Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1944-03-10
Rehabilitation Committee
Completes Initial Report
Congressional Group Provides for Action by
Legislation Rather Than Executive Decree;
Small Business Gets Break.
BY BAUKHAGE
NeiUs analyst and Commentator.

manufacturers to assure themselves
that when converted war industries
resume their peacetime work, they
will not be thrust into competition
with prewar industries which can
make the same product.
The report of this committee rec
ognizes this danger and also the
need of handling the sale of sur
pluses in such manner that they
will not flood the market so that
the regular producer will have to
meet an unnatural competition.
The report of the committee visu-
Allies the need of regulating such
conditions and there are many which
must be foreseen and met.
I will not 60 into the details Of the
report which is a Straightforward
statement-he who runs may read
it without encountering the usual
"whereases" and the other impede
menta which many legal documents
contain and which makes them quite
safe from the danger of perusal by
the layman.
Board Recommended
Briefly, a board is recommended.
The President would appoint the ad-
ministrator, subject to confirmation
by the senate. The administrator
would pick his own staff, not repre-
sentatives of any group but men Of
special ability, fit to represent the
United States as a whole, men cho-
sen for their outstanding qualifica-
tons. This board would report to
congress, a congressional commit
tee would keep its eye on the reports
and its members would sit in at
the board meetings.
The board would not be an operat-
ing agency. 1t would be purely adj
ministrative, making use of the ex-
listing government agencies.
1t would be called the Office of
Rehabilitation. For the duration,
it would be a subsidiary of the
WPB; afterward, it would be su-
preme in its field.
The importance of this action, as
far as the general public is con-
cerned, is this: it represents one of
the first steps Of congress looking
toward taking back its policy-making
powers which, of necessity, have
been delegated to the administrative
branch and does so in a most vital
field of endeavor. It is pointed out
that these policy-making powers as
applied to conversion may affect the
economy of the nation for many
years to come. For instance, as
Russell put it in the interview-con-
gress doesn't want any one man, or
any one agency, to decide such vital
issues as to whether the govern
ment remains in the rubber making
business, whether we shall have a
large merchant marine or a small
one.
Important Points
Briefly here are some of the points
which the committee recommends:
l.. That rehabilitation should be
so handled as to preserve free en-
terprise.
2. That full employment be as
sured.
s. That government-oWned or con-
trolled plants be disposed of in a
way as not to affect the national
economy adversely.
4. That disposal of government
owned plants should be in line with
American foreign policy, with the
prevention of monopoly, with the en-
enlargement of full competition and
small business.
S. No plants or SURPRISES disposed
of where their existence is vital to
the national economy or such dis
posal affects it adversely or under
conditions which would make it i'm
possible for the small business to
acquire them.
And this word of wisdom is added:
"The shutting down of factories,
the stoppages of work, and the un-
employment of workers, through de-
lays in contract settlements, will
cause far greater loss of revenue to
the government-to say nothing of
general economy-than could posi-
bly, be saved through conventional
pre-audit of contractors claims"
In other words, "the laws delay"
will be expensive.
1t will be interesting to see if the
lawmakers themselves cause unnec-
essary delay in this undertaking. In
telligent and unselfish consideration
and action is the keyword to a Just
realization of this practical example
of planning.