public schools and colleges the availability of a sufficient amount of war material for educational purposes. There is no better way of assisting our schools in providing the best kind of training for our youth and our war veterans, than providing them with such teaching devices as will give the latest and the best in the respective fields. Yours sincerely, R. D. FORD, District Manager. JACKSON, OHIO, August 5, 1944. Senator JAMES E. MURRAY, Chairman, War Contracts Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SIR: Many of our Nation's schools, particularly those located in low-valuation areas, are poorly and inadequately equipped. The citizens of these same areas have made contributions to the war effort commensurate with others and in many instances proportionately greater than have those living in more fortunate surroundings. When the war ends, billions of dollars' worth of surplus material which would be of great value to public education will be lying in warehouses, on docks, in cargo vessels, and at storage depots. Motion-picture projectors, radios, maps, books, hand and power tools, laboratory apparatus, typewriters and office equipment, and furniture constitute a part of this war surplus needed by our schools. The great tax burden of the Nation will make it difficult for financially weak school districts to secure needed funds to purchase new equipment. Furthermore, new equipment is not now available and since school needs are immediate everywhere, the Army surplus is the only source. Should this be closed to schools, then the plight of free public education would become even more serious. The United States Army has been outstandingly successful in its training program because it has had the finest teaching personnel the Nation could produce, the best equipment possible, and the product of the American public schools as students. What better use could possibly be made of this vast amount of usable and much-needed material than to return it, according to need, to its original purchasers, the American people, for use in the public education program? As representatives of organizations believing in the best education for youth it is possible to provide, we respectfully urge your support of any legislation designed to free this Army surplus and to distribute it equitably to the public schools of the Nation. BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATION, GOSHEN CENTRAL SCHOOL, Senator JAMES E. MURRAY, Chairman, War Contracts Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. MURRAY: Our school is greatly concerned over proposed legislation making surplus war property, which may be suitable for educational use, available to schools and colleges when it is no longer needed for its intended purpose. There are quantities of defense materials that could be of great value to schools in the teaching program and also a saving to the taxpayers of the district. In the recent expansion of school grounds and buildings the item of maintenance for both has become a considerable factor and will increase as the years go on. To be able to secure equipment such as small trucks, tractors, to mention only one possibility, would be well worth considering. Schools will not be in position to spend the money for equipment, so to fur.ish them with equipment would not be removing potential buyers from the equipment market. On the other hand, being able to secure equipment would in a sense provide the equivalent of financial assistance over a period of years without releasing funds for the teaching program. I believe altogether too little thought and attention has been given to the large sums invested in our school plants and equipment. We urge your support of such legislation. Very truly yours, CHARLES J. HOOKER, Supervising Principal. MONTANA CONGRESS OF PARENTS AND TEACHERS, Hon. JAMES E. MURRAY, DEAR SIR: The Montana Congress of Parents and Teachers are desirous of expressing themselves as in favor of the distribution of war surpluses to the schools. we are hopeful that this equipment will be made available to replace the equipment that has not been replaced due to the war. We understand the matter is being seriously considered in Congress and feel we are interested in the welfare of the schools. No doubt, the boys and girls are to want special training in the future as the war has broadened the field so greatly. To be able to secure these materials will benefit them greatly. Yours very truly, Senator JAMES E. MURRAY, Chairman, War Contracts Subcommittee, Mrs. L. KELSEY SMITH, BERRIEN COUNTY SCHOOLS, Senate Committee on Military Affairs, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR: I should like to ask that you support legislation which will make surplus war property suitable for educational use available to schools and colleges. There evidently is a large amount of material used by the war agencies that could well be used in schools after the war. I shall be particularly interested in visual-teaching education and radio equipment. Sincerely yours, Hon. JAMES E. MURRAY, EDWARD L. MURDOCK, County Commissioner of Schools. MERCER COUNTY SCHOOLS, Princeton, W. Va., August 8, 1944. United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: The writer is the chairman of a committee of school superintendents in West Virginia which is interested in the allotment to schools and colleges of surplus war material which can be used in education. We wish to make a strong plea that this material be allotted to schools without cost, since it has already been paid for by public funds. We hope that you will be able to lend your support to legislation that will make this transfer possible. The schools of the Nation have been handicapped in not being able to purchase a great deal of the equipment needed, to say nothing of the tremendous handicap in the matter of manpowe, and favorable action on such legislation would place the schools in a position to do a better job in post-war reconstruction. Yours very truly, C. H. ARCHER, Superintendent. Senator JAMES E. MURRAY, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Subcommittee of Committee on Military Affairs, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR MURRAY: The Federal Government will have billions of dollars' worth of surplus war property for distribution in the near future, some of which is already becoming available. Much of the surplus property is admirably suited for use by schools. School administrators all over the country, therefore, are much interested in any proposals for the distribution of this surplus. The American Association of School Administrators, composed of approximately 4,000 school superintendents throughout the United States, has recently appointed a committee on surplus wartime materials, of which committee the undersigned is chairman. Since proposed legislation concerning surplus war properties is now before Congress, I wish to bring to your attention the following: 1. The school systems of the country have not been able to secure adequate funds to provide for the maintenance and replacement of property and equipment, or to secure the necessary materials for the proper enrichment and expansion of the educational program. 2. Much of the equipment of the schools has depreciated greatly during the past 4 years in training millions of men and women for the war production industries. 3. If the Federal Government will distribute to tax-supported school systems suitable surplus war material, it would remove from the market part of this huge amount of equipment and supplies, instead of having this material disrupt industry by being sold on the open market at depressed prices. 4. One condition which probably should be attached to the distribution of such material to tax-supported school systems is that the customary expenditures made by these systems for equipment and supplies should not be reduced. The proposed plan, therefore, would not interfere with those industries manufacturing school supplies and equipment. 5. This proposal would be eminently fair to the taxpayer, since it would give him the full benefit of material distributed to tax-supported schools. If the material were to be sold on the open market at a fraction of its value, the taxpayer would get the benefit of only the limited amount which his schools are able to buy. The school superintendents of the country are very anxious that you and the other members of your committee give favorable consideration to the abovementioned matters, as the successful work and welfare of our schools will be greatly advanced if favorable action is taken. If there is any other information that you desire to have, please let me know. Very truly yours, DAVID E. WEGLEIN, Chairman, Committee on Surplus Wartime Materials, STOCK PILING-VITAL TO NATIONAL SECURITY (By Julian D. Conover, Secretary, American Mining Congress, Washington, D. C.) Address to Annual Meeting, American Zinc Institute, St. Louis, Mo., April 17, 1944 For those engaged in the production of strategic and critical metals and minerals inclucing the "big three," zinc, lead, and copper-there is probably no subject of greater concern for the future than our national policy with regard to stock-piling. To us this is in many ways our No. 1 problem for the post-war period. Upon its wise handling depend, we believe, not merely the future of great mining and smelting industries and the prosperity of important sections of our country, but the very safety of our Nation in the years to come our ability to meet, if the need should again arise, another challenge to our independence and our way of life. It is a subject in which all of us are deeply and vitally interested. The importance of this subject far transcends the interests of our own mining and metallurgical industries and those who look to them for a livelihood. It is a matter fundamental to the future strength and security of the United States. The First World War and to a still greater degree the present conflict have shown the absolutely indispensable character of these metals to modern warfare. Without them a nation is powerless to defend itself. To preserve our national existence in any future emergency we must have these basic materials in adequate quantities quickly available if and when needed for production of munitions and for carrying on a war economy. The First World War taught us a lesson as to the difficulties, delays, and dangers of trying to accumulate stock piles of deficient minerals while actually engaged in war; but the lesson was soon forgotten. In December 1919, in a report to the President, Bernard Baruch urged that steps be taken at once to insure adequate supplies of raw materials for future emergencies. Farsighted men, both in the mining industry and in the ranks of Congress and of Government departments, vigorously advocated such a program. But Congress and the people generally were apathetic, they didn't want to think about the possibility of another war, and for 20 years virtually nothing was done. True, the Army and Navy Munitions Board appointed able_committees to study the problems of minerals supply, but as War Production Board Vice Chairman Arthur H. Bunker recently said, "Stock piles of strategic and critical materials were discussed in the armchair, but not acquired; they were carefully listed and classified, but they were not purchased." In 1938, as the war clouds in Europe became more ominous, Senator (then Congressman) Scrugham, of Nevada, succeeded in securing an appropriation for the Navy of 31⁄2 million dollars (followed by $500,000 in 1939 and 1940) for purchases of strategic materials; and in 1939 a bill by Senator Thomas, of Utah (Public Law 117, 76th Cong.), was passed, authorizing the appropriation of $100,000,000 for such purchases-of which, however, only $70,000,000 was actually appropriated and less than this amount expended. Purchases under this program brought to us valuable but inadequate quantities of tin, tungsten, and certain other needed materials. However, when the National Defense Advisory Committee set up shop in 1940, it found that in the main, except for industry-held stocks, the cupboard was bare. Not only were we lacking many minerals that had not normally been produced in this country; but even in the case of copper, lead, zinc, and others for which our own mines and smelters had been able to supply peacetime requirements, we found the available supply far below the rapidly pyramiding requirements of a global war. COSTLY EXPERIENCE IN PRESENT WAR We all know the strenuous and costly measures that were subsequently required to make up for these deficiencies. Aided by premium price plans, Government financing, tax relief provisions, etc., and above all by the energy, resourcefulness, and patriotic sacrifices of mining and smelting men, the mining industry showed its amazing vitality. It emerged from nearly a decade of depression, of discouragement and destructive governmental policies, to set new all-time records for production. Zince output from domestic mines achieved a 50 percent increase over 1938, while smelter production was doubled. At the urge of the Government, new or increased production was undertaken from a vast number of properties, many of them small or marginal, but all contributing to the war needs. Additions to mill and smelter capacity werd provided, new plants built, and treatment processes for low-grade and refractory ores were developed under the stress of war necessity. Production had to be expended at all possible speed and even beyond actual consuming requirements, in order to provide war factories with necessary working stocks and to fill the whole greatly expanded "pipe line" of metallic products in process of fabrication. At the same time, foreign sources were thoroughly combed, immense sums were spent in developing production, and valuable shipping was devoted to bringing war-needed minerals to our shores. Quartz crystals were flown from Brazil, tantalum from Africa, and tugnsten was even flown over the Himalayan Mountains from China to the Indian Ocean. Necessarily this program involved enormous cost-not only in money (which was, rightfully, a subordinate consideration) but in precious manpower, materials and time. Projects were started and then deferred or abandoned on the basis that manpower or materials were not available or could be more effectively used elsewhere. After the "pipe lines" had been filled and current inventory margins built up, cut-backs in some raw materials began to make their appearance. program was inherently and inevitably wasteful in the extreme-far exceeding the cost that an orderly stock-piling program would have involved. The The highest credit is due to the industry leaders in Washington who have wrestled with this tremendous problem-who are themselves the first to admit that mistakes have been made, but who in the face of all these obstacles have seen to it that our fighting forces are equipped to meet the aggressors on their own territory and to blast the way to Berlin and Tokyo. Through their efforts we have overcome almost insuperable handicaps and have made good our shortages of supply; but the situation has been far too close for comfort, and we have come perilously close to paying a terrible penalty for our lack of foresight. This must never happen again. We have paid dearly to learn the same lesson once more. This time let us take it to heart, let us make certain that we are not again caught-in a war which may come on us much more suddenly than in the past-without adequate supplies of those basic materials from which the weapons to defend ourselves must be forged. STOCK PILES AS INSURANCE FOR THE FUTURE The surest way to accomplish this is to provide a national stock pile of metals and minerals as a permanent military reserve, in suitable forms for long-time storage and prompt use when needed. This would naturally include not only those metals which, because of limited or no production in this country, were listed as strategic or critical in pre-war days, but also copper, lead, zinc, and other metals which have been added to the strategic or critical list because our domestic productive capacity has been found unable to keep pace with the tremendously increased demands of modern warfare. A permanent stock pile of these indestructible metals should be regarded as insurance for the future safety of our country. It ranks with our air force, our Navy, and our Army in serving notice on aggressor nations that our rights must be respected. It may well prolong the peace or shorten the duration of another war. Its cost is infinitesimal against the blood of another generation lost in a still more deadly war. In the happy event that we are never called upon to use it, it would be the best investment ever made by the American people. A wise man buying insurance on his property is not aggrieved because he fails to suffer a disastrous fire. I have been speaking of stock piling from the standpoint of national security because, after all, that is the big issue in which every citizen of this country is vitally affected and in which every member of Congress should take an intelligent interest. Presented from this standpoint, the arguments for stock piling should carry convincing weight in the framing of national policy for the future. As American citizens we in the mining and metal industries have exactly the same interest in the matter as 130,000,000 other, whose primary desire is to preserve our country and our way of life in the years to come. DISRUPTIVE EFFECT OF DUMPING But national interest is also involved in another phase of the problem in which we are particularly concerned-the avoidance of that utter demoralization which struck our domestic metals industries through the dumping of Government-held stocks following the last war. We are all familiar with the chaotic market conditions, the shutting down of mines and smelters, and the unemployment and acute distress which resulted from that short-sighted policy. The metal-mining industry is the principal industrial activity in many of our Western States as well as in other sections of the country, and hundreds of communities are dependent upon it for their sole support. Liquidation of the huge metal stocks in our possession after the war would deny employment for a long period not only to many thousands now in the industry, but to those returning from the armed forces who are anxious to resume their normal occupations. The whole economy of important sections of our population would be disrupted, and substantial markets for our own agricultural and manufactured goods destroyed, while the American taxpayer would shoulder a relief load that might well exceed the cost of stockpiling these metals. Not only this, but the enforced shut-down of mines, where maintenance costs are excessive, would mean permanent loss of valuable ore reserves through flooding and caving of workings. The smaller mine owners, unable to weather the storm, would be especially hard hit. Considerations not only of justice to an industry which has done a good war job, but of the national interest in creating a balanced prosperity and in preserving important mineral resources, demand the "freezing" of excess minera and metal stocks as a reserve for the future. METAL STOCKS ARE NOT SURPLUS PROPERTY In Congress at the present time there are over 50 bills having to do in one way or another with the disposal of surplus Government property during and after the war. Most prominent of these is the George-Murray over-all demobilization bill, S. 1730 Title II of which provides basic policies to guide a Director of Demobilization in handling and disposing of Government plants, equipment and materials of all kinds. Other bills, many of a specialized character, are scattered through more than a dozen congressional committees. It is obvious that at the war's end our Government will own billions of dollars worth of property acquired for war purposes and not needed in peacetime. This will range from huge plants with their equipment down to socks and shoelaces. |