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BUREAU OF FINANCE

About 600 proceedings will be heard before our Bureau of Finance, proceedings of various kinds-acquisitions, abandonments, issuance of securities, interlocking directorates, and matters of that kind.

BUREAU OF SERVICE

We have then our Bureau of Service which is really our emergency field bureau, to see that railroads render shippers prompt service; and they take up in the field and adjust many complaints which otherwise would probably go to formal hearing and would not only be more expensive to the parties interested and to the Commission but would, of course, result in the usual delay which is unavoidable in the hearing of a formal case.

Last year our Bureau of Service received 4,369 informal complaints which were, almost without exception, adjusted on the ground. That bureau also conducts hearings with respect to violations of law, questions with respect to demurrage, and service rendered.

Then there is also the work of our section of explosives, under which we regulate the movement of explosives and dangerous articles. Those, in general, constitute the bureaus which will be paid out of our general appropriation.

Of course, we have the Bureau of Administration under the Secretary, and our general office force, and all of that. These constitute in general the work which that appropriation is intended to cover, and which it must cover.

The amount of the appropriation, as you have stated, is $2,544,000. That has been agreed to, as I understand, by the Bureau of the Budget.

PROPOSED INVESTIGATION OF COST OF CONDUCTING TRANSPORTATION

We have one item here to which exception has been taken, and we have appealed to the Bureau of the Budget to grant a certain amount to be used in our Bureau of Statistics. It will run in the neighborhood of $50,000. That is for $14,840 for clerical help and $35,240 for economic and statistical analysts.

The purpose of that request and the use of the money is to make a cost study showing in detail the cost of conducting transportation and of handling traffic, including a total cost of overhead and whatever may be involved in that.

I is believed that in connection with the coordination of the work between motor carriers and railroads, such a cost study will be very helpful. The Commissioner in charge of that work has made a plan for conducting such a study beginning as soon as the appropriation is made available. Commissioner Splawn handles that work.

A general investigation into that question has been started by the Commission which will be conducted as best we can without this appropriation, if we do not get it, but we think we ought to have it in order to make the study complete and of value.

ADMINISTRATIVE APPROPRIATION RESERVE

Mr. WOODRUM. Mr. McManamy, did you set aside a reserve fund, such as has been requested of most of the commissions and departments, for 1938?

Mr. McMANAMY. We set aside some reserve. Have you the amounts, Mr. Bartel?

Mr. BARTEL. Three percent on this particular item.

Mr. WOODRUM. I am referring to your total appropriation.

Mr. BARTEL. We set up various amounts, Mr. Chairman. We set up 3 percent of general administrative; 1 percent on safety, signals, and locomotive inspection; $20,000 for valuation; $65,000 for accounts; nothing on air mail and motor carriers; and 10 percent on printing and binding.

Mr. WOODRUM. What is the aggregate amount that you have set aside?

Mr. BARTEL. $171,505.

Mr. WOODRUM. And that is impounded in your reserve account, is it?

Mr. BARTEL. That is right.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. What would that average on the total amount? Mr. BARTEL. I think it is less than 2 percent; around 2 percent. Mr. WOODRUM. You anticipate that that will be saved?

Mr. BARTEL. We are going to try and not ask to have it released, if we can. In connection with that, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Rogers will explain later why we have set up no reserve for the Bureau of Motor Carriers. As a matter of fact, the Bureau of the Budget has authorized us to reapportion our appropriation so as to spend in excess of one-twelfth of our regular appropriation in anticipation of getting a deficiency later, because of the necessities of that Bureau. Mr. WOODRUM. That is just for that division?

Mr. BARTEL. Yes.

TOTAL APPROPRIATION REQUESTED FOR INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION, 1939

Mr. WOODRUM. The total amount of the appropriation asked for 1939 is $8,801,000, plus $175,000 for printing and binding, or $8,976,000, as against an appropriation for the current year of $7,764,500, plus an appropriation of $175,000 for printing and binding, which makes an increase of $1,036,500 for the coming fiscal year. Is that correct?

Mr. McMANAMY. Yes, sir.

ESTIMATE SUBMITTED TO THE BUDGET

Mr. WOODRUM. How much did you ask the Budget for?
Mr. McMANAMY. We asked the Budget for $10,059,434.

ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES

Mr. WOODRUM. Your item for administrative expenses remains the same?

Mr. McMANAMY. Yes, sir.

Mr. WOODRUM. That provides for the same personnel?

Mr. McMANAMY. Yes, sir.

Mr. WOODRUM. How about your other obligations; are they prac

tically the same? They seem to be.

Mr. McMANAMY. In general they are the same; yes, sir.

ASSIGNMENT OF PERSONNEL TO OTHER AGENCIES

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. What about the assignment of your personnel to other agencies-for instance, up on the hill here? We talked last year about the work which was done by your personnel, under a Senate resolution, and you gave us some figures of the number of workers and the number of man-hours lost by the Commission in that connection.

Mr. McMANAMY. That has been substantially reduced. I have the figures here for the Bureau of Accounts.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Is that investigation still in process?

Mr. McMANAMY. Yes, sir. We have about 25 accountants assigned to it.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. It is all assigned to the accounting item?
Mr. McMANAMY. Yes, sir.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. Last year you gave us the number of manhours that were used on that investigation. Can you give us that for this year? Is there much difference?

Mr. BARTEL. We do not have that figure with us, but we can furnish it.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Is that the only example where personnel has been taken away from you for some temporary purpose of that character?

Mr. McMANAMY. The only thing of importance; yes. I do not think there has been anything else that amounts to very much. We do, on request, furnish to different committees of the Congress, and certain other organizations, assistance in working up certain statistics and figures which they want, but that is only ordinary routine stuff and not in substantial amount.

REGULATING ACCOUNTS

SALARIES AND EXPENSES

Mr. WOODRUM. Your next item is for regulating accounts, and the item is as follows:

Regulating accounts: To enable the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce compliance with section 20 and other sections of the Interstate Commerce Act as amended by the Act approved June 29, 1906 (49 U. S. C. 20), and as amended by the Transportation Act, 1920 (49 U. S. C. 20), including the employment of necessary special accounting agents or examiners, and traveling expenses, $840,000, of which amount not to exceed $190,000 may be expended for personal services in the District of Columbia.

Mr. WOODRUM. The amount estimated for 1939 is $840,000 as against an appropriation for the current year of $852,000, a reduction. of $12,000 in the estimate.

Mr. McMANAMY. The justification of that item is as follows:

JUSTIFICATION OF ESTIMATE FOR REGULATING ACCOUNTS

This appropriation is for the purpose of enforcing compliance with section 20, and other sections of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended by the act approved June 29, 1906 (U. S. C., title 49, sec. 20, 34 Stat. L., p. 593), and as amended by the Transportation Act of 1920 (U. S. C., title 49, sec. 20, 41 Stat. L., pp. 493494) in respect of uniform accounting systems of carriers and policing of carriers' accounts.

The estimate for this activity submitted to the Bureau of the Budget was in the exact amount appropriated for 1938, although the Commission felt that the amount was inadequate if it was to properly enforce the laws relating thereto.

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It will be noted that there has been a small increase in the personnel assigned to the departmental service and a corresponding decrease in the field personnel. This change was necessary in order that essential work might be done in connection with the Bureau's duties under the Commission's order covering the depreciation charges which steam railroads must make in their accounts to provide for depreciation of their equipment.

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Mr. WOODRUM. What do you want to tell us about this item, Commissioner?

Mr. McMANAMY. As you have stated, we are asking or we did ask for $852,000 which is the same as we have for the current year. The reason we asked for that is that that appeared to be a fixed amount and we did not seem to think it would be of any benefit to us to ask for more.

Mr. HOUSTON. You say it is the same amount as you asked for last year?

Mr. McMANAMY. Yes; $852,000.

Mr. WOODRUM. He says he asked for that but did not get it. Mr. McMANAMY. We have been given $840,000. That came about. in this way. When the appropriation for motor vehicles was reduced we were asked to transfer money from accounts to motor vehicles in the amount of $12,000 and to motor vehicles from the Bureau of Valuations, about $60,000.

When the estimates for the Bureau of Motor Carriers was further considered, they were given a substantial increase, which will be explained by Commissioner Rogers. But the $12,000 which was deducted from our appropriation to go to motor carriers has not been restored.

We believe that the very least that we could get along with would be a restoration of that $12,000 which must come off of our per diem and will check the amount of travel that these men can do. Most of them are field men.

I stated to the Bureau of the Budget that it was the opinion of everybody in our Bureau of Accounts, including Commissioner Eastman, who is in charge of that Bureau, that the amount we requested is not sufficient properly to administer the provisions of section 20 and other terms of the act. We felt that we were really limited to $852,000.

I simply make that statement so that the committee will have before it a chance to consider our views with respect to the need of additional funds in that appropriation.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. How much of your reserve was taken from this item?

Mr. BARTEL. A certain arbitrary amount of $65,000. The way we arrived at that is this: We took these people that had been

assigned to the Wheeler committee under the Senate Resolution 71, who would be located in some particular place for a year or more, and we just arbitrarily said that they would have to go off of per diem. So we set that up as the reserve.

In addition to that, we curtailed to a large extent, by having the work of that bureau performed at headquarters or branch offices rather than having them go into the field.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. Have you made any request for the release of part of that reserve?

Mr. BARTEL. Not at this time; no, sir.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. Do you expect to?

Mr. BARTEL. Well, I do not know, sir. If we find we need it, we will have to.

Mr. WOODRUM. If you do not have to set up a reserve for 1939 you will have a gross amount, if this is granted, greater than you had for 1938?

Mr. BARTEL. That is true. But as these people are relieved from the Senate committee, as we hope they will be in fact, some of them have been turned back-that will automatically put those people, as they go on the road again, on a per diem basis. As it is now, we just arbitrarily took them off of per diem.

Mr. WOODRUM. Well, if that contingency arises, Congress, I am afraid, is going to be here for several months longer and we will be able to take the matter up.

Mr. BARTEL. But here is what happens-and I think the Commissioner will explain it to you. We undertand that when our appropriations were submitted by the Bureau of the Budget to the President, the President just told the Bureau of the Budget to give us the same amount in the aggregate, as we had last year. So the Bureau of the Budget, knowing the needs of motor carriers and trying to help motor carriers out, took $12,000 off of accounts and $60,000 off of valuations and added to motor carriers an increase which gave them from $2,450,000 to $2,522,000.

The Commission, not being satisfied with the amounts that had been allowed, even on that basis, appealed further to the Bureau of the Budget and as a result of that appeal the Bureau of the Budget increased the amount for motor carriers from $2,522,000 to $3,500,000. But in doing that, they did not restore the amount which they arbitrarily took off of accounts and valuations.

In addition to that, they also increased one other item, that is for signals and train control, from $41,500 to $100,000. The reason for that, Commissioner McManamy will explain. It is because of a new law enacted by Congress, approved August 28, 1937, by virtue of which the Commission is required to do a certain amount of work, and for which there was no appropriation made.

Mr. WOODRUM. And you will need all of that $100,000.

Mr. BARTEL. Yes; more than that. That is all that they allowed us. Mr. McMANAMY. I will explain that to you just a little later, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. WOODRUM. I think it is clear now what the situation is.

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