ACHICULTiniAI. APPKOPHIATION BILL, U»24. 45 



Dnctnr KvANH. No, sir. lUr ji|)|ii«>|iri!i(ion r«'«(>iniii«'inl<'<l for 

 Alaska for 11>'J4 is $r>,(M)() h-ss than tin* amoimt has Imm-ii for the 

 previous four years. 



Mr. .Vndkh.son. What was the iiU'a of iMakiM<.' Sll.siHt inmuMliatrly 

 availahlc ( 



Doctor P'vANs. That was put in as a coniproiuisf fi<;iir»' ln'twtM'n 

 thi' $ir),<)(H) asked for and the ainotiiit artually exiM-iided in dcveh>p- 

 in;r a new station at Mataniiska. The stati«»n at the latter phwc wns 

 eslal)lishiMl after the railroad had ;.^otten ah»n<; jiretty well toward the 

 inteiioi*. and it was asked that $ir),()00 Iw made itnrne(liately avail- 

 ahle. and it was afterwards made Sll.HOO. which was praetically 

 the amount spent at .M.-itaiinska diiri!i;Lr the first year of constniction 

 and develoi)ment woj-k. That item has Keen in the ap|)ropriation hill 

 foi* a nnmher of years in order to take care of a situation which 

 sometimes arist»s in Alaska, wiiere the work would he very materially 

 ham|)e!-('(I if wc didn't have a\ail:d)h' funds for the sprin;.' wr)i-k. and 

 althou^di the funds ha\i' hei'ii allotted l)y (piarters the ;;reatest ex- 

 penditures come in the first and fourth (|iia!ters. Conditions have 

 arisen in emerfjencies where it has Ihhmi <|uite necessary to have it 

 immediately availahle. That matter has Iteen taken out this year. 

 althou;rh it was requested it he kv\A in. This last yeai* (heiv has heen 

 practically none of the immediately availahle portion spent hecause 

 It was a very late spiMn<r and the field work did not he^in until ahout 

 a month latei- than usual. 



•Mi-. Andkijson. "^'our weather hasn't t-han^ed up there any, and 

 since it hasn't I can't see any reason for takin«r this thin*; out, if it 

 was a <;ood thin<r in the l)e<rinnin<r. 



Doctor Evans. Doctor (Jeoi-p'son has always maintained that was 

 a proo<l thin«x, so that the work would not he retarded in the sprin<;. 



Mr. BrcHANAX. When does sprin*!: ()i)en up up there? 



Doctor EvAXs. It depends on the part of Alaska. Oidinai-ily in 

 .southern and southeastern Alaska ahout the lOth of .Nfay : in the 

 interior ahout the •JOth; hut this year it was much later than usual — 

 almost a month later than usual, and that was also true of a «rreat 

 deal of the northern part of the country. The sprin^r was very late. 



Mr. Jimp. 1 think 1 can clear uj) the reason why that was left 

 out. AA'hen wc ^rot these estimates all together we disi'overed that for 

 the first time in numy years we had a set of e.stimates that did not 

 ie<|uire some money to be made immediately availahle. We thoujrht 

 it would he a <rood thin<r. in the interest of sim|)licity. to let this 

 Alaska {provision stay out. The same ar<rument for having it left 

 in could he applied to any number of lines of work in the depart- 

 ment — the <rreater part of the work comin*r in the first and fourth 

 (juarters. That is true of a numlier of different projects. 



As we unders-tand it, this man will not have to use his money this 

 year, and we thoufrht if he could start anew one year, he would 

 always have, presumably, in his fourth (puirter mcmey enoujjh to do 

 his work for that year, and we could thus avoid clutterin<r up the 

 b(H)kkee[)in<r with this thin<rof haviufr money immediately available 

 every year. The dei)artnjent wants to avoid that as far as possible, 

 and we have understood that to be the policv of (^)nirress. 



Mr. Andkrson. I think it is verv desirable. 



