Evening star., 1946-10-01
|WAA Priorities Chief
Says Superiors Gave
No Plan, Lille Help
By Don S. Worren


An outspoken ofiicial of the War
Assets Administration In charge Of
priorities section Of the electronics
division today laid at the door of his
superiors much of the blame for the
failure of the. Government to fill
| orders from veterans and other
priority groups for the purchase OF
Isurplus electronics materials.
| Testifying at another hearing Of
4 the House Surplus Property Com
fmittee, James e. Waddell, physi-
cist, lawyer and radio consulting
engineer, said he had been forced to
struggle for five months with staff
consisting of only secretary. Yet,
he said, he was supposed to handle
Thousands Of purchase orders from
veterans, colleges, high schools, and
Federal, city and county govern
mental agencies.
Not only this, Mr.. Waddell said,
but his superiors at the WAA and
agencies handling surplus property
under the Reconstruction Finance
Corp. never" have approved a
formal plan OF action for handling
priority claimants.
Calls Himself the Goat.
In spite OF this. Mr.. Waddell de-
Escribed himself as having been
made the goat when veterans and
other priority groups set up a
clamor of protest when they got no
action on their orders for radio,
radar and other electronics sur
pluses.
He said William L. Foss, one-time
chief of the electronics division,
gave me the unhappy task of an
swering all of the gripes that came
from members of Congress"
The witness said that when he
did not receive programmed in
structions from his superiors, zip
desperation" he drafted a plan him
self and sent it to the surplus prop
erty regional directors, telling them
that while his plan vas unofiicial,
that was the way the program was
being handled.
Section Set Up in October.
Mr.. Waddell also declared great
numbers of priority group orders
were left in the regional Offices be-
cause officials there did not know
what to do with them.
Though he set up the priority
section for the division last Octo-
ber, he said 1t was late March be-
fore his staff consisted Of more than
one secretary. At that time, he
said, three qualified men were en-
ployed as his aides and in May he
Igot one more.
Recent testimony has been that
despite the best efforts to date to
speed action on veterans orders
there was a backlog of more than
10000 awaiting final action.
Christmas gifts Of bottles Of
whisky, each done up "in a pretty
package" and tied with ribbons Of
Yuletide colors, were placed on the
desks of surplus property officials
last December, the committee was
/ told late yesterday. -. !.
Name With Gift.
The witness, Bruner T. Honey
cutt, a specialist for the WAA
scrap committee" said he found
one on his desk that had q card
bearing the name of Herman Kriss-
man. previously identified as an
agent for the Belmont Radio Corp.
of Chicago, one of the Governments
industry agents.
Earlier testimony was that Bel
mont Co. had virtual monopoly on
disposal of surplus Government air
borne electronics materials.
Mr.. Honeycutt said at first he put
the bottle on the floor, but after
some deliberation Il determined 1t
was not expedient to assume there
was anything wrong In accepting
such a gift
A number of other gift bottles Of
whisky, he added, were opend up
and passed around very extensively. II
LittIejohn Orders Revision.
Shortly after yesterdays hearing,
WAA Administrator Robert Little
John announced what he called "a
sweeping revision in WAAs rela-
tionship with consultant and ad-
visory groups" Committee members
have questioned the practice of al
lowing "consultants" from industry
to figure prominently in the eval-
uation of surplus property.
| Mr.. Littlejohn directed that all
consultants who had been serving
flor more than 80 days will either
be dropped or become employees Of
the agency in regularly established
positions"
The order also directed that any
consultant appointed In a regional
Office must be from list approved
at headquarters here.
/ Mr.. Littlejohn said in his state
ment that his action should elm
Iinate loose handling"