and used for the benefit of the people.

This proposal is in the interest of economy and the prevention of overlapping or one-sided developments. It leaves the Congress wholly free to determine what shall be undertaken and provides the Congress with a complete picture not only of the needs of each one of the regions but of the relationship of each of the regions to the whole of the Nation.

If, for example, the Congress could have had before it at this session a complete picture of immediate and long-term needs I think its task in providing for flood prevention and drought emergencies would have been an easier one.

For nearly a year I have studied this great subject intensively and have discussed it with many of the Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives. My recommendations in this message fall into the same category as my former recommendation relating to the reorganization of the executive branch of the Government. I hope, therefore, that both of these important matters may have your attention at this session.

THE WHITE HOUSE, June 3, 1937.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT.

Section 1 of the bill provides that this act may be cited as the National Planning Act of 1938.

Section 2 declares it to be the purpose and policy of the bill to develop, integrate, and coordinate, plans, projects, and activities for or incidental to the promotion of navigation, the control of floods, the safeguarding of navigable waters from pollution and otherwise, reclamation of public lands, and the conservation of the water, soil, mineral, and forest resources of the Nation, in order to aid and protect commerce among the several States, to strengthen the national defense, to stabilize employment, and to promote the general welfare. Section 3 creates a National Resources Board of 11 members, 8 of whom shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and 3 of the members are to be appointed-one each from the Departments of Agriculture and Interior, and one from the Corps of Engineers, United States Army, these members to be designated by the Secretaries of Agriculture, Interior, and War, respectively. Of the members appointed by the President, one shall be from the country at large, who shall be chairman, and one each from each of the seven conservation planning regions established by section 8 of the bill. The chairman shall receive compensation at the rate of $10,000 per annum, the members from the planning regions are to receive $7,500 per annum, and the members designated by the Secretaries of Agriculture, Interior, and War shall receive no additional compensation by reason of membership on the Board.

The term of office of each member of the Board who is appointed by the President shall be 4 years, and appointments to fill vacancies in these offices shall be for the unexpired term of the retiring member. Appointments and terms of the members representing the Government Departments shall be at the discretion of the heads of such Departments.

Members appointed from the planning regions can vote on the Board and participate in its decisions only in connection with matters involving their respective regions.

Vacancies in membership shall not impair the power of the Board to execute its functions, and four members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

A regional conservation planning committee is to be established in each region, the chairman of which is the member of the Board for that region. In addition each such committee is to consist of one representative from each agency of the United States having jurisdiction of activities in the region, and one representative from each State in the region, these members to serve without compensation.

The Board and each planning committee is authorized, without regard to the civil-service laws, to employ such officers and employees as it deems necessary to carry out its functions, and to fix their compensation in accordance with the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, such officials and employees to be appointed solely on the basis of merit and efficiency, and no political test or qualification shall be permitted. The Board and the committees shall, as far as practicable, utilize officers and employees of the various bureaus, agencies, and instrumentalities of the United States, and the detail from time to time of such employees is authorized, and these bureaus, etc., are directed to furnish the Board and committees with such information as may be requested to carry out its duties.

Section 4 empowers the Board and the committees (1) to conduct investigations, and to analyze, assemble, coordinate, review, and revise basic information and data appropriate to planning for the conservation and development of the national resources. (2) To cooperate and consult with the various agencies of the United States charged with activities for the promotion of navigation, flood control, prevention of pollution, reclamation of lands, and the conservation of water, soil, mineral, and forest resources, with a view to integrating and coordinating plans and projects. (3) To recommend to such agencies, plans, projects, and activities as will tend to further the integrated and orderly conservation and development of the natural resources. (4) To cooperate with States and their political subdivisions and with public and cooperative agencies in the collection of information and data and the development of plans.

Each planning committee is directed to transmit its recommendations with respect to projects in its region to the Board.

Section 5 directs the Board, on October 15 of each year, to report to the President and to Congress concerning the integration and coordination of proposed plans and projects and to indicate in such report the order of preference and priority in each region, and in the United States as a whole, for the adoption and prosecution of such projects. Section 6 directs that the Board's reports shall include plans for projects, with recommendations for the construction thereof; also detailed estimates of cost and estimates of the portion of such cost

which should be equitably allocated to each of the various purposes of such project. Such report shall also include recommendations of the Board for each region with respect to present and future development and conservation of water for irrigation and other beneficial uses, including the generation of electric power; the prudent husbandry of the soil, mineral, and forest resources and their conservation for recreation, the protection of wild game, and other beneficial uses; the urgency of preventing irreparable waste of resources from droughts, winds, dust storms, and soil erosion; the integration and interconnection of projects and activities, the development of their multiple purposes, and the equitable distribution of the benefits thereof; the equitable contribution to cost by States and subdivisions thereof specially benefited by the projects and activities in such region; equitable contribution from the revenues of a project or otherwise, to compensate States and subdivisions thereof for special losses, not offset or mitigated by benefits which may be occasioned by the carrying out of projects; any economic, social, or cultural values which may be affected or furthered by the projects.

That the reports of the Board shall include recommendations, as deemed necessary, for economical and efficient cooperation in carrying out the plans included in the reports among Federal, State, regional, and local departments and agencies; and for further legislation to promote the conservation and development of the natural resources.

That the reports may include plans for projects to be constructed by agencies of the United States, but also plans for projects to be constructed by such agencies from contributions by State, local, or regional agencies; and plans for projects to be constructed by such State, local, or regional agencies with contributions by the United States. The report shall set forth recommendations regarding such contributions by the United States and regarding the construction and undertaking of such projects as between the agencies and the departments and agencies of the United States on the one hand, and State, local, and regional agencies on the other hand.

The reports shall classify plans for projects, both in the regions and the country as a whole, with a view to the construction of projects in the order of their urgency so as most beneficially to promote the national welfare by stabilizing employment and relieving unemployment.

The reports shall include only those plans for projects which have been approved by the agency of the United States regularly charged with the construction of such similar projects. In the case of projects for the promotion of navigation or the control of floods, the reports of the Board shall include only those projects as have been reported on favorably by the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, after examination and survey authorized by Congress. In the case of projects to be prosecuted by State, local, or regional agencies, the reports shall include only those as have been approved by the State, local, or regional agency concerned.

Section 7 provides that projects, plans for which are contained in the reports of the Board, shall be constructed or carried out, and operated by the agency of the United States regularly charged with the construction and operation of similar projects, except that the

President is authorized, in his discretion, to utilize the Public Works Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and any other agency of the United States to cooperate with such Department or agency in the prosecution of such work.

That insofar as applicable the provisions of the Bonneville Dam Act of 1937 shall extend to the maintenance of any dam constructed by or on behalf of the United States in the Northwestern Conservation Planning Region, and to the generation, distribution, and sale of electric energy at any such dam; and that the powers, rights, and duties of the Secretary of War and the Chief of Engineers in respect to Bonneville under such act shall be exercised and performed in respect of any such other dam by the head of such Department and the chief of such bureau or agency as shall construct such other dam; and the powers, rights, and duties of the Bonneville Power Administrator, in respect of electric energy generated at the Bonneville project under such act, shall be exercised and performed by him in respect of electric energy generated at such other dam.

Section 8 provides for the creation of seven conservation planning regions and defines their boundaries; that the President may, from time to time, more specifically define or redefine the territorial boundaries of these regions; and that the provisions of this act shall not be construed as limiting the functions, powers, or duties of the Mississippi River Commission or the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Section 9 grants the consent of Congress to the several States to enter into agreements and compacts between or among any two or more States to further and supplement on behalf of the States the purposes of this act, and to carry out on behalf of the States appropriate projects in relation thereto; that such agreements shall not become effective until they have been approved by Congress; and that the Board shall cooperate with and furnish information and assistance to States for the purpose of negotiating and carrying out compacts.

Section 10 provides that the provisions of this bill shall not apply to the Great Lakes and their harbors, nor to the harbors, channels, and tidal waters of the Atlantic, Gulf, or Pacific coasts.

Section 11 provides that nothing in the bill shall be construed as limiting the powers, functions, or duties of any State or subdivision thereof or any agency or instrumentality of a State or subdivision thereof; and nothing in this bill shall be construed as affecting the laws of the respective States relating to the control, appropriation, use, or distribution of water used in irrigation or for municipal use or for any other uses, or any vested right acquired therein; and nothing in this bill shall be construed as affecting or intended to affect or in any way interfere with such rights as the respective States now have to adopt hereafter such policies, and to enact such laws as they may deem necessary with respect to the control, appropriation, use, or distribution of waters within their boundaries, except as modified by compacts between the States, or other interstate agreements. All officers and agencies of the Federal Government, in carrying out the provisions of this bill, shall proceed in conformity with such State laws now or hereafter enacted, and nothing in this bill shall in any

way affect any right of any State or of the Federal Government or of any landowner, appropriator, or user of water in, to, or from any interstate stream, or the waters thereof.

Section 12 authorizes to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this bill, but provides that such appropriations, exclusive of appropriations for the compensation of members of the Board, shall not exceed $250,000.

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