Any new services which may be required in the meantime can be opened to other people but the cooperative would have an opportunity to bid along with the others, and would have 30 days' notice.

As far as the rest of the area of Greenbelt-the total area of Greenbelt is about 3,400 acres. There are other commercial areas laid out. There has been no decision made as to how those will be finally handled, so that for the time being and for this 10-year period and as long as they carry out the contract the Consumer Services themselves have the right to supply the particular services and stores that are outlined in the contract on the basis of the returns which are required, as is true in most other private communities, I believe.

Mr. BALLINGER. You are acquainted with the term "monopoly" and you know how it is used?

Mr. MYER. I think, Mr. Ballinger, that I know how it is used and I think it might have several connotations.

Mr. BALLINGER. You think then that a situation where on the operation of existing facilities there can be no competition and these facilities are operated by one corporation, that is monopoly?

Mr. MYER. Mr. Ballinger, I would just like to say that the Consumer Cooperative has the exclusive right for certain business privileges in that area for a period of 10 years.

We have the same situation in many many other real-estate developments around the country which are operated by private industry where they give exclusive rights to stores under the same conditions. Mr. BALLINGER. You mean within a half-mile radius?

Mr. MYER. Maybe in a wider radius than that.

Mr. BALLINGER. I did not know businesses could control that much of a town.

Mr. MYER. Indeed they can.

Mr. BALLINGER. They can control a mile or a half-mile across? Mr. MYER. If they have a large enough project-large enough development.

Mr. BALLINGER. Do you know any such communities?

Mr. MYER. I cannot offhand tell you of any such community, but I assume the persons who developed Parkfairfax and operation of that community, the licensing of the stores in that community-and I know of other communities where it has happened, and they do give ex-` clusive license to operate.

Mr. BALLINGER. That may be another matter, but as far as Greenbelt is concerned, do you know, or do you consider that this is monopolistic?

Mr. MYER. I consider that they have an exclusive right to operate certain services as long as they live up to the contract. I will not agree that it is monopolistic.

Mr. BALLINGER. That they are protected from any competition of those facilities within that area?

Mr. MYER. I would not agree to that. They have competition all around them.

Mr. BALLINGER. But within this half-mile?

Mr. MYER. Within that area no other business of that type can be established during that period. That is correct.

Mr. BALLINGER. Federal Public Housing has the power to prevent the establishment within Greenbelt

Mr. MYER. Federal Public Housing in that respect is just like any other landlord. The right to determine leases and the rental of commercial facilities.

Mr. BALLINGER. Now, before November 1, 1946, was there another contract with this same organization, Greenbelt Consumer Services, Inc.?

Mr. MYER. There was.

Mr. BALLINGER. And that contract was originally signed with the Consumer Distribution Corp.?

Mr. MYER. The original contract was signed with the Consumer Distribution Corp. and later transferred.

Mr. BALLINGER. As of what date?

Mr. MYER. I believe it was September 1, 1937, but I would have to check the date.

Mr. BALLINGER. It was to run for 10 years?

Mr. MYER. That is correct.

Mr. BALLINGER. And was it subject to renewal?

Mr. MYER. It was.

Mr. BALLINGER. On what terms?

Mr. MYER. You have a copy of the contract, Mr. Ballinger.
Mr. BALLINGER. Yes, sir.

Mr. MYER. Maybe you are in a better position than I to answer that, offhand. My counsel is out in the other room.

Mr. BALLINGER. May I get your counsel, then?

Mr. MYER. We might be able to get him in. I have a copy of the contract, if you will give me time to look at it.

Mr. BALLINGER. Mr. Chairman?

Chairman PLOESER. All right, we will have the counsel.
What is your counsel's name?

Mr. MYER. Mr. Grove.

Chairman PLOESER. Mr. Grove, can you answer the question?

Mr. BERNARD L. GROVE (assistant general counsel, Public Housing Authority). Upon terms to be mutually agreed upon between the Government and purchaser, with the right given to the Consumers' Cooperative to meet any other offer that was made.

Mr. BALLINGER. Could you come over here?

Mr. GROVE. I could make a try.

Mr. BALLINGER. We would like to have you here permanently. Mr. MYER. As I understand your question ran to the original contract in this case.

Mr. BALLINGER. He has answered the question. Will you read the record back, please, Mr. Stenographer?

Mr. MYER. Let me make a check on that. I want to be sure Mr. Grove understood the question. The question is regarding the terms. Mr. BALLINGER. Terms of renewal.

Mr. MYER. On the old lease.

Mr. BALLINGER. They had an option of renewal. I want to know on what terms that was given.

Mr. MYER. Were you answering as to the old lease or the new one? Mr. GROVE. My recollection was that the old lease provided that a renewal could be had upon terms to be mutually agreed upon and that in the event of failure to agree

Chairman PLOESER. Will you speak a little louder, please?

Mr. GROVE. And that in the event of the failure to agree the consumer cooperative would then have a renewal of any other offer that was made. The contract is there. I have not read it for several months.

Mr. BALLINGER. You mean that there was no provision in the lease that required that you obtain offers from other parties before you gave the cooperative an opportunity to bid on it?

Mr. GROVE. That is my recollection, sir.

Mr. BALLINGER. Is that correct?

Mr. GROVE. I have not got the lease.

Mr. MYER. There was no requirement, I am sure, in the lease that other offers be obtained.

Mr. BALLINGER. In other words, you could renew it without considering anybody else except Consumer Services? That is Federal Public Housing.

Mr. MYER. That is right. It is now the Public Housing Administration.

Mr. GROVE. I might make plain that this was not a lease executed by the Federal Public Housing Authority. This was a lease which was assigned to us when the Federal Public Housing Authority was given the administration of the Greenbelt project.

Mr. BALLINGER. But under its terms you could renew it without obtaining competitive bids on it?

Mr. MYER. Correct.

Mr. GROVE. That is right.

Mr. BALLINGER. You could settle it yourself?

Mr. MYER. That is right.

Mr. BALLINGER. O. K. Now, Commissioner, under this lease, do you think that this lease gave the Greenbelt Consumer Services, Inc., a monopoly over the existing business in the town?

Mr. MYER. This lease gives the Consumer Services an exclusive right to operate certain services in the town within a 10-year period covered in the lease.

Mr. BALLINGER. And no other business could come in on those existing facilities?

Mr. MYER. Not unless it was agreed to by the cooperative or unless they for some reason invalidated their contract.

Mr. BALLINGER. Now, with respect to future-

Mr. MYER. Within the half-mile radius.
Mr. BALLINGER. Not in the old contract.
Mr. MYER. You said in this contract.

Mr. BALLINGER. No; the old contract.

Mr. MYER. I am sorry. I thought you were talking about the pres

ent contract.

Mr. BALLINGER. The old contract applied to all Greenbelt.
Mr. MYER. That applied to all Greenbelt.

Mr. BALLINGER. And the facilities operated by the cooperative were protected from any competition by Federal Public Housing. That nobody could obtain any land or rent any property in Greenbelt to compete with any of these existing facilities. Right?

Mr. MYER. The old contract did include, I think, all of Greenbelt. The new contract includes only a half-mile radius from the center where we now operate.

Mr. BALLINGER. With respect to future business that might come into the town under the old contract, what provision governed that? Did the cooperative have first call on any new business?

Mr. GROVE. I can read the provision. Here it is.

Mr. MYER. No. This is regarding the release.

Mr. GROVE. That is all right.

Mr. MYER (reading):

At the expiration of this lease, any cooperative which is an assignee of this lease, in whole or in part, and which numbers among its members persons residing in not less than 50 percent of the then occupied dwelling units in Greenbelt, may, at its option, renew this lease as to the premises of which it is an assignee, for a further term of 5 years upon terms and conditions fixed by mutual agreement. In the event that the Government and any such cooperative fail to agree upon terms and conditions for any such renewal lease, the Government agrees that it will not lease such premises to any other person or agency without first offering the premises to such cooperative on the same terms and conditions.

Mr. BALLINGER. That is a little different from what you told me. Mr. MYER. No; I think it is the same.

Mr. BALLINGER. I am still asking about the position with respect to admission to future business in the first contract.

Mr. MYER. I would be glad to provide that for the record. I don't know the answer in every detail to the contract. You have been over them. I would be glad to provide it for the record, but I will not try to recall from memory every detail of the old contract to which I was no party.

Mr. BALLINGER. You have read the contract?

Mr. MYER. I have read the contract, but I have read lots of contracts. Mr. BALLINGER. Did not the old contract say that on new facilities which might come into the town that the Greenbelt Consumer Services would be given 6 months to furnish such facilities if Federal Public Housing said they were needed, or whoever the administrative agency was?

Mr. MYER. I believe the period was 60 days.

Mr. BALLINGER. Sixty days or 6 months, which was it?

Mr. MADDREN. Sixty days.

Mr. BALLINGER. If they furnished it within 60 days.
Mr. MYER. Would you like me to read that provision?

If the Government determines that a service not furnished by the lessee is necessary for the population of Greenbelt and is one for which the expected demand is such as to render it economically feasible, it shall give the lessee 60 days' written notice of such determination. Upon the failure of the lessee to supply such service within that 60 days, the Government may lease other premises within Greenbelt to such other person or agency as is willing to furnish such other service or may furnish such service itself: Provided, however, That this shall be the only remedy of the Government for failure on the part of the lessee to furnish any service except that of operating food and drug stores, bus terminal, and rest and comfort station facilities for the general public.

Mr. BALLINGER. Now, then, the primary difference between the first and second contract with respect to future business is that in the old contract they had an opportunity to furnish a service within 2 months if the Federal Public Housing since 1942 thought such service was necessary to the community, whereas in the contract signed November 1 you can simply notify them that a new facility is needed and all the right that they have is to come in there and bid on the new facility with private business?

73446-48- -2

Mr. MYER. That is correct. Give a 30-day notice.

Mr. BALLINGER. Is that correct?

Now for 10 years the community of Greenbelt has been in existence. Do you think it is a pretty good town, Commissioner?

Mr. MYER. People who live there seem to like it very much, and I have been out there a few times and it looks to me like a very nice place to live.

Mr. BALLINGER. A well-built town?

Mr. MYER. Yes, sir. No doubt about that.

Mr. BALLINGER. Good citizens out there?

Mr. MYER. So I have heard.

Mr. BALLINGER. Do you think a town with good buildings, good residence property, fine people in it, ought to have some facilities? Mr. MYER. They do have some facilities.

Mr. BALLINGER. How many facilities do they have?

Mr. MYER. They have a food store, general merchandise store, drugstore, and fountain, motion-picture theater, filling station, repair garage, barber and beauty shop, tobacco store, bus station, valet shop, swimming pool, and refreshment stand, besides certain other recreation.

Mr. BALLINGER. Fifteen facilities, is that the total?

Mr. MYER. I did not count them.

Mr. BALLINGER. Have you been in towns in your life of a population of 7,100 or 7,500, and taken a look at them?

Mr. MEYER. I have been in a lot of towns that size, sir.

Mr. BALLINGER. Did you note that there were more than 15 facilities?

Mr. MYER. They were not at all similar to this one.

Mr. BALLINGER. You mean to say that the business was not prevented from coming in?

Mr. MYER. That is not what I mean to say. I mean to say that this town was developed with a definite objective in mind, of providing a demonstration of the type of development that might be considered worth while in this country, and that at the time this was developed it was not anticipated that the war-housing project would be constructed which has been added since that time, and the question as to whether additional facilities are needed is now an open question which can be decided, because there are additional commercial facilities. Mr. BALLINGER. There are?

Mr. MYER. I think there is not a very direct comparison between towns which have grown up over a country, and this particular town, because as I say, this town was built with a particular idea in mind, and we are trying to maintain the general character or idea as it was laid out.

Mr. BALLINGER. Would you explain what that purpose was, then, so that the committee may see just how beneficent this purpose was in terms of facilities?

Mr. MYER. I would like to quote, since I was not in on the originalif I can find a statement here, I have a statement of the Resettlement Administration which was made in September of 1936 that I would like to read into the record which will give a general pattern, I think, of what was intended.