Evening star., 1945-11-18
Veterans Due 10 Get
$500 Je,eps'i cps Of First
9,1O0 Surplus Stock
BY MIRIAM OTTENBERG,

Jeep-1oving veterans probably will
get $500 of the first 9l00 surplus
jeepS instead of having to take their
ehAnces on what is lefts after every
Feaefal,. State and municipal agency
has exercized prior claim to the
vehicles, it was learned last night.
Technically, the jeepS will go to
the Smaller War Plants Corp, which
has a top priority as a Government
agency, but an SWPC official re-
vealed that a memorandum already
had been sent to SWPC field offices
explaining how the jeeps will be
allocated to veterans If the agency
gets them.
Joseph M. Mcdaniel, chief of the
veterans service division. Once of
Surplus Property, RFC, said it was
likely that SWPC will get the
$500 jeeps it requested. The allo-
cation of the jeeps is expected to be
announced this week,
Acts to Aid Veterans.
SWPC officials admitted that the
agency had used the broadest posi-
BILE Interpretation of its powers to
ask for the jeeps but the SWPC
Board feared that otherwise the
veterans would get no jeeps or only
the ones in the poorest condition.
Although officials dealing with
surplus property conceded that the
major problems still are getting
enough property of the type the
veteran wants declared surplus and
establishing sufficient distribution
points. Mr. Mcdaniel said several
steps had been taken to bring vet
Grams and surplus property to-
eether with a minimum of red
tape.
He reported that veterans serv-
Ice centers, each stated by IS
veterans, are being set up in the IL
surplus property regional offices.
When the veteran decides his
business requires some surplus
property, the center will tell him
what his rights are and how he
goes about getting what he wants,
Mr.. Mcdaniel said.
viii Follow Up Orders.
Once the SWPC has certified him
as eligible for veterans preference
and he has put his order In, the
centers are supposed to see that
the order is filled or, If it isn't
filled, to learn why not.
Mr. Mcdaniel explained that vet
Grams have been losing time, money
and their tempers because they have
been misinformed about the methods
of getting surplus property and what
there is to get.
Another step to save the veteran
time and money involves bonding
warehouse custodians so they can
accept payments from veterans.
Mr.. Mcdaniel said the RFC is now
working on arrangements to bond
custodians of surplus property
throughout the Nation, but this has
been made more difficult because of
the problem of estimating how much
property warehouse might be
called upon to handle.
Present Red Tape Cited.
At present, Mr.. Mcdaniel ex-
planned, veteran gets his certiflca-
tion in an SWPC office. then may
have to 60 halfway across Estate
to choose the property he wants
from a warehouse. He has to 60
back to the SWPC Office to pay for
the property and then may have
to go halfway across the State
again to get his property IL the
warehouse could take the veterans
money, he said, the veteran would
be saved two trips.
The situation in Washington for
veterans wanting to buy Office fur
niture was cited by Col. E. C.
Vavanagh, director of the veterans
division, Surplus Property Admins
tration,. as ideal.
Col. = Kayanagh said the veteran
who wants furniture is certified at
the SWPC office at 101 Indiana
avenue NV. II he is advised that
what he wants is in the warehouse
at 1925 Twenty-flrst street NV, he
can 90 there, pick out what he
wants pay on the spot and take
the r'bperty away with him, Col.
Kavs iagh said. He reported that
he had accompanied a veteran
thr ugh this routine and the whole
process had taken less than four
hours.