CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE

ment bills and joint resolutions of the S. 3232. An act for the relief of Josef

House of the following titles: Kranz;

S. 3292. An act for the relief of Mrs. Maria

H. R. 1410. An act for the relief of Gio- (Schandl) Cote;

vanna Scano; 8. 3380. An act for the relief of Zygmunt

H. R. 2709. An act for the relief of the Sobota;

estate of Rene Well; S. 3473. An act for the relief of Kurt Johan

H. R. 3373. An act for the relief of Mrs. Paro;

Zella K. Thissell; S. 3522. An act for the relief of Theresia

H. R. 5382. An act for the relief of W. R. Schneider;

Zanes & Company of Louisiana, Inc.; S. 3945. An act for the relief of Walter C.

H. R. 5453. An act for the relief of the es- Jordan and Elton W. Johnson; and

tate of Robert Bradford Bickerstaff; S. 3982. An act to provide for the mainteH. R. 6742. An act for the relief of Rumiko nance of the production of tungsten, asFujiki Kirkpatrick; bestos, fluorspar, and columbium-tantalum

H. R. 6955. An act for the relief of Inna in the United States, its Territories, and

Hekker Grade; for other purposes.

H. R. 7373. An act for the relief of Eugene

G. Aretz; The message also announced that the

H. R. 8041. An act for the relief of Clyde R. Senate had passed, with amendments in

Stevens; which the concurrence of the House is

H. R. 8867. An act for the relief of the requested, bills and joint resolutions of

estate of F. M. Bryson; the House of the following titles:

H. R. 9285. An act to amend section 14 (b)

of the Federal Reserve Act so as to extend for H. R. 906. An act for tie relief of William

2 additional years the authority of Federal Martin, of Tok Junction, Alaska;

Reserve banks to purchase United States ob- H. R. 1156. An act for the relief of John

ligations directly from the Treasury; Jordan;

H. R. 11205. An act to confer jurisdiction H. R. 1963. An act for the relief of Mr. and

upon the United States Court of Claims to Mrs. Clarence M. Augustine;

hear, determine, and render judgment upon H. R. 7855. An act to amend the Federal

the claims of Roy Cowan and others arising Property and Administrative Services Act of

by reason of the flooding of land In the vicin- 1949, as amended, to extend until June 30,

ity of Lake Alice, N. Dak.; 1956, the period during which disposals of

H. J. Res. 591. Joint resolution to facilitate surplus property may be made by negotiathe admission into the United States of cer- tions;

tain aliens; and H. R. 8634. An act to authorize the conH. J. Res. 609. Joint resolution for the relief veyance of a certain tract of land in North

of certain aliens. Carolina to the city of Charlotte, N. C.;

H. J. Res. 592. Joint resolution for the reThe message also announced that the lief of certain aliens;

Senate had passed bills of the following H. J. Res. 605. Joint resolution for the retitles, in which the concurrence of the lief of certain aliens;

House is requested: H. J. Res. 606. Joint resolution to waive

certain subsections of section 212 (a) of the

S. 1243. An act for the relief of Kyu Lee; Immigration and Nationality Act in behalf

S. 1798. An act for the relief of Mrs. of certain aliens; and

Charles C. Phillips; H. J. Res. 611. Joint resolution for the reS. 2779. An act for the relief of Evelyn lief of certain relatives of United States citLevenston Harris; izens.

S. 2804. An act ior tne rellei o1 Lj. Shan

Yah Gin;

S. 2833. An act for the relief of Louis

Henri Stassart;

S. 2836. An act for the relief of Choh-Yi

Ang;

S. 2839. An act for the relief of Rosetta

Ittner;

S. 2849. An act for the relief of Janos

Schreiner;

S. 2863. An act for the relief of Margaret

Emma Lewis, nee Guschmann;

S. 2881. An act to direct the Secretary of

Commerce to collect and publish annually

statistics as to the number of certain types

of textile looms in place and in operation on

a State-by-State basis:

S. 3029. An act for the relief of Josephine

Langton; S. 3050. An act for the relief of Annemarie Appelt and her two minor children,

Karin Amelia Green and Sylvia Green;

S. 3132. An act to provide for purchase of

lands within the Cache National Forest,

Utah, to promote prevention of floods and

minimization of soil erosion, and for other

purposes;

S. 3150. An act for the relief of Sgt. and

Mrs. Herbert G. Herman;

S. 3166. An act for the relief of Lucie

Toehl;

S. 3180. An act to amend title 28 of the

United States Code to authorize the appointment of two United States Commissioners for Cumberland Gap National Historical Park;

S. 3215. An act authorizing the Postmaster

General to provide for the use of special

canceling stamps or postmarking dies in

order to encourage registration for voting in

general elections;

S. 3221. An act for the relief of Dr. TschengSui Feng;

The message also announced that the

Senate had passed, with amendments in

which the concurrence of the House is

requested, a bill of the House of the following title:

H. R. 11473. An act making appropriations

for the legislative branch for the fiscal year

ending June 30, 1957, and for other purposes.

The message also announced that the

Senate insists upon its amendments to

the foregoing bill, and requests a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon, and

appoints Mr. CLEMENTS, Mr. HAYDEN, Mr.

CHAVEZ, Mr. BRIDGES, and Mr. SALTONSTALL to be the conferees on the part of

the Senate.

MR. AND MRS. THOMAS V. COMPTON

The SPEAKER laid before the House

the following message from the Clerk of

the House:

JUNE 19, 1956.

The honorable the SPEAKER,

House of Representatives.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a sealed envelope addressed to the

Speaker of the House of Representatives

from the President of the United States,

received in the Clerk's office on June 18,

1956, and said to contain a veto message

from the President on H. R. 1866, an act

for the relief of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas V.

Compton.

Respectfully yours,

IRALPI R. ROBERTs,

Clerk, United States

House of Representatives.

MR. AND MRS. THOMAS V. COMPTON-VETO MESSAGE FROM THE

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED

STATES (H. DOC. NO. 427)

The SPEAKER laid before the House

the following veto message from the

President of the United States:

To the House of Representatives:

I return herewith, without my approval, H. R. 1866, a bill "for the relief

of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas V. Compton."

The purpose of this bill is to provide

to Mr. and Mrs. Compton the payment

of $6,000 as compensation for loss of

business and decline in the market

value of their business by reason of the

relocation of United States Highway 15

at Clarksville, Va.

The relocation of the highway was

accomplished incidental to the development and construction of the John H.

Kerr Dam and Reservoir project on the

Roanoke River. Although the portion

of United States Highway No. 15 adjacent to the Compton property has not

been physically altered and is usable

and accessible from the relocated highway, the severance of the highway by

flooding of the reservoir several miles

distant has resulted in a diversion of

potential traffic and a decline in the use

of the roadway. As a consequence there

has been some diminution in value of

commercial properties adjacent to that

portion of the unused highway.

The Compton property consists of 4.7

acres of land with a service station,

grocery store, and trailer parking lot.

The decrease in traffic led to the loss of

business which in turn resulted in an

undetermined diminution in the value

of the property for commercial use.

There is no basis in law for compensating the Comptons and others similarly

situated whose property is not taken in

whole or in part for public purposes.

Decline as well as increase in property

values goes on as an everyday matter,

attributable to many factors commonly

recognized by property owners. Relocation of highways and streets is necessitated by sundry causes and is one of such

factors. The relocation of the segment

of highway here involved results from a

public work performed by the Federal

Government, but this could as well be a

claim arising through action of a State,

county, municipality, or township, or a

sewer or drainage district. In all such

cases, compensation is paid for property

taken but not for consequential damage

to property not taken, such as decline in

the value of property due to a change effected in the neighborhood.

To make payments of the kind provided by this bill would, in essence, make

the Government the guarantor of the

stability of property or business values.

This can best be illustrated by instances

in which highway relocation projects

have resulted not only in the bypassing

of individual properties but by the bypassing of entire towns. It becomes quite

evident in such situations that the Government cannot indemnify every businessman or property owner in such towns

against loss by reason of changes of community pattern. It would be no more

reasonable to expect the Government to

1956 10595
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - HOUSE

do so than it would be to expect those

who benefit from such changes to make

voluntary payments to the Government

in proportion to their gains.

For these reasons, I have withheld my

approval from this measure.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER.

THE WHITE HOUSE, June 18, 1956.

The SPEAKER. The objections of the

President will be spread at large upon

the Journal, and without objection the

bill and message will be referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary and ordered

printed.

There was no objection.

REPUBLICAN PROSPERITY IS

MERELY PROPAGANDA

Mr. MULTER. Mr. Speaker, I ask

unanimous consent to address the House

for 1 minute and to revise and extend

my remarks.

The SPEAKER. Is there objection to

the request of the gentleman from

New York?

There was no objection.

Mr. MULTER. Mr. Speaker, I take

this time to direct bur colleagues' attention to the Republican brand of prosperity.

The building industry is the backbone

of our economy. Every economist who

knows anything about our country will

tell you that it will take 10 years of building homes at a minimum annual rate of

1,400,000 family units before the supply

of dwellings can catch up with the demand. They will also tell you that when

building construction steadily declines

we are in for trouble. That is precisely

what is happening.

The month of May is usually the month

in which we have the greatest number of

new housing starts throughout the

country. This May, we had new starts,

on a seasonally adjusted annual basis of

only 1,100,000 as against 1,400,000 in May

of last year, a decrease of more than 27

percent.

At the same time we find an increase

of those drawing unemployment insurance for the last week of the month of

May as against the corresponding period

last year.

Bankruptcies for last week were 286 as

against 214 a year ago. An increase of

331/3 percent.

All this indicates that this Republican

prosperity we hear so much about is

merely propaganda.

CLOSING A LOOPHOLE IN TARIFF ON

IMPORTED WATCH MOVEMENTS

Mr. REED of New York. Mr. Speaker,

I ask unanimous consent to address the

House for 1 minute and to revise and extend my remarks.

The SPEAKER. Is there objection to

the request of the gentleman from

New York?

There was no objection.

Mr. REED of New York. Mr. Speaker,

I would like to call the attention of the

House to a bill, H. R. 11437, I introduced

on May 24 designed to close a quite serious loophole in the Tariff Act provisions

relating to duties on imported watch

movements.

In the fall of 1954 various departments

of the Government learned that certain

importers and foreign manufacturers of

imported watch movements were considering exploiting loopholes in the Tariff Act to avoid the specific $10.75 rate

of duty on over 17-jewel watch movements. They proposed to import movements containing 17 or less jewels at a duty rate of $3.75 or lower and after

importation upjeweling the movements

by adding additional jewels to bring the

total jewel count over 17. They would

then sell the movements as over 17-jewel

movements even though the rate of duty

applicable to movements containing over

17 jewels had not been paid. The Treasury Department, which is charged with

the administration of the tariff laws,

gave this matter careful study and finally

concluded in July 1955 that there was

a gap in the law. Legislation was then

rather hurriedly introduced last July to

close this loophole. Although this legislation was favorably reported by the

House Ways and Means Committee, there

was not time for it to be enacted at the

last session of this Congress.

The bill which I have just recently

introduced is designed to close this loophole and is submitted as new legislation because the interested agencies in

the executive branch felt after having

studied the problem for many months

that this bill will accomplish the purpose much more clearly and fairly than

the bill of last year. This legislation

has been drafted by the Treasury Department in consultation with the interested agencies in the executive branch

and after discussion with interested parties outside the Government.

The urgent need for legislation to plug

this gap in the tariff law has become

more and more apparent as time has

gone by. New and even more serious

upjeweling possibilities have been developed abroad and in this country.

They threaten to destroy the tariff rate

structure on watches as it relates to jewel

count which, of course, is the prime

criterion of this section of the law.

Whenever a practice is developed to

circumvent the intended application of

any law, it should be stopped. However,

this case is a particularly important one

in view of the implications it has of undermining the entire tariff rate structure on watch movements. The significance of this upjeweling practice is underlined by the President's finding on the

recommendation of the Office of Defense

Mobilization concerning the defense essentiality of the skills of the jeweled

watch industry and the fact that failure

to act on the upjeweling question

through corrective legislation might

more than offset the results of the tariff

increase on watches ordered by the President in 1954.

I want to emphasize that the serious

threat posed by the continued existence

of this loophole is not simply an unfounded fear. Upjeweling is taking

place today and recent indications are

that it will definitely increase manyfold

in the near future if action is not taken

now.

Since March 1955 when the first

Treasury Department decision on up-

-. jeweling was issued, the Treasury Department has had, I understand, a steady

stream of requests for rulings on various

types of upjeweling propositions. By any

standards the number of requests for

rulings is very large and indicates the

intention of importers and foreign manufacturers of watch movements to utilize

this device to the utmost. At the hearings on this question before the House

Ways and Means Committee last year a

representative of the watch importers

stated that if given time they were sure

that they could work out a satisfactory

solution to this problem without legislation. I understand that the Treasury

Department has been in regular touch

with the importers on this question since

last fall, has had numerous conferences

with them, and has discussed various

proposals with them seeking to resolve

the problem. However, the importers

have not been able to suggest any satisfactory proposals. Consequently, this

legislation is necessary. It is supported

by all of the members of the ODM Advisory Committee on the Watch Industry, namely, the Office of Defense Mobilization, the Departments of State,

Treasury, Defense, Commerce, and

Labor.

A very recent action taken .by the Swiss

watch trust highlights the need for this

legislation. The trust has, I understand, just changed its rules of long

standing prohibiting the shipment of

self-winding devices separately from the

movements to which the devices are to be

attached and has now specifically sanctioned this practice. This change applies only to movements shipped to the

United States and has obviously been

made to permit, and encourage one of

the most important types of upjeweling,

that of increasing the jewel count by the

addition of a self-winding device containing jewels. This is just one more

clear indication of the intention of the

foreign watch manufacturers and the

importers to utilize the existing loophole

in the tariff law to the greatest extent

possible.

I commend your attention to this bill

and the identical bill on this subject introduced by my esteemed colleague [Mr.

MILLS] and urge that hearings be held

on these bills promptly so that this

much-needed legislation may be enacted

without further delay.

A BILL TO PROTECT THE SECURITY

OF THE UNITED STATES BY PREVENTING THE EMPLOYMENT BY

THE UNITED STATES OF PERSONS

DISLOYAL TO THE UNITED STATES

Mr. REES of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I

ask unanimous consent to address the

House for 1 minute, to revise and extend

my remarks and to include a summary

of the provisions of a bill in the Appendix.

The SPEAKER. Is there objection to

the request of the gentleman from

Kansas?

There was no objection.

Mr. REES of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I

have today introduced legislation which

will enable the Federal Government to

rid the payrolls of Communists or other

disloyal employees whether or not they,

10596 June 19