1st No. 175. NEED FOR INCREASE IN AMOUNT AVAILABLE FOR RENTS FOR FOREST SERVICE, 1908. Mr. PROCTOR presented the following LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE, TRANSMIT. TING A STATEMENT SHOWING THE NEED FOR THE INCREASE .N THE AMOUNT AVAILABLE FOR RENTS FOR THE FOREST SERVICE FOR THE PRESENT FISCAL YEAR. JANUARY 20, 1908.-Ordered to be printed. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D. C., January 20, 1908. MY DEAR SENATOR: Your letter of January 16 is received. I am very glad to give you the following statement showing the need for the increase in the amount available for rents for the Forest Service for the present fiscal year, which is provided for by the joint resolution: January, 1908: Increase in the number of emyloyees in the Forest Service. Administrative and technical.. Increase in area of national forests. January 1, 1908. Increase.... 1,429 2,059 417 Increase in number of offices in the field (including supervisors, inspectors, engineers, and storerooms). Offices. 147 91 56 Increase.. Amount to be expended for rent during the fiscal year 1908. In Washington: Offices, Atlantic Building, 132 rooms; storerooms, Atlantic Building, 4 rooms; offices, Ouray Building, 18 rooms; timber test laboratory, 1 room; total in Washington.... In the field: Inspectors, 6 offices (9 rooms).... Supervisors in charge national forests, 134 offices (219 rooms).. $29,599.73 $2,580.00 19, 724.50 Storerooms for construction material and supplies and equipment.. Engineers, 6 offices (6 rooms). 2,000.00 No part of the amount expended for rent is for residences or rooms for residential purposes. The supervisors' offices are very modest, and usually consist of one or two rooms, located in a building conveniently accessible to the public, at an average monthly rental of between $10 and $15 per room. The aggregate amount for rentals according to this statement is about $4,000 less than the amount covered by the joint resolution, which additional amount, I am convinced, will be needed to cover the rent of additional offices in the field which can not now be definitely decided upon. A few of the supervisors are occupying offices erected upon the national forests and owned by the United States, but the number of such locations is definitely limited by the need for locating at points most accessible to the users of the national forests. The need for additional space in Washington was largely anticipated, but the greatly increased need for quarters in the field has been directly due to (1) increase in national forest area, and (2) the necessity, through increased business, of making the area under the administration of a forest supervisor considerably smaller in many cases and correspondingly increasing the number of supervisors for whom offices must be provided. This involved an increase in the accommodations of certain offices, and the establishment of new offices at points more accessible to the general public, resulting in greater convenience to the actual users of the forests. No curtailment of this increase is possible without very greatly inconveniencing the public who must transact business with forest supervisors in connection with the use of the national forests. The change provided for by the joint resolution will not increase the amount of the appropriation already made, but will simply make it necessary to curtail expenditures in other and less important directions. |