Republican farmer., 1919-09-19
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 he armisCice and despite handi- caps Imposed by the inaction of the present Republican Congress. the Var Department is making a drive To dispose of its surplus equipment as rapidly as possible. It is hoped that Inc supply oh hand can be reduced
 n the near future to a point where
 . will be possible to house the re- nainder in the storage space now available.
 Al the time the armistice was sign ad there were billions Of dollars worth of material for the army under contract It was possible to stop production or the major portion of these supplies. and It was neces- sary, for economic reasons. 10 allow great quantities to come into the market through the medium of the War Department There were al- ready reserve supplies for six months m the armys hands. More than half of these were overseas. To 1bis 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 cIauiDpd down on the system of supply.
 Immediately on the signing of the armisJice. which came almost as an overnight surprise 70 most of the world, he gstes OF outlet a, the various authorization and shipping points were closed fast. Large num- bers of men and great quantities of supplies began to return General | Goethals, who was 1t the head of the quar-eTmaster Or purchase and stor- age department of the army. reaIiz- l 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 its hlibueter to force the Presi- ! dent 10 cali a special session of Con Cress the Republican wing of the last Congress made it impossible for the 1 War Department to obtain funds suf- ficiert to protect the vast supplies l held by the army. When the new Congress was called. the Republicans ! in an effort to make political capital of their short sighted eco Eomy measures. forced the purchase and storage branch of the army to l content itself with just half the ap- i propriatfon needed for the protection | of supplies valued at billions of dol | lars
 Making the best of the situation | the War Department immediately set !! about the work of protecting as much of the property on it's hands as possible by housing it in the available l storage space. Many millions of l dollars worth of supplies, including | automobiles and trucks, munitions, | materials and equipment and the like, | bulky in character but as valuable | as they were bulky. had to be parked 1 fin open lots, and as far as possible , soaked in grease and other materials . 10 protect them from rust and gen eral deterioration.
 To add to the embarrassment of ! the governments effort to protect it's | own material until it could be prop 1 erly disposed of, Congress in this ap- propriation for the present fiscal | year, stipulated that no new sites should be purchased or built upon- This provision compelled the army to park such bulky material in the open, because the appropriation granted l, 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- ing. About 1000 automobiles and . IT. otor trucks were declared surplus ! by the army. Under the provisions of another act of Congress these had ! to be held until arrangements could | be made for their disposal. Thous- ands of these cars that have been re- cefved from factories in recent | 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 the4r exposure to the weather.
 Particular complaint has been made against the policy of the War Department in allowing these trucks and automobiles to remain exposed, but the hands of the department have been practically tied. No single con- cern in the world has ever had in stock the vast quantities of supplies held by the army since the signing of the arnlistice. Together with the