RADIO LABORATORY BUILDING FOR THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE OCTOBER 11. 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. PRIEST, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 443] The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (S. 443) to authorize the construction and equipment of a radio laboratory building for the National Bureau of Standards, Department of Commerce, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. The bill (S. 443) would authorize the construction of a radio laboratory building to be operated by the National Bureau of Standards at a cost of approximately $4,475,000, which includes $360,000 for special equipment. The laboratory, according to the Department of Defense and the National Security Resources Board, is urgently needed primarily for studies of the characteristics of radio-wave propagation and allied radio matters of interest to the military. It would, however. also have private commercial importance. ton. Site of the laboratory has not yet been determined. As a result of a policy established by the National Security Resources Board that important installations having a bearing on military security should not be constructed in crowded urban areas, it is expected that the site will not be within the present grounds of the Bureau in WashingThe committee has adopted an amendment, proposed by the Department of Commerce, which authorizes the acquisition of a site. Whether additional funds will be required for land is not now known, largely because it is believed that a site may be selected on land already owned by the Federal Government, or may be secured without cost from a State or other public institution. The bill has been approved by the Department of Commerce, the General Services Administration (successor to the Federal Works Agency), Federal Communications Commission, and the National Military Establishment (Research and Development Board). A recent letter from Secretary of Commerce Sawyer, setting forth need for the laboratory and urging speedy enactment, follows: Hon. EDWIN C. JOHNSON, Chairman, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Washington, D. C. JUNE 2, 1949. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: I understand that concern has been expressed by several members of your committee with respect to the location of the site for the proposed radio laboratory building, the construction of which would be authorized by S. 443, for the National Bureau of Standards, presently under consideration by the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce of the Senate. As was stated in the statement of purpose and need for S. 443, transmitted to your committee on February 24, 1949, the activities to be carried out in this proposed laboratory are critical in the entire field of radio communications, of particular value to American aviation, and of vital importance to the armed forces Members of my staff have therefore discussed the matter of the location of this site with the National Military Establishment, the National Security Resources Board, and the Bureau of the Budget. In accordance with these discussions, I am of the opinion that this building should not be located in the metropolitan area of the District of Columbia and therefore recommend that amendatory language be provided in S. 443 to authorize the procurement of a site elsewhere. The proposed language, attached as exhibit A, is not restricted to a site for the laboratory building alone since buildings in the future, where the same factors apply, should also be located at the same site for the reasons of economy technica effectiveness, and administrative efficiency As stated in my letter dated February 24, 1949, to your committee, there exists an urgent need for the laboratory building which would be authorized by S. 443 and the Department strongly urges the enactment of this legislation as amended I have been advised by the Bureau of the Budget that there is no objection to the submission of this letter to your committee. Sincerely yours, CHARLES SAWYER, Secretary of Commerce EXPLANATION OF PROVISIONS 1. This bill would authorize the expenditure of $4,475,000 (exclusive of cost of land), for the construction, installation of utilities, and equipment of an additional radio laboratory building for the National Bureau of Standards. Of this total $360,000 would be for cost of equipment. An escalator clause is included which would permit adjustment of the construction cost limitation in the bill to price levels prevailing on the date of the award of the contract: this would be determined by the Federal Works Administrator. 2. Site for the construction of the laboratory has not yet been selected. While authority for purchase of land is contained in the bill as amended, the Department is of the opinion that land already the property of the Federal Government, or other public institution. may be procured without cost The Department has in mind the possibility of acquiring sufficient land to permit expansion of facilities. even to the extent of shifting the entire Bureau of Standards in an emergency. 3. The Bureau of Standards now has a radio building, construct ea in 1918, which permits the operation of a small working group on radio propagation studies. As the demand for critical radio studies increased during the war and since the war, such studies have been widely dispersed in numerous other buildings on the Bureau grounds The Bureau states that the space now so occupied is urgently required for other work they are carrying on. 4. Purpose of the building, as explained by Dr. Karl T. Compton, Chairman of the Research and Development Board of the National Military Establishment, is to make available urgently required additional space for basic research work in studies of radio propagation (the characteristics and behaviors of radio frequencies), miniaturization (research into radio actuated fuses and printer circuits techniques), fundamental studies into time and wave-length standards, and a number of other research matters affecting military techniques. These studies in the field of radio have both a tactical (military) and nontactical (civilian) application. Aside from essential experimental and theoretical work on radio standards and measurements and radio propagation, the work to be carried out in the new building would permit, for example, expanded determinations of the effect of varying atmospheric conditions on radio reception and transmission throughout the United States. Such findings are an important factor in the safe operation of the commercial air lines and of vital importance to the armed forces in the development of new defense weapons. 5. The proposed new building would have a total of 1,700,000 cubic feet. It will require a number of special features which materially increase the cost of the structure over an average building of the same For example, it will be necessary to shield electrostatically about one-third of the building above the ground; rooms in this portion would require special temperature and humidity controls; many of the rooms will require elaborate sets of coaxial and wave-guide fittings; the entire building will require a copper roof which in turn will have to be covered with a protective tile wearing surface thus requiring special structural support, a sub-basement will be necessary with specially equipped vaults to house crystal clocks, the latter necessary in radio propagation studies. 1st Session ༥ No. 1409 AMENDING THE FEDERAL AIRPORT ACT SO AS TO AUTHORIZE GRANTS FOR MINOR PROJECTS AT MAJOR AIRPORTS OCTOBER 11, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. BECKWORTH, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 1282 The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1282) to authorize grants under the Federal Airport Act for minor projects at major airports, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. PURPOSE The purpose of S. 1282 is twofold, viz, (1) to amend section 8 of the Federal Airport Act to provide that congressional approval of the making of a grant to develop a specified class 4, or larger, airport shall carry over for the two fiscal years next following the fiscal year in which the Administrator of Civil Aeronautics submits his list of proposed class 4 airport projects to Congress for approval or disapproval; and (2) to amend section 8 of the act to exempt from the existing requirement of specific congressional approval any minor improvement costing not more than $50,000 in any one fiscal year which is proposed to be made to a class 4 or larger major airport already approved by Congress. COST Neither the 2-year approval carry-over nor the $50,000 exemption provision would add anything to the cost of the Federal-aid airport program. Passage of S. 1282 would eliminate or greatly reduce certain |