THE DRAFT OF A BILL APPROPRIATING FOR THE SUPPORT OF FEBRUARY 7, 1902.-Referred to the Committee on Appropriations and ordered to TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, I concur in the views expressed therein and join in the request for Respectfully, L. M. SHAW, The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF RE RESENTATIVES. Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 5, 1902. DEAR SIR: I inclose a letter from the Secretary of War, covering a HD-57-1-Vol 94-1 draft, and have the honor to submit it to your consideration, and beg that, in case it meets with your approval, you will transmit it to Congress for legislative action. Very respectfully, yours, The SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. JOHN HAY. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, January 25, 1902. SIR: Referring to your communication of the 6th instant, and to previous correspondence relating to the proposed joint action of the State, Treasury, and War departments to secure from Congress an annual appropriation to defray the necessary expenses of the delegates to be appointed to attend the meetings of the International Congresses of Navigation, I have the honor to inclose herewith a letter from the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, dated the 22d instant, reciting briefly the history of meetings previously held in this connection and the favorable results attained thereby, together with the draft of a proposed bill to secure the necessary legislation from Congress. If the proposed bill meets with your favorable consideration, it is suggested that the same be approved by you and forwarded to the honorable Secretary of the Treasury, with the request that he, in the name of the three Executive Departments of the Government above mentioned, transmit the same to Congress for legislative action. Very respectfully, The SECRETARY OF STATE. OFFICE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, SIR: Referring to previous correspondence herewith, and especially to the third indorsement, War Department, July 2, 1901, I have the honor to forward herewith form of a proposed bill, which, if it meets with your approval, I suggest may be presented to Congress with a favorable recommendation. In view of the indicated willingness of the State and Treasury departments to unite with the War Department in recommending such legislation as that proposed, it is respectfully suggested that, if practicable, the favorable indorsement of the honorable Secretary of State and of the honorable Secretary of the Treasury be obtained prior to the transmission of the proposed bill to Congress. The first International Congress of Navigation was held at Brussels in 1885. Subsequent meetings have been held at intervals of about two years, and at most of the meetings the United States has been represented by eminent engineers. In recent years the interest taken in these meetings has increased; the scope of their inquiries and discussions has broadened. At the seventh congress, held in Brussels in 1898, some twenty-four different countries were represented, and there were more than a thousand delegates. The membership of the eighth congress, in Paris in 1900, was even larger. CONGRESSES OF NAVIGATION. 3 At these congresses are discussed questions of great importance relating to navigation-hydraulic and electrical engineering as applied to the improvement of rivers and harbors, the beaconage of coasts, and other matters which tend to promote intercourse and commerce within and between nations. The engineers who have charge of such works in the different countries, as well as others interested, are given an opportunity to meet together to exchange views and ideas. Their discussions possess a real value which can hardly be overestimated. At the last congress (Paris, 1900) it was decided to form a permanent organization to be known as the Permanent International Commission of the Congresses of Navigation, upon which each country interested would be entitled to be represented by one or more members. This commission is to be charged with making arrangements for the meetings of the congresses, the preparation of programmes, and the issuing of the proceedings. If properly supported, the result of its labors will be of great value. The headquarters of the executive committee of this commission will be at Brussels. To aid the commission in carrying out its work, the Belgian Government proposes to appropriate for its support and maintenance the sum of $1,000 per year, provided the other interested countries will allot proportionate sums to the same purpose. The Belgian foreign office has invited other countries among these the United States-to appropriate such amounts as they see fit, to be applied to the support and maintenance of this Permanent International Commission. It seems appropriate that the United States should accept this invitation, and make an adequate appropriation, on account of the great importance of the questions to be discussed to a country such as ours, where the vast extent of coast line, the numerous natural and artificial inland waterways, insure to us a large and constantly increasing waterborne commerce. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, G. L. GILLESPIE, Brigadier-General, Chief of Engineers, U. S. A. Hon. ELIHU ROOT, A BILL appropriating the sum of three thousand dollars a year for the support and maintenance of the Permanent International Commission of the Congresses of Navigation, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum or three thousand dollars a year is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the support and maintenance of the Permanent International Commission of the Congresses of Navigation and for the payment of the actual expenses of the properly accredited national delegates of the United States to the meetings of the Congresses and of the Commission, and that the Secretary of War be, and is hereby, authorized to draw his warrant each year upon the Secretary of the Treasury for such sum, not to exceed three thousand dollars as may in his opinion be proper to apply to the purposes above mentioned, and that thesaid sum shall be disbursed under such regulations as may be prescribed by theSecretary of War. The national delegates aforesaid from the United States shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for their actual expenses incurred while traveling to and from the meetings, and while in attendance thereon, from the funds herein appropriated and authorized to be expended. Draft approved. FEBRUARY 5, 1902. JOHN HAY, Secretary of State. O 57TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. J DOCUMENT 1st Session. No. 374. LIGHT-HOUSE DEPOT NEAR DULUTH, MINN. LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, RECOMMENDING ESTABLISHMENT OF A LIGHT-HOUSE DEPOT NEAR DULUTH, ON LAKE SUPERIOR. FEBRUARY 8, 1902.-Referred to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce and ordered to be printed. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, SIR: This Department has the honor to state, at the instance of the Light-House Board, that in view of the large increase in the last few years of the number of buoys required to properly indicate the channels of Lake Superior in the vicinity of Duluth, Minn., which have been increased and extended by dredging operations, there arises an urgent need for the establishment of a light-house depot for the storage, repair, and making of buoys and their appendages, at a location convenient to their place of maintenance. The Light-House Board, at its session on February 3, 1902, considered the question of providing a light-house depot at or near Duluth, Minn., when it was decided that such a depot ought to be established as soon as practicable to provide proper storage for the spare buoys required to be kept on hand to replace those lost or injured, and to furnish a place for their manufacture and repair, in order that the efficiency of the buoyage in that vicinity may not be impaired by the necessity of procuring such services from a distance. The board has concluded that a proper location for this light-house depot would be on the Light-House Reservation at Minnesota Point, Minn. The use of this site will make unnecessary the heavy expenditure for land which would be required if the depot were established |