Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-11-18
| 500 Veterans Waiting as Surplus Sale Opens;
Cash Purchases by Noon Amount to 500, 900
Most Of WAC Clothing
Bought at Army's
Alexandra Depot

More than 1900 veterans, many
Of whom had waited In line all night,
crowded into the Army quartermas-
ter depot near Alexandria this
morning as the War Assets Admin
istration opened o $4,000, 900 sale of
textiles, women's clothing and other
merchandise.
BY midmorning the warehouse in
which the sale was conducted al
ready began to look bare in GER
tain sections. AS the various types
of merchandise were sold out. sam
Piles were taken of the tables.
Among items sold out after about
two hours were gloves, towels,
hinges, overcoats, certain types of
uniforms, underwear, lamps and BIZ
cycles.
First Buyer From District.
WAA spokesman said about 100
purchases, all on wholesale scale,
were responsible for the first COM
pleted orders. s. w. Berliner, 1925
Ingraham street NV, was the first
buyer. His purchases included A.
900 yards of cloth.
Some Of the purchasers had come
from as far away as Chicago, New
York, Pennsylvania and West vir-
ginia.
They started to line up in their
automobiles outside the main gate
Of the depot yesterday afternoon.
About rs spent the night In their
cars.
Col. Richard @. Rogers, command
ing ofncer Of the depot, said that
depot personnel kept the men sup
piled with hot coffee during their
long, cold vigil, but he regretted
there were no barrack facilities for
them.
No Complaints Heard.
In spite Of the night-long wait,
the rain and the cold, Scott Cope
land, WAA representative at the
sale, said there were no complaints
by any Of the veterans.
In addition to textiles and a GUAM
tity OF the Army Air Forces Wasps
uniforms, other merchandise offered
for sale includes sleeping bags, mos
quito netting, saddles, WAC and
WAVE sport clothes, hardware, cleo
trical equipment, wood pulp, cold
cream, pipes. bicycles, womens
underwear and laundry supplies.
WAC clothing was being displayed
Tor the first time at such q sale on
department store dummies" for
inspection Of prospective buyers.
Another new method used at this
sale Is a box in which applicants
can file immediate bids on q GUAM
tity Of tubular poles for radios. This
equipment was not for sale today,
but samples were shown. Veterans
have until the end of the month to
file bids, but were able to do so at
once by dropping them In q special
box.
Textile Prices Fixed.
The textiles, part of an So, 900 900
store Of surplus wool, rayon nylon
and cotton fabrics, are in ware
houses throughout the country. and
only sample lots are at the depot
This material is being offered at
fixed prices and veterans have until
November n to submit orders
When all applications are In, the
goods will be apportioned among
veterans. WAA officials explained
that each veteran probably will re-
ceive all he asks for, but this is not
certain because some Of 1t must be
made available later to other prior
ity groups.
The most expensive wait for the
sale was that Of a group Of four
veterans from Chicago who had
hired q Washington taxicab which
arrived at the gate about 6 o'clock
yesterday evening. The taxi driver
took the keys to the cab, went to
his own home for the night, and
returned this morning in time to
start. up the vehicle and drive his
passengers into the sale.
Veterans with priority certificates
may buy until Thursday, when the
Reconstruction Finance Corp. will
have preference. The general pub
lie will not have opportunity to pur-
chase anything left until Decem-
her g