SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 



MATTERS OF SCIENTIFIC INTEREST IN CONGRESS ^ 



On February 19 Mr. Tilson introduced a joint resolution (H. J. 

 Res. 299) "extending the life of the National Screw Thread Commis- 

 sion for a period of two years from March 21, 1920." The Committee 

 on Coinage, Weights and Measures reported it in the House on Feb- 

 ruary 24 (Rep. 671), and it was passed on March i. The Senate 

 passed the resolution on March 17. 



This Commission was appointed under an act approved July 18, 

 1918, and consists of two representatives each from the Army and 

 Navy, and four members nominated by the national engineering societies, 

 with the Director of the Bureau of Standards as chairman. The Com- 

 mission has investigated and formulated standards of commercial screw- 

 thread practice which have been made accessible to engineers and 

 manufacturers and have been tested in use. The life of the Com- 

 mission is extended in order to give opportunity for minor modifications 

 in the proposed standards before its final report is promulgated. 



The bill for a tariff on scientific instruments, chemical glass and 

 porcelain, and surgical and dental instruments^ (H. R. 7785) had been 

 in the hands of the Senate Committee on Finance for several months, 

 and it had been agreed in the Committee that the dyestuffs bill (H. R. 

 8078) should have the right of way as the most important of the tariff 

 bills. An attempt was, therefore, made by Mr. Watson on February 

 25 to bring the dyestuffs bill before the Senate, but objections were 

 made by Mr. Poindexter and others on the ground that the other 

 tariff bills passed by the House (magnesite, scientific instruments, 

 etc.) had not been reported and that dyestuffs had no right to special 

 consideration. The result was that no action was taken on any of 

 the bills at that date. Later, on March 4, the bill for a tariff on scien- 

 tific instruments, etc., was reported in the Senate without amendment 

 (Rep. 459) and recommended for passage. The report laid special 

 stress on the testimony of Mr. J. M. Roberts, Secretary of the Scien- 

 tific Apparatus Makers' Association, whose figures showed that a tar- 

 iff of 60 per cent ad valorem would equalize Japanese and American 

 costs of production on the six items quoted by him, with a maximum 

 deviation of 8 per cent. 



The Patent Office reform bills^ (H. R. 5011, 5012 and 7010) were 

 combined by the House Committee on Patents into a new bill (H. R. 

 II 984) "To increase the force and salaries in the Patent Office, and for 

 other purposes," which was introduced by Mr. Nolan, and passed by 

 the House on March 5. 



1 Preceding report: This Journal 10: 148. 1920. 



2 See this JotTRNAL 9: 389, 421, 562. I9i9- 1°: I49. 1920. 



3 This Journal 9: 422. 1919- 



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