FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY, August 17, 1949. Hon. WILLIAM M. WHITTINGTON, Chairman. Committee on Public Works, House of Representatives. DEAR MR. WHITTINGTON: Careful consideration has been given to the bill (H. R. 5674) transmitted with your letter of July 23, 1949 with request for a report thereon. The bill would amend section 18 of the act of August 30, 1935 (49 Stat. 1068), which authorized the county of Atchison, Mo., and the county of Nemaha, Nebr., singly or jointly, to construct, maintain, and operate a bridge and approaches thereto across the Missouri River at or near Brownville, Nebr. The counties were authorized by subsection (d) to charge tolls for the use of the bridge at such rates as would produce funds sufficient to meet annual maintenance, repair, and operation costs and provide a sinking fund to amortize the cost of the bridge within not to exceed 20 years from the date of its completion. Subsection (d) also provided that after a fund sufficient for such amortization shall have been provided the bridge should be operated free of tolls or the rates so adjusted as to provide only for maintenance, repair, and operation costs. The pending bill would amend subsection (d) of said act of August 30, 1935, to change the period prescribed therein for collecting tolls to amortize the cost of constructing the bridge from 20 years to 30 years. It is understood that this change is desired to facilitate the refunding of obligations issued to meet the cost of the bridge which are still outstanding. There does not appear to be any basis for objecting to this amendment. In view of the foregoing, favorable action on the bill is recommended. This report has been referred to the Bureau of the Budget. That Bureau has advised that there would be no objection to its submission to the committee Sincerely yours, JESS LARSON, Administrator, General Services Administration Hon. WILLIAM M. WHITTINGTON, AUGUST 22, 1949. House of Representatives. DEAR MR. WHITTINGTON: Reference is made to this Department's report to you, dated July 29, 1949, on H. R. 5674, a bill to extend the authorized maturity date of certain bridge revenue bonds to be issued in connection with the refunding of the acquisition cost of the bridge across the Missouri River at Brownville, Nebr., in which you were advised that, due to urgency, the report was submitted without advice from the Bureau of the Budget. The Bureau of the Budget has, subsequently, advised that there is no objection to the report referred to insofar as the Bureau of the Budget is concerned. Sincerely yours, CLARK L. RUFFNER, Major General, United States Army, [First endorsement] DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, Respectfully returned to the chairman, Committee on Public Works, House of Representatives. Insofar as the interests committed to this Department are concerned, there is no objection to the favorable consideration of the accompanying bill (H. R. 5674, 81st Cong., 1st sess.) to extend the authorized maturity date of certain bridge revenue bonds to be issued in connection with the refunding of the acquisition cost of the bridge across the Missouri River at Brownville, Nebr. Since the committee has requested that this report be expedited, it is submitted without a determination by the Bureau of the Budget as to whether it conforms to the program of the President. GORDON GRAY, Secretary of the Army. The committee voted unanimously to approve this legislation and recommend that the House do pass H. R. 5674. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW In compliance with paragraph 2a of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by this bill are shown as follows (existing law in which no change is made is printed in roman; omitted matter is printed within black brackets; the new matter is printed in italics): The first sentence in section 18 (d) of the act of August 30, 1935: In fixing the rates of toll to be charged for the use of such bridge, the same shall be so adjusted as to provide a fund sufficient to pay for the reasonable cost of maintaining, repairing, and operating the bridge and its approaches under economical management, and to provide a sinking fund sufficient to amortize the cost of such bridge and its approaches, including reasonable interest and financing cost, as soon as possible, under reasonable charges, but within a period of not to exceed [twenty thirty years from the completion thereof. Amend the title to read: A bill to extend the time for the collection of tolls to amortize the cost, including reasonable interest and financing cost, of the construction of a bridge across the Missouri River at Brownville, Nebraska. INCORPORATING THE NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 29, 1949.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed Mr. HOBBS, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT 'To accompany H. R. 1185] The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 1185) to incorporate the National Safety Council, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. The National Safety Council was established some 36 years ago as a nonprofit and nonpolitical organization. In the course of its existence it has grown so that today it functions on a Nation-wide scale. As a national organization, its operations cover almost every phase of American life. It touches industry, agriculture, education, the home, and the highway-all from the viewpoint of safety. Moreover, it is the only national organization exclusively devoted to the prevention of accidents in all fields of safety. The National Safety Council functions primarily as a coordinating agency. Its official policy requires the stimulating and activating of all possible public and private agencies to participate in accident prevention. In the course of its work the council has had the cooperation, not only of private industry, but also of the Federal and State Governments. It has participated in such activities as the President's Highway Safety Conference in 1946 and 1949, and the President's Fire Prevention Conference in 1947, and one of its staff members was assigned as a special counsel to the President's Industrial Safety Conference in 1949. The need for an organization such as the National Safety Council is very evident in the fact that more than 32,000 people are killed on our State highways, and that the death rate in all types of accidents reaches the startling figure of over 100,000 people. The cost of such accidents in money amounts to more than $7,000,000,000. The purposes of this corporation are set forth in section 2 of the bill as follows: SEC. 2. The purposes of this corporation shall be (a) to further, encourage, and promote methods and procedures leading to increased safety, protection, and health, in industries, in homes, on streets and highways, and in other public and private places; (b) to collect, correlate, distribute, and disseminate educational and informative data, reports, and all other data relative to safety methods and procedures; (c) to encourage the adoption and institution of safety methods by all persons, corporations, and other organizations; (d) to organize, establish, and conduct programs, lectures, and other activities for the education of all persons, corporations, and other organizations in safety methods and procedures; (e) to organize, and to aid in the organization of, local safety chapters throughout the Nation, and to provide organizational guidance and materials to promote the national safety; (f) to cooperate with, enlist, and develop the cooperation of and between all persons, corporations, and other organizations and agencies, both public and private, engaged or interested in, or in any manner connected with, any or all of the foregoing purposes; (g) to do any and all lawful acts which may be necessary, useful, suitable, desirable, and proper for the furtherance, accomplishment, and attainment of any or all of the foregoing purposes. |