The Wilmington morning star., 1944-03-28
Other Surpluses
By NEAL STANFORD

Make ready for the deluge. Alreday the
clouds are lowering and raindrops falling.
OF course. we're referring to the doWnpou1
OF surplus war materials that IS gong 10 MI
these United States when peace comes IL
NAV not put chicken in every pot, but 1t
should provide jeep for every garage. vi
pair of shoes for every adult male.
That is the impression one gets after listen
ing to William Clayton, surplus war materl-
ais disposer. after reading Baruch and Han
cocks study after scanning war-surplus ad'
vertisements in the papers. AS Mrs. Baruch
prophesied there will literally be everything
from ships to sealing wax to be disposed OF
after this war.
lot of things that costs millions will have
M value after the war. For example, VINO
wants block.buster? Should the explosives:
the materials that went into 1t, be saVageo
as scrap? That may cost more than the scrap
is worth. Some SURPRISES, literally, may nave
to be dumped in the sea. Remember the as
serted artillery that covered the Nations
municipal parks and courthouse lawns after
the last war? This time it will be Grant
and Sherman tanks. dive bombers, maybe
baZooka.
Some people will profit out of this disposal
of war SURPRISES despite Administrator Clay.
tons refusal to deal with spectators. but
the average buyer of surplus goods won
make killing. There will be few II any more
of those chances to buy up Army oanterles
for $40 and resell them for $4,000. The I'M
favorable publicity that deal and one or two
others have received has Congress up IN arms
Charges of fraud may yet come from sucr
exposures. On
Undoubtedly. you didn't get one OF the oo
training planes the War Department recentlS
offered for sale. Don't sulk. Theren be more
thousands more when this war is over. You
even may not get one of the several hunoree
ARMY trucks now being disposed or Don
fret. After the war, Army trucks, jeeps, peeps
..d,cks, "alligators'' will be so coramon our
guess is you'll want soou oiu oio0A 0sN
lust to be different.
Tn last Sundays paper we notice TWO aus
One blared forth in big headlines ''War Sur
n1,,s Materials-Thousands of items Tor SAT-
ready for immediate delivery. Write in! Phone
I'M Come in'' The second are more modesty
screamed: 'War Surplus Materials. o
Do YOU need some washers? Here are ooo'
600 pounds of them for sale. How ABOUT 9
Perhaps you'd like one of 1000 canvas gas
mask bags-if you have gas mask. Kno"
VOL could use new Talon Upper. The army
Getting rid of 1000 feet of them. And so II
goes.
Time in wartime is supposed to be %
the essence That's an impressive phrase
Actually time seems to be something OF
war surplus here. For example: Monday lis
tened to War Surplus Disposer Clayton testl
fly before the House Banking and Currency
Connnittee It wanted to know his name
what his lob was, what he did, how he d Q.
it. why he did it. The answer to practlcaly
all these questions were in the Baruch repor'
or in the executive order setting up the wal
Surplus Administration Still it was an inter
esting and Informative session. Mr.. Clayton
answered his critics in a sincere engaging
manner.
But then came Tuesday. On Tuesday Mr'
Clayton appeared before the House Postwar
Planning Committee. He told them what ne
did, how he did it, why he did it, for whom
he did it. It was repeat performance. IT. was