Imperial Valley press., 1941-12-08

y 4 HING / CN. DC. q. - tAttl.1.=t
10000 small business. men Wuo hase
been esyma pretty much III van
tAat the national deteaae proaH9m
With It's prloatics aet-Qp arc coz
tract distribution 20 Dig buSiues@ =
about 10 ruin them may gel QuIs.,
rehet # the government accepts Il
pian outlined b Guy Holeomb.
!cad Of tie small business section
OF tae Aati-Tra,t DIVISION Q. the
Department OF Jus.lfe.
Ii 4 memorandum 20 Assistant
General Thurman Arnold, HolcomD
$40 he Is convinced that the pr
mary need OF small business ! l..
independent governmental agency
With authority to act swiftly or
specific complaint, and problems.
L miaht be called the Offiee OF
Smal! Business Problems. Il would
~rrye as a forum where complaints
coald be neard and as an indeDend-
eMi advocate OF tie cause OF sma!l
business. More Important II would
a as trouble shooter To repre-
and il would have 70 be- clothed
With ample power. The President
would probably haze tull authority
10 appoint s5cA a board, but Hol-
cCmb thinks i would hive even
more force + Congress enacted a
law creating l. The membership
would be composed Of small busi-
ness men With a few lawyers to give
legal advice
More than hall the complaints
from small business men received
By Holcomb were drafted after they
tailed TO get relief from other de-
partments OF the government. He
found small business men as Il
whole were dLstrustful of the Office
of Production Management. The
leading figures on OPM were big
business dollar-a year men. corpora
ton attorneys. Iabor leaders and
professional economist
EVIDENCE PILES Up
Time after time small business
men complained to Hoia0mb that
they saw their big competitors Sc
curlnE priority material after trips
TO Washington. Holcomb cited a
case where Il Michigan boiler man
ufacturer said he va tie lowest
bidder for installation a. an Okla
hom4 airport, bur the award Wa5
made to a company bidding S1f00
higher Holcomb contacted the OF
ticial5 in charge and The Michigan
man finally got the contract
A small but we'll known manu-
tacturer of outboard Motors COM
planned that he Was about TO close
his plant because of priGrit" shut
down Oh materials, while only l6
miles away his largest competitor
was operating full swing On govern
ment and civilian contracts. Hol-
comb haa tackled this problem ana
hopes tor result
l. NJ Evans. president Ct Small
Business of America. Inc rom his
office n Clegcland las written
President Roosevelt complaining
that small business men are under
a siege 0l economic boycott as
stranglng a tuc tightcst military
blockade. He assertS thousands OF
small business men. WHO with their
employees constitute tie LARGEST -tsX
paying group IN every city and state
are facing rum Says Evans:
This pending calamity must be
laid a the do0s of the admnistra-
tors Of national defense who have
taerantly diacriminated against
small business Big buslness has re-
ceIyed every consideration small
Du8laees none. Perhaps VI should
have expected this. for the men
WHO head the defense administra-
tion arc nearlT all from big buai-
ncSS
AS SENATOR'S SEE IT
Congress Is getting restIgc about
tins problem. Senators are not CON
FInccd that the Presidents naming
OF Floyd Odlum as director of OP-
Ms division OF contract dlStribu-
ton Is a solution. Senator Hatch
OF New Mexico, head ot q special
committee to lnYeatI te defense
program contacts, is alarmed lest
America have the experience OF
Britain. where 10000 manufacturing
plants were shut down almost over
night IN the changcOvcr from peace
TO war economy. According to Cd
utns own estimate, 2 per cent OF the