Evening star., 1946-05-21
Four rbi||ionFund
For Navy Gets
House Unit OK
Amount Held Ample
To Maintain Fleet
As Worlds LARGEST

The House Appropriations
Committee today recommended
a cash fund of $4,639, $50 900 for
the Navy in the next fiscal year,
topping budget estimates by
1914, ,260, 900, to finance an in
tensified training and research
program.
The committees bill, sent to the
House floor for debate starting to-
morrow, represented a compromise
between Budget Bureau recon-
mendations and the Navy's requests.
The Navy originally asked approxi-
mately $1,000 900 900. including con-
tract authority and reappropria-
tions.
Included in the $4,639, $50 900 the
committee approved is a transfer
of $500 ,00O,0 900 from the naval stock
fund to the pay and subsistence
account. The stock fund includes
money for ship stores uniforms and
similar purposes.
Believes Funds Ample.
The committee said 1t believed
the new funds would be ample to
maintain the world largest and most
modern Navy. The proposed fund
lis $8,118, ,928,879 below current year
appropriations.
Original Budget Bureau estimates,
the committee said. were "insuf-
flcient" to insure a Navy that may
be expected to meet any contingency
reasonably foreseeable in the fu-
ture."
To provide for a comprehensive
Navy and Marine Reserve training
program, the committee recon-
mended an increase to $133 300, ,0OO
in the Budget Bureaus estimate of
$78,8ll 900 for training.
1t explained that the additional
money will permit training of SIS, 200
additional men and 5000 additional
offlcers in the organized Naval Re-
serve: provide a volunteer reserve
training program for $4,000 officers
and men; training lin some form
or other" for $4,000 Marine Corps
Reservists, ana completion of the
training of all cadets In the VS.
naval aviation training program.
Marines Paid Tribute.
Paying tribute to the work of the
Marines, the committee expressed
the conviction 1.-The American people
would never look with favor upon
any move designed to bring about
any loss or impairment of identity
of the corps. This was the only
reference to proposals for a merg-
er of the armed forces.
The bill supplies approximately
$250, ,000, 900 for naval research and
development, an increase of $40, ,00O,-
900 over budget estimates. The re-
search fund was voted after the
committee heard naval experts tell
of studies of powering ships with
tatomic energy instead of by ordi-
nary marine engines, and of plans
for installation of huge rocket
shooting guns on battleships.
The committee recommended
closing out the War Shipping Ad-
ministration on July /, 1916, and
transfer of its funds, duties and
employees to the Maritime Commits
sion. The program contemplates
winding up WSA's ship operations
by the end of 1946, with private
marine shippers taking over large
part of the proposed Government
shipping operations for 1947.
Admiral Land Censsred.
The committee censured Vice Ad-
miral Emory S. Land, former head
of the Maritime Commission, for
what it termed failure to maintain
accurate cost-accounting figures
on construction costs Of ships at va
rious shipyards. 1t denied funds
for bookkeeping work aimed at
charging off to the various wartime
construction contracts negotiated by
the commission, the costs of. mate
rials furnished by the commission"
to contractors.
The Government, the committee
said, would receive no income from
this work and the commission need
not concern itself with the problem
of employing personnel to perform
the task of allocating to individual
ship construction contracts the
$500 ,000, ,000-odd of unallocated war
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