Evening star., 1941-06-29

| Inc dctlVltleS on the part OF this
committee have been wholly engaged
with ascertaining of facts. There
has been no effort to conduct a
witch hunt nor has any attempt
been made to cruelty any individual.
Furthermore, there has been no
desire for any publicity, as this
testimony was all given in executive
session. AS this committee sees it,
the failures before mentioned are as
follows
l. Failure on the part of Congress,
the administration and the public
to initiate stock pile program at
an earlier date.
For several years only a minority
OF Government officials. technical
organizations and farsighted men,
bers of Congress have had sufficient
vision TO foresee the present situ-
alton in respect to raw materials.
Only through persistent effort was
! this minority successful in helping
to enact legislation which we now
have in Public 1T and Public 664.
Emphasis over the past few years
has been made on social reform
| rather than national security AS a
! Nation we seem to have forgotten
that without national security social
| reform might well prove meaning
less.
1t is quite obvious that the mind
OF the administration, Congress and
the Nation was primarily geared to
matters pertaining to the struggle
with the depression. Therefore, the
pleas and programs of those who
saw the gathering storm and the
necessity for a rearmament plan
went unheeded.
When it became possible to get
this program under way its urgency
was then so imperative that it was
crowded upon the Army and Navy
and those departments of Govern
ment charged with the synchroni-
zatlon of our industrial capacity
with our rearmament program so
rapidly that 1t was impossible for
| them to absorb it efficiently. 1t is
obvious that neither the Army and
Navy or the o. P. M. could estimate
their requirements, especially of
aluminium, until they were aware of
the numbers, design and size of
planes to be constructed.
Even after the enactment of legis-
latlon, the Congress made but
feeble protest against the parsimony
OF the Budget Bureau in allowing
but an initial appropriation of s1O,-
900 900 900.
2. Failure to entrust TO a respon-
sible head the full authority to carry
out the will of Congress in the leg
iSlatiOn enacted.
1t was painfully apparent through
out the testimony given before this
committee that lack of co-ordina-
ton and absence of a responsible
head with authority and power to
fix responsibility in this as we'll as
In other matters has been largely
responsible for the deficiencies we
now are experiencing all along the
line. The administration has been
too prone, when difficult problems
arose, to easily dispose of them by
creating another board, only to add
to- the confusun of the -Assortinent
OF agencies we now have. -
We are now plagued with and will
continue, evidently, to be harassed
because of the absence of a coherent
organization. We are overblessed
with boards and committees and
with a legion of liaison officers feel
ing the necessity of consulting first
With this or that agency. All of this
has resulted in a deadly consuming
+ OF time and in the end we still have
a divided authority.
3. Failure of a sense of urgency
on the part of officials of purchasing
organizations.
In spite Of our supposed ingenuity
as traders, we have persisted in using
outmoded methods Of purchasing
While the Axis powers were adopting
realistic approach.
In the case of the Procurement Di-
vision of the Treasury, it might be
stated that this agency is hampered
for the following reasons:
l. Statutory restrictions placed
upon it by Congress itself.
z, Failure of prompt appropria-
tions.
3. Too rigid specifications pre-
sented to it by various Government
organizations.
4, Delays in requests for pur-
chases by various advisory agen-
cies.
The result of all this has been that
as of the date of June IA but go
per cent of the appropriations have
been obligated and of the pur-
chases made a distressing num-
ber of deliveries have yet to be
made.
However, we believe that if the
Procurement Division had promptly
asked for alienation of such re-
strictions as have been imposed
upon it in the past, knowing full
we'll the urgency of the situation,
such relief no doubt would have
been granted.
4. The delay in establishing con-
servatiOn methods and the use of
substitutes for fear of creating un-
employment.
We do not wish to single out the
automotive industry as an exam
pie, because we realize fully it's vi
tai part in our industrial and civil
life, but this industry was too long
allowed to consume sorely needed
| defense materials in this first year
of our defense effort. This industry
has had a decided impetus under
the past year and has used raw ma
terials in a quantity exceeded only
by the boom year of 1929. Since the
needs of this industry are those
almost identical with the further
ance of the defense program, some
vision was needed by our Govern
ment officials to restrict the auto
motive program.
! O11r Couorprnept oCopcjpS ore