presentatives of Government who are gathered around at we may get the very best possible results out of the of this problem. I wrote an opening statement and I want those present that the chairman is subject to the rule which I have just I have no objection to being interrupted at any time. SURPLUS PROPERTY ACT A MANDATE the Surplus Property Act of 1944, Congress laid a manSurplus Property Administrator to dispose of the property eeded in the common defense in such manner as― * * * * * * * mum aid in the reestablishment of a peacetime economy of free, enterprise * to stimulate full employment disopolistic practices strengthen and preserve the competiof small business and promote production and utilization etive capacity and the natural resources of the country. ords of the statute itself leave no doubt of what the legislawas. This intent, however, was made doubly clear in section. et which provides not only that the Surplus Property Adminhould make a report to Congress with respect to all plants 5,000,000 or more before disposing of them but that a disposal ll be laid before the Congress "consistent with the policies and ́s set forth in this act." fic as this language is, it is not the only recent declaration of -s on the subject. The War Mobilization and Reconversion Act is equally definite. In section 205, this law directs the Attorney al e surveys for the purpose of determining any factors which may tend to te competition, create or strengthen monopolies, injure small business, or Ise promote undue concentration of economic power in the course of war zation and during the period of transition from war to peace and thereafter. us by laws which are as yet scarcely 1 year old, the Congress has no loophole for misunderstanding its purposes. It has instructed xecutive arm of the Government to use the powers of government elp bring about reestablishment of a competitive economy in which will be possible for "new independent enterprise" to develop. If w independent enterprise is not permitted to develop in the United ates of America it is difficult to see where else in the world it can velop and can be protected, because the obvious trend in Russia, in ritain, in Europe, and everywhere except where the United States is ndeavoring to carry out the policy of freedom in competition, it is becoming more and more difficult for the individual or small organization to compete with either cartels upon the one hand, or authoritarian government upon the other. In compliance with the laws to which I have referred, the Surplus Property Administrator and the Attorney General have transmitted to Congress their respective reports on the aluminum industry and both of these documents have been referred to the Surplus Property Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs. This hearing is being held under the sponsorship of this subcommittee and jointly with the Select Committee on Small Business and the Industrial Reorganization Subcommittee of the Select Committee on Postomic Policy and Planning. All three of these committees Arkansas produced bauxite “faster than Alcoa expected". Additional statement of Francis C. Cary, metallurgist, Wilming- ton, Del., re disposal plans for aluminum plants, October 19, 1945 323 ALUMINUM PLANT DISPOSAL MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1945 JOINT HEARING OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON SURPLUS PROPERTY DISPOSAL OF THE COMMITTEE ON MILITARY AFFAIRS, THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO STUDY AND SURVEY PROBLEMS OF SMALL BUSINESS ENTERPRISES, AND THE INDUSTRIAL REORGANIZATION SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON POSTWAR ECONOMIC POLICY AND PLANNING UNITED STATES SENATE, The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:30 a. m., in the caucus room, Senate Office Building, Senator Joseph C. O'Mahoney (chairman of the Subcommittee on Surplus Property Disposal) presiding. Present: Senators O'Mahoney (chairman), Murray, Hill, Wherry, Austin, and Revercomb. Also present: Senators Hayden, McClellan, Maybank, Mitchell, and Robertson; Congressmen Savage, Horan, and Angell; Kurt Borchardt, counsel, Surplus Property Subcommittee of the Committee on Military Affairs; Dewey Anderson, executive secretary; C. E. Childs, consultant; and Thomas J. McBreen, Jr., chief of information, Senate Small Business Committee. Appearances on behalf of governmental agencies: James P. McGranery, the Assistant to the Attorney General. H. B. Cox, general counsel, Surplus Property Administration. tration. Donald McCormick, Deputy Administrator, Industrial Property, Surplus Property Administration. Samuel Moment, Surplus Property Administration. Col. John M. Redding, Surplus Property Administration. Sam H. Husbands, member, Board of Directors, Reconstruction Finance Corporation. G. F. Buskie, Executive Director, Office of Surplus Property, Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Fred E. Berquist, Acting Deputy Director, Office of Surplus Property, Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Irving Gumbel, Office of Surplus Property, Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Lt. H. P. Caulfield, Jr., United States Naval Reserve, Property Disposition Branch, Office of Assistant Secretary of Navy. Brig. Gen. Edgar P. Sorensen, United States Army, Office of the Under Secretary of War. |