Evening star., 1945-10-07

W. ~ y AtI DI MfNol oN,
Worlds Greatest Merchant.
Harris & E1Ding Photo.
considerably in excess of peacetime costs.
One advantage the Government has
today in diSposing of its surplus property
there is great dearth OF goods of
many kinds in this country as well as
abroad. 1t looks like good market for
all categories of surplus material Re-
conversion to peacetime industry is just
getting under way. The Government,
naturally, must take into consideration
the ordinary production and trade chan
nels of the country. But it does not
appear that, for the present at any rate,
the disposal of Government surpluses
is calculated to give business any set
backs.
The country is fortunate in one re-
spect. The Government did not wait
until the close of hostilities in Europe
or in the Far East to set up a surplus
property disposal agency. 1t under
stood what was coming, and began max
ing preparations, as early as January,
1914. BY executive order Surplus War
Property Administration was set up,
with William L. Clayton, now Assistant
Secretary of State, at its head. Then
Congress put through the Surplus Prop
erty Act of October 3, 1914, creating the
Surplus Property Board, with three
members. Mr.. Clayton moved out. He
did not believe in three-man adminis-
tration. President Truman did not
think too much of it either, and when
former Senator Gillette of Iowa, chair
man OF the board, resigned, he appoint
ed Mr. Symington to his place, and then
recommended to Congress it pass a law
providing for a single administrator.
Hence the new and present setup with
Mr.. Symington at it's head.
Chairman for Three Months.
Mr.. Symington, who took the oath of
Office as administrator last Monday, had
been chairman of the now defunct board
for more than three months, a period
in which he had time to familiarize
himself with the problems of surplus
property disposal. He has promptly an
nounced a reorganization of the agency,
designed to speed up its work, with five
assistant administrators.
At the same time he said that four
broad problems are paramount. They
are Simplification of the means for vet
Grams of the war to exercise their pref
erence rights in buying surplus goods
for the establishment of their busi-
nesses. expediting the clearance of Gov
ernment property from plants, moving
surplus goods more effectively and rap
idly with emphasis on the needs of
groups having priorities, Federal, State
and local governments and tax-exempt
educational and medicinal institutions,
farmers and small business, and the
speedy disposal of war plants and their
machine tools for peace operations.
The new administrative branches and
their chiefs are David H. OBrien, capi-
tai and producer goods Merritt c. Pen
ticoff, consumer goods; Col. G. E. Mon
son, U. S. M. c., operations; DR.. Ray
mond T. Bowman, economic research,
and 1t. Col. John M. Redding, public in
formation and policies. Mr.. OBrien
was formerly director of distribution for
the Army Signal Corps, and industrial
conSultant on merchandising and sales
policies and vice president of the Gray
bar Electric Co. of New York Mr.. Pen
ticoH was formerly associated with
Sears, Roebuck & Co. of Chicago, and
with Gordon Bates Co. of Minneapolis.
Until recently he was vice chairman in
charge of operations of the WPB. DR..
Bowman has been in the past chief of
the Office of Contract Settlements, Or
ganizational consultant of the WPB and
WPB chief of staff in charge of stock
piling and transportation, and assistant
professor of economics, University of
Pennsylvania. Col. Monson is with the
Surplus Property Administration in a