CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.No

CONTINGENT EXPENSES, UNITED STATES SENATE.

JANUARY 17, 1913.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. FITZGERALD, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany S. J. Res. 150.]

The Committee on Appropriations, to whom was referred Senate joint resolution 150, appropriating $40,000 for expenses of inquiries and investigations ordered by the Senate, having considered the same, report it back herewith and recommend its passage.

O

AERODYNAMICAL LABORATORY.

JANUARY 17, 1913.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. HOBSON, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, submitted the

following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 27992.]

The Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 27992) to authorize the creation of a temporary commission to investigate and make recommendation as to the necessity or desirability of establishing a national aerodynamical laboratory and prescribe the duties of said commission and provide for the expenses thereof, having had the same under consideration report the same favorably, with the recommendation that the bill do pass.

The committee had before it Capt. W. I. Chambers, United States Navy, officer in charge of experimental aviation for naval purposes, and heard him on the matter contained in the bill, and bases its report upon the favorable consideration given to the reasons for the desirability of this legislation as well as upon the Navy Department's recommendation, which is contained in a letter to the chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, United States Senate, regarding Senate bill 8053, a measure identical to the above bill, as follows:

NAVY DEPARTMENT, January 13, 1913.

MY DEAR SENATOR: The Senate bill 8053 meets with the hearty approval of the Navy Department. I hope that it may be speedily passed by unanimous consent in order that the Aeronautical Laboratory Commission may be enabled to meet at the earliest practicable date to prepare a report that may be placed before Congress without delay.

Hon. GEORGE W. PERKINS,

Faithfully, yours,

G. VON L. MEYER.

The President, on December 19 last, in accordance with recommendations made to him from the Navy Department, created a temporary commission to consider for recommendation to Congress the necessity or desirability of the establishment of a national aerody

namical laboratory, its organization, most suitable location, and the cost of its installation, and the bill provides for confirmation of the action of the President, together with authority from Congress to defray the expenses of the commission, not to exceed $5,000, and to report not later than March 4, 1913, whereupon the commission ceases to exist. The personnel of the commission is composed of leading men in science, aerodynamics, and practical aviation. mation has already been conveyed to the members of the commission which enables them to be prepared for definite work at the first meeting.

As to the necessity for the proposed legislation, the amount of attention which is being devoted to the subject in foreign countries, the influence of foreign laboratories, and the scope of the proposed national aerodynamical laboratory for the United States, together with the work proposed to be done at such laboratory, are fully set forth in the following memorandum and excerpts from the annual report on aviation for the fiscal year 1912, which state the work thus far accomplished and the work proposed to be done:

MEMORANDUM IN BRIEF RELATING TO MEASURES ADVANCED TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL AERODYNAMICAL LABORATORY.

THE NECESSITY.

The construction of air craft among all the leading powers of Europe is now based largely on scientific information obtained at their notable aerodynamic laboratories, notably at Calais, St. Cyr, and Auteuil in France, at Koutchino in Russia, at Gottingen in Germany, at Rome in Italy, and at Bushy Head in England, and the installation of such a plant in this country is regarded as necessary to our commercial interests and to the production of safety and efficiency in our air craft.

The intuitive, hasty, and crude methods of the pioneers in aviation, which are still common in this country, can not succeed in competition with the accurate and systematic methods of the scientific engineer, and it is already apparent that through lack of preparation for the work of scientific engineers, i. e., through delay in establishing an aerodynamic laboratory, a waste of time and money, a decline of prestige, and an unnecessary sacrifice of human life have resulted.

To my mind such a laboratory should be established in such a manner as to harmonize scientific interests throughout the country as a whole and should bear the stamp of national initiative.

REPORT SUBMITTED.

To this end I submitted a discussion of the matter in my annual report on aviation this year, in which I endeavored to show the necessity and to offer a concrete and practical plan. My report concludes with a recommendation concerning the appoint

ment of a commission.

ACTION OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.

In a letter to the President dated December 16, 1912, the Secretary of the Navy recommended the appointment of such a commission to consider and report on the subject with a view to submitting a well-considered recommendation to Congress at an early date. This letter was accompanied by a list of names of eminent scientific men representing the interests of aeronautics in different parts of the country, together with four officers of the Army and Navy.

ACTION OF THE PRESIDENT.

The President, on December 19, 1912, informed the Secretary of the Navy that he approved of the recommendation and requested him to inform the various members named of their appointment.