304 



ings were conducted, during February 1961, by the House Committee 

 on Interior and Insular Affairs, on various aspects of the program 

 of the Department of the Interior. The program and status of the 

 newly authorized Office of Coal Research came under committee scru- 

 tiny February 27. In his introductory remarks at that session, John 

 A. Carver, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Interior, said: "It is my 

 understanding that the chairman has requested a rej^ort and the pres- 

 ence specifically of the Coal Research people. The Office of Coal Re- 

 search is under the Office of the Secretary, and I have at my side 

 Mr. Samuel Lasky, the Acting Director of that office and I would 

 like to present him first." Representative Edmondson, chairman of 

 the Subcommittee on Mines and Mining, before which this session was 

 being held, responded: "Fine. There are several on this coimnittee 

 who are most keenly interested in the progress of this coal research 

 program." ^^ 



Mr. Lasky had no prepared statement. After describing the au- 

 thority conferred by the coal research statute, and noting that an 

 initial appropriation of $1 million had been given to the program, 

 he went on — 



Very little of that has been spent, because we are not yet staffed. So that 

 leaves most of that $1 million to be carried over, and we are asking then for an- 

 other $1 million for the next fiscal year. That would be a working fund, so to 

 speak, of $2 million if that $1 million is granted. 



The Acting Director said that divisions of mining, utilization, and 

 economics and marketing had been established; a general advisory 

 committee of (originally) 14 members had been announced; staffing 

 had been deferred (except for one or two men) until appointment 

 of a permanent Director; and other preliminaries were underway.** 

 (By close of the fiscal year 1961, the expenditures of the Office of Coal 

 Research amounted to $60,000.) 



Representative Aspinall, chairman of the full committee, said he 

 was "not very well satisfied" with this report. "The President ap- 

 proved the bill as of July 7 [he said], and here we are, 8 months later, 

 with an Acting Director, with no real value to the coal mining indus- 

 try as yet, and apparently with some jurisdictional questions still un- 

 resolved, and no program in mind." Representative Edmondson added : 



I think one thing that is in the minds of all of us at this time : most of the 

 people on this committee on both sides of the aisle felt that this should have been 

 an independent commission. And we yielded after the veto and put legislation 

 through for an office within the Department of Interior. But we are curious, all 

 of us, right now, to know whether you folks in the Department believe this func- 

 tion can be performed efficiently and with real results within the framework of 

 the Department of the Interior. Because it certainly has not given any signs 

 up to now of moving forward under any kind of head of steam.^ 



At this hearing, also, the Director of the Bureau of Mines, Mr. 

 Ankeny, described the policies of his agency in terms that suggested 

 a marked change from those earlier presented by Felix Wormser. 

 For example 



A lot has been said about the functions of the Bureau of Mines being long 

 range. The Bureau has never said that our function has been long range, and 

 the Congress has never said that. If you examine our projects, you will find that 



*' U.S. Congress, House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. "Policies, Programs, 

 and Activities of the Interior." Hearings Before the * ♦ *" serial No. 1 (Washington, U.S. 

 Government Printing Office, 1961), p. 168. 



« Ibid. pp. 169-171. 



« Ibid., pp. 171, 173. 



