The Commission also administers the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, approved March 4, 1927. This act covers employees in private industries engaged in maritime employment on the navigable waters of the United States (including drydocks) who sustain injury or death arising out of, and in course of, employment. These employees are mostly longshoremen and men engaged in repair work on vessels. It does not include the master or members of the crews of vessels, nor persons engaged by the master to load or unload or repair vessels under 18 tons. The compensation features of the act were effective July 1, 1927. Compensation is paid by the employer and the cost of administration by the United States.

On and after July 1, 1927, every employer having employees coming under the provisions of the act is required to secure payment of compensation by insurance in a company authorized by the Commission or self-insurance authorized by the Commission. A heavy penalty is provided for failure to secure compensation. A severe penalty is also provided for the employing of any stevedoring firm which does not present a certificate of compliance.

The Commission is required to make the rules and regulations under this act, prescribe forms, establish compensation districts, and appoint and assign Deputy Commissioners to such districts. The Deputy Commissioners are required to issue certificates of compliance with insurance provisions, enforce requirements as to reports and penalties, regulate medical and legal fees, hold hearings when necessary or demanded by either party, make investigations, allow or disallow claims, examine settlements when hearings are not required to see that the injured employee has received the benefits of the law, take action in case of default in payment, and certify records upon appeal to the courts. Appeal to the Federal courts from the decision of the Deputy Commissioner may be had upon questions

of law.

Compensation for total disability is two-thirds of the average weekly pay, not to exceed a maximum of $25 per week, with a minimum of $8 per week. There is a schedule of benefits for permanent partial disability. Death benefits are payable to the widow until remarriage and to children until they reach the age of 18, also to other dependents under certain circumstances. Reasonable funeral expenses not to exceed $200 are provided. The total compensation payable for injury or death in any one case shall not exceed the sum of $7,500.

The act approved May 17, 1928, which became effective July 1, 1928, made applicable to employers and employees in the District of Columbia the provisions of the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, thus extending the principles of workmen's compensation to employment in the District of Columbia. The act excludes from its benefits the master and a member of a crew of any vessel, such men having the rights known as maintenance and cure and the rights given by the Federal Employers' Liability Act; the employees of railroads when engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, who are also specifically provided for by the Federal Employers' Liability Act; and employees engaged in domestic service or agriculture; and those engaged in casual employment not in the usual course of the trade, business, occupation, or profession of the employer. Compensation is paid by the employer through an insurance carrier authorized by the Commission or direct as a self-insurer under conditions prescribed by the Commission.

CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS

The Civilian Conservation Corps was created by act of Congress approved June 28, 1937 (Public, No. 163, 75th Cong.), succeeding and continuing the work of the independent agency known as "Emergency Conservation Work" which was established by Executive Order No. 6101, dated April 5, 1933, under the act of March 31, 1933 (48 Stat. 22), as amended.

The Director is head of the Civilian Conservation Corps, and has complete and final authority in the functioning of the Corps, including the allotment of funds to cooperating Federal departments and agencies, subject to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the President in accordance with the provisions of the act.

The purpose of the Civilian Conservation Corps is to provide employment, as well as vocational training, for youthful citizens of the United States who are unemployed and in need of employment, and to a limited extent for war veterans and Indians, through the performance of useful public work in connection with the conservation and development of the natural resources of the United States, its Territories, and insular possessions.

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Under Executive Orders No. 7677-A, dated July 26, 1937, and No. 7717, dated September 29, 1937, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Labor, and the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs were, requested to cooperate with the Director of the Civilian Conservation Corps in carrying out the purposes of the act. The Director is assisted by officers of these departments and by a staff of administrative, special and technical assistants.

VETERANS' ADMINISTRATION

The Veterans' Administration was authorized to be established as an independent agency under the direction of the President, by Public, No. 536, Seventyfirst Congress, approved July 3, 1930, which further authorized the President by Executive order to consolidate and coordinate under a single control all Government agencies having to do with the administration of laws relating to the relief of and other benefits provided by law for former members of the military and naval forces. By Executive order of July 21, 1930, there was established the Veterans' Administration and consolidated therein the Bureau of Pensions (previously under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior), the United States Veterans' Bureau, and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, the latter now known as the National Homes Service.

The Administrator of Veterans' Affairs is charged with the control, direction, and management of all agencies and activities comprising the Veterans' Administration, and all final decisions or orders of any agency of the Veterans' Administration are, on appeal, subject to review by him. The Administrator of Veterans' Affairs is also chairman of the Federal Board of Hospitalization, which board is advisory to the President in all matters having to do with the need for, the location of, and expenditures on account of increased Government facilities for the hospitalization and domiciliary care of all veterans of the United States.

The Veterans' Administration is responsible for extending relief to veterans and dependents of deceased veterans of all wars, and soldiers and dependents of deceased soldiers who served in the Military and Naval Establishments of the United States during peace time, provided for by the various acts of Congress. These laws include, in addition to pensions, benefits in the form of Government insurance, military and naval insurance, adjusted compensation, emergency officers' retirement pay for veterans of the World War, and hospital and domiciliary care for veterans of all wars.

Regional offices, or combined regional offices and hospitals and/or homes, are located in each State, with the exception of Delaware, to facilitate the granting of benefits provided for veterans. The Veterans' Administration maintains and operates 81 facilities providing hospitalization or domiciliary care for all veterans admitted thereto.

NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was established by act of Congress approved March 3, 1915 (U. S. C., title 50, sec. 151), and the membership increased from 12 to 15 members by act approved March 2, 1929 (U. S. C., Supp. V, title 50, sec. 151 (a)). Its membership is appointed by the President and consists of two representatives each of the War and Navy Departments from the offices in charge of military and naval aeronautics, one representative each of the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Weather Bureau, and the United States Bureau of Standards, together with eight additional persons (including a representative of the Bureau of Air Commerce, Department of Commerce) who are "acquainted with the needs of aeronautical science, either civil or military, or skilled in aeronautical engineering or its allied sciences." All the members serve as such without compensation.

The law provides that this committee shall "supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight, with a view to their practical solution, and also "direct and conduct research and experiment in aeronautics."

Under rules and regulations formulated by the committee and approved by the President, technical subcommittees, organized along lines similar to the main committee, and with members serving as such without compensation, prepare programs of fundamental research in aeronautics. In order that research programs may be of maximum value, provision is made to keep the subcommittees informed as to aeronautical researches conducted by the more progressive foreign

nations.

The Office of Aeronautical Intelligence was established in the early part of 1918 as an integral branch of the committee's activities. It serves as the depository and distributing agency for the scientific and technical data on aeronautics comprising the results of fundamental committee researches and also the scientific and technical information collected by the committee from governmental and private agencies in this country and abroad. A technical assistant in Europe with headquarters at the American Embassy in Paris, visits governmental and private agencies in Europe to collect, not merely results of researches, but also first-hand information as to researches proposed and in progress.

Briefly, the general functions of this Committee may be stated as follows: 1. Coordinate the research needs of aviation, civil and military.

2. Prevent duplication in the field of aeronautical research.

3. Conduct under unified control of Committee in one central Government laboratory fundamental aeronautical research, including:

(a) Confidential researches for the Army and Navy on which they rely for supremacy of American military aviation.

(b) Fundamental researches to increase safety and economy of operation of aircraft, military and civil.

4. Advise War, Navy, and Commerce Departments and the aviation industry as to the latest research information.

5. Consider merits of aeronautical inventions submitted by the public to any agency of the Government.

6. On request of the President, the Congress, or any executive department to advise upon any special problem in aeronautics which may be referred to it.

The Committee conducts at Langley Field, Va., a well-equipped aeronautical research laboratory known as the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, comprising 14 structures and a research staff of 370 employees. There, under ideal conditions, are combined facilities for laboratory investigations and for researches on aircraft in flight. The aeronautical research facilities at this laboratory are unexcelled by those of any other single nation. With the research needs of military and of civil aviation coordinated through the subcommittees, on which all interested agencies of the Government are represented, and with the cordial and active cooperation of the War, Navy, and Commerce Departments, of the aircraft industry, and of educational institutions, this Committee is able to discharge its responsibilities for the systematic and efficient prosecution of fundamental scientific research in aeronautics and for supplying the research needs of both military and civil aviation without overlapping or duplication of effort.

THE INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION

The International Joint Commission was created by the treaty between the United States and Great Britain signed January 11, 1909, the object of which is "to prevent disputes regarding the use of boundary waters and to settle all questions which are now pending between the United States and the Dominion of Canada involving the rights, obligations, or interests of either in relation to the other or to the inhabitants of the other, along their common frontier, and to make provision for the adjustment and settlement of all such questions as may hereafter arise."

The Commission consists of six members, three appointed by the President of the United States and three appointed by His Majesty on recommendation of the Government of Canada. It was organized in 1911, adopted rules of procedure, and established permanent offices in Washington and Ottawa. It has jurisdiction over all cases involving the use or obstruction or diversion of boundary waters between the United States and Canada, of waters flowing from boundary waters, and of waters at a lower level than the boundary in rivers flowing across the boundary.

Under article IX of the treaty the International Joint Commission also is constituted an investigatory body for the purpose of examining into and reporting upon any questions or matters of difference arising along the common frontier that shall be referred to it from time to time whenever either the Government of the United States or the Government of Canada shall request that such questions or matters of difference be so referred.

Under article X of the treaty any questions or matters of difference arising between the high contracting parties involving the rights, obligations, or interests of the United States or of the Dominion of Canada, either in relation to each other or to their respective inhabitants, may be referred for decision to the International Joint Commission, it being understood that on the part of the United

States such action will be by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and on the part of Great Britain with the consent of the Government of Canada.

Under article VI of the treaty the Commission is charged with the measurement and apportionment from time to time of the waters of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers and their tributaries, these rivers lying partly in Montana and partly in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and being largely used for irrigation purposes in both countries.

INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY COMMISSION, UNITED
STATES, ALASKA, AND CANADA

(For defining, marking, and maintaining the boundary between the United States, Alaska, and Canada) The International Boundary Commission, United States, Alaska, and Canada was created under the provisions of the several boundary treaties between the United States and Great Britain, for the purpose of defining, marking, and maintaining the demarcation of the international boundary line between the United States and Canada and between Alaska and Canada, as follows:

1. Southeastern Alaska, or the boundary between Alaska and British Columbia. Length, 893 miles.

Article VI of the convention between the United States and Great Britain, providing for the settlement of questions between the two countries with respect to the boundary line between the Territory of Alaska and the British possessions in North America, signed at Washington, January 24, 1903, stipulated that when the high contracting parties shall have received the decision of the tribunal upon the questions submitted as provided in the foregoing articles, which decision shall be final and binding upon all parties, they will at once appoint, each on its own behalf, one or more scientific experts, who shall with all convenient speed proceed to lay down the boundary line in conformity with such decision.

2. The boundary between Alaska and Canada, along the one hundred and forty-first meridian. Length, 647 miles.

The convention between the United States and Great Britain, signed at Washington, April 21, 1906, provided for the surveying and marking out upon the ground of the one hundred and forty-first meridian of west longitude where said meridian forms the boundary line between Alaska and the British possessions of North America. The convention stipulated that each Government shall appoint one commissioner, with whom may be associated such surveyors, astronomers, and other assistants as each Government may elect, who shall locate the boundary line, erect the necessary boundary marks, make the necessary surveys, and file duplicate records with their respective Governments.

3. The United States and Canada_boundary from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, with the exception of the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes. Length, 2,697 miles.

Articles I, II, III, V, VI, VII, and VIII, of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain, entitled "Canadian International Boundary", signed at Washington, April 11, 1908, stipulated that each of the high contracting parties shall appoint without delay an expert geographer or surveyor as Commissioner, and the Commissioners so appointed shall jointly execute the necessary surveys, repair existing boundary marks, erect additional boundary marks, and lay down the boundary line in accordance with the existing treaties upon quadruplicate sets of accurate modern charts, prepared or adopted by them for that purpose, and that said charts so marked shall be filed with each Government, and said Commissioners shall also prepare, in duplicate, and file with each Government a joint report or reports, describing in detail the course of the boundary so marked by them, and the character and location of the several monuments and boundary marks and ranges marking it.

4. Article IV of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain in respect to Canada, signed at Washington, February 24, 1925, which provides for the maintenance of an effective boundary line between the United States and the Dominion of Canada and between Alaska and the Dominion of Canada, authorizes and directs the Commissioners appointed under the provisions of the treaty of April 11, 1908, to inspect the various portions of the boundary line between the United States and the Dominion of Canada and between Alaska and the Dominion of Canada at such times as they shall deem necessary; to repair all damaged monuments and buoys; to relocate and rebuild monuments which have been destroyed; to keep the boundary vistas open; to move boundary monuments to new sites and establish such additional monuments and buoys as they shall

deem desirable; to maintain at all times an effective boundary line between the United States and the Dominion of Canada and between Alaska and the Dominion of Canada as defined by the present treaty and treaties heretofore concluded or hereafter to be concluded; and to determine the location of any point of the boundary line which may become necessary in the settlement of any question that may arise between the two Governments.

INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY COMMISSION, UNITED

STATES AND MEXICO

The International Boundary Commission, United States and Mexico, was created pursuant to the provisions of the treaty concluded March 1, 1889, with exclusive jurisdiction to examine and decide all differences or questions arising on that portion of the frontier between the United States of America and the United Mexican States where for a distance of 1,321 miles the Rio Grande, and for a distance of 19 miles the Colorado River form the boundary line as originally established under the treaties of 1848 and 1853, and further regulated by the treaties of 1884, 1905, and 1933, growing out of changes in the beds of, or works constructed in, these rivers, or any other cause affecting the boundary line. Matters pertaining to the practical location and monumentation of the overland boundary of 673 miles between El Paso, Tex., and the Pacific Ocean, as well as questions for investigation and report touching flood-control measures and other engineering problems along the international boundary, are also submitted to the Joint Commission upon concurrence between the respective Governments through an exchange of notes. The Commission is empowered to suspend the construction of works of any character along the Rio Grande and Colorado Rivers that contravene existing treaties; erect and maintain monuments along the water boundary; make necessary surveys of changes brought by force of current in both rivers caused by avulsion, accretion, or erosion; mark and eliminate bancos caused by such changes; survey, place, and maintain monuments on all international bridges between the two countries. The Commission is authorized to call for papers of information relative to boundary matters from either country; hold meetings at any point questions may arise; summon witnesses and take testimony. If both Commissioners agree to a decision their judgment shall be binding on both Governments, unless one of them shall disapprove it within 1 month from the date it shall have been pronounced. By the provisions of the treaty of 1933 the Commission was charged with the direction and inspection of the construction, and with the subsequent maintenance of the Rio Grande Rectification Project in the El Paso-Juarez Valley.

The United States section of the Commission was by the act approved June 30, 1932 (Public, No. 212, 72d Cong.), charged with the exercise and performance of the powers, duties, and functions of the American section, International Water Commission, United States and Mexico, which was abolished by the terms of such act effective July 1, 1932. In addition to the development and analysis of general data pertaining to the extent of beneficial use of international waters, there are operated by the Commission, over some 1,500 miles of the Rio Grande, its tributaries and diversions, 54 stream-gaging stations embracing the measurement of the run-off from over 55,000 square miles of the drainage area of the Rio Grande within the United States between Fort Quitman, Tex., and the Gulf of Mexico, and nearly one-half of the pertinent drainage area in Mexico between those points. Congressional concurrence in the development of this international data is found in the provisions of the act approved August 19, 1935 (Public, No. 286, 74th Cong.).

Statutory provision is also made by this act for the conduct by the American Commissioner of technical and other investigations relating to the defining, demarcation, fencing, or monumentation of the land and water boundary; and the construction of fences, monuments, and other demarcation of the boundary line as well as sewer and water systems and other enumerated structures crossing the international border. The act further embraces statutory authority and administrative provisions for the construction, operation, and maintenance of treaty and other boundary projects.

FEDERAL BOARD OF SURVEYS AND MAPS

The Board of Surveys and Maps was constituted by Executive order of December 30, 1919, to coordinate the activities of the various map-making