stockage on March 31, than on December 31. The increase in the amount carried in storage within the United States reflects the accumulation of certain reserves being held in anticipation of future needs. As mentioned previously, steps have now been taken to insure that future procurement is carefully controlled in the light of supply and demand. At the end of March the available supply in storage of major A. S. F. items was equal to about 5 months' demand. It will be noted from chart 11 that storage in terms of number of months supply at current rates of issue has expanded during the first quarter of 1944 from 4.4 months to 4.9 months. The total increase in storage during the first quarter of 1944 was equivalent to one-half month's gross issues at current rates of distribution. In other words, the A. S. F. added 15 days' supply to its storage in the first 3 months of the current year. STORAGE OF MAJOR A. S. F. ITEMS, MONTHS OF ISSUE AT JANUARY-MARCH AVERAGE Stock control, or inventory operations at A. S. F. depots have expanded month by month since November 1943. The measure of this activity is the number of lines received on various requisitions specifying quantities of different supplies needed. Each line on each requisition must be checked against stock cards, sent to the storage branch for shipment, or dispatched to another depot for shipment. Chart 12 shows the number of lines on requisitions received each month by A. S. F. depots. You will note the steady climb we have, up to about 5,000,000. An indication of performance by depots in filling requisitions may be found in the speed with which requisitions are processed. During March 1944, as chart 13 indicates, 89,000 overseas requisitions were processed in 6 days or less from the time received. Only 12,700 requisitions required 7 days or more. The proportion processed within 6 days or less has increased despite the growth in volume of overseas requisitions. The tonnage handled by A. S. F. depots month by month from March 1943 through March 1944 is shown in chart 14. Of total shipments during March 1944, 69 percent were made to ports for movement overseas. In February 1944, 65 percent of all shipments went to ports for overseas use. Total tonnage handled in March was 3,985,000 tons. Total shipments were 1,858,000, of which about 1,284,000 went overseas. I might say that the figures for April show that 71 percent of our movements were overseas movements. During 1943, 82.2 percent of total tonnage shipped from depots. was shipped in carload lots. Of tons received at depots 86 percent arrived in carload lots. This is a measure, of the effort made to conserve transportation space. The amount of storage space within the United States has not increased sizably in 1943 or thus far in 1944. On January 1, 1943, gross warehouse and shed space was about 135,000,000 square feet, while on March 31 it was about 144,000,000 square feet. On January 1, 1943, gross igloo and magazine space was about 28,000,000 square feet, while on March 31 it was about 29,000,000 square feet. In addition occupied open area increased from about 35,000,000 on January 1, 1943, to about 63,000,000 as of March 31. The division 99399-44- -6 of this storage space by covered space, igloo and magazine space, and open space is shown in chart 15. J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M 1943 1944 GROSS COVERED AND IGLOO SPACE AND OCCUPIED OPEN AREA The igloo and magazine space, of course, is almost entirely for the storage of ammunition. With the pack which we are now having to use for overseas' shipments, it is possible to store a great deal more in the open than we ever dreamed we could. The percentage of occupancy of covered storage space and igloo and magazine space is shown in chart 16. Seventy percent of covered space was occupied on March 31, 1944 and 72 percent of magazine space was occupied. To effect maximum utilization of storage space there has been a constant interchange of space among A. S. F. services and other agencies. During the 12 months ending March 31, 1944, 84 reallocations of space were made. The services releasing and receiving the space together with the areas involved are shown in the accompanying table. That is a constant shifting we are trying to do in order to prevent any further construction of storage space. At the same time that the volume of storage operations has been increasing, operating efficiency has made definite improvements. The number of storage employees declined substantially in the last half of |