OCR Text |
Show 375 This authorization was extended in 1937 to cover the water- sheds of all waterways previously authorized to be surveyed by the Army Engineers.134 After a "regular or formal report made on any examination or survey," provision is made for "supplemental, additional, or review report or estimate" if authorized by law or by resolution of the Committee on Public Works either of the House or of the Senate.135 Works of improvement were first authorized in 1938 when Congress empowered the Department of Agriculture to prose- cute, under the direction of its Secretary and in accordance with plans approved by him:136 works of improvement for measures of run-off and water- flow retardation and soil-erosion prevention on the watersheds of waterways, for which works of improve- ment for the benefit of navigation and the control of destructive floodwaters and other provisions have been adopted and authorized to be prosecuted under the direc- tion of the Secretary of War * * *. The declared purpose of this action was to effectuate the 1936 flood-control policy and: to correlate the program for the improvement of rivers and other waterways by the Department of War with the program for the improvement of watersheds by the Department of Agriculture. Although this statute generally authorized prosecution of works "in accordance with plans approved by" the Secretary of Agriculture-unlike the general requirements governing flood- control work of the Army Engineers-the Department of Agriculture nevertheless prepared and submitted to Congress 184 Act of August 28,1937, § 3, 50 Stat. 876,877. 136 Act of January 19, 1948, § 2, 62 Stat. 4, 33 U. S. O. 701b-7 (Supp. III). "•Act of June 28, 1938, §7, 52 Stat. 1215, 1225, 33 U. S. C. 701b-l. It should be noted here that only a few days earlier Congress directed the Secretary of the Army to make available to the Secretary of Agriculture $4,000,000 for the prosecution of watershed-treatment works under plans approved by him. Act of June 11, 1938, 52 Stat. 667, 671. |