The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-13
DISPOSAL OF
 SURPLUS ARMY
 SUPPLIES ENDS
Entire Amount Above Needs Will Soon Be
 Distributed.


 Washington, D. C., Sept. 13.-In an effort to salvage from destruction |, millions of dollars worth of govern ment property delivered to the army | after the armistice and despite handi- | caps imposed by the inaction of the , present Republican Congress, the | War Department is making a drive ! to dispose of its surplus equipment as rapidly as possible. It is hoped that | the supply on hand can be reduced | in the near future to a point where it will be possible to house the re- mainder in the storage space now available.
 At the time the armistice was sign l ed there were billions of dollars worth of material for the army under contract. It was possible to stop production on the major portion of these supplies, and t was neces- sary, for economic reasons, to allow great quantities to come into the market through the medium of the War Department. There were aI- ready reserve supplies for six months iu the army's hands More than half of these were overseas. To this great quantity. filling most of the available storage space, was added the great volume of future contract material that came into production before the brakes could be clamped down on the system of supply.
 Immediately on the signing of the armistice. which came almost as an overnight surprise to most of the world the gates of outlet at the various embarkation and shipping points were closed fast. Large mum ! bers Of men and great quantities of supplies began to return. General { Goethals, who was at the head of the Quartermaster or purchase and stor- age department of the army, realiz- ing that the army camps and storage facilities would soon be crowded to . capacity, went to Congress and asked for an appropriation for new storage and warehouse facilities.
 In it's hlibuster to fierce the Presi- dent to call a special session of Con. Eress the Republican wing of the last Congress made it impossible for the War Department to obtain funds sui |, fcient to protect the vast supplies held by the army. When the new ! Congress was called, the Republicans in an effort to make political capital ! of their short sighted eco romy measures, forced the purchase and storage branch of the army to i content itself with just half the ap- prOpriation needed for the protection I of supplies valued at billions of dol ! lars.
 1 Making the best of the situation ] the War Department immediately set 1 about the work of protecting as 1 much of the property on its hands as 1 possible by housing it in the available 1 storage space. Many millions of l dollars worth of supplies, including l automobiles and trucks, munitions, ! materials and equipment and the like, i bulky in character but as valuable as they were bulky, had to be parked l in open lots, and as far as possible 1 soaked in grease and other materials 1 to protect them from rust and gen l eral deterioration.
 To add to the embarrassment of ! the governments effort to protect its ] own material until 1t could be prop ! erly dispossd of, Congress in this ap- propriatiOn for the present fiscal year. stipulated that no new sites 1 should be purchased or built upon- This provision compelled the army to park such bulky material in the open, because the appropriation granted 1 was not sufficient to permit the build ing of shelters for the materials
 In the cases of the motor ve- hicles and their equipment this lack | of funds was particularly embarrass- 1 ing. About 1000 automobiles and 1 motor trucks were declared surplus l by the army. Under the provisions l of another act of Congress these had l to be held until arrangements could | be made for their disposal. Thous- l ands of these cars that have been re- i ceived from factories in recent 1 months under contracts which could
 not be cancelled at once, have been
 left in their original cratings. which
 are no protection for them. They
 have to be left with the acres and
 acres of other trucks on hand out in
 the open where they are subject to
 the rust. and damage resulting from their exposure to the weather.
 Particular complaint has been i made against the policy of the War | Department in allowing these trucks l and automobiles to remain exposed,
 but the hands of the department have l been practically tied. No single con 1 cern in the world has ever had in ! stock the vast quantities Of supplies l held by the army since the signing of l the armistice Together with the
 supplies already on hand in this coun-
 try when the arm5sticc was signed,
 it is estimated that the supplies com ing out Of production on future con tracts ran into figures of between
 four and one-half and six billion dol lars. With the cooperation of a Con gress whose first interest was honest
 ly the interests of the people rather | than political, millions of dollars of
 these billions that have now gone to
 waste could have been saved. In
 stead, the Congress began a system ] of petty harrassing on top of a pite-
 ous and short-sighted policy of pre-
 tended economy with the result that
 the department. lacking cooperation
 and help, was left to shift for itself
 in salvaging the billions of dollars
 put into material now no longer
 necessary, but the production of which the exigencies of war and ma
 tional economy had maoG neces-
 sary.
 Not only was there waste because of destruction resulting from the
 failure of Congress to appropriate a
 few extra millions to save millions
 but in the case of the motor vehicles,
 there has actually arisen a conflict
 of Congressional action that =