The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-03-29
Biggest Fire Sale
BY PETER EDISON

That "goldfish bowl" in which the Baruch
report on postwar adjustment recommended
all government surplus property be disposed
Of has not yet been set up. Surplus War Pro-
perty Administrator Will Clayton has consider.
ed that other things came first, and a gold
fish bowl being fragile piece of furniture it
is just as we'll kept on a shelf till the rest of
the house is in order.
Setting up an organization to handle the
Liquidating business has no glamor to it
starting a business being much more fun
and good men are hard to get Mr.. Clayton
admits frankly that he would rather work
without publicity, but that in this matter Of
selling surplus government property, the pub
lie is entitled to know what goes on
Already, while the Surplus War Property
Administration is getting organized, there
have been several instances of sales being
questioned. Congressman John ]. Cochran Of
ST. Louis has disclosed how SO, 900 over age dry
cell batteries were sold by the Army for $50 to
a buyer who resold a part for $40, 600. Con-
gresham Wright Patman of Texarkana, Tex
has reported that the Treasury Department
sold surplus Army chinaware in original pack
ing cases, at salvage prices on the same day
the Navy was buying 10000 pieces of the
same items at 10 cents each.
Such things naturally make taxpayers sore,
but amounts involved here are relatively small
change in comparison to the figures in the
first major deal which crossed Administrator
Claytons desk-sale by the Maritime Com
mission for 5000, 900 of 40 acres of government
land formerly part of an 800-acre tract &C.
cupied by the San Jacinto shipyards at Hous-
ton, Tex, for building concrete barges. Be-
cause the Maritime Commission and Defense
Plant Corporation had sunk some $500 900 in
the concrete barge venture it can be argued
that the government took an &c. 100, 600 loss.
Actually, the Maritime Commission had pre-.
viously written off most of it's So, SOC, 900 as a
wa. loss already incurred just as though the
barges had been built and sunk. and it sold
the 40 acres, which with improvements were
appraised at $185, 1000. for 100000.
a surplus property disposal transaction,
this wasn't so bad. The government had no
full Their use for the property. 1t had buyer
|DuPont-with an option on adjacent property
which it had to exercise or lose. It had pro-
|ject for using the site for a plant to manu-
facture chemical used in eradicating sheep
worms. Department of Agriculture favored
the development. 1t would provide employment
for some Of the labor displaced by folding up
the shipyard
Bringing out all these points emphasizes
need for the goldfish bowl technique.
Already pressure groups are beginning to
exert influence to prevent sales of SURPRISES
that might enter into competition with to-
rorrow's manufactures, tomorrow's labor.
Such advocates want todays SURPRISES of but
ter and wool held off the market or even
dumped in the ocean. But today there is a
sellers market, with numerous shortages and
good prices. The job now is to find what the
SURPRISES are and where they and gel
them on sale. To that end numerous sales
are now being made by the disposal agencies
in accordance with practices established be-
fore SWPA came into being.
After the war the story will be different
Timing of every sale will be important. Losses
may not be considered The question will be
whether given sale at given time ano
under given conditions will bring the best
possible price.
| Conceivably, by bad timing of surplus pro-
perty sales, throwing quantities OF goods Oh
the market at sacrifice prices just to get RIO
of them, the American postwar economy
could be wrecked