Evening star., 1919-05-11
Aided by Staff of Experts.

In the same way other commodities
have been handled. Mr.. Hare has OBJ
tanned the services of score of ex-
perts in the industries and in sales
manship to aid him in bringing about
this scientific disposal of surplus mat
terial.
Here are some of the important con-
tracts already closed by the director
of sales: With the lumber industry,
: 1Se.oe0.00e feet. approximate value,
1900, 600: with the sulphur industry.
100000 tons of sulphur. approximate
value, $s 600 900: with the nitrate i'm
porters. 1e6 900 tons Of sodium nitrate.
approximate value. sS.500.000; with the
mahogany producers. 100000 feet.
approximate value. 100000.
It is true that there are many sales
Of materials of various kinds in COM
IL to the interest of the government
to dispose of these materials as
quickly as possible and where their
sale cannot make great deal of diff
ference to the industries. These are
sold In many places throughout the
country to the highest bidders. The
War Department had thousands of
pounds of butter and sugar on hand
which II no longer'reQuired, and other
foodstuffs. These have been disposed
Of in part as rapidly as possible.
U. s. Bound by Contracts.
When the war was cut short off in
November the War Department imme-
diately started retrenching. 1t had
contracts. however, which had beer.
signed and under which factories of
all kinds were turning out materials
at tremendous rate. 1t would not
have been fair to the men who were
producing these articles to say. "Well
take no more of your products" The
consequence was that for several
months the government continued TO
receive large quantities of materials
for which it was inconceivable il
would have any further use. These
materials had to be added as sur
plus to materials already nand.
The government. in addition to hav-
ing surplus materials on it's hands,
has vast factories which must be SAL
vaged. 1t constructed these plants
for the persons who were to operate
them, frequently on land not owned
by the government Millions of dol
lars were expended for them. 1t will
he the duty now of the director of
sales to dispose of these plants, when
the contracts have been finally a0-
5usted. either to the persons now op.
Grating them or TO others. In many
Gases the plants are so huge that no
one single concern would be inter-
ested in purchasing them from the
government. The government prob
ably viii have to arrange to sub
divide such plants so that several
concerns may take over parts of the
same plant, perhaps using the various
parts for entirely different kinds of
production.
Some Army Camps Retained.
1t has been the duty. too. of the di-
rector of sales to dispose of many
Of the large Army camps and can
tonments. In some cases it has been
TO the advantage of the government
10 purchase the ground on which the
cantonments were constructed the
ccst of the ground being very small
compared to the millions which were
expended IN erecting the canton
ments.
When the war came to an abrupt
pad :he War Department had on
band some 10000 surplus motor
trucks. Congress. before it adjourned
authorized the War Department 10
turn these trucks over to the Depart
menf OF Agriculture TO be used by ii
and the states in the construction OF
good roads, under the federal good
roads act. Some of them also were
destined for the use of the Post Of
nee Department. In this way the
director of sales has been able 10 dis
pose OF the motor trucks. The Pos,
ONCE Departm, nj also was TO receive
some Of the airplanes and equipment
for use In the airplane mail service
The War Department also had ano
has on hand iarSe numbers of other
airplanes. Obviously the governmen,
could not sell these airplanes tc
private individuals without running
the risk OF TnaI'Us Itself liable to
harsh CRITICISMS. II could not guar
antee anything 20 rrirky as an air.
plane. And II fatpI accidents hap.
pened, as II is a certainty they would
upon the sale OF arg aIinbers Of
Army airplanes TO DrIvat" 5iv,dua s
the government would :.nd Itsn'f ir
hot water II is the fCpr Of The de
partment that arrang. meni.S finally
will he perfected by nh;c't airplant
manufacturers will take the machine:
off its hands.
Prospective Army Diminishing.
One of the problems which con.
fronted the department was exactly
how much Of the surplus supplies il
Ahnuld hold on to. All depended upor