purchase actions to small concerns, representing $237,089,000. We had 2,347 purchase actions to large concerns, representing $2,202,221,000. 9.7 percent of our dollars from this source went to small firms, and 90.3 percent to large firms.

That compares with a World War II experience for the years 1942, 1943, and 1944 of 4.5 percent, and for an experience of slightly over 6 percent for the last quarter of 1950.

I would like to point out to the committee that the procurement by Wright-Patterson Air Force Base mainly involves the purchase of aircraft and engines and of devices that cannot go to small business because we define small business as a company that is independently owned and has 500 employees or less. We do not classify a wholly owned subsidiary of a large company as eligible to be recognized as small business. Obviously, a company of 500 men cannot manufacture a bomber or a fighter or an engine, but we accomplish that through subcontracting and I would like therefore to turn to the next chart.

I have already covered this.

This first shows the distribution of our aircraft and engine manufacturing. The round dot indicates geographically the location of our major airframe and parts plants, and you can see that they are spread pretty well throughout the country. There is quite a concentration in California and a concentration in this area (Pennsylvania-New York-New Jersey) but still we have substantial activities through here (Kansas-Texas) and in this area (Ohio-Indiana-Michigan).

The square dots represent our major aircraft-engine plants, and their distribution is in the industrial Northwest, with not very much activity any place outside that part of the country.

It is interesting for the committee to note that one engine calls for 4,604 plants in 34 States. In other words, a company such as the Curtiss-Wright Co. located here in New Jersey will call on the services of 4,604 material suppliers or subcontractors and, from our tests, they would be located throughout 34 States.

One airframe manufacturer calls for the services of 1,610 plants in 36 States as an average.

We believe that our most effective use of small plants comes through the process of subcontracting from our large plants. Our large suppliers, because of the fact that our major equipment is large and is intricate and requires really great organizations to carry it on, necessarily carry out the prime procurement. We feel, as I mentioned in my written statement, that this is vitally important to us for several reasons. In the first place, we want to avoid large concentrations of people. We do not wish to have aircraft plants with 60,000 and 70,000 employees, as we had in World War II. We hope to keep that down through the process, among other things, of subcontracting. Secondly, we have a deep consciousness of the necessity of dispersal of industry, because we are somewhat vulnerable, as you know.

The third thing is that we recognize that we are in a period of gray mobilization, and during that period of gray mobilization, many industries are going to be dislocated, because they are deprived of materials they cannot obtain. For that reason they cannot pursue their normal commercial enterprises, and to the extent we can take care of their capacity, use their capacity effectively, that is what we want to do.