FLOOD CONTROL MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 1928 UNITED STATES SENATE, Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10 o'clock a. m., in the committee room, Capitol, Senator Wesley L. Jones presiding. Present: Senators Jones (chairman), McNary, Willis, Johnson, Gould, Sackett, Nye, Cutting, Fletcher, Ransdell, Simmons, Stephens, Harris, Hawes, and Tyson. (The committee had under consideration the following Senate bills, Senate joint resolutions, and resolutions, which are here printed in full, as follows:) [S. 678, Seventieth Congress, first session] A BILL To amend the act approved March 4, 1923, entitled "An act to continue the improvement of the Mississippi River and for the control of its floods" (Public, Numbered 528, Sixty-seventh Congress) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the act approved March 4, 1923, entitled: "An act to continue the improvements of the Mississippi River and for the control of its floods," be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows: 66 That for controlling the floods of the Mississippi River and continuing its improvement from the Head of the Passes to the mouth of the Ohio River in accordance with the provisions of section 1 of an act to provide for the control of the floods of the Mississippi River and of the Sacramento River, Calif., and for other purposes,' approved March 1, 1917, the Secretary of War is hereby empowered, authorized, and directed to carry on continuously, by hired labor or otherwise, the plans of the Mississippi River Commission heretofore or hereafter adopted, to be paid for as appropriations may from time to time be made by law; and a sum not to exceed $10,000,000 annually is hereby authorized to be appropriated for that purpose, for a period of six years beginning July 1, 1924. "Any funds which may hereafter be appropriated under authority of this act, and which may be allotted to works of flood control, may be expended upon any part of the Mississippi River between the Head of the Passes and Rock Island, Ill., and upon the tributaries and outlets of said river in so far as they may be affected by the flood waters of said river, including provisions for equivalent drainage or outlets in cases where the present natural drainage may be destroyed or interfered with by the construction of said works of flood control upon said tributaries and outlets." 1 [S. 683, Seventieth Congress, first session] A BILL Extending the jurisdiction of the Mississippi River Commission for the purposes of flood prevention and control Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 651 of the Code of Laws of the United States of America, in force December 6, 1926, be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows: SEC. 1. That the United States hereby recognizes and assumes its obligation to prevent destructive floods in the Mississippi Valley. "The jurisdiction of the Mississippi River Commission for the purposes of flood prevention and control shall be extended so as to include the Mississippi River and its tributaries and outlets. SEC. 2That said commission shall make such further examinations, investigations, surveys, and experiments as it may deem practicable and necessary.to, determine (a) the utility and practicability of storage sites in the Mississippi River and its tributaries, or in the plains, basins, sloughs, and swamp lands adjacent to or along the course of said rivers; (b) the practicability of straightening and broadening the channel of the Mississippi River below Saint Louis, Missouri; and (c) the creation or use of channels, streams, and canals as spillways on the Mississippi River below the mouth of the Ohio River. "SEC. 3. The said commission is authorized to employ such engineers, clerks, and other employees as may be found necessary for the prompt performance of the duties herein described and fix the compensation of such engineers, clerks, and employees. Such commission shall report to the Congress its findings, conclusions, and recommendations as speedily as may be. "SEC. 4. That there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated $100,000,000 annually, or so much thereof as may be necessary (in addition to the sums heretofore authorized and unexpended for the improvement of the Mississippi River and its tributaries and outlets), to be used in making examinations, investigations, experiments, and surveys, and in executing the plans of the Mississippi River Commission when approved by the Secretary of War under the provisions of this act; and in repairing and constructing such public works as may be found necessary to carry out the purposes of this act. "Any funds authorized to be appropriated by this act, and any funds heretofore appropriated or authorized to be appropriated for improving the Mississippi River and its tributaries and outlets, and not already otherwise allotted, may be allotted to levees, bank revetment, and other public works and expended within the limits of the jurisdiction of the Mississippi River Commission as extended by this act in accordance with the plans, specifications, and recommendations of the Mississippi River Commission, as approved by the Chief of Engineers." [S. 819, Seventieth Congress, first session] A BILL Defining the policy of Congress with respect to flood control, the protection and improvement of navigation, and conservation upon and along the Mississippi River, its tributaries, inlets and outlets, consolidating certain Government activities with respect to such flood control and protection and improvement of navigation, creating the Mississippi Valley waters control commission, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, DECLARATION OF POLICY SECTION 1. In order to provide for the protection of life and property from floods and overflows of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, for the protection and improvement of navigation, and for the encouragement of conservation, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress that the Federal Government shall assume charge of the entire subject of flood control in the Mississippi Valley, and that flood control, protection and improvement of navigation upon and along the Mississippi River, its tributaries, inlets and outlets, shall be, administered as connected and correlated subjects under the jurisdiction of one Federal agency, and that the administration of flood control and navigation shall be with due regard to the development of conservation. MISSISSIPPI VALLEY WATERS CONTROL COMMISSION 3 SEC. 2. (a) There is hereby created a commission to be known as The Mississippi Valley Waters Control Commission (hereinafter referred to as the commission), to be composed of five members, appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Two of the members of the commission shall be officers in the Corps of Engineers of the Army, two shall be civilian engineers, and one member shall be an individual of experienced executive ability. The President shall designate one of the members to act as chairman. (b) The terms of office of the members of the commission first taking office after the approval of this act shall expire, as designated by the President at the time of nomination, as follows: one Army engineer and one civilian engineer at the end of the second year, one Army engineer and one civilian engineer at the end of the fourth year, and the fifth member at the end of the third year after the date of the approval of this act. A successor to a member of the commission shall be appointed in the same manner as the original members, and shall have a term of office expiring four years from the date of the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed. (c) Any person appointed to fill a vacancy in the commission occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed, shall be appointed for the remainder of such term. Any member of the commission in office at the expiration of the term for which he was appointed may continue in office until his successor takes office. Vacancies in the commission shall not impair the powers of the remaining members to execute the functions of the commission, and a majority of the members in office shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of the business of the commission. (d) The chairman of the commission shall receive a salary of $30,000 a year, and the other members shall each receive a salary of $25,000 a year, together with necessary traveling expenses and expenses incurred for subsistence or per diem allowance in lieu thereof, within the limitations prescribed by law, while away from the principal office of the commission on business required by this act, or if assigned to any other office established by the commission, then while away from such office on business required by this In the case of members of the commission who are Army officers, such salaries and allowances shall be in lieu of all pay and allowances to which they are entitled as such officers. act. GENERAL POWERS OF COMMISSION SEC. 3. (a) The commission (1) Shall maintain its principal office in the District of Columbia, and such other offices in the Mississippi Valley as it deems necessary. (2) Shall have an official seal which shall be judicially noticed. (3) Shall make an annual report to Congress of its receipts, expenditures, and activities, with such recommendations as it deems advisable. (4) May make such regulations as are necessary to execute the functions vested in it by this act. (5) May (A) without regard to the civil service laws or the classification act of 1923, appoint and fix the salaries of a chief engineer and such engineers, experts, leval advisers, and other officers, agents, and employees, and (B) make such expenditures (including expenditures for rent and personal services at the seat of government and elsewhere, for law books, periodicals, and books of reference, and for printing and binding) as may be necessary to execute the functions vested in the commission. (b) In the employment of engineers, legal advisers, and other officers, agents, and employees, the commission shall give preference, so far as practicable, to persons now employed exclusively in the administration of the functions transferred under the provisions of this act to the commission. The Secretary of War is authorized, upon request of the commission, and when consistent with the requirements of his office, to temporarily detail for duty with the commission such officers and men of the Corps of Engineers and such officers and employees of the War Department as he may deem advisable. Such persons when so assigned to duty with the commission shall receive such additional compensation as the commission may determine. |