Amendment numbered 3:

That the House recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the Senate numbered 3, and agree to the same with an amendment, as follows:

Restore the matter stricken out by said amendment amended to read as follows:

SEC. 6. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $15,000,000 to be expended at the discretion of the President of the United States for the construction of experimental vessels, none of which shall exceed three thousand tons standard displacement, and the sum of $3,000,000 to be expended at the discretion of the President of the United States for the construction of a rigid airship of American design and American construction of a capacity not to exceed three million cubic feet either fabric covered or metal covered to be used for training, experimental, and development purposes.

And the Senate agree to the same.

Amendment numbered 4:

That the House recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the Senate numbered 4, and agree to the same with an amendment, as follows:

In lieu of the matter inserted by said amendment insert the following:

SEC. 12. The construction, alteration, furnishing, or equipping of any naval vessel authorized by this Act, or the construction, alteration, furnishing, or equipping of any naval vessels with funds from any appropriation available for such purposes, contracts for which are made after June 30, 1938, shall be in accordance with the provisions of Public Law 846, Seventy-fourth Congress, approved June 30, 1936, unless such course, in the judgment of the President of the United States, should not be in the interest of national defense.

And the Senate agree to the same.

CARL VINSON,

P. H. DREWRY,

MELVIN J. MAAS,

Managers on the part of the House.
DAVID I. WALSH,

MILLARD TYDINGS,

FREDERICK HALE,

Managers on the part of the Senate.

STATEMENT OF THE MANAGERS ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

The managers on the part of the House at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H. R. 9218) to establish the composition of the United States Navy, to authorize the construction of certain naval vessels, and for other purposes, submit the following statement in explanation of the effect of the action agreed upon and recommended in the accompanying conference report as to each of such amendments, namely: Amendment No. 1: As to capital ships, provides for additional units of a total tonnage of 105,000 tons and an authorized gross under age tonnage of 630,000 tons, as proposed by the House, each of such amounts to be increased by 30,000 tons in the event the President should determine that it would be in the interest of national defense to build capital ships of a unit tonnage in excess of 35,000 tons by reason of the unit tonnage of capital ships being built by other nations. The Senate proposed authorization of such increase of tonnage independently of such determination, and provided that if utilized in building capital ships of a unit tonnage in excess of 35,000 tons, the President should first determine that a capital ship in excess of 35,000 tons had been "officially projected, appropriated for, or laid down by another power."

As to aircraft carriers: Provides for 40,000 additional tons and a total authorized under age tonnage of 175,000 tons, as proposed by the Senate, instead of 30,000 tons and 165,000 tons, respectively, as proposed by the House.

Amendment No. 2, relating to auxiliary vessels: Provides as proposed by the Senate as indicated below:

Also, as proposed by the Senate, provides for the acquisition of such auxiliary vessels by means of converting vessels of other types. Amendment No. 3: Authorizes appropriations of $15,000,000 for the construction of experimental vessels of 3,000 tons standard displacement or under, and $3,000,000 for an American designed and

constructed rigid airship, both sums to be expended at the discretion of the President.

The House proposed an appropriation of $15,000,000, to be expended at the direction of the President, for a wide range of experiments, including specifically $5,000,000 for the construction of small experimental vessels, and $3,000,000 for an American designed and constructed rigid airship, and, in addition, the House proposed the grant of authority to enter into contracts, to the extent of $15,000,000, with inventors and manufacturers for experimental works, models, plans, materials, and the development of projects useful to the national defense.

The Senate proposed authorization of an appropriation of $15,000,000, to be expended at the discretion of the President, solely for the construction of small experimental vessels, and eliminated the grant of contractural authority proposed by the House. The Senate also proposed legislation pertaining to the Military Establishment authorizing the placement of educational orders with private manufacturing establishments.

Amendment No. 4: Provides for the application of the pertinent provisions of the Walsh-Healey Act both to work authorized by the subject bill and to work undertaken upon other naval vessels under contracts made subsequent to June 30, 1938, unless the President should determine such course to be contrary to the interest of national defense, in lieu of the Senate proposal, which did not specifically vest discretion in the President, and which, as to obligations incurred after July 1, 1938, applied to any Government vessel.

MAY 10, 1938.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. BLAND, from the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 3595]

The Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, to whom was referred the bill (S. 3595) to authorize the purchase and distribution of products of the fishing industry, having had the same under consideration, report it back to the House without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

The bill is to aid the fishery industry and provides that out of any funds available to the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation, not to exceed a sum equal to the difference between $1,000,000 and the sum expended by such Corporation in carrying out the provisions of the joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution to make funds available to carry out the provisions of existing law authorizing the purchase and distribution of products of the fishing industry," approved April 12, 1937, may be used by such Corporation for the purpose of diverting surplus fish (including shellfish) and the products thereof from the normal channels of trade and commerce by acquiring them and providing for their distribution through Federal, State, and private relief channels. The provisions of law relating to the acquisition of materials shall not apply to the acquisition of commodities under this act.

The original act on which the joint resolution above referred to was based authorized an appropriation of $2,000,000, and on March 11, 1937, the President transmitted a Budget estimate to carry the act into effect by making available not to exceed $2,000,000 of the funds of the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation. This amount was reduced by the Appropriations Committee, and the amount which was unexpended and would be available under this act is approximately the sum of $379,000. According to the testimony before your committee, the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation purchased, in 1937, a little over 12,000,000 pounds of fishery products, at a cost of about $621,000.

The situation in the fishing industry continues deplorable, and the need for removal of surplus commodities is just as great as in the case

of agriculture. In the case of fishery products there is greater uncertainty. One cannot predict what the catch for a given season will be. The fishermen generally operate in small units, often in individual units.

According to the testimony of experts in the United States Bureau of Fisheries before your committee, the holdings of fishery products in the United States in March 1938 approximated 260,000,000 pounds, or approximately 80,000,000 to 100,000,000 pounds above normal holdings; that is, holdings of all kinds. The excess holdings as of March 15, 1938, are made up principally of dressed and filleted cod, haddock, pollock, and shellfish (mostly shrimp), sablefish, rosefish, salmon (mostly of the fall and pink varieties), and halibut. On March 15, 1937, the excess over the 5-year average as of that date was accounted for mainly by the large holdings of whiting, various species of ground fish, such as cod, haddock, pollock, and so forth, and rosefish.

Even though the purchases authorized may not be made directly from the fishermen, yet the purchases serve to remove the surpluses from the warehouse, and this enables the fisherman to keep on working and to find an outlet for his fish either with the canneries or wholesale fish dealers; and in other cases, where the fishermen have coldstorage warehouses, it reaches directly to them. The theory of the relief is that by removing these surpluses it will make it possible for the canners and wholesalers to purchase fish which, in time, will keep the fisherman fishing and probably secure better prices for him; while, on the other hand, it is believed that the price will not be increased to the consumer. That appeared to be the situation in the purchase program in 1937. It is also believed that the purchase program will enable the factories or canneries to continue operating. Telegrams were produced from packers' associations that aid in removing some of the surplus would allow a much earlier opening of canning plants, with an earlier and larger market for raw fish, more employment for labor, and so benefit the coastal areas.

An essential difference between the situation this year and last year when the relief program was put into effect is that last year (1937) our holdings were largely of frozen fish, while this year we have a big surplus of canned fish and a smaller surplus of frozen fish.

Testimony before your committee showed that while everyone connected with the fishery products purchased under the relief program last year took a loss, yet the program was of great benefit to the industry. In the industry fishermen as a rule work on shares, and if the fish when caught cannot be sold, the fisherman gets nothing for his labor. If the market is so low, so depressed by a large surplus, that the fish buyers cannot buy, then the fisherman gets nothing, boats are tied up, fishermen are thrown out of employment, and men must go on relief. As a result, the farmer who sells products used by the boats loses, fuel-oil producers suffer, manufacturers of boxes for packing fish suffer, and other producers lose.

The fisheries industry has been in distressing condition for many years. The conditions vary, the men most vitally affected are not organized, and the need for relief is acute. Your committee believe that the bill will afford some measure of relief and urge its enactment into law.

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