The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-07
SALES IN THE UNITED STATES

is entirely erroneous.
 SALES IN THE UNITED STATES At the termination of hostilities there was a great supply of war material in the United States far in excess of the peace time needs of the army, ard
 for the disposal of this property sales division was organ zed in sthe War De- partment. This sales division has dis posed of supplies and materials of all kinds and to date has sold property which cost the government s1,lS2.OS7,- 476. and the return to the United States has been S3s9, ,417.42. Some of
 the articles thus sold ,.have brought the government 92 per cent of their original purchase price.
 ''The policy of the War Department in selling surplus ~and reclaimed prop erty is to advertise extensively in busi-
 ness and daily papers throughout the country sufficient time in advance of the sale to enable all interested to com
 pete. Every effort is made to allow
 the public at large to purchase what ever articles are placed on sale, and as far back as August, 1919. the War De-
 partment issued instructions that in so far as practicable the surplus material be disposed of to the ultimate con- sumer, and that no firm, corporation iobber, etc., should be considered until all other channels had been exhausted ''In order to reduce the high cost Of living the War Department during the past year and a half has sold approxi- mately eS3, 900 worth of food sup plies at 60 per cent of the cost value that is, for s5o,oooooo. These food sup plies have been offered to the public un-
 der the policy adopted by the War De- partment whereby they should reach the consumer in the most direct possible way. It has consistently been the pol . icy of the War Department to place on the public market all excess food sup
 plies. Extensive advertising campaigns were conducted for the purpose of noti- flying the public when and where these
 sales would be held and how the food
 products might be obtained.
 with reference to the specific charge that the United States government sold sugar for cents a pound to France attention is invited to the fact that 4oo.- ooO pounds of sugar were sold to the American Relief Association at 12 cpnts a pound, S.0oo,o0o pounds to France at 12 cents a pound and G. 100000 pounds to England to replace jam purchased from that country. These sales were made at the cost shown plus a transportation charge computed from the United States to the point of de- livery, which amounted to about @ per cent per poundp. It is therefore apparent that at no time did the War DeparImeHt SCH any SuSai No pi'J ASA eisn government at cents per pound. In some instances the trans- portation charge alone amounted to Z cents per pound, and it is evident that the statement is ertire,v erroneous. CLAIMS, AIRPLANES
 AND AUTOMOBILES
 "On all claims settled by the War De- partment claims board up to October 2. 1920. involving both formal and in- formal contracts terminated by reason Of cessation of hostlities, the total amount of the claims or the value of the uncompleted portion of the contracts amounted to $S, 300, ,So4, 411.22. The basis on which settlement of these claims has been made by the War Department claims board has resulted in net saving to the government of $2,SS3 0a5, ,2s7.sl "At the beginning of the war the United States did not seek to build up a large aircraft manufacturing indus- try It was necessary to furnish planes in the shortest possible time. conse- ouentiy most of the planes used by the
 Amerran aviatOrS were purchaseu
 abroad However. 2,061 American made
 planes were shipped to France and bos
 o. these were at the front prior to the
 armistice
 At the battle of Chateau Thie-ry
 the American aviation force engages
 consisted of four pursuit squadrSna'
 three observation squadrons and three
 balloon companies. At the battle If st.
 Mihiel the American forces consisted or
 twelve pursuit squadrons, eleven ob-
 servation squadrons, three bombing
 squadrons and 14 balloon companies.
 At the time of the signing of the arIni-
 stice there were at the front 20 pursuit
 squadrons, IS observation squadrohs
 seven bombing squadTons and 23 pal
 loon companies, with 1,23S flying 'ffl-
 cers and TAO service planes.
 ."The charge has been made tnat
 when the war ended the government
 had 130,000 automobiles in the motor
 transport corps, also that it had riore
 than 1000 Packard limousines parked out m the open for Il months. with the
 upholstering rotting and the tires
 bursting. The facts are that there r ere
 approximately 100000 automobiles on
 hand at the signing of the armistice,
 and for several months after the ar.ni- stice no action relative to the disposi- tion of automobiles could be -aken pending military developments as re- suit of the peace conference.
 ''On April 12. 1919, the war depart ment declared surplus of motor ,e. other government departments. in conn pliance with congressional acts, before placing them on sale to the public. To-day the War department has 54.- her motor vehicles of all kinds, trucks, passenger cars and motor cycles, on hand, and of this number 13.676 are motorcycles. The army procured a to-
 tai of only Il passenger vehicles of Packard make, and never had 1000 Packard cars on hand.
 As stated above, the war depart ment was authorized by Congress to dispose of motor vehicles by sale CT transfer to other government dep lrt- ments. This transfer was practically completed April 8, 1920. and there la l been transferred to the bureau of pub lie roads. 2S.071: to the post office de- partment. 6,725: to the public health service. LII: to the navy department. 559. and to other branches of the tov. ernment. IFS. The vehicles transferred consisted of 24.77S trucks and 4.054 1 touring cars. 1.278 ambulances. 1.55e motorcycles, tank trucks and l trail. CT. Additional transfers will probably 1 be made in the near future.
 The charge has been made that Charleston port terminal could not be | roached bv veseela because nf fha hal-