Hon. EDWARD A. KENNEY,

House Office Building, Washington, D. C.

AMERICAN COALITION, Washington, D. C., August 6, 1935.

MY DEAR CONGRESSMAN KENNEY: We understand that your bill (H. R. 27) to make Camp Merritt a national shrine has been regarded favorably by the Committee on the Public Lands. We wish to take this opportunity to express the deep appreciation of the leaders of our societies of the patriotic service you and the members of the Committee on the Public Lands are rendering the people of the Nation in your efforts to memorialize the World War veterans and their mothers in making this sacred spot a shrine to them.

Camp Merritt is sacred to every World War veteran and to that host of mothers who saw their sons in health for the last time on the departure of the American troops from Camp Merritt to France. It is likewise the pride of the fathers, mothers, husbands, and sons whose family ties were reborn as the survivors returned from foreign battlefields and were mustered out into their embrace again at Camp Merritt.

We heartily endorse H. R. 27 and commend you and the members of the Committee on the Public Lands in your patriotic effort. We recommend to every Member of Congress that it is their patriotic duty to pass the bill.

Very respectfully yours,

AMERICAN COALITION,
By JOHN B. TREVOR, President.

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PROTECTING THE BUYERS OF POTATOES IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

MAY 21, 1937.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mrs. NORTON, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 6242]

The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 6242) to protect the buyers of potatoes in the District of Columbia, having considered the same, report favorably thereon and recommend that the bill do pass.

This bill is designed to assist in the protection of the buyers of potatoes in the District of Columbia. Competent evidence made available to the committee indicated that potatoes sold in the District of Columbia varied very greatly from the grades indicated on the packages or containers, and were very seriously defective, running as high in many cases as 25 percent.

The report of an investigator making sample purchases of potatoes under normal conditions in markets of the District of Columbia, and graded by the officials of the United States Department of Agriculture, showed defective potatoes running from 8 to 28 percent and eight sample purchases averaged over 20 percent.

The bill provides that potatoes sold in the District of Columbia shall indicate the United States grades established by the authorities of the United States Department of Agriculture which are used throughout the United States, or shall indicate that they are "unclassified" or "ungraded", in which event the buyer will be fully warned that he must beware.

Potatoes form a very substantial part of the diet of the average American family and it is extremely difficult for the individual purchaser to determine what he is receiving in connection with the purchase of this particular vegetable because of the bulk in which it is sold. This law is modeled very closely on the law of the State of Connecticut, which has been in operation for several years and has been

found to operate most successfully, and conforms also rather closely with the laws of many other States on the marketing of potatoes.

The question of proper grading and marketing laws has been receiving increasing attention in recent years and it is believed that the District of Columbia, to which this law exclusively applies, is entitled to the same form of protection that has been found essential in many States.

The bill was referred to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, and they in turn referred it to the various agencies concerned, both in the District of Columbia and in the Government. The report of the Commissioners on the measure is as follows:

Hon. MARY T. NORTON,

Chairman, Committee on the District of Columbia,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MRS. NORTON: There has been referred to the Commissioners a copy of H. R. 6242, Seventy-fifth Congress, first session, which is a bill to protect the buyers of potatoes in the District of Columbia.

The bill provides that no potatoes shall be sold or offered for sale in the District of Columbia in any package which is not plainly marked or labeled with the name of the United States grade, and that no potatoes shall be sold or offered for sale in the District of Columbia otherwise than in packages without having plainly and conspicuously displayed in proximity to said potatoes a printed sign clearly and distinctly stating the United States grade of said potatoes. The Superintendent of Weights, Measures and Markets advises that the principle involved is sound, and that observance of the provisions of the bill will cause merchants no great difficulty. Consequently, the Commissioners desire to report favorably upon H. R. 6242.

You are advised that the bill has been submitted to the Bureau of the Budget and the Director advises that there is no objection on the part of that office to the position taken by the Commissioners.

Respectfully,

President, Board of Commissioners, District of Columbia.

On this basis the committee has authorized a favorable report on the bill and urges the propriety of its passage.

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RIVERS AND HARBORS BILL

MAY 24, 1937.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. MANSFIELD, from the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, submitted the following

REPORT

To accompany H. R. 7051]

The Committee on Rivers and Harbors, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 7051) authorizing the construction, repair, and preservation of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report it to the House with the recommendation that it do pass with the following amendments:

On page 2 strike out the colon at the end of line 15 and insert in lieu thereof a semicolon.

On page 3, line 8, after the word "Waterway", insert ", New York”. On page 6, between lines 20 and 21, insert the following paragraph: Channel from Back Sound to Lookout Bight, North Carolina; House Document Numbered 251, Seventy-fifth Congress;

On page 7 strike out the period at the end of the line and insert in lieu thereof a semicolon.

On page 11, between lines 13 and 14, insert the following paragraph: Yaquina Bay and Harbor, Oregon; Senate Commerce Committee Document, Seventy-fifth Congress;

On page 12, line 13, strike out the words "Douglas Harbor and". On page 12, line 22, strike out the colon and insert in lieu thereof a semicolon.

On page 14 strike out in lines 9, 10, and 11 "make and enter into repayment contracts with the Water Power Authority of the State of California and other necessary contracts," and insert in lieu thereof the following: "enter into repayment contracts, and other necessary contracts, with States agencies, authorities, associations, persons, and corporations, either public or private, including all agencies with which contracts are authorized under the Reclamation Law,".