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870. Compact re disposition of waters of Columbia River, etc.

2 pts.

965. Establish trust fund as Oliver Wendell Holmes Memorial Fund.

966. Celebrate four hundredth anniversary of expedition of Hernando De Soto.

967. Extension of terms and provisions of present Rio Grande compact.

968. Farm credit act of 1935.

969. Creation of National Labor Relations Board.

970. Examination of Purgatoire (Picketwire) River, etc., for flood control.

971. Furnish steam from central heating plant to Federal Reserve Board, etc.

972. Creation of National Labor Relations Board.

973. To promote development of Indian arts and crafts.

974. Granting pensions to veterans of Spanish-American War, etc.

975. Amend act rel. to import duty on coffee imported into Puerto Rico.

976. War-time rank for retired class B officers of Army.

982. To provide for additional number of cadets at Military Academy, etc.
983. Amend act to safeguard interests of Indians of Taos Pueblo, N. Mex.
984. Enrollment as members of Omaha tribe of Indians in Nebraska.
985. Amend act for control of floods on Mississippi River. 2 pts.
986. Authority to fill vacancies in certain judgeships in District Courts.

1014. Designate street or avenue in the Mall in D. C. as Maine Avenue.

1015. Credit service of officers of Army, etc., after June 30, 1932, rel. to pay.

1016. Amend R. S. 4865 rel. to admission to Columbia Institution for the Deaf.

1018. Addition of lands to Chalmette National Monument, etc.

1019. Sale price of Dallas old post-office building and site.

1020. Suitable quarters for certain Government services at El Paso, Tex.

1021. Amend act to regulate sale of property under U. S. courts.

1022. Amend criminal code so as to bring down to date Federal conformity act.

1023. Exclude and deport alien Fascists and Communists. pts. 1* and 2.

1024. Readjustment of account between United States and Vermont.

1025. Relief of Baltimore, Md.

1032. Sale to U. S. of certain bonds of municipal governments in Puerto Rico.

1033. Exempt refunding bonds of Puerto Rico from limitation of indebtedness.

1034. To amend joint resolution for relief of Puerto Rico.

1035. Naval, etc., service of Army officers included for retirement purposes.

1037. Conveyance of land to borough of Stroudsburg, Pa., for street purposes.

1040. Amend law so as to allow disposal of old post office at Oakland, Calif.

1041. Preliminary examination of Spokane River, Idaho, for flood control.

1042. Bridge across Sabine River between Louisiana and Texas.

1043. Bridge across Sabine River between Louisiana and Texas.

1044. Bridge across Delaware River between Easton, Pa., and Phillipsburg, N. J.

1045. Bridge across Potomac R. bet. Old Town, Md., and Green Spring, W. Va.

1046. Bridge across Monongahela River between Donora and Monessen, Pa.

1047. Bridge across Ohio River at Wellsburg, W. Va.

1048. Bridge across Black River at Poplar Bluff, Mo.

1049. Bridge across Ohio River at Sistersville, W. Va.

1050. Bridge across Mississippi River at St. Louis, Mo.

1051. Bridge across Mississippi River at New Boston, Ill.

1052. Bridges across Red River from Moorhead, Minn., to Fargo, N. Dak.

1053. Bridge across Missouri River at Rulo, Nebr.

1054. Adjustment of salaries of rural letter carriers.

1056. Bridges across Monongahela, Allegheny, and Youghiogheny rivers.

1057. Deport aliens found to be promoting propaganda from foreign sources.

1058. Final disposition of records, etc., of Federal Aviation Commission.

*Corrected print.

TO PROVIDE FOR PROTECTION OF LAND RESOURCES AGAINST SOIL EROSION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

MARCH 29, 1935.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. JONES, from the Committee on Agriculture, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 7054]

The Committee on Agriculture, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 7054) to provide for the protection of land resources against soil erosion, and for other purposes, having considered the same, and hearings having been held by the Committee on Public Lands and the Committee on Agriculture, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass with the following amendments:

Page 3, line 12, strike out the word "and" and the diagonal bar "".

Page 3, line 13, strike out the diagonal bar "/" and the word "or". Page 5, line 2, strike out the word "which".

Page 5, line 3, after the word "and" and preceding the word "shall" insert the words "the Secretary of Agriculture".

EXPLANATION OF THE BILL

The preamble, section 1, sets forth the objectives of the bill, outlines the basis for a Federal policy of erosion control, and provides that the Secretary of Agriculture shall direct and coordinate all Federal activities with relation to soil erosion. Unless soil erosion can be controlled on farm, grazing, and forest lands, the prosperity of the United States cannot be permanently maintained. Control of erosion is essential to prevent the wastage of soil, conserve water, control floods, prevent the silting of reservoirs, maintain the navigability of rivers and harbors, protect public lands, and to keep from Federal relief rolls the populations of regions threatened with abandonment. These aspects of the problem justify Federal responsibility for the carrying out a national erosion control program.

Subsection (1) of section I authorizes such surveys, investigations, and research as may be necessary for the purposes of the act, publication of the results thereof, the dissemination of information concern

ing proper methods of erosion control, and conduct of demonstration erosion-control projects. Surveys, investigations, and research are essential in order that the fundamental information may be gathered upon which effective erosion-control measures must necessarily be based. Authority is needed to publish the results and disseminate information as to methods of erosion control in order that all operators of land may be informed as to the best methods of protection from erosion. Authority to conduct demonstrational projects is required, so that the demonstrational program which has been inaugurated by the Soil Erosion Service may be expanded to cover all representative soil and climatic regions. These demonstration projects are considered essential and integral parts of the proposed program.

Subsection (2) of section I authorizes various types of preventive measures which are necessary to control erosion. The language of this subsection is necessarily sufficiently broad to permit an effective, balanced, and adaptable use of all known practical methods of erosion control and of any new measures which may be developed in the future.

Subsection (3) of section I authorizes agreements with, and financial or other aid to, any agency or any person, insofar as may be required for the purpose of controlling erosion. The agreements or aid would be subject to such conditions as may be deemed necessary and as are authorized by the act.

The aid authorized in this subsection will be necessary because, in general, the owner of private lands cannot bear the entire cost of controlling the erosion thereon. He has neither the technical knowledge nor the financial resources. Over tremendous areas, land destruction has proceeded to the point where it would be impossible to persuade or force the owners to assume the entire burden of control, nor would it be just to do so. Fundamentally, they have not been responsible for the erosion which has occurred. In the disposal of the public domain, settlers were encouraged to acquire the public lands and to cultivate them. With the transfer of ownership went no restrictions, instructions, or advice as to methods under which the land should be used in order to protect it from erosion.

Acting in good faith, the settlers used their land in the light of the best information available. Since it was not the initial fault o the settler that his land became subject to erosion, it would not be right to require him to bear the entire burden of repairing damage done or of preventing future damage. Furthermore, the interest of the Nation in controlling erosion far exceeds that of the private landowner. An individual may destroy his land, move away, obtain a position somewhere else, accumulate capital, and purchase new land. For the Nation, land destroyed is land gone forever. This drain on the national resource is not immediately fatal, but, if the destruction continues unchecked, the time will come when remaining land resources will be insufficient to support our population on an adequate standard of living. The cost to the Nation of such changes would be incalculable. Moreover, erosion directly threatens vast Federal investments in dams and channels and annually requires. the expenditure of large sums for dredging operations. The only practical method of eliminating these hazards and costs is to control the erosion on private lands, and it would not be equitable to require the owner of these lands to make expenditures for the protection of Federal investments.

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