The Wilmington morning star., 1940-11-25
WASHINGTON
DAYBOOK
BY JACK STINNETT

ION, NOV. Z4.-Meet the govern
ment 'junkmen."
They deal in everything from burlap sacks
to silver fox scarves; from horse manure tc
airplanes; from blackjacks to antique clocks.
Out of the government grabbag, they take
more than $40, 600, 900 worth of Junk, %leftovers
and confiscated materials every year and the
figure is mounting steadily. About IS per cent
of it is diverted into government channels
where the government would have to pay
millions more for the stuff if it had to pur-
chase it outright. The rest is sold at public
auction.
These Junk men, are the boys in the sur
plus property section of the treasury procure
ment division. They know more about max
ing palatable hash out of leftovers than the
most efficient housewife in the land. And Incl
dentally, they probably are the biggest cash
savers in your work-a-day government.
OF POSTWAR ORIGIN
The surplus property section was started
after the World war, when the government
found it had about $3.50, 900, 900 worth of sur
plus stocks built up that would rot or become
obsolete unless somebody could dispose of
them. The section was formed for that specific
purpose and eventually did dispose of every
thing (some of it just recently. But in the
following years and especially under the guild
ance of Treasury Secretary Henry Morgen-
than, Jr, the government Junk men" have
really been going to town.
Not long ago, they got a laundry! 1t came
from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing,
where it had been used for washing rags. If
you think the laundry stumped the boys, guess
again. They found a new United States re-
formatory that needed just such a laundry to
make its plant complete.
They once got 1900 gum-plastered theater
chairs and although they reluctantly admit
they couldn't find anything to do with the
old chewing gum, they sold half of the chairs
to a little church that was just organizing
here and gave the other half to the national
training school for boys.
TO NYA SCHOOLS
Obsolete airplanes and motors from tn e
Army and Navy have been transferred to
the National Youth Administration for train
ing mechanics for national defense. Old Army
uniforms, with s%tand-up collars, have been
turned over to the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
where they were ripped up and made into
play suits for the children, rag rugs and car
pets.
The government used to pay to have it's
Army and farm stables cleaned ut-until the
surplus property section found that the Bureau
of Biological survey was buying about so tons
OF horse manure a year for it's work in mush-
room growing. That ended that. Now, Biologi-
cal survey gets its fertilizer for the mere
cost of transportation.
Surplus property recently got a $28, 900 repli-
ca of the 93-dial clock in Liers, Belgium. 1t
came through the Customs Department, as
many of these things do. The clock now is
one of the treasures in the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition museum.
WHISKEY AND NARCOTICS
To list all of surplus property's catalog for
even a few weeks would take a volume. Thou
sands of grains of narcotics and about 100, 900
gallons OF whiskey a year go to the govern.
ment hospitals and eleemosynary institutions;
~, OOO packs of customs-forfeited wheat straw
clgaret papers went to federal prisons where
the boys delight in rolling their own; 1,5OO
cartons of teaballs were turned over to NYA;
obsolete Army parachutes went to the forestry
service; confiscated trucks and automobiles
are shuffled around to the various depart
ments at a dizzy rate.
And every year now, the International
Boundary commission gets about 100, 900 bur-
lap sacks to keep the Rio Grande from shift
ing its course and giving part of the United
States to Mexico.
It's probably the greatest junk business in
the world. 4