TABLE III (c).-Planned uses of foreign currency under title I, Public Law 480, agreements signed July 1, 1956, through Feb. 28, 1957 1

[In millions of dollars]

1 Amounts shown on this table are subject to adjustment when actual purchases and allocation have been made.

2 In order to provide flexibility in the use of funds, many agreements provide that a specified amount of local currency proceeds may be used under sec. 104 (a), (b), (f), (h), and (1). In some instances, possible uses under sec. 104 (d) are also included in this category. Therefore, estimates based on the best information now available are indicated above under subsecs. (a) (b), (h), and (i). Balances not otherwise distributed are included under subsec. (f). This distribution is subject to revision when allocations have been completed.

In order to provide flexibility in the use of funds, many agreements provide that a specified amount of local currency proceeds may be used under secs. 104 (a), (b), (f), and

(1). In some instances, possible uses under sec. 104 (d) are also included in this category.
Therefore, estimates based on the best information now available are indicated above
under subsecs. (a), (b), (h), and (i). Balances not otherwise distributed are included
under subsec. (f). This distribution is subject to revision when allocations have been
completed.

4 Total market value in table III (c) differs from total in table I (c) by the $6 million
estimated for ocean freight differential in the Indian agreement for which no rupee deposits
will be required.

In some instances column totals do not add to total amount programed because of slight differences in rounding.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Garnett, for your

statement.

You did not make any reference to the activities of voluntary agencies participating in this program. You do have religious organizations that work with you in this program, do you not?

Mr. GARNETT. Yes. That is authorized under section 416 of the Agricultural Act of 1949, as amended. This would continue. As far as the Department of Agriculture is concerned, this is administered by the Agricultural Marketing Service. We have their representative Mr. Howard Davis, here and he would be glad to answer any questions if you wish to discuss it.

The CHAIRMAN. Would he be able to tell the committee the volume of commodities that has been handled by the various religious organizations and church groups?

Mr. GARNETT. Yes.

STATEMENT OF HOWARD DAVIS, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FOOD DISTRIBUTION DIVISION, AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Mr. DAVIS. During the fiscal year 1956, under the authority of section 416 of the Agricultural Act of 1949, the United States voluntary agencies distributed in some 80 countries around the world a total of 1,220,500,000 pounds of various agricultural surpluses, food surpluses. Those commodities had a value of approximately $302.5 million.

So far in the first half of fiscal year 1957 they have distributed commodities valued at $124.5 million and a total poundage of around 896 million pounds.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have the actual cost of the project that was known as Operation Poinsettia?

Mr. DAVIS. No, sir. That was handled by ICA. I do not have any figures on that with me. I am sure we could get them for you. The CHAIRMAN. Those commodities were made available from CCC stocks, were they not?

Mr. DAVIS. That is right, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You have no record?

Mr. DAVIS. I am sure we have records. I do not have them with

me.

The CHAIRMAN. Will you get that information for us and have it put in the record?

Mr. DAVIS. The total value of the surplus commodities?

The CHAIRMAN. Operation Poinsettia. That was last Christmas' program.

Mr. DAVIS. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. What was the one before that?

Mr. DAVIS. Operation Reindeer.

The CHAIRMAN. Will you put the cost of Operation Reindeer in the record too?

Mr. DAVIS. We will get that also.

(The data referred to are as follows:)

1 Nonsurplus items added to programs to provide a better balanced food package.

650, 005. 30

2 Poinsettia ocean transportation paid in part from title II funds. Balance paid from ICA appropriated funds.

The CHAIRMAN. Who is responsible for the distribution of these commodities in a country, we will say, like Italy?

Mr. DAVIS. We operate this program, under the legislation, by donating the commodities to qualified voluntary United States agencies. They in turn, through agreement with the Department of Agriculture, take the responsibility for the distribution of the commodities in the recipient countries.

The CHAIRMAN. You turn over, we will say, large quantities of commodities to the Catholic Church in Italy?

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. To what extent do the representatives of our Government supervise the final distribution?

Mr. DAVIS. We, through the cooperation of ICA, have arranged for the controller's office of that Agency in the various country missions to do some checking on these distributions. Also, councils of the agencies themselves in the recipient countries, with ICA participating, screen the requests for commodities and so on.

The CHAIRMAN. How are the commodities identified so that the ultimate recipient will know who the donor really is?

Mr. DAVIS. As the law requires, every can or every package, and in the case of bulk commodities the bulk container is marked in English "Not to be sold or exchanged," among other things, and "This is a gift from the people of the United States."

The CHAIRMAN. That is in the case of bulk commodities?

Mr. DAVIS. The small individual packages are also labeled the

same way.

The CHAIRMAN. So the recipient knows it is coming from the United States taxpayers rather than from some religious organization? Mr. DAVIS. Yes.

I have just returned from an 8-week trip in the Far East observing the operation of this program, and I can certainly assure any citizen of this country that everyone who gets these commodities is very much aware where they are coming from. They know our nonfat dry milk from one part of the world to the other, and they know it as an American product and as a gift from the people of this country. In order to further assure this, however, in most of the countries I have visited, the organizations themselves have printed little.pamphlets in the dialect of the country in which the commodities are distributed, telling them how to use the commodity, its nutritional value, and also that it is a gift of the people of the United States.

I am quite sure that everyone I talked to in the lines waiting to get their commodities-through interpreters were quite sure where these things were coming from.

The CHAIRMAN. Who passes on the eligibility or the need of the recipient? The religious organizations?

Mr. DAVIS. Although the requirement is that a United States citizen actually supervise the distribution, they cannot be in all parts of each country, but they do operate through local church groups and local communities. They have insured the eligibility in a variety of ways. Of course as far as institutions are concerned, it is fairly easy. An orphanage or a health center does not require a great deal of investigation to determine eligibility. As far as individual families are concerned, in many cases they use the designation that has already been made by the local authorities as to which families are indigent and the most needy. In many instances they use local community committees similar to the procedure used in Pennsylvania in our own country to screen the individual applicants and determine which are eligible.

The CHAIRMAN. You make these surplus commodities available to all church groups, do you not?

Mr. DAVIS. According to the law the agency, to qualify, must be approved by and registered with the Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid, which is handled by ICA. Agencies are screened as to their general program, their financial responsibility, the responsibility of their leadership, and so on, and only those agencies which are approved by ICA are eligible to receive the commodities. However, any agency that meets those requirements can be eligible.

The CHAIRMAN. You do not operate through one religious organization to the exclusion of others?

Mr. DAVIS. No, sir. There are at present fifty-some agencies, I believe, that are qualified. However, at the present time there are only about 21 various agencies that are actually participating in the program. Those agencies are agencies like CARE, Church World Service, National Catholic Relief, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Lutheran World Relief, and various other groups of that

nature.

The CHAIRMAN. We had some information to the effect that in Italy you operated entirely through the Catholic Church. You say that is not true?

Mr. DAVIS. No, sir. CARE and Church World Service are also making distributions in Italy. However, obviously, because Italy is predominantly Catholic, the Catholic program is the largest in Italy.