and experience necessary to such specialization can only be attained through continuous application to and performance of those duties to the exclusion of the other duties ordinarily performed by line officers of the Marine Corps.

To accomplish this, the bill would permit the assignment of a small number of line officers in the grades of major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel, to assistant quartermaster and assistant paymaster duty only. They would retain their present relative lineal position and would still be subject to the same general laws governing selection, promotion, and retirement as other line officers. Provision is made, however, that the recommendations of selection boards in their cases shall be based on their comparative fitness to perform the duties prescribed for them. Also, in order that they may not delay the advancement of other line officers not assigned to this type of duty, provision is made that on promotion after such assignment they shall be carried as additional numbers in grade. This permits the promotion of the specialist officer when due without in any way delaying the promotion of the regular line officer next below him on the promotion list. The provision is similar to that applying in the cases of "engineering duty only" officers of the line of the Navy and is necessary to insure that their specialization as quartermasters and paymasters will not militate against their chances of selection for promotion.

There are 15 key positions in the quartermaster department and 7 in the paymaster department. Five of the 15 key positions in the quartermaster department will be filled by colonels of the permanent staff of that department and two of the seven key positions in the paymaster department will also be filled by colonels, one of the permanent staff and one to be assigned under the proposed bill. None of the officers occupying these seven key positions could become additional numbers nor will they be replaced by other officers unless promoted to brigadier general of the line or appointed head of a staff department, until separated from the active list. The remaining 15 key positions, 10 in the quartermaster department and 5 in the paymaster department, would be filled by the assignment of majors and lieutenant colonels. These officers would remain regular numbers until promoted and the Department estimates that they will be promoted and thus become additional numbers at the rate of slightly more than 1 a year or a total of approximately 10 in the first 7 years of the operation of the bill.

Majors will not be carried as additional numbers when assigned to such duty but must be promoted to lieutenant colonel before becoming additional numbers. Likewise lieutenant colonels initially assigned to this duty must be promoted to colonel before they are carried as additional numbers. Colonels initially assigned will never become additional numbers. Should any colonel assigned to quartermaster or paymaster duty only be promoted to brigadier general of the line or appointed head of a staff department he would become a regular number in the higher grade.

The committee considers that specialists are required to fill the key positions in the quartermaster and paymaster departments and that this bill is vital to the efficiency of those departments and consequently to the efficiency of the Marine Corps as a whole.

The act of August 29, 1916, prohibited further permanent appointments in any staff department of the Marine Corps. In order that this bill will not have a tendency to re-create staff officers in the Marine Corps, the committee by its amendments, has stricken the

word "staff" from the bill as it passed the Senate and brought it more in conformity with the wording of the law governing the assignment of line officers of the Navy to "engineering duty only."

The Navy Department recommends that the proposed legislation be enacted and states that it is in accord with the program of the President, as is indicated by the letter of the Secretary of the Navy to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, which is hereby made a part of this report.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, May 28, 1937.

The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. Speaker: There is transmitted herewith a draft of a proposed bill to authorize the assignment of officers of the line of the Marine Corps to staff duty only as assistant quartermasters and assistant paymasters, and for other

Durposes.

The enclosed draft provides

(a) That officers of the grades of major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel may, upon application and with the approval of the Secretary of the Navy, be assigned to staff duty only as assistant quartermasters and assistant paymasters.

(b) That officers assigned to staff duty only shall retain the lineal position and precedence which they now hold or may later attain in the same manner as though they had remained continuously in the line.

(c) That officers assigned to staff duty only shall be promoted, retired, and discharged in like manner in all respects as other officers of the line, except as set forth in (d) and (e) below.

(d) That the recommendation of selection boards in the cases of officers assigned to staff duty only shall be based on their comparative fitness to perform the duty prescribed for them.

(e) That majors and lieutenant colonels assigned to staff duty only shall on promotion up to and including the grade of colonel be carried as additional numbers in grade.

(That the number of officers assigned to staff duty only in any one year shall be in accordance with the requirements of the service as determined by the Secretary of the Navy.

The situation that confronts the Marine Corps respecting availability of trained officers in field ranks for filling key positions pertaining to administrative staff work is one requiring prompt remedial action. The act of August 29, 1916, prohibited further permanent appointments in any staff departments of the Marine Corps and provided that vacancies thereafter occurring should be filled by details of line officers for periods of 4 years, unless sooner relieved. It also combined line and staff officers in a single lineal list for purposes of promotion, abolishing separate staff promotion lists, but did not disturb the continuance in their staff specialty of the permanent staff officers who had been appointed prior to that time. There were 29 such officers in 1916, which number has dwindled to 9 at the present time and will continue to diminish until, within a comparatively few years, all will have left the active list. Up to the present time, these officers, supplemented by repeated details of competent line officers, have afforded sufficient officers of long experience in administrative staff work to fill the key positions, and it was anticipated that the detail system provided in the act of August 29, 1916, would continue to make this possible. So long as promotion remained by seniority, as then provided by law, little difficulty was encountered in securing the detail to staff departments of highly qualified line officers who, after serving in the staff specialty for a sufficient length of time to obtain the necessary training and experience, could reasonably be expected to become qualified for the more important or key staff positions.

With the adoption of promotion by selection in 1934, the situation is definitely altered, although it was thought that adequate provision to meet the contingency was included in the Marine Corps selection law itself, which provided that "administrative staff duty performed by any officer under appointment or detail shall be given weight by the selection board in determining his fitness for promotion equal to that given to line duty equally well performed." Despite this proviso, the general impression now prevails that extended service in a staff department, particularly in the field rank, is detrimental to an officer's changes of selection for promotion. While there is no definite foundation for this impression, it nevertheless exists, and under these conditions line officers cannot be expected

to place their future advancement in jeopardy, whether real or fancied, by voluntarily performing staff duties over a period sufficient to give them the knowledge and experience required to qualify them to discharge the responsible duties that pertain to the control, or key positions of the Quartermaster's and Paymaster's Departments.

In the Adjutant and Inspector's Department, the present detail system is adequate to the needs of that department and advantageous to the service as a whole, and no change such as that recommended for the Quartermaster's and Paymaster's Departments is recommended for that department. That is due to the fact that the duties of that department are more analogous to line duties, and it is essential, if an officer is to attain the highest possible efficiency as an inspector, that he serve frequently with troops in order that he may be thoroughly familiar with all matters connected with their service in the field, and with their requirements according to modern military usage.

Conditions in the Quartermaster's and Paymaster's Departments are decidedly different, and it is believed that their efficiency, and consequently the efficiency of the corps as a whole will suffer unless competent officers who have specialized in quartermaster and paymaster duties are permanently placed in certain key positions in those departments. It is necessary, too, that those highly specialized officers receive a special duty status in the corps in order that the Government may take full benefit of their training, ability, and expertness, and that they themselves receive advancement in rank from time to time in the same manner that their contemporaries in the line receive. This principle is recognized in the status provided by law for "engineering duty only" and "aeronautical engineering duty only" officers in the line of the Navy. Also, the Navy has its supply and other specialty corps, the officers of which are in a different status from line officers.

The proposed bill would provide the necessary specially trained personnel by supplementing the present detail system with the assignment of a limited number of majors, lieutenant colonels, and colonels to staff duty only as assistant quartermasters and assistant paymasters. They would remain subject to selection for promotion, and to retirement if not selected, under exactly the same conditions provided for other line officers, but in order to obviate any feeling that their chances of selection might be jeopardized by their continued employment on staff duty, provision is made that on promotion up to and including the rank of colonel, they shall become additional numbers in grade. They do not become additional numbers on assignment to staff duty only, but on promotion after such assignment, and as such do not operate either to hasten their own advancement or to retard the advancement of any officer remaining in the line. This provision is similar to that applying in the cases of "engineering duty only" officers of the Navy, and is considered necessary to insure that their staff specialization will not militate against their chances of selection for promotion.

There are 15 key positions in the Quartermaster's Department and 7 in the Paymaster's Department which it is essential gradually to fill in the manner proposed. Five of the 15 key positions in the Quartermaster's Department would be filled by colonels of the permanent staff of that department, and 2 of the 7 key positions in the Paymaster's Department would be filled by colonels, 1 of the permanent staff of that department, and 1 to be assigned to that department. None of these seven key positions could become additional numbers, and they would not be replaced in their key positions, unless promoted to brigadier general of the line or appointed head of a staff department, until separated from the active list.

The remaining 15 key positions, 10 in the Quartermaster's Department and 5 in the Paymaster's Department, would be filled by assignment of majors and lieutenant colonels, who would not become additional numbers until promoted. Taking into consideration, based on previous experience, the average rate of promotion and the percentage of selections that may be expected from any given number of officers, it is estimated that these 15 officers would be promoted to the next higher grade and thus become additional numbers, at the rate of slightly more than 1 a year, or a total of approximately 10 in the first 7 years of the operation of the bill."

It is estimated that the cost of this proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would be $2,129 for the first year, and that the average annual increase over the preceding year for the next 6 years would be $4,230.

The Navy Department recommends that the proposed legislation be enacted. The proposed legislation is in accord with the program of the President.

Sincerely yours,

CLAUDE A. SWANSON.

BANKHEAD-JONES FARM TENANT ACT

JULY 12, 1937.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. JONES, from the committee of conference, submitted the following

CONFERENCE REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 7562]

The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendment of the Senate to the bill (H. R. 7562) to encourage and promote the ownership of farm homes and to make the possession of such homes more secure, to provide for the general welfare of the United States, to provide additional credit facilities for agricultural development, and for other purposes, having met, after full and free conference, have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their respective Houses as follows:

In lieu of the matter proposed to be inserted by the Senate amendment insert the following:

That this Act may be cited as "The Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act".

TITLE I-FARM TENANT PROVISIONS

POWER OF SECRETARY

SECTION 1. (a) The Secretary of Agriculture (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary") is authorized to make loans in the United States and in the Territories of Alaska and Hawaii and in Puerto Rico to persons eligible to receive the benefits of this title to enable such persons to acquire farms.

(b) Only farm tenants, farm laborers, sharecroppers, and other individuals who obtain, or who recently obtained, the major portion of their income from farming operations shall be eligible to receive the benefits of this title. In making available the benefits of this title, the Secretary shall give preference to persons who are married, or who have dependent families, or, wherever practicable, to persons who are able to make an initial down payment, or who are owners of livestock and farm implements necessary successfully to carry on farming operations. No person shall be eligible who is not a citizen of the United States.

H. Repts., 75–1, vol. 3

(c) No loan shall be made for the acquisition of any farm unless it is of such size as the Secretary determines to be sufficient to constitute an efficient farm-management unit and to enable a diligent farm family to carry on successful farming of a type which the Secretary deems can be successfully carried on in the locality in which the farm is situated.

COUNTY COMMITTEES AND LOANS

SEC. 2. (a) The County Committee established under section 42 shall

(1) Examine applications (filed with the county agent in the county, or with such other person as the Secretary may designate) of persons desiring to finance the acquisition of farms in the county by means of a loan from the Secretary under this title.

(2) Examine and appraise farms in the county with respect to which an application for a loan is made.

(b) If the committee finds that an applicant is eligible to receive the benefits of this title, that by reason of his character, ability, and experience he is likely successfully to carry out undertakings required of him under a loan which may be made under this title, and that the farm with respect to which the application is made is of such character that there is a reasonable likelihood that the making of a loan with respect thereto will carry out the purposes of this title, it shall so certify to the Secretary. The committee shall also certify to the Secretary the amount which the committee finds is the reasonable value of the farm.

(c) No certification under this section shall be made with respect to any farm in which any member of the committee or any person related to such member within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity has any property interest, direct or indirect, or in which they or either of them have had such interest within one year prior to the date of certification.

(d) No loan shall be made to any person or with respect to any farm unless certification as required under this section has been made with respect to such person and such farm by the committee.

TERMS OF LOANS

SEC. 3. (a) Loans made under this title shall be in such amount (not in excess of the amount certified by the County Committee to be the value of the farm) as may be necessary to enable the borrower to acquire the farm and for necessary repairs and improvements thereon, and shall be secured by a first mortgage or deed of trust on the farm. (b) The instruments under which the loan is made and security given therefor shall

(1) Provide for the repayment of the loan within an agreed period of not more than forty years from the making of the loan. (2) Provide for the payment of interest on the unpaid balance of the loan at the rate of 3 per centum per annum.

(3) Provide for the repayment of the unpaid balance of the loan, together with interest thereon, in installments in accordance with amortization schedules prescribed by the Secretary.

(4) Be in such form and contain such covenants as the Secretary shall prescribe to secure the payment of the unpaid balance of the loan, together with interest thereon, to protect the security, and to assure that the farm will be maintained in repair, and waste