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. 2928) to amend the act entitled "An act to fix the hours of duty of postal employees, and for other purposes," approved August 14, 1935, as amended, submit the following statement in explanation of the effect of the action agreed upon and recommend in the accompanying conference report as to each of such amendments, namely:

Amendment No. 1: This amendment strikes out postmasters of the first, second, and third classes. The agreement reached in conference reinstates postmasters of these classes.

Amendment No. 2: This amendment strikes out post-office inspectors. The agreement reached in conference reinstates them.

Amendment No. 3: This amendment strikes out "Cost ascertainment employees (until such time as they shall be transferred to the departmental roll)." The House agreed to this amendment, since the cost ascertainment employees have already been transferred to the departmental rolls.

Amendment No. 4: This amendment provides that-

such overtime, however, to be payable only upon so much of the earned basic compensation as does not exceed $2,900 per annum.

The conference report strikes out this provision.

Amendment No. 5: This amendment provided that—

in computing the overtime compensation the base pay for one day shall be comsidered to be one three hundred and sixth of the respective per annum salaries and the base pay for one hour shall be considered to be one-eighth of the base pay so computed for one day.

The House receded from its disagreement to this amendment and agreed to same with an amendment as follows:

At the end of said amendment insert a colon and the following: "Provided, That postmasters of the first, second, and third classes, and post-office inspectors, shall be on duty not less than forty-eight hours per week, and shall be paid for the additional eight hours, as additional pay for working such additional time, as follows: Those whose salaries are over $5,000 and not over $7,999, 5 percentum of their regular peacetime salaries; those whose salaries are over $4,000 and not over $5,000. 10 percentum of their regular peacetime salaries; those whose salaries are over $2,000 and not over $4,000, 15 percentum of their peacetime salaries; those whose salaries are $2,000, or under, 20 percentum of their peacetime salaries Provided. Further, That no postmaster whose peacetime compensation is $8,000, shall receive any additional compensation for such overtime work."

or over

The Senate agreed to the above amendment.

T. G. BURCH,

TOM MURRAY,
GEORGE D. O'BRIEN,

FRED A. HARTLEY, JR.,
N. M. MASON,

Managers on the part of the House.

AUTHORIZING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE UNITED STATES NAVY FOR ADDITIONAL ORDNANCE MANUFACTURING AND PRODUCTION FACILITIES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

APRIL 4, 1944.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. COLE of New York, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 4421]

The Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 4421) authorizing appropriations for the United States Navy for additional ordnance manufacturing and production facilities, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

The purpose of the bill is to provide authorization for an additional $65,000,000 for necessary tools, equipment, and facilities for the manufacture or production of ordnance material, munitions, and equipment at either private or public plants.

The bill contains authority for the Secretary of the Navy to acquire lands at such locations as he may deem best suited to the purpose, erect or extend buildings, acquire the necessary machinery and equipment, and in private establishments provide plant-protection installations. It also directs the Secretary of the Navy from time to time, but not less frequently than every 60 days, to transmit to the Congress a full report of all acquisitions of land, by lease or otherwise, affected under the authority of this act.

The previous authorizations for facilities in the manufacture and production of ordnance materials are as follows:

As of 31 March 1944, the following has been accomplished under the authority granted:

Reserve left for adjustment of cost-plus contracts, etc_____

7,854, 347

The committee has been furnished with a tentative break-down of the additional authorization requested by representatives of the Navy Department, which break-down is hereby made a part of this report as follows:

Every effort has been made to keep charges against this appropriation down by making other appropriations bear their share of additional facilities needed and also surplus material on hand in other departments is scanned to see if it can be utilized. From July 1, 1943, to March 31, 1944, the following facilities have been received by transfer from other departments:

Also, it is part of our cancelation of contract procedure to survey the facilities to be released, to see if they can be applied to the program for new production. In addition, complete facilities have been received from the War Department, as follows:

Nevertheless it has become apparent to the Bureau that the foreseeable demands for new procurement in the immediate future will necessitate a moderate increase in authorization for additional facilities, since the available producing capacity in sight is insufficient. Accordingly, authorization in the amount of $65,000,000 is requested, which is tentatively allocated as follows:

A. Production lines for rocket programs.

B. Shift to production on projects under development-

C. High capacity projectile program.....

D. Modification of production lines due to alterations and improve

$15, 000, 000

10, 000, 000 10, 000, 000

25, 000, 000

5, 000, 000

65, 000, 000

The present plans call for plant facilities and appliances only as all the known problems to be solved are of that nature, except perhaps a portion of project E,

where research has to be carried out in remote and uninhabited places and instruments, supplies, and personnel need to be sheltered. The universities or consultants carrying out these invstigations, as well as the service units, look to the Bureau to defray the cost of facilities in connection with their assignments and it is desired to make provision for these requirements.

Project A is made necessary because of the new technique required for the new propellant now in great demand. The facilities of the War Department have been engaged to the greatest extent practicable and they have been set aside for naval use to the extent of about $20,000,000. There are other sources that must be developed and it is expected that demands will be met with the sum requested herein.

Project B relates to the placing into a straight production status certain development projects as they become ready for this step. In most cases it means finding machine tools with which to organize new production lines.

Project C is a case where events have proved the wisdom of a much greater rate of production than was before contemplated. Since production capacity is already fully taken up, it will be necessary to set up new forging and loading lines. Project Ď makes provision for problems of a type that have already occurred and can be expected to occur with increasing frequency in the future. It has to do with the changes that have to be made in the production lines when the product has undergone a change. The extensive changes incident to the modification of one of our fuzes is a case in point. Sometimes the desired results can be obtained by a few modifications in some machines and sometimes a number of new units must be substituted for or added to the former ones.

Project E has already been discussed, but it may be added that frequently the makers of scientific instruments willing to take on a research assignment are sometimes without the necessary mechanical equipment or machine tools to proceed. It then becomes to the Government's advantage to furnish and own the necessary facility rather than to have the price of the new equipment included in the cost of the services, with only the proceeds of the single contract inuring to the benefit of the Government.

It is again pointed out that any obligation against this appropriation must first pass the scrutiny of the Secretary's office, which is thoroughly committed to a policy of severe retrenchment in facilities expenditures. Consequently, there is every assurance that the authorization, if granted, will be administered conservatively and economically.

The ceiling under which the Bureau of Ordnance operates in connection with facilities for the production of naval ordnance was set on March 17, 1942, by Public Law 499 at a limit of $595,000,000. The rate of acquisition which obtained at that time held steady until about August of 1942, when the need for new facilities dropped off. However, the progress of the war has exerted additional pressure upon the facilities of the country, although in no such volume nor at the rate which characterized the first years of the war. There is a reserve of uncommitted authority as of March 31 of $7,854,347 and this is considered too small a margin on which to meet the exigencies of future demands.

The committee has received assurance that any future building in the nature of public works will be processed and screened by higher authority than the Bureau of Ordnance, and also checked against available Government facilities considered surplus by the War Department. Also, no land will be acquired except through the Bureau of Yards and Docks, which will be subjected to the same control as is now used in connection with public works.

The bill was introduced at the request of the Navy Department and has been cleared by the Bureau of the Budget.

The committee unanimously recommends enactment of the bill. The following letter from the Secretary of the Navy addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and transmitted by him to the chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs of the House of