The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-12-03
By DreqO Pearson

was military secret"
 But the wars over countered Mead How can It be a military secret2 After all Congress has right to know what materials the Army has on hand be- fore 1t appropriates more money
 However the office of Under-Secretary Kenneth Royall kept on staing Royall former North Caro- lima lawyer and politician, has shown all the adroit- ness of a chameleon. In short time he has taken on the same hue and color of the generals who really run his office Finally, the generals came back with a request to Mead that he not investigate until the Hodges Board" had investigated
 Whats the Hodges Board?" asked Sen, Mead.
 The Army explained that Gen, Courtney Hodge Lad been put in charge of a board to pass on what materials the Army needed to keep.
 When was it appointed?" asked Sen. Mead.
 Yesterday" was the reply
 Members of the Mead Committee recognized in this hurriedly organized board obvious dodge to head off Senate investigation. So they decided to go ahead anyway. But suddenly, just before public hearings were scheduled to begin, the Army asked for private hearing at which more pressure was exerted to prevent any public airing of the millions of blankets, dark glasses underwear and shoes the Army is boarding.
 In the end Sen Mead and colleagues stood pat, insisted on proceeding The figures are now public property and show that the Army still has 5O0000 wrist watches 900 blankets 30000O0O bed sheets 57000000 herrngbone twill fatigue jackets and all sorts of other things too numerous to mention.
 Since the War Department proposes peacetme Army of about 900 men. it now has on hand 53 blankets for every soldier, ST herringbone twill fla tigue jackets every soldier plus 30 sheets for each man, and 116 pair of shorts per soldier
  the job of Surplus Property Administrator Stuart Symington so difficult He has nothing to say over what the Army declares surplus Moreover, the Army has followed policy of declaring something surplus and then withdrawing the declaration few days later. Actually Symngton is doing far better job than most people realize But he has no power over the Army Navy, REC, and most of the other agen- cies handling war surpluses.
 Symngton has one of the most thankless jobs in Washington While he gets all the blame for sur plus war property headaches, he has little to say about detailed disposal of goods This is largely done by Jesse Joness old outfit, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, the largest merchandising agency in the world The REC loaned the money to buy goods, now is disposing of them. Still operating Jesse Jones's old technique, the REC has set up a separate subsidiary organization to take the loss in selling goods. Thus the REC proper show a profit on it's books. Refresh ing, overworked Stuart Symngton got a complaint from North Dakotas Sen. Langer the other day that surplus property wasn't being handled right in his state. Flying with Langer to North Dakota Symngton stood before crowd Of businessmen and farmers for about three hours answering question. Aft erward, Langer thanked him for coming to North Dakota. Don't thank me- replied Symington Il thank you for giving the chance to get out here in close contact with people like this. It's what everyone in Washington ought to do"