Plattsburg, N. Y., and for other purposes," transmitted with your letter of December 15, 1930, with a request for report thereon.

The effect of the bill would be to authorize the appropriation of not to exceed $150,000 for the construction, at Plattsburg Barracks, N. Y., of a gymnasium and such utilities and appurtenances thereto as may be necessary “to replace the buildings destroyed by fire in 1917, and the temporary building that was destroyed by fire in 1930."

The bill evidently refers to buildings Nos. 41 and 66. Building No. 41, a drill hall and gymnasium of brick construction, was built in 1895 at a cost of $20,437, was remodeled in 1903 at a cost of $29,000, and was destroyed by fire in 1917. Building No. 66, a temporary Red Cross building used as a combined enlisted men's service club, theater, and library, was erected during the World War. This building was destroyed by fire on December 9, 1930, the damage to building and contents being estimated at $75,000.

A gymnasium for this post is needed and its eventual inclusion in the War Department housing program has been contemplated. Since the fire of December 9, 1930, the need of a building for a gymnasium and the activities for which building No. 66 was used has been greatly accentuated.

It will be noted that the proposed bill, while stating that the appropriation to be authorized is for replacement of the two buildings hereinbefore mentioned, provides specifically for the construction of a gymnasium. Although the bill, if passed in its present form, might be construed as permitting the construction of a building adapted to all of the activities served by buildings Nos. 41 and 66, it is believed that, in order to preclude any possibility of misunderstanding, the bill should be amended by inserting after the word gymnasium," in line 5, a comma and the words "service club, theater, and library."

66

It is estimated that a building for the purpose hereinbefore mentioned can be constructed at a cost of approximately $150,000.

The War Department favors the passage of this bill with an amendment as hereinbefore stated, provided that the cost of this construction will be included in the $15,000,000 Army housing program for the fiscal year 1933.

Sincerely yours,

PATRICK J. HURLEY,
Secretary of War.

STATEMENT OF HON. BERTRAND H. SNELL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK

Mr. SNELL. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, Plattsburg happens to be in my district, in northern New York. That is one of the oldest and I think one of the most important posts on the northern boundary. In 1917, the early part of the war, the old gymnasium or drill hall was destroyed by fire. At that time I went and talked with Mr. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, and he agreed with me that there should be immediate provision for a gymnasium. I call it a gymnasium because that is what it has always been referred to at Plattsburg barracks, but I understand in War Department lore it is called a drill hall. We expect a building of that kind to house and take care of all these activities. Mr. Baker said to me at that time that he thought it was very important for us to have a drill hall there.

I introduced a bill then, but shortly afterwards we got into the war and there were so many expenses and so many demands on the Government at that time and then, too, the local people of Plattsburg together with the Y. M. C. A. built what they called a community hall there which we used at that time when we were training soldiers for the war. It was a very commodious building for that purpose and cost quite a considerable sum of money. We found later that that could answer for the activities usually carried on in a gymnasium under extreme circumstances, and it has been used all

the time for that purpose up to December of last year when it caught afire and burned in no time burned so quickly that one child lost its life. It was in bad shape. Of course it was one of the temporary buildings built in 1917-13 years ago.

The situation at the present time is that we have no building or room where they can carry on what you would call post activities, and in a climate as cold as that is and so much bad weather they actually need a room of that character during the winter months or from late in the fall until late in the spring when they can not drill and conduct the various activities out of doors.

Furthermore, Plattsburg probably has the largest and one of the most efficient and successful citizens' military training camps of any part of the United States. They actually need this drill hall for various assemblies, lectures, and so forth, during the times of that training camp's operation. Also, the R. O. T. C. has a training camp there. It is actually needed to carry on the everyday activities of the post.

I talked with Secretary of War Hurley right after the fire up there, and he told me to introduce the bill and they would give it immediate consideration. He did not tell me what he would do, but I took it from the conversation I had with him that it would be favorably recommended by the War Department. As a matter of fact, if we wait here until the next building program it will be 2, 3, or 4 years before we get it, and they actually need the building at the present time. I think if there is an emergency situation requiring a building this is one. This committee has given place to bills providing for the erection of buildings to take the place of others destroyed by fire. That is about all there is to it.

The CHAIRMAN. From what you state that is the only place you have up there for any activities?

Mr. SNELL. Absolutely the only place of any size. Absolutely no place at all where you could get two or three hundred men together. The CHAIRMAN. If you were to wait till the next regular course for such matters it would mean the money would not be available till July of next year. When General Lord was in charge of the Bureau of the Budget a fire was considered an emergency proposition, and I would introduce a bill, or the Representative from the district involved would do so, and send it down to General Lord and he would immediately send up a supplemental estimate to cover it. After my long illness I have not had a chance to get in touch with Colonel Roop. Last winter we did have a similar situation up in Maine, and Mr. Beedy introduced the bill. There was another one, too.

Mr. SNELL. As a matter of fact, when they had that assembly hall they had a place that could be used and I have never pressed this legislation, although it has been before Congress for all of these years. Mr. WAINWRIGHT. Is there no assembly hall up there now?

Mr. SNELL. No; not at all. They always used the old drill hall or gymnasium for that purpose, and as I have explained, after that burned the community built an assembly hall and they used that till it was burned a few days ago.

The CHAIRMAN. I think the gentleman will understand by reading between the lines in that letter the War Department is in favor of the proposition?

Mr. SNELL. I know the General, in his talk with me, was absolutely in favor of it—as much or more than I was.

Mr. MCSWAIN. To make it perfectly plain, the community hall which was built (a temporary structure) in 1917, was built sort of by community subscription?

Mr. SNELL. Oh, yes; the Government never put a dollar into it. The local people and the general supervision of the Young Men's Christian Association. The Government never paid a nickel for it. Mr. MCSWAIN. What month was it destroyed in 1930?

Mr. SNELL. In December, just a few weeks ago.

The CHAIRMAN. After it happened I talked with Mr. Snell about introducing a bill.

Mr. SNELL. I think it should be called a drill hall instead of gymnasium, because in military parlance that is what it has always been called. I put that in because that is what they commonly refer to as a gymnasium in Plattsburg.

STATEMENT OF MAJ. GEN. JOHN L. DE WITT, QUARTERMASTER GENERAL, UNITED STATES ARMY

General DE WITT. There is very little I can say, Mr. Chairman, except to support what Mr. Snell has just said. The War Department looks upon it as an emergency. Any one who has served in that climate, as I have, knows that it is essential-you must have a building where men can be trained during the winter months, and it does not exist at the present time.

The CHAIRMAN. You know of your own knowledge that there is no building up there that could be used for that purpose at the present time?

General DE WITT. Yes, sir. These are the only two buildings that could be used for that purpose-buildings 41 and 66. They are of immense advantage and almost a necessity in connection with training the C. M. T. Č. candidates there.

The CHAIRMAN. I suggest to the gentleman from New York that if we should report this bill favorably, that he try to get this item in the deficiency bill.

Mr. SNELL. I will use every effort to try to get it in the deficiency bill.

Mr. WAINWRIGHT. I am very familiar with that situation. I went to the first Plattsburg camp in 1915 and all the camps since, and I do not see how they can operate without an assembly hall.

Mr. SNELL. It is very important in training the young men there in the summer, because they have a great many lectures; and getting them together in a place of assembly, there is no place they can do it now without meeting out of doors.

Mrs. KAHN. Do you want to use the words "drill hall" instead of the word "gymnasium"?

Mr. SNELL. I think we should use the words "drill hall," because that is the way it is referred to in Army or War Department circles-a drill hall for all those activities.

Thereupon the committee proceeded to the consideration of other business.)

The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will read the next bill.

The CLERK. The next bill is H. R. 8161 introduced by Mr. James at the request of the War Department and is as follows:

A BILL To authorize appropriation for construction of bridge at Fort Benning, Georgia Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby authorize to be appropriated not to exceed $170,000 to be expended for the construction at Fort Benning, Georgia, of a combination railway and highway bridge across the Upatoi Creek on the main highway and railway into Fort Benning from Columbus, Georgia, including the relocation and fill of approach roads and the pavement thereof.

The following report from the War Department on the foregoing bill has been received:

The SPEAKER HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

DECEMBER 21, 1929.

DEAR MR. SPEAKER: There is inclosed a draft of a bill "To authorize appropriation for construction of bridge at Fort Benning, Ga.," which the War Department presents for the consideration of the Congress with a view to its enactment into law.

There is no existing law on this subject.

The present bridges and approaches, which carry also the electric power lines to Fort Benning, are subject to extreme floods which render them impassable for days at a time and cut off all electric power. As an only means of communication with the adjoining communities, as well as a means of protection against fire and pestilence, it is essential that bridges and power lines be provided which will not be rendered useless by floods. Such has not been the case in the past. The records for the 10 years 1919-1929 indicates that in 1919 the flood stage at Fort Benning lacked only 2 feet of being as high as that reached last spring and that in 1924 the high-water mark was about the same as in 1919. Last March the Upatoi Creek was swollen by torrential rains to flood stage, and before it had completely subsided additional rains in March and April brought it to the highest recorded mark. Highway and railway bridges were entirely inundated. To save the railway bridge it was necessary to anchor it by filling it with loaded freight cars. Telephone and power lines were completely disrupted. Several photographs showing the conditions as they existed at Fort Benning during March and April, 1929, are attached for your information. In other years while the flood has not been so acute, there has occurred inconvenience and loss to the Government and to individuals, due to lack of suitable bridges over the Upatoi Creek.

The estimated cost is $170,000.

The proposed legislation has been submitted to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, who advises, under date of December 13, 1929, that the expenditures contemplated by this proposed legislation would not be in conflict with the financial program of the President.

Sincerely yours,

PATRICK J. HURLEY, Secretary of War. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Wright is here and wishes to be heard on this bill. We shall be glad to hear from you, Mr. Wright.

STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM C. WRIGHT, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF GEORGIA

Mr. WRIGHT. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, that letter from the War Department is a picture of the situation. It happens that Fort Benning is in the congressional district which I have the honor to represent, and I am familiar with the situation down there. I will state that your chairman is also familiar with it, because he lived there on one occasion.

You gentlemen will understand that Fort Benning is the Infantry School of the Army. The area covered by the post is between 97,000

and 98,000 acres. They train from six to seven hundred officers there each term, and they keep an enlisted personnel there of from five to seven thousand.

The Upatoi Creek, over which it is proposed to construct this combination highway and railway bridge, is a very wild stream, and it has very deep banks. The present bridge is what might be called a temporary structure. It is a rough structure and as it happens in seasons of high water the bridge is practically submerged so that it disrupts travel and also interferes with power and telephone lines. They are in suspense in periods of high water. Really, I do not know whether the bridge could be considered altogether safe or not. I am sure it would not be safe in times of high water. The bridge spans that part of the highway which leads from Columbus, Ga., to the fort, and there is a small railway, a short-line railway, which runs from one of the regular lines out to the fort, and it is desired that this bridge be used not only as a highway bridge but as a railway bridge to reach the fort. That is really the means of ingress and egress to and from Columbia, Ga., which is a distance of 7 or 8 miles. Also it affords the means for the railway to run from the regular lines into the fort to carry all the supplies and everything else.

That is about the situation. I would be glad to answer any questions.

The CHAIRMAN. I was down there last week, and I drove over the bridge with Colonel King. I saw the high-water mark, and it was up 10 or 12 feet above the bridge. There were marks to show the water had been that high.

Mr. WAINWRIGHT. When that bridge is overflowed the camp is cut off entirely from the city?

Mr. WRIGHT. Yes, sir.

Mr. MCSWAIN. Who owns it?

Mr. WRIGHT. The Government owns it.

Mr. MCSWAIN. This is not a part of the Georgia highway system is it?

Mr. WRIGHT. Oh, no; it is a part of the fort. It is in the fort. The CHAIRMAN. Is there anybody here representing the War Department on this bill?

Colonel JORDAN. I am, Mr. Chairman. I am Col. H. B. Jordan, of the General Staff of the Army. I can only say in addition to what has been brought out that this is the only means of communication between Fort Benning and Columbus except going in a very roundabout way, passing over a lot of unimproved road; and when Benning is cut off it is practically cut off from the outside world. The bridge there now was erected by the engineers out of fabricated material they got together after the World War, and it is, as Mr. Wright says, a temporary structure.

The CHAIRMAN. With this bridge submerged you are not only shut off from the outside world so far as automobile traffic is concerned but the railroad and in every other way?

Colonel JORDAN. Yes, sir. Here is a map, if you would like to see it, which will show you how you have to go to get in there if the bridge is cut off.