resumption and distribution through normal channels in the respective countries. Such surpluses disposed of abroad should be debarred from subsequent import into the United States. Very truly yours, T. W. HOWARD, Secretary, Surplus War Property Committee. SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON UTILIZATION OF WAR PLANTS AND SURPLUS PROPERTY OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES, WASHINGTON Mattei, Albert C., chairman and president, Honolulu Oil Corporation, San Francisco, Calif. Anderson, Hugo A., vice president, First National Bank of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. Brinker, P. M., president, Brinker Grocery, Dallas, Tex. Brooks, E. P., vice president, Sears, Roebuck Co., Chicago, Ill. Brown, Donaldson, vice chairman, General Motors Corporation, New York City. Carpenter, W. S. Jr., president, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc., Wilmington, Del. Clausen, Fred H., president, the Van Brunt Manufacturing Co., Horicon, Wis. Connolly, John L., secretary, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co., St. Paul, Minn. Davis, Paul H., Paul H. Davis & Co., Chicago, Ill. Dulany, Ralph O., president, John H. Dulany & Son, Fruitland, Md. Healy, E. B., president, Sante Fe Book & Stationery Co., Sante Fe, N. Mex. Ladds, H. P., president, the National Screw & Manufacturing Co., Cleveland, Lanier, Monro B., president, Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation, Birmingham, Whipple, C. J., president, Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co., Chicago, Ill. Williams, Roger, executive vice president, Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry STATEMENT OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR RE H. R. 5125 (By William Green, president, American Federation of Labor, August 9, 1944) The American Federation of Labor is in complete agreement with the necessity for the establishment of some Federal authority to provide for the disposal of certain surplus Government property and plants in the post-war era, and with the general objectives, principles and procedures to accomplish this end set forth in the bill introduced by Representative Colmer in the House and Senator Johnson in the Senate. It is obvious that, with a possibility that billions of dollars' worth of governmental plant facilities, equipment and products will remain undisposed of at the end of the war, some means must be provided, through the Government, of making the necessary disposal of these properties. Such disposal must, of course, seek to obtain the highest possible return for the Government, the most effective use of plant facilities, and the advancement of our economy generally, but must avoid dislocations of established businesses and impairment of employment opportunities. On the one hand, the hasty or ill-considered flooding of the markets with surplus commodities could, and undoubtedly would, create serious employment dislocations, and, on the other hand, the use of existing government-owned plant facilities for the production of widely needed civilian goods can afford employment opportunities for the returned soldier and the displaced war worker. It cannot be denied that the distribution of surplus goods and the granting of the use of governmental plant facilities to private enterprise can and should be done only in the exercise of great care that the interests of all who might be affected thereby are protected the worker, in his employment opportunities; the businessman, in his ability to operate at a reasonable profit; the farmer, in making available to him agricultural implements, together with an adequate market for his produce; and finally the public, in that the entire domestic economy is maintained at a level which permits full production and use of plant facilities and full employment opportunities, together with the highest possible return to the Government for the disposed of property. It is important, then, that extreme care and caution be utilized in the disposition of surplus materials, goods and plant facilities, and that in such disposition the interests of those directly affected by consulted. It is with this primary thought in mind that the American Federation of Labor suggests and urges that the function and duty of disposing of governmental surpluses be placed not in the hands of a single administrator, as the present bill proposes, but in the hands of a four-party Board, composed of representatives of business, labor, agriculture, and the public, headed by a chairman, who is to be selected from one of the public members. It would appear that in this way, and in this way only, could adequate protection be afforded to all interests that might be affected by the disposition of surplus materials, and that through such a Board alone could ways and means of disposing of such surplus commodities best be evolved. Aided by the benefit of the advice and counsel of representatives of those portions of society most directly affected by any given distribution of surplus goods, it can reasonably be assured that the distribution will be accomplished by methods most consistent with the public good and least disruptive of the over-all economy. Accordingly, the American Federation of Labor urges that the present bill be amended so as to remove the supervision and direction of the disposition of surplus property from the hands of a single administrator and place that supervision and direction in the hands of a Presidentially appointed board, consisting of representatives of the public, of industry, of agriculture, and of labor. In addition, the American Federation of Labor urges that the objectives of the bill as contained in section 1, and the policies governing disposition as contained in section 12, be further clarified and illuminated by the addition of a provision which will assure of an intention to foster and not to discourage or impair post-war employment opportunities in the disposition of surplus properties. Specifically, the American Federation of Labor suggests that section 3 (a) of the bill be amended to read as follows: "SEC. 3. (a) There is hereby established a Surplus Property Board, which shall be headed by a Chairman. The Board shall consist of eight members appointed by the President, by and with the consent of the Senate, who shall receive compensation at the rate of per year, and shall serve for a term of years. Two of such members shall be selected as representatives of the public, two from industry as representatives of industry, two from agriculture as representatives of agriculture, and two from labor as representatives of labor. The Chairman shall be selected from the public members. A majority of the Board shall govern in the making of decisions and in carrying out the policies and purposes of the Act." Subsection (j) of section 2 will be stricken, and in its place will appear the following: “(j). The term 'Board' means Surplus Property Board." Wherever the term "administrator" appears in the present act, it shall be stricken and in its place shall be substituted the term "Board", and in place of the references to the administrator of "he", "his", or "him" shall be substituted the reference "it" or "its". Finally, a new subsection should be added to Section 1 (to be inserted between subsections (d) and (e) as subsection (e), the remaining subsections to be renumbered to follow) which subsection will read as follows: "(e). to avoid impairment of or disruption to post-war employment opportunities, and to encourage such opportunities." And a new subsection shall be added to section 12 (to be inserted between subsections (c) and (d) as subsection (d), the remaining subsections to be renumbered to follow), which subsection will read as follows: “(d). to encourage and foster post-war employment opportunities." With these amendments, the American Federation of Labor is heartily in accord with H. R. 5125, and thoroughly endorses it. STATEMENT OF JAMES MOORE, ACTING EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE, THE AMERICAN LEGION, BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON EXPENDITURES IN EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS, ON THE BILL, H. R. 5125, To PROVIDE FOR THE DISPOSAL OF SURPLUS GOVERNMENT PROPERTY AND PLANTS Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, in the absence of Mr. Francis M. Sullivan, executive director, national legislative committee, the American Legion, who is away from the city, I desire to record the American Legion's opposition to section 3 (b) of H. R. 5125, introduced by Representative Colmer, which states in part: "The Administrator may, within the limits of funds which may be made available, employ and fix the compensation of necessary personnel without regard to the provisions of the civil-service laws and the Classification Act of 1923 * * * " The American Legion objects to that language and requests that it be stricken from the bill and the following language substituted in lieu thereof: "(b) The Administrator may, within the limits of funds which may be made available, employ and fix the compensation of necessary personnel only in accordance with the provisions of the civil-service laws and the Classification Act of 1923 * * *i, This latter is in keeping and consistent with the long-time policy of the American Legion adopted at each national convention since 1937, which reads as follows: "Urge a rigid enforcement and extension of civil service to all positions of the Federal, State, and municipal services with adequate preference for veterans." If there was ever a time when veterans' preference should not be relaxed, but on the contrary where both the need and the justification for it is commanding, tis in all these matters having to do with post-war planning. Therefore, we of the American Legion urgently request that the language presently in section 3 (b) of H. R. 5125, lines 19 to 22, page 4, be stricken and the language recommended by our organization be substituted. DISPOSAL OF GOVERNMENT SURPLUS PROPERTIES AND MATERIALS IN RELATION TO PUBLIC EDUCATION (Statement submitted to the House Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments by R. B. Marston, director, legislative and Federal relations division, National Education Association, August 9, 1944) PROPOSAL In the disposal of war surplus properties and materials appropriate for educational use the National Education Association requests favorable consideration of the proposal that such properties and materials be transferred without cost to tax-supported schools, colleges, and universities. Like consideration is requested, in the event such disposal cannot be extended privately supported and privately controlled education, for the proposition that educational institutions in this category be authorized to purchase surplus materials at nominal costs. QUANTITY ASPECTS OF SURPLUSES The proposition that surpluses having educational use should be transferred without cost is based in large part upon the belief that in many kinds of materials the quantity will be of such magnitude that it cannot all be disposed of through sales without possible grave injury to our economy, resulting in cut-backs in production and consequent reductions in employment. It is particularly these surpluses beyond sales to which the proposal of the National Education Association is intended to apply. To this there is one exception, viz, surpluses that could appropriately be applied to the replacement of materials and supplies which have depreciated in a marked degree, or been entirely consumed, by the war effort of our schools, colleges, and universities. The magnitude of expected surpluses, while not subject to exact definition as far as information available to the National Education Association is concerned, is estimated to range somewhere between 50 and 112 billions of dollars. This is in pronounced contrast with surpluses that existed at the close of World War I. On November 12, 1918, the estimated value of surpluses was reported as six billions of dollars, up to that time the largest surplus stock pile ever accumulated in the history of the world. This war is on a vaster scale. Its demands in terms of materials and supplies are without parallel. NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL SURPLUSES Many of the surplus items will have their most direct use in the field of education. Among these are school desks, folding chairs, blackboards, paper, books of many kinds-textbooks and library books-chemicals usually employed in the chemistry laboratories of high schools and colleges, experimental equipment for physics laboratories, visual aids such as projectors and many films that are of educational value, duplicating machines, first-aid items such as bandages and antiseptics, shop equipment, such as lathes, saws, and the like, with quantities of supplies employed in teaching welding, the metal trades, electro-dynamics, aero-dynamics, automobile mechanics, radio, food processing, and so forth. It is likewise proper to note that in many phases of the educational program of the armed services, transportation equipment has been acquired and employed, much of which would be equally useful in the operation of the public schools of the Nation. The foregoing are examples of surplus equipment and supplies which have been acquired in large quantities by the armed services for educational purposes. Similar items, not acquired by the armed services for immediate instructional service, but employed under actual combat conditions, would have equally direct and important applications in the on-going educational program of the Nation's schools. PYRAMIDING OF SCHOOL NEEDS Meanwhile the war period has witnessed one of the most rapid accumulations of school needs in the history of our country. In the first place, the effort made by the schools in training 9,000,000 workers for war jobs has been costly to existing school plants and their equipment. In many instances schedules have been operated on a 2-, 3-, and even 4-shift basis. Around-the-clock programs have not been uncommon particularly in school shops. Some estimates that have been made in the case of round-the-clock programs indicate that the wear and tear in specific instances on plant and equipment was multiplied from 4 to 10 times of normal usage. This has resulted in a rate of deterioration without precedent in the history of public education. It is also true that school supplies on hand at the beginning of the war period have in a great many cases been depleted in support of national service. In the second place, the system of priorities necessarily embodied in the war effort has prevented boards of education and the governing bodies of colleges and universities from making normal replacements from year to year. The schoolbus fleet of the Nation is fast approaching the end of its usefulness. Commerce classrooms are filled with typewriters that cannot much longer be kept useful through repair. The result of the operation of these two factors (1) excessively rapid depreciation and (2) priorities has been an accumulation of schools' needs of critical magnitude, worthy of the most sympathetic understanding and careful consideration of Federal Government. LAG IN SCHOOL REVENUES Throughout the Nation the most widely employed base for school support is real estate. It is a matter of common knowledge that the tax value of real estate has not increased in proportion to rising school costs. This means that the fiscal ability of boards of education has relatively decreased in recent years. With relatively less to spend, education has been compelled to invest larger sums in personal services. Teachers' salaries, while still greatly in arrears of the mounting cost of living, have increased approximately 10 percent over the war period. Wages of maintenance employees have gone up. The cost of such supplies and materials as have been available has climed as well. These inescapable factors have left less for boards of education and the governing bodies of our colleges and universities to spend in many lines of school supplies and equipment. In fact, were the market to become immediately abundant in all kinds of goods needed by the schools of the Nation, it would be impossible because of lack of funds for educational purchasing agents to take care of school needs that in increasing amounts have developed since Pearl Harbor. It may now certainly be expected that education, if it should continue to be limited to existing plans of State and local support alone, will be forced to spend the next decade attempting to restore plants and equipment to their 1941 status. The fiscal ability of boards of education, and similar bodies, is inadequate to meet both equipment and personnel demands. The gap that exists between what schools can afford and what they need is rapidly widening. It stands as a serious threat not only to the individual welfare of American youth but at the same time to the general welfare in the days ahead. This gap may at least be partially closed if surplus materials, appropriate for educational services, are made available to schools. SAFEGUARDING PRODUCTION AND EMPLOYMENT It would obviously be unsound to dispose of educational surpluses in a way that would endanger the normal flow of trade between schools and industry. Were surpluses employed to reduce the normal buying of school purchasing agencies the effect would be to close some of the Nation's factories or else harmfully to curtail normal production and employment. This undesirable effect should be, and can be, avoided in giving effect to the National Education Association proposal through good judgment in the administration of whatever provisions on this score Congress itself may deem just and reasonable. With this in mind, it is proposed that, in demonstrating eligibility to receive transfers of materials without cost from the Nation's stock pile of surpluses, a school system or any institution of higher learning should show substantial evidence that its plan of spending, as set forth in its budget, contemplates normal operations on the basis of its past experience. PRINCIPLE OF NEED IS UPPERMOST In giving effect to the proposal advanced for committee consideration it is to be noted that the emphasis throughout is on the principle of need, with special reference to actual needs which exist after school purchasing agencies have utilized their normal fiscal powers. The National Education Association is vigorously opposed to any system of surplus disposal which would in effect result in the indiscriminate allocation of properties and materials to school systems or to institutions which might not exercise due diligence or sound judgement in appraising their needs. In any event, such estimates of need should be carefully appraised by properly constituted responsible State authorities and, following that, as necessary, they should be subjected to the cooperative evaluation of State authorities and a Federal agency such as the United States Office of Education-to be named by the Congress. BREAK-DOWN OF PROPOSAL The proposal of the National Education Association, as originally stated, and with the foregoing considerations in mind, recommends that disposal of surpluses appropriate for educational uses be generally patterned as follows: 1. That properties, equipment, supplies, and other materials acquired for educational services by the armed forces be transferred to the United States Office of Education for allocation without cost to the States on the principle of demonstrated need. 2. That after school purchasing agencies have shown evidence of planning for normal business, as determined by past experience, such school systems and other institutions be given prior call upon surpluses appropriate for educational use, subject to demonstration of fair and reasonable need. 3. That in the event such transfers cannot be made without cost to privately supported and privately controlled school systems and institutions, such school |