ance as will best promote the purposes of this Act, including participation in coordination of research initiated under this Act by the State agricultural experiment stations, from time to time to indicate such lines of inquiry as to him seem most important, and to encourage and assist in the establishment and maintenance of cooperation by and between the several State agricultural experiment stations, and between the stations and the United States Department of Agriculture.

"On or before the first day of July in each year after the passage of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall ascertain as to each State whether it is entitled to receive its share of the annual appropriations for agricultural experiment stations under this Act and the amount which thereupon each is entitled, respectively, to receive.

"Whenever it shall appear to the Secretary of Agriculture from the annual statement of receipts and expenditures of funds by any State agricultural experiment station that any portion of the preceding annual appropriation allotted to that station under this Act remains unexpended, such amount shall be deducted from the next succeeding annual allotment to the State concerned.

"If the Secretary of Agriculture shall withhold from any State any portion of the appropriations available for allotment, the facts and reasons therefor shall be reported to the President and the amount involved shall be kept separate in the Treasury until the close of the next Congress. If the next Congress shall not direct such sum to be paid, it shall be carried to surplus.

"The Secretary of Agriculture shall make an annual report to the Congress during the first regular session of each year of the receipts and expenditures and work of the agricultural experiment stations in all the States under the provisions of this Act and also whether any portion of the appropriation available for allotment to any State has been withheld and if so the reasons therefor. "SEC. 8. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to impair or modify the legal relation existing between any of the colleges or universities under whose direction State agricultural experiment stations have been established and the government of the States in which they are respectively located. States having agricultural experiment stations separate from such colleges or universities and established by law, shall be authorized to apply such benefits to research at stations so established by such States: Provided, That in any State in which more than one college, university, or agricultural experiment station has been established the appropriations made pursuant to this Act for such State shall be divided between such institutions as the legislature of such State shall direct.

"SEC. 9. The Congress may at any time, amend, suspend, or repeal any or all of the provisions of this Act."

SEC. 2. The following listed sections or parts of sections of the Statutes at Large heretofore covering the provisions consolidated in this Act are hereby repealed: Provided, however, That any rights or liabilities existing under such repealed sections or parts of sections shall not be affected by their repeal:

Bankhead-Jones Act, title I, sections 2 to 8, June 29, 1935 (49 Stat. 436; 7 U. S. C. 427a-g).

Section 9, and related provisions of section 11 of the Bankhead-Jones Act, title I, as added by title I of the Research and Marketing Act (60 Stat. 1082; 7 U. S. C. 427h, 427).

Department of Agriculture Organic Act of 1944, title I, section 105, amending the Bankhead-Jones Act, title I, section 5, by adding subsection (c) (58 Stat. 735; 7 U. S. C. 427d).

Act approved June 7, 1888, amending the Hatch Act (25 Stat. 176; 7 U. S. C. 372).

Adams Act approved March 16, 1906 (34 Stat. 63; 7 U. S. C. 369, 371, 373, 366, 374, 375, 361, 376, 380, 382).

Purnell Act approved February 24, 1925 (43 Stat. 970; 7 U. S. C. 370, 371, 373, 374, 375, 376, 366, 361, 380, 382).

The Acts extending the benefits of the foregoing Acts to the Territory of Hawaii, the Territory of Alaska, and Puerto Rico: Hawaii, Act of May 16, 1928 (45 Stat. 571; 7 U. S. C. 386, 386a, 386b); Alaska, Act of June 20, 1936 (49 Stat. 1553), as amended by Public Law 739, approved August 29, 1950 (7 U. S. C. 369a); Alaska, Act of February 23, 1929 (45 Stat. 1256; 7 U. S. C. 386c); Puerto Rico, Act of March 4, 1931 (46 Stat. 1520; 7 U. S. C. 386d, e, f).

Such portion of the Department of Agriculture Appropriation Act of 1890, approved March 2, 1889, as related to examination of soils by experimental stations (25 Stat. 841; 7 U. S. C. 364).

That part of the Act of October 1, 1918, relating to the Georgia Agricultural Experiment Station (40 Stat. 998; 7 U. S. C.383).

Passed the Senate June 17 (legislative day, June 14), 1955.

Attest:

FELTON M. JOHNSTON, Secretary.

Mr. ABERNETHY. At this point there will be inserted in the record the executive communication to the Speaker regarding this bill. (The letter is as follows:)

The SPEAKER, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
Washington, D. C., March 29, 1955.

DEAR MR. SPEAKER: Transmitted herewith for the consideration of the Congress is a proposed bill to consolidate the Hatch Act of 1887 and laws supplementary thereto relating to the appropriation of Federal funds for the support of agricultural experiment stations in the States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.

The main purpose of the proposed bill is to consolidate and codify existing law relating to appropriations for support of State agricultural experiment stations by amending the Hatch Act of March 2, 1887 (a basic act providing for support of State agricultural experiment stations) and the repeal of other law, or provisions thereof, relating to the support of agricultural experiment stations in the States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. It would also revise certain provisions of law relating to administration and payment authorizations.

Consolidation of the existing legislation, as provided for in this proposal, has been recommended at various times by the Appropriations Committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and by the Bureau of the Budget. This proposal, if enacted, would consolidate into 1 law 12 acts or sections thereof and thus would make possible a simplification of budgeting and accounting procedures in this Department and in each of the States, Territories, and Puerto Rico. It would also result in more efficient administration of this program.

The present authorization in section 9, title I, of the Bankhead-Jones Act, for appropriations in such amounts as Congress may from time to time determine to be necessary, is incorporated in the proposed legislation. The present requirement for the use of 20 percent of section 9 funds for marketing research would be retained with respect to the existing level of appropriations for section 9, but would not be applied to additional funds which may be appropriated under the authorization.

This matter has been before the Association of Land-Grant Colleges and Universities, and a committee representing that association has worked closely with the Department in connection with this proposed legislation. It has expressed the unanimous opinion that such legislation is both desirable and equitable to all concerned.

The proposed action parallels that taken with respect to similar legislation consolidating the acts relating to cooperative agricultural extension work (Public Law 83, 83d Cong.).

A similar letter is being sent to the President of the Senate.

The Bureau of the Budget advises that there is no objection to the transmission of this proposed legislation to the Congress for its consideration.

Sincerely yours,

E. T. BENSON, Secretary.

Mr. ABERNETHY. There will also be inserted in the record at this point the report from the Department of Agriculture under date of May 27, 1955.

(The report is as follows :)

Hon. HAROLD D. COOLEY,

Committee on Agriculture,

House of Representatives.

MAY 27, 1955.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN COOLEY: This is in reply to your request of May 6, 1955, for a report on H. R. 5562, a bill to consolidate the Hatch Act of 1887 and laws supplementary thereto relating to the appropriation of Federal funds for the support of agricultural experiment stations in the States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.

This Department favors the enactment of H. R. 5562.

The main purpose of the bill is to.consolidate and codify existing law relating to appropriations for support of State agricultural experiment stations by amending the Hatch Act of March 2, 1887 (a basic act providing for support of State agricultural experiment stations) and the repeal of other law, or provisions thereof, relating to the support of agricultural experiment stations in the States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. It would also revise certain provisions of law relating to administration and payment authorizations.

This bill, if enacted, would consolidate into 1 law 12 acts or sections thereof and thus would make possible a simplification of budgeting and accounting procedures in this Department and in each of the States, Territories, and Puerto Rico. It would also result in more efficient administration of this program.

The present authorization in section 9, title I, of the Bankhead-Jones Act for appropriations in such amounts as Congress may from time to time determine to be necessary, is incorporated in the proposed legislation. The present requirement for the use of 20 percent of section 9 funds for marketing research would be retained with respect to the existing level of appropriations for section 9, but would not be applied to additional funds which may be appropriated under the authorization.

Consolidation of the existing legislation, as provided for in this bill, has been recommended at various times by the appropriations committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and by the Bureau of the Budget. In addition, the Association of Land-Grant Colleges and Universities has expressed the opinion that such legislation is both desirable and equitable to all concerned. H. R. 5562 parallels action taken with respect to similar legislation consolidating the acts relating to cooperative agricultural extension work (Public Law 83, 83d Cong.).

The Bureau of the Budget advises that there is no objection to the submission of this report.

Sincerely yours,

TRUE D. MORSE, Acting Secretary.

Mr. ABERNETHY. The committee will first hear the Delegate from Hawaii, Mrs. Farrington.

STATEMENT OF HON. ELIZABETH P. FARRINGTON, A DELEGATE IN CONGRESS FROM THE TERRITORY OF HAWAII

Mrs. FARRINGTON. Mr. Chairman, my name is Elizabeth P. Farrington. I am the Delegate to Congress from Hawaii.

I appreciate very much the opportunity of appearing this morning before your committee in support of H. R. 5562.

I would like to insert in the record at this time, if I may, a letter I have just received from the president of the University of Hawaii, Paul S. Bachman, concerning this legislation.

He says:

I understand that Congressman H. A. Dixon has introduced H. R. 5562, “A bill to consolidate all Federal grants to the experiment stations under one sum." This would not only cut down the amount of bookkeeping involved, but would increase the ease of administering the funds.

We would appreciate any support that you might be able to give to this very worthwhile measure.

Both President Bachman and the university are very much in support of this measure. I concur in his opinion.

That completes my statement.

Mr. ABERNETHY. Thank you, Mrs. Farrington.

The next witness will be G. W. Irving, Jr., Deputy Administrator for Research, Agricultural Research Service.

STATEMENTS OF G. W. IRVING, JR., DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR FOR RESEARCH, AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE; H. C. KNOBLAUCH, DIRECTOR, STATE EXPERIMENT STATION DIVISION, AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE; AND HARRY R. VARNEY, DEAN, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND HOME ECONOMICS, AND DIRECTOR OF THE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY, REPRESENTING THE LEGISLATIVE SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE EXPERIMENT STATION COMMITTEE ON ORGANIZATION AND POLICY OF THE LAND GRANT COLLEGE ASSOCIATION

Mr. IRVING. Mr. Chairman, we are very glad to have an opportunity to appear before your subcommittee to support the legislation that is before you.

This proposed legislation will, as you know, consolidate and, we think, simplify, the authorities-about 14 of them, I believe-under which we are now operating with respect to the research in the agricultural experiment stations.

This will also reduce the number, 5, of the acts that govern these activities at the present time.

In addition, we feel that the proposed legislation will permit needed flexibility in the programing of research in the experiment stations by removing some of the limitations which now hamper free flexible program development.

Mr. ABERNETHY. What do you mean by "remove some of the limitations"? What are they? Let us get them in the record. I thought this act just simply consolidated, and made no change in the law.

Mr. IRVING. You are right, sir. By consolidation it will continue to maintain all the controls, all the requirements, and all the freedoms that the present legislation provides; but we feel it will in a number of instances simplify the administration of the authorities.

Specifically, I could mention one illustration, and I think that those who are with me can give you further illustrations, if you would like to have them.

In some instances the present authorities require that certain stipulated and specific sums of money be allocated to certain stations for certain work. These sums are inflexible and of course, as you know, with increasing costs of conducting research we have progressively been limited as to the number of people we could assign to problems within that dollar limitation. With this consolidation we will remove such limitations and be able to develop in those instances really effective programs.

Mr. ABERNETHY. Does this bill amend the Research Act that we passed a few years ago?

Mr. IRVING. If you mean by that the amended Bankhead-Jones Act of 1946, that will be included.

Mr. ABERNETHY. When did we pass the research bill?

Mr. ANDRESEN. It must have been 6 or 7 years ago.

Mr. IRVING. This is Dr. Knoblauch.

Mr. KNOBLAUCH. I can go into the details, if you wish, Mr. Chairman, when I am up there as a witness.

The present act takes the authority in the act-the Research and Marketing Act you are now referring to-and makes that a part of the consolidated bill, whereas the previous authorization under the Hatch Act, the Adams Act, and the Purnell Act, and section 5 of BankheadJones were more restrictive in nature.

This consolidation brings the features of each of those previous acts in line with the amended Bankhead-Jones Act. What the consolidated legislation involves is essentially the authorizations under the amended Bankhead-Jones Act that the Congress passed in 1946.

Mr. ABERNETHY. All right, sir. You may proceed with your state

ment.

Mr. ANDRESEN. I think you ought to enumerate the different acts that are consolidated in this legislation. Do you have a list of those? Mr. IRVING. With your permission, sir, if I may, I should like to introduce Dr. Knoblauch, whom you have just heard from, and ask that he come to the table and give you that brief historical account of what is behind this legislation and how it will affect our administration of it.

Mr. ANDRESEN. Would there be any objection, Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman would sit up here?

Mr. ABERNETHY. Certainly not.

Would you like to call on any of the other witnesses to speak with you? We might expedite the matter, with not too many of us here, to get around the table.

Mr. KNOBLAUCH. Mr. Chairman, did you wish to proceed with the answer to that question at this time?

Mr. ABERNETHY. Yes.

Mr. KNOBLAUCH. I am H. C. Knoblauch, Director of the State Experiment Station Division of the Agricultural Research Service. Our office represents the Department of Agriculture, the Secretary, in the administration of these acts.

The specific question that you raised regarding the acts that are being consolidated I believe is covered by this sheet. If I might, I should like to pass this brief table out, which we have prepared, which presents the acts that are being brought together in the legislation under consideration.

First is the Hatch Act of 1887. If you will just proceed to read across the table, you will find the appropriations, the basis of distribution, the matching requirement or not, and some of the limitations under each of these several acts. Then the only earmarking feature is on title I, section 9 of the Bankhead-Jones Act, which is 20 percent for marketing research. We will discuss that in greater detail later.

Mr. Chairman, might I just take a minute to enlarge on the question you raised with Dr. Irving regarding the flexibility or lack of flexibility that has resulted under these acts.

You appreciate that the authorizations under the Hatch Act, the Adams Act, and the Purnell Act were fixed amounts; $15,000 to each State under the Hatch Act, $15,000 to each State under the Adams Act, and 60,000 to each State under the Purnell Act.

Now during the course of research development there has been a certain number of projects developed under each of those funds. Those funds were not, of course, subject to increase with increasing costs, so there was a constant squeezing on the amount of support