TENDERING THANKS OF CONGRESS TO CERTAIN OFFICERS, PANAMA CANAL.

APRIL 11, 1916.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. ADAMSON, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 9134.]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 9134) to repeal certain sections and part of section of an act entitled "An act to provide for recognizing the services of certain officers of the Army, Navy, and Public Health Service for their services in connection with the construction of the Panama Canal, to extend to certain of such officers the thanks of Congress, and for other purposes," approved March fourth, nineteen hundred and fifteen, having considered the same, report thereon with amendment and as so amended recommend that it pass. Amend the bill as follows:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof the following:

That the act of Congress entitled "An act to provide for recognizing the services of certain officers of the Army, Navy, and Public Health Service for their services in connection with the construction of the Panama Canal, to extend to certain of such officers the thanks of Congress, and for other purposes," approved March fourth, nineteen hundred and fifteen, be amended to read as follows:

"That the thanks of Congress are hereby extended to the following officers of the Army and Navy of the United States who, as members of the late Isthmian Canal Commission, have rendered distinguished service in constructing the Panama Canal, to wit, Colonel George W. Goethals, chairman and chief engineer; Brigadier General William C. Gorgas, sanitary expert; Colonel H. F. Hodges, Lieutenant Colonel William L. Sibert, and Commander H. H. Rousseau. "SEC. 2. That the President is hereby authorized, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to advance in rank one officer of the Corps of Engineers, United States Army, named in section one of this act, to the grade of major general of the line, United States Army, and one officer of the Medical Department, United States Army, named in the same section, to the rank of major general in said department: Provided, That no officer now belonging to said corps or said department shall be deprived of or prejudiced in his regular promotion.

SEC. 3. That for the purposes of this act the number of major generals of the line, United States Army, is increased by one and the rank of the head of the Medical Department, United States Army, is made that of a major general; Provided, That the officer who may be advanced and appointed major general in the Medical Department, United States Army, shall thereupon become the head of such department, and the operation of so much of section twenty-six of the act of February second, nineteen hundred and one, as limits the term of office of the head of the Medical Department, United States Army, shall be suspended during the incumbency of the head of the department who may be appointed under this act: Provided further, That whenever any officer advanced under the provisions of this act to the grade of major general, United States Army, shall become separated from the active list of the Army by retirement or otherwise, the extra office or grade to which he shall have been so advanced or appointed shall cease and determine, and if such officer was, prior to such separation, the head of the Medical Department, thereafter the rank of the head of the Medical Department, United States Army, shall be that of a brigadier general: Provided also, That the President, upon the retirement of the officers of the United States Army and Navy named in section one of this act and not advanced in rank in accordance with section two, is hereby authorized, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to advance said officers one grade on the retired list.

"SEC. 4. That all parts of said act not herein reenacted are hereby repealed." The purpose of the bill herewith reported is to correct an erroneous provision contained in an act entitled "An act to provide for recognizing the services of certain officers of the Army, Navy, and Public Health Service for their services in connection with the construction of the Panama Canal, to extend to certain of such officers the thanks of Congress, and for other purposes," approved March 4, 1915.

The House passed a bill to extend the thanks of Congress and to provide certain promotion for Col. Goethals, Col. Gorgas, Col. Hodges, Col. Sibert, and Commander Rousseau, who were the engineer commissioners who superintended the construction of the canal.

In the Senate the bill was amended so as to confer various benefits upon certain inferior officers of the Army and the Public Health Service and also to prevent the subsequent order of promotion of the before-mentioned engineer canal commissioners. The provision directly contradicted a provision in the bill passed by the House providing that the benefits of that bill should not interfere with the usual and ordinary opportunities for promotion.

The bill came back to the House with those amendments in the last hours of the Sixty-third Congress and the amendments were concurred in. Your committee thinks those amendments erroneous and proposes to revise and reenact the aforesaid act so as to eliminate and repeal said amendments. Said amendments were wrong for two reasons. First: They detract from the honor and distinction intended for the engineer commissioners by making the benefits conferred so cheap and common through the recognition of other minor and inferior officers for whom such recognition was not intended and by such recognition of them the honors intended for the engineer commissioners are rendered less conspicuous and signal. Second: Such recognition of the minor and inferior officers of the Army and Public Health Service has misled the other officers of the Army and Public Health Service, as well as the civilian employees on the Isthmus, all of whom are insisting that they also ought to be recognized and rewarded by promotions and by a bonus. Your committee does not

believe that committing one wrong can be properly corrected by committing other wrongs of the same kind. The proper remedy is to repeal the amendment which inflicted the wrong. Therefore instead of extending the promotion, bonus, and largess to others who are not entitled to it your committee thinks it far preferable to undo the original mistake, and for all purposes the accompanying bill is hereby reported by substitute, that the substitute be adopted, and that the bill be passed.

Respectfully submitted.