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The PRESIDENT,

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT,

The White House.

BUREAU OF THE BUDGET, Washington, D. C., February 16, 1944.

SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith for your consideration a supplemental estimate of appropriation for the Post Office Department, in the form of an amendment to the Budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1945, as follows:

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT

OFFICE OF THE FIRST ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL

On page 603 of the Budget under the head "Rural Delivery Service", column 1, increase the amount of the estimate from $103,315,000 to $107,690,000.. (increase) $4,375,000

This estimate of appropriation is necessary to enable the Post Office Department to comply with the provisions of Public Law No. 205, approved December 17, 1943, which makes a temporary increase of 1 cent per mile in the maintenance allowance for rural delivery carriers. The period covered by this act terminates June 30, 1945, or such earlier date as the Congress may by concurrent resolution prescribe.

This estimate of appropriation is required to meet a contingency which has arisen since the transmission of the Budget for the fiscal year 1945. I recommend that it be transmitted to Congress.

Very respectfully,

HAROLD D. SMITH,

Director of the Bureau of the Budget.

о

MRS. ANNA RUNNEBAUM-VETO MESSAGE

MESSAGE

FROM

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

RETURNING

WITHOUT APPROVAL THE BILL (S. 949) ENTITLED "AN ACT FOR THE RELIEF OF MRS. ANNA RUNNEBAUM”

MARCH 3 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 7), 1944.-Read; referred to the Committee on Claims and ordered to be printed

To the Senate:

I return herewith, without my approval, S. 949, a bill for the relief of Mrs. Anna Runnebaum.

It is the purpose of the bill to pay the sum of $4,000 to Mrs. Anna Runnebaum, of Axtell, Kans., in settlement of her claim against the United States by reason of the death of her son, Ralph Joseph Runnebaum, who died as the result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident on October 12, 1941, while in the employ, as stated in the bill, of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

It appears that the deceased was, in fact, an enrollee of the National Youth Administration; that on the date in question one of the enrollees at the Mechanical Training Section, Wabaunsee Lake, near Eskridge, Kans., was, under proper authority, driving five youths in a Government-owned truck back to camp after a Sunday evening visit to the nearby town of Eskridge; that the truck went off the road on a curve and all of the occupants of the truck were injured; and that young Runnebaum sustained a broken back, as a result of which he died on October 17, 1941.

I am advised that the applicable provisions of the Employees' Compensation Act, as amended, do not authorize payment in this case, had the enrollee been killed in line of duty, in excess of $1,920.

While the death of young Runnebaum was most unfortunate and elicits sympathy, I do not feel that I would be justified in approving the bill since it would pay to the mother of this enrollee an amount of $2,080 more than has been paid in a number of cases where enrollees

of the National Youth Administration have met with their death while in an active-duty status.

I would be glad to give my approval to a bill which would provide payment to the mother of this deceased enrollee of an amount not in excess of $1,920.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT.

THE WHITE HOUSE, February 28, 1944.

S. 949

SEVENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; AT THE SECOND SESSION, BEGUN AND HELD AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON ON MONDAY, THE TENTH DAY OF JANUARY, ONE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR AN ACT For the relief of Mrs. Anna Runnebaum

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to pay, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $4,000, to Mrs. Anna Runnebaum, of Axtell, Kansas, in full settlement of all claims against the United States for the death of her son, Ralph Joseph Runnebaum, who was killed in an automobile accident while in the employ of the Civilian Conservation Corps: Provided, That no part of the amount appropriated in this Act in excess of 10 per centum thereof shall be paid or delivered to or received by any agent or attorney on account of services rendered in connection with this claim, and the same shall be unlawful, any contract to the contrary notwithstanding. Any person violating the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any amount not exceeding $1,000.

SAM RAYBURN,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.
H. A. WALLACE,

Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate.

[Endorsement on back of bill:]

I certify that this Act originated in the Senate.

О

EDWIN A. HALSEY, Secretary.

PHOENIX-TEMPE STONE CO.-VETO MESSAGE

MESSAGE

FROM

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

RETURNING

WITHOUT APPROVAL THE BILL (S. 375) ENTITLED "AN ACT FOR THE RELIEF OF THE PHOENIX-TEMPE STONE CO."

MARCH 3 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 7), 1944.-Read; referred to the Committee on Claims and ordered to be printed

To the Senate:

I return herewith, without my approval, S. 375 (78th_Cong.), entitled "An act for the relief of the Phoenix-Tempe Stone Co."

This enactment would authorize and direct the Secretary of the Treasury to pay, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to the Phoenix-Tempe Stone Co., of Phoenix, Ariz., the sum of $1,000 in full satisfaction of its claim against the United States for damages arising out of rental by the Civil Works Administration in Arizona of a paving-mixing plant, owned by said company, under a contract numbered CWA-234, dated January 5, 1934.

From the facts set forth in Senate Report No. 235 and House Report No. 1055, accompanying the bill, it appears that the amount claimed, for the most part, is based on the loss of earnings or profits which the Phoenix-Tempe Stone Co. anticipated at the time it entered into the contract, such loss resulting from the fact that the equipment was not used as the contractor thought it would be used. It appears to be recognized by the Congress that the Government is under no legal liability to pay the amount claimed; and, while the bill contemplates the granting of relief on equitable grounds, the claim does not, in my judgment, contain such elements of equity as to justify payment of the amount involved to the claimant. While it was doubtless anticipated that the amount of material to be mixed and paid for under the contract would greatly exceed the amount actually mixed and paid for, it is clear that the Government was required by the contract to

use the plant only as its needs demanded and the claimant was to be paid accordingly. The possibility of a limited period of operations was expressly recognized in the contract. It appears moreover that operations were delayed by the fact that certain necessary parts were missing when the plant was received, a circumstance for which the Government was apparently not responsible.

Inasmuch as the allowance provided by the bill appears to be based on a faulty premise, it is unnecessary to consider whether the claimant is entitled in equity to be compensated in a smaller sum as claimed for the cost of replacing certain essential parts that were missing from the mixing machine when it was returned to the claimant by the Government.

It has not been the general practice or purpose of the Government, in connection with its contracts, to insure contractors against loss or to afford relief to them in the event their contracts do not prove to be as profitable as contemplated; and the circumstances of the present claim are not such as would justify preferential treatment of this claimant. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT.

THE WHITE HOUSE, February 28, 1944.

S. 375

SEVENTY-EIGHth Congress of the United States of America; at the SECOND SESSION, BEGUN AND HELD AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON ON MONDAY, THE TENTH DAY OF JANUARY, ONE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR

AN ACT For the relief of the Phoenix-Tempe Stone Company

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to pay, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to the Phoenix-Tempe Stone Company, of Phoenix, Arizona, the sum of $1,000, in full satisfaction of its claim against the United States for damages arising out of the rental by the Civil Works Administration in Arizona of a paving-mixing plant, owned by said company, under a contract numbered CWA-234 and dated January 5, 1934: Provided, That no part of the amount appropriated in this Act in excess of 10 per centum thereof shall be paid or delivered to or received by any agent or attorney on account of services rendered in connection with this claim, and the same shall be unlawful, any contract to the contrary notwithstanding. Any person violating the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not exceeding $1,000.

SAM RAYBURN,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.
H. A. WALLACE,

Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate.

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