managers of housing projects, specifications for labor and material to be supplied by contractors, specifications for roadways and sidewalks, requisitions, bills for repairs, reports of motor repairs on vehicles and lawnmowers used on the projects, and contracts for installation of coin meters in project laundries; original vouchers submitted by housing projects for audit by the RFC, vendors' and subcontractors' invoices, payroll summaries and time reports, and other data supporting requisitions by project managers for reimbursement to contractors; bank statements showing balances in the accounts of the various projects and outstanding checks issued by them; monthly rental reports; reports of unpaid obligations of the projects, of the cost of landscape work, and of losses and damages sustained by them for submittal to their insurance agencies; and copies of building permits issued to the projects by the local authorities. 177. GENERAL COUNSEL'S FILE. 1941-48. 2 ft. Arranged alphabetically by subject, name of Government agency, or name of housing project. Copies of regulations and Federal statutes applicable to contractors and subcontractors on public building and public work; instructions of the National War Labor Board relating to wage rates of maintenance employees; opinion rendered by the General Counsel on liability of the DHC to income taxes in several States; correspondence between the General Counsel and project managers regarding contract negotiations with private realtors, contractors, insurance brokers, and the like; samples of construction contracts, contracts of sale, agreements between landlord and tenant, and liability insurance policies; correspondence regarding commissions to be paid project managers for consummating sales of project homes to individual purchasers, and the financing of mortgages assumed by such purchasers. 178. TREASURER'S FILE. 1941-48. 2 ft. Arranged by subject and thereunder chronologically. Correspondence with companies and tenant organizations negotiating for the purchase of defense housing projects, and with project managers engaging in the sale of individual houses on the projects at the close of the war; copies of deeds to houses of private individuals; lists of individual purchasers showing purchase price paid and lot and block number of houses sold on each project; worksheets showing assets, liabilities, and net worth of the DHC; the DHC's report to the RFC on deficiency balances, loans, and receivables charged off as bad debts; daily financial statements of amounts disbursed by the DHC for land purchased for the different projects, construction costs expended thereon, surveying costs, architects' and contractors' fees, landscaping, insurance, real estate taxes, and the like; monthly statements by the DHC to the RFC of funds received and disbursements made; and reports of project managers concerning appliances, plumbing fixtures, and heating facilities available in each project. 179. RECORDS RELATING TO ADMINISTRATIVE OPERATIONS. 1941-49. 8 ft. Arranged by subject or type of record, and thereunder chronologically. Correspondence with the RFC requesting approval of bids from private firms and individuals to purchase DHC-owned housing projects; copies of letters sent to project managers enclosing deeds to houses being offered for sale; letters received and copies of letters sent concerning insurance of Government property on projects, and schedules of rates for inclusion in policies of workmen's compensation and contractors' liability for injuries incurred by laborers in performance of their duties on the projects; reports to the RFC of sales of surplus defense housing, with certificates of deposit of the sales in the U.S. Treasury; original agreements between the RFC and the DHC, with a report listing all property and interests in property, both real and personal, owned by the DHC at the time of the September 1, 1942, agreement; form letters announcing the transfer of the DHC from the RFC to the Federal Public Housing Authority on August 31, 1942, and a statement of the financial condition of the DHC as of that date, with worksheets used in compiling the statement; copies of financial statements submitted to the Treasury Department pursuant to Executive Order 8512 applicable to Government corporations; articles of dissolution of the DHC, dated January 24, 1949; and a record set of forms used by the DHC. 180. VOUCHER RECORD CARDS. 1942-48. 1 ft. Arranged alphabetically by name of project, and thereunder chronologically. Cards (5 by 8 in.) giving, for each housing project, number of the voucher authorizing payment of a particular expense item, to whom payment was made, date and amount of voucher, and number, date, and amount of check issued in payment of voucher. WAR DAMAGE CORPORATION The War Damage Corporation (WDC) was established December 13, 1941, as the War Insurance Corporation, under section 5d of the RFC Act, as amended. The change of name resulted by an act of March 27, 1942. The WDC was to provide property owners with reasonable insurance against losses and damages from enemy attack or the action of resisting American forces. Management of the WDC was vested in its Board of Directors, which was appointed by the RFC. Most of the Board members and officials appointed by them were also directors of the RFC or its subsidiaries. The WDC entered into agreements with 546 insurance carriers, who were to act as its agents in receiving insurance applications, issuing policies, and operating the general programs. Approximately 1,200 policy-issuing offices were active. About 8,700,000 policies and renewal certificates were issued involving a risk of $117 billion. A total of 1,782 claims were paid for a total of $1,274,744. Of these, 1,491 claims amounting to $1,198,705 were paid to residents of Hawaii and other Pacific islands under the WDC'S "prepolicy" program, which was in effect until July 1, 1942, and provided protection without payment of premium or insurance, until the general program was formulated. As its charter limited the operational life of the WDC to January 22, 1947, no policies were issued after March 15, 1946, and all policies expired April 1, 1947. The WDC's income of $210,598,722 was paid into the Federal Treasury. The assets of the WDC were liquidated before June 30, 1949, but its capital stock was not canceled until 1959 because of lawsuits by former policyholders who sought to recover net income that had been paid into the Treasury. The stock was transferred from the RFC to the Secretary of the Treasury under Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1957, but was not canceled until all lawsuit appeals had expired. 181. INDEX TO MINUTES. 1941-51. 10 ft. Arranged alphabetically under each of the following headings: (1) general subjects and names of agency personnel, (2) subjects classified or broken down in detail under the general subjects, and (3) fiduciary agents and related subjects. Index cards (3 by 5 in.) showing the number of the volume containing minutes of the WDC, page number within the volume, and date of the meeting at which the indexed matter was considered by the Board of Directors or the Executive Committee. 182. MINUTES. 1941-59. 6 vols. 2 ft. Arranged chronologically. Signed original copies of minutes of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the WDC from the date of its organizational meeting on December 13, 1941, until April 23, 1951; and of the Administrator of the WDC and his staff from May 28, 1951, to June 19, 1959, the date of its final meeting. The minutes relate to deliberations, resolutions, authorizations, and decisions on policies and procedures and include its charter and bylaws, memorandums addressed to the Directors, and correspondence sent to WDC's field representatives and fiduciary agents, to other Government agencies, and to private insurance firms. Lists of Board and staff members present at the meetings are also included. 183. GENERAL RECORDS OF THE SECRETARY. 1941-49. 10 ft. Arranged alphabetically by subject. Correspondence, reports, press releases, and issuances relating to organizational matters, legislative problems, operating procedures, and functional and fiscal policies of the WDC, and to its relations with other Government agencies and private banking and insurance institutions. Included are sample forms employed by the WDC, applications for war risk insurance, lists of fiduciary agents, and instructions to field agency managers. 184. RECORDS OF THE TREASURER. 1942-47. 15 ft. Arranged alphabetically by subject and thereunder chronologically or numerically. Correspondence, memorandums, accounting manuals, and instructions to fiduciary agents, relating chiefly to organizational and procedural matters. Also included are sworn statements alleging war damages, record copies of adjustments made in damage claims, decisions awarding or denying compensation for alleged damages, and reports pertaining to congressional investigations, compliance of fiduciary agents with the WDC's procedural instructions, and the processing of claims and disbursements to claimants; and trial balances, financial statements, and budgetary statistics. 185. RECORDS OF THE CHIEF AUDITOR. 1943-49. 15 ft. Arranged by subject and thereunder, in the case of the audit reports, alphabetically by name of fiduciary agent and custodian bank. Memorandums, bulletins from the custodian Federal Reserve banks, and working papers and reports relating to plans and instructions for auditing their accounts and those of fiduciary agents and custodian banks by the Audit Division of the Office of the Controller. 186. CLAIM FILES. 1942-51. 36 ft. Arranged by geographic area or war incident that caused destruction of property, as follows: continental United States and Alaska, Dutch Harbor, Guam, Hawaii, Midway, Philippines, Wake, Marine disasters, explosion of destroyer Turner, and explosion of S.S. City of Atlanta; and thereunder alphabetically by name of claimant. Applications for compensation for war damages, affidavits, exhibits, interoffice memorandums, correspondence with field agents of the WDC, notices to claimants of award or denial of compensation, and other records relating to claim adjustments. 187. CORRESPONDENCE WITH FIDUCIARY AGENTS. 1942-49.2 ft. Arranged by name of company and thereunder chronologically. Letters received from, and copies of letters sent to, the Insurance Co. of North America, the Home Insurance Co., and other companies relating to appointments of fiduciary agents of the WDC, agreements with the WDC, powers of attorney assigned by the WDC, account audits carried out by WDC officials, and final settlements of participating interests upon the dissolution of the WDC. 188. HEAD OFFICE CORRESPONDENCE WITH FIDUCIARY OR SERVICE AGENTS. 1942-44. 24 ft. Arranged chronologically by year, thereunder alphabetically by name of field office, and thereunder chronologically. Copies of letters and memorandums exchanged between headquarters offices of the insurance companies, acting as WDC fiduciary agents, and field offices relating to processing of war risk insurance applications and policies. Also included is correspondence between the WDC and the insurance companies pertaining to interpretations of WDC's policies and procedures. 189. CORRESPONDENCE OF FIDUCIARY COMPANIES WITH THEIR AGENTS. 1942-43. 1 ft. Arranged alphabetically by name of insurance broker. Correspondence relating to war risk insurance policies submitted by independent brokers to the large insurance companies acting as WDC fiduciary agents. The problems involved are of a routine nature and concern policy matters only in a few cases. 190. GENERAL FILES OF THE SEATTLE OFFICE, WAR DAMAGE CORPORATION. 1942-46. 4 ft. The insurance applications described below are arranged numerically and chronologically; the bulletins, reports, and financial statements are arranged by subject and thereunder chronologically. Copies of applications for war risk insurance submitted by fiduciary agents of the WDC located in the Seattle area; custodian bulletins, memorandums to fiduciary agents, bulletins of the Pacific Coast Interpretive Committee of Fiduciary Agents on War Damage Insurance, monthly and cumulative reports submitted by fiduciary agents to the WDC, and tabulations of financial data and statements of accounts of the Seattle custodian. 191. WAR DAMAGE INSURANCE APPLICATIONS AND POLICIES. 1942-43. 17 ft. Arranged by type of insurance, thereunder by name of insurance company, and thereunder numerically. Copies of applications for war risk insurance, submitted on WDC forms by fiduciary agents, showing name and address of applicant, location and description of insured property with amount of insurance coverage, name of fiduciary agent, name and address of "producer" (insurance broker who sold the policy in the first instance), and date and signature of applicant. Also included are insurance policies and endorsements to policies showing changes and amendments. 192. WDC INSTRUCTIONS AND REGULATIONS. 1942-44. 1 ft. Arranged by subject and thereunder chrono logically. Copies of WDC regulations, instructions to service offices of insurance companies, memorandums to fiduciary agents, home office bulletins, and reprints of articles and analyses on the WDC written by Government officials and private insurance analysts. 193. SUMMARY STATEMENTS OF INSURANCE Monthly statements from the fiduciary agents to the WDC, summarizing war damage insurance in force on their books, by occupancy classes, amount in force (to nearest $1,000), coded cities, and States, territories, and possessions. UNITED STATES COMMERCIAL COMPANY The U.S. Commercial Company (USCC) was established March 26, 1942, at the request of the Secretary of Commerce with Presidential approval under section 5d of the RFC Act, as amended. The agency was to join the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation to conduct preemptive purchasing. As a result large quantities of war materials were denied to the enemy. By 1945 aggressive purchasing operations had ceased, and the liquidating of stocks acquired as a war measure was begun. The USCC also engaged in public import programs and miscellaneous operations. Under its public import programs, the USCC bought war materials under the direction of the War Production Board and the War Food Administration. The purchase of these materials had been the responsibility of several agencies, but later the Board of Economic Warfare was empowered to coordinate their policies. Executive Order No. 9128 of April 13, 1942, authorized the BEW to issue directives to procurement agencies. Three later Executive orders resulted in the eventual transfer to the Foreign Economic Administration of principal wartime foreign economic functions of the Government. Executive Order No. 9361 of July 15, 1943, created the Office of Economic Warfare and transferred to it the USCC and several other agencies, including the BEW. Executive Order No. 9380 of September 25, 1943, created the FEA and transferred to it OEW and other agencies operating in the foreign economic field. Finally, Executive Order No. 9385 of October 6, 1943, transferred the functions of the War Food Administration and the Commodity Credit Corporation to the FEA respecting procurement of food and related machinery and facilities in foreign countries. As a result of these orders, the RFC's interest in the USCC stock was transferred to FEA. The USCC increased its activities by purchasing most of the strategic commodities needed for importation. The USCC helped to stimulate foreign production by sending abroad scientific and technical experts, furnishing equipment, and offering long-term contracts. With the cooperation of the State Department it negotiated with foreign governments to prevent restrictive taxes or other impediments to trade. In 1943 at the request of the Navy Department, the USCC began procuring and shipping to South Pacific islands liberated from Japan agricultural machinery and supplies for raising food for the armed forces locally. After the war the USCC acted for the War Department in importing goods from Germany and Japan and for selling them at home and abroad. The USCC also engaged in exporting cotton to those countries. These programs were initiated to normalize international trade, to defray occupation costs, and to provide dollar exchange for military authorities in occupied areas. The USCC was organized along corporate lines, with a Board of Directors and other principal officials. In its Washington, D.C., central office the USCC had no personnel of its own; at first it relied on RFC employees and later on FEA employees. After the FEA was organized and took over the administration of the foreign procurement programs, the USCC established overseas offices in more that 30 countries and opened branches at New York and San Francisco. With the dissolution of the FEA by Executive Order No. 9630 of September 30, 1945, provision was made for the transfer of the USCC to the RFC, and on October 20, 1945, the transfer was completed. Thereafter, programs were terminated as expeditiously as possible. Provision was made for the transfer of the strategic materials purchasing program to other RFC corporations. By the terms of its charter, the USCC expired on June 30, 1948. Liquidation of its remaining activities was handled by the Liquidation Division of RFC's Office of Loans. The USCC was dissolved on June 20, 1957, upon completion of liquidation. Descriptions of USCC records appear in entries 194-221. Entry 328 relates to the liquidation of the RFC by the General Services Administration. 194. INDEX TO MINUTES. 1942-51. 24 ft. Arranged alphabetically under the three headings of general subjects, programs and activities, and names of personnel. Index cards (3 by 5 in.) showing number of the volume, page number therein, and date of the meeting during which the indexed matter was brought up for discussion. 195. MINUTES. 1942-57. 15 vols. 5 ft. Arranged chronologically. Mainly signed original copies of minutes of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the USCC from the date of its organizational meeting on March 27, 1942, until its dissolution on June 20, 1957, and including minutes of the Board of Direc tors and stockholders' meetings of the USCC in Spain and Portugal. The minutes relate to discussions, resolutions, and decisions on USCC policies and staff reports and include lists of Board and staff members. 196. MINUTE DOCUMENTS. 1942-51. 2 vols. 10 in. Arranged numerically, 1 to 217, by program number. Basic contractual agreements, resolutions, reports, schedules, and memorandums relating to official actions incorporated by reference in the minutes of the Board of Directors, but maintained in a separate file. 197. GENERAL RECORDS. 1942-43. 4 ft. Arranged alphabetically by subject and name of country, and thereunder chronologically. Reports from USCC agents in Angola (Portuguese West Africa) on their progress in cornering the market on war materials, such as sisal and scrap iron, and preventing their sale to the Germans, and from field personnel in China regarding shipments of wolfram, tin, and mica to the United States and Japanese attempts to acquire supplies of these commodities from Chinese smugglers; correspondence with the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation relating to its activities and purchases of war goods in Portugal; copy of agreement of mutual cooperation between the USCC and the UKCC in 1942; resolutions of the USCC Board of Directors and interoffice memorandums pertaining to appointments of the officers and directors of the USCC and policies and procedures governing its operations; reports of enemy deficiencies showing essential commodities of which the Germans were in short supply; copies of minutes. of the London Preemption Committee held at the British Ministry of Economic Warfare, JanuaryDecember 1943; copies of cablegrams between the USCC and the American Embassy in Spain providing information on German purchases of fluorspar, antimony, and acidspar, and the desirability of the U.S. Government ordering the same; and statistical data on U.S. exports to Portuguese possessions and on Portugal's import and export trade during 1942-43. 198. RECORDS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 1942-46. 6 ft. Arranged by subject and thereunder chronologically. Resolutions of the Executive Committee, correspondence, directives, orders, reports, and charts relating to the organization, procedures, and functions of the USCC and other agencies of the Foreign Economic Administration; agenda of meetings of the Board of Directors; approval of contracts for the purchase of commodities allocated by the War Production Board; applications for patents of inventions perfected by FEA employees; instructions on exportimport procedures to USCC personnel; commodity purchase agreements with other American Republics; and analyses of overseas purchases effected under the FEA program, showing directive numbers, commodities contracted, and actual deliveries made. 199. ADMINISTRATIVE SUBJECT FILE. 1942-48. 9 ft. Arranged alphabetically by subject and thereunder chronologically. Correspondence, memorandums, reports, agreements, administrative orders, directives, and press releases relating to policies and organization of the foreign procurement program; requirements and purchases of strategic and critical commodities; preclusive-buying procurement contracts; economic conditions in neutral European and Latin American countries; war contract terminations and settlements; lend-lease operations; supplies for overseas relief and rehabilitation; and resumption of trade relations with areas disrupted by the war. Included are summaries of meetings of committees representing Government and private organizations involved in shipping and foreign trade; and summaries of news reports and editorial comments on the Government's wartime procurement program. 200. GENERAL COUNTRY FILE. 1942-48. 15 ft. Arranged alphabetically by country and thereunder in reverse chronological order. |