J60 Elst V.10 DOCUMENTS INTERIOR DEPARTMENT APPROPRIATION BILL, 1950 ᏢᎪᎡᎢ 2 Pages 1-1579, inclusive, appear in part 1 of this M712108 III AFTERNOON SESSION TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 1949. (Whereupon, at 2 p. m., the subcommittee reconvened pursuant to the taking of the noon recess.) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY STATEMENTS OF WM. E. WRATHER, DIRECTOR; GERALD FITZGERALD, CHIEF TOPOGRAPHIC ENGINEER; W. H. BRADLEY, CHIEF GEOLOGIST; C. G. PAULSEN, CHIEF HYDRAULIC ENGINEER; R. E. SPRATT, ASSISTANT TO THE CHIEF, CONSERVATION DIVISION; G. J. MOWITT, EXECUTIVE OFFICER; AND J. L. RAMSEY, BUDGET OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Senator HAYDEN. The committee will come to order. Dr. Wrather, do you have a general statement you want to make first? Mr. WRATHER. A short one, Senator. REQUEST FOR RESTORATIONS Mr. WRATHER. The House has reduced five of the appropriation items for the Geological Survey in the 1950 appropriation bill below the amounts proposed in the budget estimates. The Geological Survey is accepting the action of the House fully with respect to one of those items, and in major degree with respect to a second item. However, because of our evaluation of the national needs and of obligations upon the Survey, we feel obliged to urge further consideration and full restoration of the amounts of the reductions in the items for three of our technical and engineering functions-"Topographic surveys,' "Mineral resources of Alaska," and "Gaging streams"; and also to seek restoration of a minor part of the amount cut from the appropriation for "Engraving and printing maps." Many Federal, State, and industrial agencies are handicapped in preparing sound plans and programs by the lack of adequate basic data. Within its own specialized fields, the calls upon the Geological Survey for basic data are increasingly more urgent. HOOVER COMMISSION REPORT QUOTED It is pertinent to quote the following statement from the report of the Natural Resources Task Force of the Hoover Commission: The committee is reluctant at this time to recommend increased appropriations for any Federal function within its province of study. It is foolhardy, however, for the Federal Government to undertake a development program running into billions of dollars without spending enough money to obtain the basic hydrologic data essential to sound planning and construction. Yet that is precisely what is being done. Where error commonly runs high-25 percent-it is not difficult to see the possibilities of enormous savings through the collection of more adequate basic data. The committee therefore recommends the immediate expansion of the programs of the basic data collecting agencies, so that the topographic mapping ground-water studies, stream-gaging programs, sedimentation studies, evapotranspiration studies, and run-off and erosion studies can keep pace with development programs. |