region under the direction of the planning agency of each region. It should be obvious that successful administration can be achieved only if authority is clear and responsibility is single. Where responsibility is divided and authority duplicated, only confusion and inaction can result. That the planning agencies should be able to devise arrangements for such cooperation and coordination of Federal programs in the region is, I believe, clear. But the planning agencies should be instructed to take up such proposed arrangements with the departments concerned and with the President. There should be opportunity for consultation and conference. Final authority to effect coordination should rest either with the department primarily responsible for administration of the program, or with the President. This may be the manner in which section 4 (b) would operate in practice, but inasmuch as the language used is susceptible of a different interpretation, it will create confusion and may seriously interfere with effective administration if left in its present form. I am attaching a suggested revision of various sections of H. R. 7365, making the changes I have urged in this report to enable H. R. 7365 to realize its splendid objectives and to cure it of the weaknesses which I have discussed. Upon reference of this bill to the Bureau of the Budget, as required by Budget Circular 336, the Acting Director thereof advised the Department of Agriculture, under date of July 8, 1937, that "there would be no objection by this office to your presentation to the committee of such report on this bill as would not be inconsistent with the President's message of June 3, 1937, on flood prevention and drought emergencies (H. Doc. No. 261, 75th Cong.)." Sincerely, HARRY L. BROWN, Acting Secretary. APPENDIX PROPOSED REVISIONS OF H. R. 7365, SUGGESTED IN ACCOMPANYING REPORT OF SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE 1. At page 8, line 21, strike the word "effecting" and substitute in its place the word "recommending". 2. At page 8, line 24, after the word "the" insert the phrase "heads of and with the". 3. At page 9, line 3, after the word "of" insert the phrase "the heads of". 4. At page 18, line 19, change "Title II" to "Title III" and insert immediately before it a new title II as follows: "TITLE II "CONSTRUCTION, OPERATION, AND CONDUCT OF PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES "SEC. 201. (a) Whenever, pursuant to this or any other Act of the Congress any project or activity (of a type in respect of which a regional planning agency is authorized to prepare plans under section 6) has been approved by the President or adopted by Congress, as the case may require, such project or activity shall be entrusted for construction and operation to the Department or agency of the United States regularly charged with the administration of such or similar projects or activitites. Such projects or activitites as shall relate to the promotion of navigation, the control and prevention of floods, the safeguarding of navigable waters, or the reclamation of the public lands shall be constructed, operated, and conducted primarily for such purposes. In order to effectuate the primary purposes of such projects with the greatest public benefit and, so far as is consistent with such primary purposes, to avoid the waste of water, water power, and other property of the United States, such Department or agency, except as the Congress may otherwise provide, shall have such powers (subject to the provisions of this act relating to the powers and duties of the regional power authorities provided for hereinafter) as may be necessary or appropriate to construct, operate, and carry out such project or activity so as to accomplish the purposes and to fulfill the requirements specified in subsections (a) and (b) of section 6, including the power (to the extent necessary or appropriate to construct, operate, or carry out such project or activity entrusted to it, and works and facilities incidental thereto)— "(1) To acquire, construct, operate, maintain, and improve dams, locks, reservoirs, levees, spillways, floodways, fishways, conduits, canals, roads, roadways, docks, wharves, terminals, sewage disposal and water purification works, and recreation facilities, and structures, equipment, and facilities incidental thereto. "(2) To acquire, construct, operate, maintain, and improve such canals, conduits, power houses, transmission lines, rural electric lines, and substations, and such machinery, equipment, structures, and facilities, for the storage and transportation of water or for the generation and transmission of electric energy as the Department or agency deems necessary or approropriate to supply existing and potential markets. "(3) To develop and provide such methods and conditions of water and land utilization as the Department or agency deems necessary or appropriate to prevent and abate floods and droughts. "(4) To acquire, by purchase, lease, condemnation, or donation such real and personal property and any interest therein, and to dispose of such personal property or interest therein, as it deems necessary or appropriate in carrying out its purposes under this Act, and may, subject to the prior approval of the President, sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of any such real property or interest therein as in its judgment is no longer necessary in carrying out the provisions of this Act: Provided, however, That no real property shall be disposed of upon which there is a permanent dam, hydraulic power plant, fertilizer plant, or munitions plant, heretofore or hereafter constructed by or on behalf of the United States. In order further so to effectuate such primary purposes in the construction and operation of dams for projects entrusted to a department or agency, each department or agency, insofar as practicable, shall make provision, in the construction of any such dam, for such foundations, sluices, penstocks, and other works as may be necessary or appropriate to prevent the waste of water power at such dam and to make possible the economical future development of water power at such dam. "(b) Whenever, pursuant to this or any other Act of the Congress, a project or activity is entrusted to a department or agency, such department or agency, is authorized, if in its judgment the interests of economy and efficiency will be served thereby, to construct or operate such project or conduct such activity through, or in conjunction with, other departments and agencies of the United States, or in conjunction with States or subdivisions or agencies, thereof, or other public or cooperative agencies. The departments and agencies of the United States are hereby authorized to participate in the construction or operation of such projects or the conduct of such activities on terms mutually agreed upon. "(c) The provisions of sections 304, 305, 307, and 308 of this act shall be fully applicable to all departments and agencies of the United States engaged in carrying out the provisions of this title." At page 18, line 21, change the section number "201" to "301". At page 23, line 20, change the section number "202" to "302". At page 25, line 8, change the section number "203" to "303". At page 32, line 21, change the section number "204" to "304". At page 35, line 5, change the section number "205" to "305". At page 37, line 15, change the section number "206" to "306". At page 38, line 6, change the section number "207" to "307". At page 43, line 10, change the section number "208" to "308". At page 50, line 5, change the section number "209" to "309". At page 51, line 4, change the section number "210" to "310". At page 52, line 5, change the section number "211" to "311". At page 52, line 15, change the section number "212" to "312". At page 52, line 22, change the reference to "sections 207 and 208" to "sections 307 and 308". At page 53, line 1, change the title number "III" to "IV". At page 53, line 3, change the section number "301" to "401". DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Hon. J. J. MANSFIELD, Chairman, Committee on Rivers and Harbors, House of Representatives. DEAR MR. MANSFIELD: As requested in your letter of June 9, I am glad to give you my comments on H. R. 7392, a bill to provide for the creation of conservation authorities, and for other purposes. H. R. 7392 is a companion bill to S. 2555. I have prepared a comprehensive statement covering S. 2555, and, in order to avoid confusion, am submitting to your committee a copy of my report on that bill. I am also submitting to you, in a separate report, my comments on H. R. 7365, which is aimed at the same objectives. Sincerely yours, HARRY L. BROWN, JULY 9, 1937. Hon. ELLISON D. SMITH, Chairman, Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, United States Senate. DEAR SENATOR SMITH: I have carefully considered the bill, S. 2555, introduced by Senator Norris, entitled "A bill to provide for the creation of conservation authorities, and for other purposes", upon which you have asked me to submit a report to your committee. As I read the bill it seeks to accomplish three major purposes: (1) The formulation, for each of seven geographic regions, of plans for the conservation and development of the natural resources of the region and the systematic effectuation of these plans; (2) the generation and distribution of electric power which will become available as a result of such projects for navigation, flood control, and reclamation as may be included in the plans of the regional agencies and adopted by Congress; and (3) coordination within each region of the various Federal action programs being administered in the region. I am heartily in accord with each of these purposes. No one interested in agricultural improvement and in having our natural resources best serve all our people could fail to recognize the necessity for both short-time and long-time planning. The final end to be served, of course, is that which has been so continuously emphasized by this administration-human conservation. The Department of Agriculture has a special interest in planning that involves flood-control and related things, because the land phase of flood control is primarily an agricultural problem. The plans of the regional agencies for projects in flood control, navigation, and reclamation of public lands will naturally include, as a necessary incident to such projects, plans for generating and distributing electric power. Probably no segment of American life is more interested in electric power at low rates than is agriculture. Electric energy can contribute enormously to the improvement of farming and rural living. In some areas electric refrigeration is the key to a vitally needed diversification. In all areas, for all people, cheap electricity ought to be one of the blessings of modern technology. Naturally I favor the regionalization of many activities. I think the Department of Agriculture has helped point the way to a desirable regionalization of Federal programs, and has striven to coordinate its work in each region so as best to supplement related activities of State and local agencies. The work of the Forest Service, Soil Conservation Service, Resettlement Administration, Bureau of Public Roads, and the Biological Survey is regionalized; the programs of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and of the Extension Service are regionalized, though on a different basis. Only recently, to help meet the acute situation in the so-called "dust-bowl" area of the southern Great Plains, I designated a regional coordinator with authority to unify the Department's programs. Fortunately, the coordinator has the active support of the State and local agricultural agencies in the five States concerned. Therefore, I have not the slightest reservation to make about the ultimate objectives at which this bill is aimed. I should like, however, to submit for the consideration of your committee, a few suggestions for revision of the bill. I am offering these in the hope of improving its administrative features. In its present form the bill contains some administrative provisions which may seriously interfere with the attainment of the objectives I have summarized above. Now, I realize that when a department of the Government speaks of duplication and of working at cross-purposes the comments are likely to be considered as merely the desire of the bureaucrat to preserve or to enlarge his department's responsibilities. But unfortunately it is true that faulty administrative organization can easily cause otherwise well-conceived programs to founder. The proper administrative arrangement and the proper assignment of responsibilities are elemental necessities to the success of any program. S. 2555 may be summarized as follows: It establishes seven conservation authorities which, between them, embrace the continental area of the United States. The authorities are directed to prepare and to submit annually to the resident plans for integrated regional development in the field of the conserva tion and utilization of natural resources. The authorities are empowered to devise and effect coordination within the regions of the programs of the various departments and agencies of the United States. The President is authorized to transfer to the authorities, by Executive Order, the actual administration of any dam and appurtenant works heretofore or hereafter constructed by the United States. It is then provided that if, by later act of the Congress, any project or activity within the comprehensive field to which its over-all planning relates, should be assigned to an authority for administration and such assignment would be expected the authority shall be able to exercise certain designated powers in administering such project or activity. Special provision is also made for the powers which the authority may exercise in administering projects for the generation and distribution of electric energy. These, I believe, may well be said to be the major provisions of the bill. One administrative feature of this bill that disturbs me greatly is this: It should be noted that the seven proposed conservation authorities exhaust between them the continental area of the United States, and that the scope of the projects and activities for which the authorities are required to prepare plans includes a number of activities now being administered by the Department of Agriculture. Since this bill would authorize the assignment to the conservation authorities of the duty of administering any of the programs provided for in their plans, it would permit, and seems even to propose, duplication by the conservation authorities of a large part of the work of the Department of Agriculture. Let me be specific. The Department of Agriculture is now administering programs for the retirement of submarginal land from cultivation, for soil conservation, for retardation of run-off and erosion control on watersheds in aid of flood control, for administration of national forests and wildlife refuges, and other programs dealing with conservation of natural resources. Under this bill the conservation authorities are expressly directed to include in their plans provision for the conservation and integrated development of water, soil, and forest resources, the prevention of siltation of waters, the control and retardation of water run-off, and the restoration and improvement of the absorption and infiltration capacity of the soil, improved methods and conditions of soil conservation, utilization, fertilization, and cultivation, the conservation of forests and forestation and reforestation of lands, as well as the prudent husbandry of soil, mineral, and forest resources and their conservation for recreation, the protection of wild game, and other beneficial uses. It will be seen that the conservation authorities are thus directed to prepare plans covering many of the most important activities of the Department of Agriculture. Therefore, the provision in section 8 (a) of the bill, which looks to entrusting to the authorities for administration any project or activity of a type in respect of which an authority is authorized to prepare plans, looks, also, to duplicating this work of the Department. It might be possible to discontinue the national farm programs in order to substitute for them similar programs under regional control. If this were done, each of the regional authorities would have to maintain research and action staffs made up of soils men, agronomists, agricultural economists, foresters, wildlife experts, soil conservationists, and agricultural engineers. S. 2555 contemplates assigning such programs to the regional authorities while leaving intact the legislation and administrative organization under which the Department is now operating, thereby seemingly making necessary such complete duplication of functions and personnel. I earnestly hope your committee will carefully scrutinize the effect which such duplication would have, in particular, upon the national agricultural program. I know that any injury to that program is farthest from the intentions of Senator Norris and others who favor the bill's present provisions. If the Congress assigned to the regional agencies the soil conservation and related projects as is contemplated in the bill, it would thereby make a national agricultural program a doubtful undertaking. Soil conservation is achieved by the adoption of the proper farm practices. These practices must be in accord not only with the farm's physical requirements, but also with the farmer's economic requirements. In fact, farm income is in many respects the controlling factor in the difference between soil exploitation and soil conservation. If soil conservation were administered by regional authorities, it is inconceivable that all seven plans, under seven separate managements, would fit harmoniously into a national farm program that would yield an adequate farm income and that would, at the same time, induce soil conservation practices. It is difficult enough to achieve coordination within a single department of all elements of a farm program that make conservation farming economically possible. No problem requires more study, or taxes more the energies of the officials of the Department of Agriculture, than that of keeping the soil erosion control program, with its technical and physical approach, the soil conservation and domestic allotment program, with its economic approach, the flood control program, the forestry program, and the rehabilitation program moving forward harmoniously together. These are now under one management. With all, or only one or two of these under seven managements, efforts to achieve coordination would be faced with enormously increased difficulties. I therefore hope you will act favorably on my recommendation that the bill be amended to provide that all agricultural programs be administered by the Department of Agriculture, not by the regional authorities. If desired, the bill could provide that the Department shall call upon the authorities for cooperation in integrating agricultural programs with the plans and programs of the authorities. Section 5 (b) of the bill raises a somewhat different problem, though it is closely related to the problem of duplication. This section provides that each authority shall survey within its region the programs of the existing Federal departments and agencies, and "shall endeavor to coordinate and integrate such projects, activities, and regional developments by devising and effecting arrangements, for the cooperation of the field offices and services of the departments and agencies of the United States." The authorities may call upon the field offices and services for any information, and it is made the duty of the Federal departments and agencies "to have their field offices and services take such action as may be necessary or appropriate fully to cooperate with each authority." This language may be interpreted to mean that final responsibility and authority for bringing about "coordination" of all Federal programs in the region is to rest with the conservation authorities. Now, the essence of a program lies in the way in which it is administered in the field. If the regional authorities can set aside administrative procedures devised by the Department in Washington, and can give countervailing instructions to the field offices, then the real responsibility for the administration of the programs will shift from the Department to the conservation authorities. Furthermore, inasmuch as the several conservation authorities may each devise different arrangements for such coordination in each region, the Department may well find that the programs which it is charged with administering are being differently administered in each region under the mandate granted to each conservation authority. Obviously, successful administratoin can be achieved only if authority is clear and responsibility is single. Where responsibility is divided and authority duplicated, only confusion and inaction can result. That the conservation authorities should be able to devise arrangements for such cooperation and coordination of Federal programs in the region is, I believe, clear. But the conservation authorities should be instructed to take up such proposed arrangements with the departments concerned and with the President. There should be opportunity for consultation and conference. Final authority to effect coordination should rest either with the department primarily responsible for administration of the program, or with the President. This may be the manner in which section 5 (b) would operate in practice, but inasmuch as the language used is susceptible of a different interpretation, it will create confusion, and may seriously interfere with effective administration if left in its present form. I have begun by stating my allegiance to national and regional planning, to a systematic prosecution of projects for flood control, navigation, reclamation, and the conservation of natural resources, to an effective program for generating and distributing electric power, and to the objective of coordinating Federal action programs. I have indicated what changes appear to me to be necessary in the administrative features of the bill, so far as agriculture is concerned, to prevent those features from interfering with the attainment of the objectives sought. In concluding this report, I wish to emphasize that the planning provisions of S. 2555 need to be considered together with those provisions of S. 2700, introduced by Senator Robinson, which would establish and define the functions of the National Resources Planning Board. The planning work of the regional conservation authorities will deal primarily with flood control, navigation, reclamation, conservation of natural resources, and such projects for hydroelectric power as are incidental thereto. This planning work need not be duplicated by the National Resources Planning Board. The Board can use this planning, and supplement it with studies in all fields not covered by the regional authorities, including studies in credit facilities, public health, rehabilitation, employment opportunities, highways, Federal-State relationships, population movements, and other physical, social, and economic factors, which must be considered in over-all planning. Such over-all planning, to be adequate and reliable, must be disinterested in the prestige of particular action programs, and those engaged in 6874-37- -3 |