PROVIDING FOR EARLY COMPLETION OF RIVER AND HARBOR PROJECTS BY ISSUANCE OF BONDS HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE UNITED STATES SENATE SEVENTY-SECOND CONGRESS FIRST SESSION PURSUANT TO S. 175 A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR THE EARLY COMPLETION OF COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE HIRAM W. JOHNSON, California, Chairman WESLEY L. JONES, Washington. CHARLES L. MCNARY, Oregon. PORTER H. DALE, Vermont. GERALD P. NYE, North Dakota. ARTHUR H, VANDENBERG, Michigan. ROSCOE C. PATTERSON, Missouri. ROBERT B. HOWELL, Nebraska. GEORGE H. MOSES, New Hampshire. HIRAM BINGHAM, Connecticut. WALLACE H. WHITE, JR., Maine. DUNCAN U. FLETCHER, Florida. EDWIN S. BROUSSARD, Louisiana. JOSIAH WILLIAM BAILEY, North Carolina. M. A. CONNOR, Clerk II PROVIDING FOR EARLY COMPLETION OF RIVER AND HARBOR PROJECTS BY ISSUANCE OF BONDS MONDAY. APRIL 4, 1932 UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, in the committee room, Capitol, at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Senator Gerald P. Nye (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Nye, Vandenberg, Howell, Sheppard, and Copeland. Present also: Senator Broussard and Representative Mansfield. Senator NYE. The committee will be in order. Illness on the part of Senator Bulkley, who is a member of this subcommittee, prevents his presence. Senator Howell is understood to be on the way and Senator Sheppard will not be here, but he has just phoned he may be counted for a quorum at this time. (The subcommittee thereupon proceeded to the consideration of S. 175, which is as follows:) [S. 175, Seventy-second Congress, first session] A BILL To provide for the early completion of river and harbor projects now or hereafter authorized and adopted by Congress, including the connecting channels of the Great Lakes, and to authorize the issuance of bonds therefor 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, for the purposes herein enumerated, is authorized and directed to borrow, from time to time, on the credit of the United States, and to issue bonds therefor, as the proceeds may be required, a sum which, together with any appropriations for river and harbor improvements heretofore or hereafter made, will finance comprehensive and continuing contracts for the construction of such projects as have been or will hereafter be adopted by Congress, except that the total of outstanding bonds to be issued under this act shall at no time exceed the sum of $500,000,000, and to prepare and issue therefor coupon or registered bonds of the United States, to be known as internal improvement bonds, in such form as he may prescribe and in denominations of $100, $500, and $1,000, payable in gold coin twenty years from the date of their issue, and callable at the pleasure of the United States any time after ten years from such date, and bearing interest payable quarterly in gold coin at the lowest rate obtainable, not exceeding 4 per centum per annum, and the bonds herein authorized shall be exempt from all taxes of the United States, as well as taxation in any form by or under State, municipal, or local authority. The bonds herein authorized shall be issued for the purpose (1) of supplementing the appropriations made by Congress from time to time for the improvement of rivers and harbors; (2) of completing river and harbor projects now or hereafter authorized and adopted by Congress, including the connecting channels of the Great Lakes, as rapidly as the means at the disposal of the President of the United States, the Secretary of War, and the Chief of Engineers will permit, thereby insuring 1 |