Evening star., 1944-10-04
Clayton, Resigning,
Agrees 10 Serve Till
Board Takes Over
CONTINUED From First page.)

Government property and establish
Ing an Once of War Mobilization
and Reconversion to handle the re-
lations of Government and industr,
IN the reconversion period. the Pres
1dent In separate statements, strucl
at the confused" policies laid dowr
m the former, and said the lattel
docs not deal adequately with th'
human side" of the problem.
The two bills rounded out The
program that was started with tht
passage of the "GI Bill of Rights
Tor veterans and war contract termi-
nation legislation,
In Accord With Objectives.
while I am in full accord with
the declared objectives of the
(surplus property bill A'hich are
to aid reconversion from, a wal
to peace economy and to facili-
tate the orderly disposal of sur
plus property" the President said
Il have considerable doubt whether
many provisions of the bill will not
make extremely difficult the ac-
complishment of its objectives.
There Is danger that the confused
methods of disposition and the elab-
crate restrictions imposed by the
bill will in many instances delay
rather than expedite reconversion
and unemployment. Our surplus
property should speedily be placed
into channels Of disposition which
should provide the most jobs and
the greatest good for the greatest
number" #
The need for pushing the disposal
program, the President continued,
influenced him to sign the bill. with
the further hope that after the
board has had some experience it
may be able to suggest needed
changes on which Congress will act.
President Roosevelt took issue
with the form of the demobilization
and reconversion legislation because
of its treatment of civilian and Gov
ernment workers displaced by the
ending of the war, although he con-
ceded that 80 far as the bill goes,
1t is quite satisfactory"
Characterized in Congress as the
"State's rights BILL" the measure
leaves control of unemployment in
surance in the hands of the States
and, at House insistance, was shorn
of Senate provisions for back
home" travel pay of 5000 a family
for war workers. Unemployment in
surance for 100000 Federal work
ers, favored by the Senate, also was
eliminated.
Chairman Doughton of the House
Ways and Means Committee, who
led the fight against the two Senate
features, has promised that the
committee would make a thorough
study of these problems after the
elections. He warned against
formulating postwar programs in
volving large expenditures while
'the air is polluted with political
considerations.
In his statement, President Roose-
velt recalled Chairman Doughton's
promise of future action, and said
he hoped the deficiencies" would
be corrected without delay.
Byrnes Stays Temporarily.
The administration supported an
unemployment compensation pro-
gram that would have given dis
placed workers SIS a week for 26
weeks, an improvement over State
standards generally.
The new Office of War Mobiliza-
tion and Reconversion is to sup
plant the Office of War Mobiliza-
ton created by executive order on
May ~, 1943, when Mr.. Byrnes
was appointed director to exercise
an overall control of the war pro-
gram on the home front.
In signing the legislation, the
President announced that Mr..
Byrnes, who is preparing to leave
the Government, had agreed to re-
main as director until Congress re-
convenes November IA, when an
appointment-subject to Senate con-
f1rmation-will be made for the $l5.-
000-a-year post which carries two
year term.
In explaining that Mr.. Byrnes is
staying on temporarily, the Presi-
dent recalled that the director had
stepped down from the Supreme
Court two years ago to help in the
war effort, and added:
He has done a magnificent job.
His contribution to the successful
prosecution of the war is recognized
by grateful Nation"
The President gave no hint of
who he may have in mind for this
position, nor has he reached any
conclusions as TO filling the three
$4,000 jobs on the Surplus Property
Board, he said.