[H. Con. Res. 36, 77th Cong., 1st sess.]

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Whereas, due to the national-defense program, new bureaus and agencies have been created requiring additional office and working facilities in the city of Washington; and

Whereas, due to the tremendous increase in the personnel of Government service which has resulted not only in an overcrowding and lack of office facilities but in a serious shortage in hotel accommodations, rooms, houses, and restaurant facilities; and

Whereas adequate building and housing facilities may be had without delay not only in the city of Chicago but also in other cities favorably located where the cost of living is more reasonable than in the city of Washington; and

Whereas, due to its central location and accessibility, many Government agencies conduct hearings and carry on other activities in the city of Chicago; and Whereas, if such agencies are located in the city of Chicago, the Government will save tremendous sums in rentals, traveling expenses, and the time of its officials, and the removal of such agencies to Chicago will afford Government employees lower costs in living, better working and housing facilities, and will tend for higher efficiency: Therefore be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the President is requested and authorized to direct the transfer from the District of Columbia to Chicago or elsewhere such departments, or bureaus thereof, and such independent agencies whose activities can be conducted at least as efficiently and economically in such locality designated by him.

STATEMENT OF HON. EVERETT M. DIRKSEN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

Mr. DIRKSEN. Mr. Chairman, my interest in this subject matter was derived from the fact that, first, I am the ranking Republican member of the Committee on the District of Columbia, on which committee I have served for the last 9 years and that has given me an opportunity to make some observations and to note the trend in the Nation's Capital.

Second, as a member of the Appropriations Committee, particularly the subcommittee that deals with the independent offices, embracing about 30 agencies, I have had an opportunity to survey the over-all problem of the Government.

I asked the Budget Bureau last year to prepare a statement covering the mileage costs of travel from Washington to different points in the country. I was rather amazed to learn that the mileage cost of the Government for the fiscal year 1940 was exactly $99,286,641; that was for the fiscal year. As the pay roll goes up of course the mileage goes up. The Bureau of the Budget also advised that for the first 4 months of the fiscal year 1941 the cost was $47,000,000 and with that additional personnel it means the mileage costs for the fiscal year 1941 will probably reach $150,000,000. That is an enormous figure. That results from people going from Washington to San Francisco, from Washington to Chicago, from Washington to Detroit, and back, etc. And, it occurred to me at the time, as a result of those two facts, that something should be done, and after observing the whole situation for a number of years it also occurs to me that there ought to be some decentralization of certain Federal agencies, particularly nondefense agencies. Accordingly in January I introduced a resolution asking for the appointment of a subcommittee of 13, which would have been one member from each of the 13 subcommittees of the Appropriations Committee, which in my

judgment has a closer acquaintance with the routine functions and operations of Government agencies perhaps than any other group.

The resolution, as I say, was introduced in January and since that time I have made some study of the matter.

Since that time, Mr. Sabath has, of course, introduced resolutions, and one requests authority in the President and directs him to decentralize and send these agencies to other points in the country.

I am familiar with various agencies like the Home Owners' Loan Corporation, the Bituminous Coal Commission, which is now in the Department of the Interior, the Federal Trade Commission, the Interstate Commerce Commission and various other agencies that are discharging functions that more nearly affect other sections of the country and appeal to me as possibly being able to meet some of those functions in the field better than here.

The CHAIRMAN. There are some activities that are centralized very largely in the Middle West and the West that have their offices here. I have no preformed conclusion about the matter, of course, but I was thinking of such agencies as the Reclamation Service, the Forest Service and things of that kind where most of their activities are in the West or Middle West.

Mr. DIRKSEN. That is quite true, and the Secretary of the Interior took cognizance of that fact and 62 members of the Grazing Division, I understand, are in the process of being removed now to Denver closer to where their functions are discharged.

Now the thing can be done. That is the first problem, to determine whether or not it is feasible. For instance the Department of Agriculture has moved a whole section of its activities out to Beltsville outside the District of Columbia. So, I do not have the slightest doubt that it can be done.

Secondly, I think the committee ought to give very careful consideration to this: I would not make it as my suggestion that all of the activities of the Interstate Commerce Commission, for instance, be moved to Chicago or some other city, but I do think that while the Commission itself could remain in Washington a great many of its staff and personnel could be moved. For instance, take the Locomotive Inspection, Safety Signal Work; all that can be decentralized and sent out to some other town.

The CHAIRMAN. And the mileage saved to the Government would be enormous as well as to those having occasion to take up matters with these various agencies.

Mr. DIRKSEN. Yes.

Mr. MCGREGOR. Do you have a copy of the survey you made which we might have before us?

Mr. DIRKSEN. I do not have it with me, Mr. McGregor; I have such a memorandum but I could not put my hand on it this morning. Mr. McGREGOR. Will you furnish that to the committee?

Mr. DIRKSEN. I shall be glad to do so.

Now, take the Bituminous Coal Commission, a bureau whose work consists of establishing price structure, regulations pertaining to the coal industry, for people in Ohio, Indiana, and elsewhere, who have to go to the expense to come down here to Washington for a hearing. Why could not that bureau be sent to the Central West, perhaps the most logical place for the Bituminous Coal Commission would be

Pittsburgh or Wheeling, W. Va., or some other place close to the center of the coal area.

Take the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the process of demobilization. I think their present pay roll is a little over 6,000 and they still have some registering. It occurs to me that is an agency that could be moved to Chicago or Cleveland or Cincinnati or Peoria or some place else. And, you can go through the various agencies of the Government and can find many of them whose functions can be better articulated elsewhere and thereby relieve the congested condition in Washington. Everyone is familiar with the congested condition, and with the increasing rental costs. Mr. Henderson came before the District Committee the other day and discoursed generally and briefly upon the question of rising rentals and of the probable. necessity of setting up some control commission. During the World War, as you know, we had a rental control act in the District. remember that, Mr. Sabath.

Mr. SABATH. Yes.

You

Mr. DIRKSEN. Sometime in 1934 the situation again became acute, and in 1935 I prepared a draft of a rent-control bill, and then we had a lull. But now the condition is very, very acute and it is going to have to have some attention.

I might say, Mr. Chairman, that the Dupont Circle Apartment Hotel has made some sort of a deal, I understand, to lease that apartment to the Government for Government purposes and they have served notice on their tenants to move. Where can they go? There is no place for them to go.

Then you have the situation, as a result of inadequate housing, of businessmen having to camp over in Baltimore and commute back and forth on business before the departments of the Government. That is a very unspeakable and impossible situation and it can be remedied only in proportion as we can effect the processes of decentralization.

I think I shall content myself at the moment with that brief statement, although I want to add this: When the works relief bill was on the floor of the House, as you gentlemen remember, it was pointed out by the Appropriations Committee, who received the information from the Work Projects Administration, that defense contracts had been made in only 761 counties out of a total of 3,073 counties in the United States, and we have the rather anomalous, paradoxical situation of this vast defense expenditure which will be attended ultimately by increase in unemployment back in the sections of the country where there has been no defense expenditure.

Now, as a member of the original committee of which Mr. Sabath was chairman, we went everywhere throughout the country studying the question of values and the reorganization of apartment projects, business building, and so on, and saw that the values of bonds had gone down to 5 and 10 cents on the dollar; and there are buildings in some of our cities now, such as Chicago, where their income has not been sufficient for them to pay their taxes for years. That is true in the lower Loop district of Chicago.

Now, Mr. Chairman, one of the ways to meet this situation is to move from Washington some of these agencies whose functions can be performed elsewhere.

I have always marveled that the Department of Agriculture with all of its ramifications should be in Washington, D. C. Take the 22

acre masonry that we call the Department of Agriculture, with all the people on the pay roll, and look at the work in the field, Soil Conservation Service, Rural Electrification, Commodities Credit, Bureau of Plant Industry, Bureau of Plant Entomology, Quarantine, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Husbandry, where their functions are discharged out in the agricultural sections of the country, could all be decentralized except for the Secretary and his assistants and immediate staff, and heads of bureaus and agencies. But so far as the workers themselves are concerned, their work can be done away from Washington in other cities and other sections of the country.

We are glad to have your statement, Mr. Dirksen, and we will be glad to have you amplify your remarks for the record and give us the benefit of such data as you wish to submit as a result of your investigation.

Mr. DIRKSEN. I will submit a supplemental memorandum, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. We thank you.

Mr. DIRKSEN. Thank you.

STATEMENT OF HON. ADOLPH J. SABATH, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

The CHAIRMAN. We are glad to have with us Mr. Sabath who introduced the resolution pending before the committee.

Mr. SABATH. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, many Members of Congress and hundreds of people have appealed to me to see whether something could be done to relieve the condition here, because the Members themselves found it impossible to find living quarters; people coming down here are unable to find quarters in hotels where they can remain for even 2 or 3 days; and visitors are unable to find space where they can remain for a few days.

When these conditions came to my attention, and of course I am personally familiar with them because I have received myself many requests from delegations asking me to make reservations for people whom they have invited here, and some who have business before the departments, from businessmen and professional men, and I have found it impossible to obtain reservations for them.

The CHAIRMAN. I think we have all had that experience.

Mr. SABATH. In view of that fact I finally decided to urge that something be done. I have written to the President calling his attention to conditions, believing that he would have jurisdiction without any legislation, but realizing the fact that he is terribly busy, occupied with international affairs, I did not press it; I did not have the heart to press it, although I consider it of great importance.

So, consequently I introduced a resolution. I introduced a concurrent resolution creating a committee: Three from the House, three from the Senate and three gentlemen from the departments, having knowledge and experience and information relative to the overcrowded conditions here. But after talking with the Speaker he came to the conclusion that it would be better if the House itself would take the matter on and that it would receive the proper attention and consideration. In view of his recommendation I introduced another resolution and when the matter was presented to the Rules Committee, the Rules Committee unanimously recognized the need of some action and reported out the resolution.

I then informed the Speaker that I could not be one of the members of that committee, and that I could not be chairman of such a committee, because as chairman of the Rules Committee the duties are such as not permit me to take on any additional work. I have plenty of work to do without taking on any additional duties. In view of that fact, you are considering the situation in my resolution today and I hope you will give it the consideration to which it is entitled.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Sabath, the resolution deals with a matter in which we are all very much interested. And, I should like to outline the method that seems advisable for getting this information.

In view of the fact, of course, that the Dupont Circle apartment house situation has been referred to a great deal and that there are incidents connected with that growing out of the present situation, we thought that during such time as we have today and tomorrow we would give attention first to that particular situation. Then it is our purpose next week to ask representatives of these various departments to come before us with reference to such agencies as you have mentioned, concerning their. operation and the people affected by them and to ascertain their judgment whether these bureaus and agencies should be decentralized; and then also to get from various cities where these agencies could be located information and data with respect to that situation.

Since Mr. Dirksen has made a statement which is rather staggering concerning the situation in Chicago, particularly in the Loop area where they have been unable to pay taxes and since we are paying a very considerable sum for rental for these agencies, in spite of the many Government buildings that we have, at least we should consider the feasibility of utilizing such vacancies.

Now, is that, in your judgment, the proper course for us to pursue in such investigation as we make? We would like to have your judgment on it.

Mr. SABATH. Of course the resolution concerning the Dupont Circle apartment house matter is before the Rules Committee. The CHAIRMAN. We appreciate that.

Mr. SABATH. I will be only too delighted if the Rules Committee will be relieved of that investigation and if you gentlemen will look into the unfair tactics that have been used concerning the taking over of that building, but I think also the committee should have a general investigation of the whole situation.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Downs, who introduced that resolution, is a member of this commtitee; he has been out there and knows what the circumstances are.

Mr. SABATH. I am pleased to know that. On a few of the promises that were made to the people I think you should secure certain information. And, I am going to be very brief in my statement. The CHAIRMAN. Take your time, Mr. Sabath.

Mr. SABATH. All I want to say is that the report from the Appropriations Committee shows the need and recommendations have been made to the House that something should be done and must be done. The CHAIRMAN. What report is that?

Mr. SABATH. I refer to page 32, a part of the report from the Appropriations Committee, made by Mr. Tarver, who is a very careful man; and they have given that matter consideration and they thought something should be done.