PACIFIC COAST SURVEYS, RESURVEYS, ETC.

Mr. SHREVE. For surveys and necessary resurveys of coasts along the Pacific Ocean under the jurisdiction of the United States, you are asking this year $315,660, an increase of $15,660 over the current year's appropriation.

Mr. PATTON. Yes, sir. Up to last year, Mr. Chairman, our appropriation for that work had been regularly $315,000. Last year, I think, in the hearings before the Bureau of the Budget, I made a statement, an off-hand statement, that was not properly understood. I said the first survey was approaching completion on the Pacific coast of the United States, which was true. I was speaking of this off-shore survey. I think they interpreted that to mean that a reduction in the appropriation was the right thing to do, and so they cut off $15,000. The practical effect of that was this: About $280,000 to $290,000 of that money is spent to operate our surveying ships, the ships in the Philippines, those in Alaska, and along the Pacific coast. That is a fixed charge. It does not vary very much from year to year. The remaining $30,000 or so is used to go into the various harbors, like San Francisco Bay, the Columbia River, and Humboldt Bay, hire a launch, hire some men locally, make a survey that is needed locally. The burden of that whole cut came on that little item and we had to cut that just about in half. We asked the Budget to restore it this year, and when we explained the situation, they did.

TIDES, CURRENTS, ETC.

Mr. SHREVE. Your next item is for tides, currents, and so forth, $27,120, an increase of $120.

Mr. PATTON. That $120 is another example of the increase put in by the Budget for promotions of personnel.

COMPILATION OF COAST PILOT

Mr. SHREVE. The item for coast pilot is $6,620, an increase of $120 over last year.

Mr. PATTON. That is another increase of the same sort, Mr. Chairman.

MAGNETIC AND SEISMOLOGICAL WORK

Mr. SHREVE. Your item for magnetic work has an estimate of $80,000 as against $58,780 for 1931. That is quite an increase, which you might explain.

Mr. PATTON. That is an increase of $21,220.

Mr. SHREVE. What will that cover?

Mr. PATTON. The State of California is engaged in the compilation of a revised building code. The American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Institute of Architects are working with them, working out the technical details of that code. They can not produce an acceptable code unless they can take into account the earthquake stresses which must be allowed for in their structures. Therefore, they united, and the State chamber of commerce joined with them in asking the Secretary of Commerce to ask for an increase in order that the Coast Survey might go into the central region of these earthquakes and measure the actual earth movements in a major earthquake.

a dozen or more colleges which are actively at work on it; Stanford University, California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Insti tute of Technology, and so on. I might give a dozen or more colleges. Mr. ACKERMAN. Do you perform work, even though it is in limited degree, different from what these other institutions are performing?

Mr. PATTON. What we try to do is to coordinate the work on seismology as a whole. The Federal Government, in so far as we can influence what is done, should only do certain things that can not appropriately be done by any of these other agencies. For example, we operate seismographs at out magnetic observatories the year around.

Mr. GRIFFIN. How many of those are there?

Mr. PATTON. Five.

Mr. GRIFFIN. Where are they located?

Mr. PATTON. One is out here in Maryland, one in Porto Rico, one in Tucson, Ariz., one at Sitka, Alaska, and one in Honolulu.

The Federal Government, and the men, such as the engineers in the Coast Survey who have had long experience in the use of precise instruments in making measurements, can best carry out certain limited programs of instrumental observation. For example, a little later on, when you come to the item of seismology, I think you will go into that in detail.

Mr. GRIFFIN. In connection with the work of the colleges, have you any understanding with the colleges that they shall transmit to you their observations at certain times?

Mr. PATTON. Yes.

Mr. GRIFFIN. When you get those observations, your office, ! presume, coordinates them and makes calculations of force and direction, and so forth.

Mr. PATTON. Yes, sir.

Mr. GRIFFIN. Then what do you do with the consolidated figures? Mr. PATTON. They are published for the benefit of engineers, architects, and others who need then in connection with their practical affairs.

Mr. GRIFFIN. You make deductions and recommendations, do you? Mr. PATTON. Yes, sir.

Mr. GRIFFIN. And those are to be found where?

Mr. PATTON. We have regular publications on the subject of seismology that can be obtained from the Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents.

PURCHASE AND EXCHANGE OF SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS

Mr. SHREVE. You have some new language on page 323, "includ ing their exchange," referring to surveying instruments. Why do you need that language?

Mr. PATTON. In connection with this method of measuring the velocity of sound, we use an instrument called a hydrophone which is really a microphone suitable for submergence in the water.

The essential element of that is a carbon block and the carbon in those instruments has to be renewed from time to time. The instru ment has a turn-in value for that purpose of 75 per cent of its original cost. So we simply want this authority, in order that we can turn in the old instruments and use them toward the purchase of the new.

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PACIFIC COAST SURVEYS, RESURVEYS, ETC.

Mr. SHREVE. For surveys and necessary resurveys of coasts along the Pacific Ocean under the jurisdiction of the United States, you are asking this year $315,660, an increase of $15,660 over the current year's appropriation.

Mr. PATTON. Yes, sir. Up to last year, Mr. Chairman, our appropriation for that work had been regularly $315,000. Last year, think, in the hearings before the Bureau of the Budget, I made a statement, an off-hand statement, that was not properly understood. I said the first survey was approaching completion on the Pacific coast of the United States, which was true. I was speaking of this off-shore survey. I think they interpreted that to mean that a he reduction in the appropriation was the right thing to do, and so they cut off $15,000. The practical effect of that was this: About $280,000 to $290,000 of that money is spent to operate our surveying ships, the ships in the Philippines, those in Alaska, and along the Pacific coast. That is a fixed charge. It does not vary very much from year to year. The remaining $30,000 or so is used to go into the various harbors, like San Francisco Bay, the Columbia River, and Humboldt Bay, hire a launch, hire some men locally, make a survey that is needed locally. The burden of that whole cut came on that little item and we had to cut that just about in half. We asked the Budget to restore it this year, and when we explained the situation, they did.

TIDES, CURRENTS, ETC.

Mr. SHREVE. Your next item is for tides, currents, and so forth, $27,120, an increase of $120.

Mr. PATTON. That $120 is another example of the increase put in by the Budget for promotions of personnel.

COMPILATION OF COAST PILOT

Mr. SHREVE. The item for coast pilot is $6,620, an increase of $120 over last year.

Mr. PATTON. That is another increase of the same sort, Mr. Chairman.

MAGNETIC AND SEISMOLOGICAL WORK

Mr. SHREVE. Your item for magnetic work has an estimate of $80,000 as against $58,780 for 1931. That is quite an increase, which you might explain.

Mr. PATTON. That is an increase of $21,220.

Mr. SHREVE. What will that cover?

Mr. PATTON. The State of California is engaged in the compilation of a revised building code. The American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Institute of Architects are working with them, working out the technical details of that code. They can not produce an acceptable code unless they can take into account the earthquake stresses which must be allowed for in their structures. Therefore, they united, and the State chamber of commerce joined with them in asking the Secretary of Commerce to ask for an increase in order that the Coast Survey might go into the central region of these earthquakes and measure the actual earth movements in a major earthquake.

Having that information, they can translate it themselves into terms of stresses in buildings and in dams and in bridges. That increase of $21,220 is for that purpose.

FEDERAL, BOUNDARY, AND STATE SURVEYS

Mr. SHREVE. Your next item is Federal, boundary, and State surveys. You are asking $326,980 as against $316,624. What will that increase cover?

Mr. PATTON. That, Mr. Chairman, combines two items that we had last year. The one item of $216,000 for Federal, boundary, and State surveys and the other item of $10,000 for investigations in earthquake regions. This year the Budget combined those two into one item and simply added the two sums together. So really the amount is the same as it was last year.

SPECIAL SURVEYS, ETC.

Mr. SHREVE. You have an item, for objects not herein before named that may be deemed urgent, and so forth, $7,200, an increase of $3,000 over your same item for 1931.

You also have some new language, reading:

And not exceeding $3,000 for special surveys that may be required by the Bureau of Lighthouses or other proper authority.

Will you explain this item?

Mr. PATTON. That again is a combination of two items which heretofore have been separate. It is simply two items being merged into one.

Mr. OLIVER. These last two appropriations may not be continuing appropriations. This is just to care for what you now think may be s demand on your service?

Mr. PATTON. Yes, sir. Those demands come from year to year. They are variable. Last year, as a matter of fact, we only spent $1,500 out of the $3,000.

REPAIRS OF VESSELS

Mr. SHREVE. Your next item is for vessels.

For repairs of vessels, $143,000. There is a considerable increase asked. Your appropriation for 1931 was $91,000. Some of the language in the item is new:

of which amount not to exceed $52,000 is to be used for extraordinary repairs to ships Guide, Pathfinder, and Pioneer.

Mr. PATTON. Yes, sir.

Mr. SHREVE. Will you explain that?

Mr. PATTON. Mr. Chairman, we have a fleet of vessels whose replacement cost would be in the neighborhood of $5,000,000. We have $91,000 a year to keep that fleet in operating condition. In other words, that is less than 2 per cent of the replacement cost.

That $91,000 is adequate for the usual run of ordinary repairs and replacements of gear and upkeep, but it is not sufficient to keep the ships in all respects in first-class condition. It has been the custom from time to time to ask for supplemental items for special repair jobs on this ship or that ship.

I have a list of them here that I can give you, if you like. But every few years, we have an item of this sort. It is not a continuing item; it is a special item for one year. This year we are asking for $52,000. Of that, $40,000 is for the steamer Pathfinder, which has been operated in the Philippine Islands since 1900, and which requires some rather extensive repairs to put her in first-class condition; that is, in condition where she can continue to operate, particularly as the work now remaining there is in the region that is subject to typhoons and you need a good seaworthy vessel to work there in safety.

The other $12,000 is half the cost of renewing the wooden decks of two of the vessels we took from the Navy following the war. Those vessels were built under war-time conditions. They were hastily built the decks were not of properly seasoned lumber. The result is in both cases, the decks have deteriorated quite rapidly and the ironwork underneath them is beginning to be affected by the leakage of salt water.

Mr. GRIFFIN. What vessels were they?

Mr. PATTON. Two of the mine sweepers built by the Navy.

Mr. SHREVE. We found those mine sweepers up in the Hudson River, 10 years ago, I think it was.

Mr. PATTON. They are excellent vessels, good, seaworthy boats, well powered, but they have these minor defects in them. That is half the cost. The other half of the cost we can pay out of the $91,000. The new decks will cost about $12,000 apiece. This increase of $52,000 is a nonrecurring item that we need for this year.

Mr. SHREVE. That looks like a very necessary expenditure of

money.

PAY OF EMPLOYEES TO MAN AND EQUIP VESSELS

Mr. SHREVE. Your next item is for all necessary employees to man and equip the vessels, $717,000, which is the same amount that you had in 1931.

Mr. PATTON. Yes, sir.

Mr. SHREVE. Will you tell us how you are getting along?

Mr. PATTON. We are making more progress, Mr. Chairman, than ever before. That is because of the development and improvement of these new instruments. The human factor has always been good. I can not say that our men to-day, our engineers, or anybody else, are any better than their predecessors, but we have better facilities to work with. So we are doing more than we ever have.

PAY OF COMMISSIONED OFFICERS

Mr. SHREVE. Your next item is for pay of commissioned officers, which carries an estimate of $665,371 as against $627,820 for 1931. You are increasing the number of hydrographic and geodetic engineers with relative rank of commander from 10 to 11; 20 hydrographic and geodetic engineers with relative rank of lieutenant commander, instead of 17; 54 hydrographic and geodetic engineers with relative rank of lieutenant, instead of 47; 50 junior hydrographic and geodetic engineers with relative rank of lieutenant instead of 54. The increase in the item is $37,551. How do you expect to use the increase?