obligation. The Budget and the accompanying bill carry a like amount for effecting such increase, commencing April 1, 1939.

As in the case of the Air Corps, the committee has allowed for 50 percent, instead of 75 percent, spare engines for the 32 new airplanes chargeable to the appropriation for this component. The resultant saving here is $47,624. In addition, there is a facial reduction of $513,443, because of the proposal to reappropriate such amount of the current appropriation administratively withheld from obligation.

The total number of eligible Reserve officers on June 30, 1937, was 96,545, tables regarding whom appear on pages 578-579 of the hearings. The Budget increase of $1,373,617 is reached in this way:

Increase

Decrease

Reduction in per capita cost of 14-day trainees__

Thomason Act student officers--

$152, 829 282, 733

Training 214, instead of 200, officers at special service

schools...

$30, 744

Increase from 650 to 857 Reserve officers on extended

active duty with Air Corps, and certain expenses inci

The Thomason Act contemplates the employment each year of 1,000 Reserve officers on active duty for a 12-month period, 50 of whom are to be commissioned in the Regular Army. Provision was made for full compliance with the letter and spirit of the act during the fiscal year 1937. For the present fiscal year the House made provision for full compliance, but it later developed that the number of properly qualified applicants would not run much in excess of 500. The bill was amended to take care of 650 and became law that way. The maximum later was fixed at 550, in consequence of funds being administratively withheld from obligation. The number actually on duty on February 15, 1938, was 521. The accompanying bill, in agreement with the Budget, makes provision for an average of 500 Thomason Act officers during the ensuing fiscal year.

RESERVE OFFICERS' TRAINING CORPS

For this component the Budget proposes an appropriation of $4,599,000, which is $38,420 less than was made available for the present fiscal year. The reduction is a net amount, arrived at as indicated in the table on page 622 of the hearings. A series of tables touching this activity will be found in the hearings commencing on page 603.

No expansion in the way of additional units is contemplated. Current-year provision under this head for such expansion cannot be availed of because the requisite number of officers of the Regular Army for the conduct of such units, and for whom provision also was made for the current fiscal year, are not available owing to funds provided for their pay and allowances being administratively withheld from obligation.

The committee has made two reductions in the estimate, totaling $275,512. For clothing in kind the Budget includes$314,690 to meet a 50-percent price increase, or, at least, that is the reason advanced in the justifications. The committee has allowed one-fifth of that amount. The Budget also includes $23,760 for the purchase of 132 horses, of which there are now 1,811 at institutions. The committee sees no

need to maintain the present number of animals in view of the quantity of motor equipment recently supplied and to be supplied under the provisions of the accompanying bill (hearings, p. 629). Contraction in expensive horsed units should have a tendency to hasten recognition of units imposing a nominal initial and maintenance cost. CITIZENS' MILITARY TRAINING CAMPS

The current appropriation is $2,275,000. With an expenditure of $2,047,500 of that amount 32,522 young men have been given training The Budget proposes an appropriation of $1,000,000 for 1939, which would reduce the number of trainees to 14,250, or approximately 8,000 short of the number necessary to provide for in order that all who have completed the first 3 years of training might continue with the courses, to say nothing of no provision for new trainees in the basic course.

This activity is tremendously popular. The good it is doing for the youth of America is immeasurable. The committee calls attention to the statements, beginning on page 690 of the hearings, made to it by persons in and out of Congress urging strongly against any contraction of citizens' military training camp training. The appropriation proposed is in the current year figure, which means an addition to the Budget estimate of $1,275,000. In the light of the testimony to which attention has been called, it is submitted that this additional amount will go far in the promotion of genuine national defense. It is estimated by the Department, if it be permitted to expend the entire amount, that it will be practicable to give training during the coming summer to 35,000 youths.

NATIONAL BOARD FOR PROMOTION OF RIFLE PRACTICE

The appropriation recommended is in agreement with the current appropriation. The Budget proposes a reduction of $153,726, in which it is submitted it would not be wise to concur.

WAR DEPARTMENT

For the support of the War Department proper at Washington the Budget includes amounts aggregating $5,600,387. That sum exceeds the sum of current appropriations for like objects by $50,220.

The fol owing table shows by general objects the current appropriations and the Budget estimates, the latter being proposed by the committee without change:

Salaries.-The increase under this head is $47,220. Provision is made for a net increase of 10 employees at a net additional expense of $23,340. The total force provided for is 2,489. There is an increase of $8,360 to finance reallocations already made, and there is a lesser deduction by $15,520 on account of amounts estimated to accrue from positions temporarily vacant and leave without pay. The committee has examined into the need for the additional positions and considers them all to be meritorious.

Contingent expenses.-The gross increase under this head is $10,500. A nonrecurring item of expense makes the net increase $8,000. The added items of expense are a multilith, and accessories, $5,000; filing equipment and devices, $4,000; and 2 motor-propelled trucks in replacement of 2 old ones, $1,500. It may be that the Joint Committee on Printing may be able to arrange for the provision of a multilith without charge, in which case the committee has the assurance of the Secretary of War that the money will not be used for other purposes.

It

Printing and binding.—The reduction of $5,000 is purely facial. is the plan to charge all printing and binding on account of civil activities of the Corps of Engineers, heretofore charged to this appropriation, to the appropriate civil appropriations under such corps. This would relieve this appropriation of a charge of around $55,000. In reality, therefore, there is an increase over the current appropria tion of $50,000. The committee has closely scrutinized the additional demands and recommends their approval.

LEGISLATIVE PROVISION

The following legislative provision, not heretofore enacted in any appropriation bill, is recommended:

On page 66, add a new section as follows:

"SEC. 4. Appropriations contained in this Act may be reimbursed from the proceeds of sales of old material, condemned stores, supplies, or other property of any kind on account of expenditures from such appropriations incident to the handling, preparation for sale, and disposition of such property."

The foregoing provision came to the committee in the Budget. Under present law (31 U. S. C. 489) expenses on account of sales may be charged to the proceeds of sales, but no authority exists to reimburse appropriations which are required to bear such expenses. The law, therefore, is meaningless so far as the War Department is concerned, which cannot withhold the proceeds of one sale in order to finance the expenses of a succeeding sale. The enactment of the proposed provision, which by its terms would not extend beyond the ensuing fiscal year, would save the appropriations contained in this bill for the purposes for which provided and relieve them of the expense they now must bear attendant upon sales. The committee believes its effect would be to stimulate getting rid of a lot of useless material now cluttering up various Army establishments. From the standpoint of being legislation there should be no objection, because in lieu of caring for the matter in the manner proposed it would be wholly regular to add an amount to each appropriation that might be involved to meet expenses of the character in question.

REGULAR ANNUAL APPROPRIATIONS

[NOTE.-Appropriations for 1938 include amounts in regular annual and deficiency acts]

+56, 628