Evening star., 1946-08-27
WAA Increases Staff
AT Baltimore Depot 10
Speed Surplus Sales
By Robert K. WoIsh
Stos StoH Correspondent

BALTIMORE, Aug. ~ .-Ihe
War Assets Administration today
tried again to break bottlenecks
which held to a trickle yesterday
the number OF sales to $500 vet
Grams eager to buy from the
SIS, ,000, 900 worth of surplus goods
at the Army Signal Corps Hola-
bird depot here.
The unexpectedly large number OF
first-day applicants at the surplus
property sale, scheduled to continue
through September for veterans
accounted for the fewer than 100
completed sales at an overall total
of only $27, 7,384.26 when the outer
gates were closed late in the after
noon.
WAA reported about 500 sales
totaling approximately $91 900 at
the closing Of the salesroom at mid
night. The long delays resulted
before the cash transactions and
delivery authorizations could be
handled.
Little john Orders Increase in Staff
At the direction of Administrator
Robert M. Littlejohn, who in the
morning moved unrecognized for
some time through the registration
and salesroom procedures, the WAA
staff was increased from 100 to 15C
and more were being added today.
In the further effort to cut wait
ing time and selling routine during
the remaining 10 days reserved for
veterans, WAA kept the vast sales
room open until almost midnight
last night to care for most of the
veterans who decided to stay on the
grounds after the formal closing
of the gate to the depot. These
moves, as well as an anticipated de-
crease in the number of applicants
from now on, are expected to ease
the situation.
At least three instances OF
attempted irregularities were re-
ported when applicants apparently
tried to obtain more items than they
were entitled to in the 81 900 900 set
asides of Photographic equipment
WAA officials said there were nc
arrests and that the applicant in
each case was not prevented from
buying one item.
Complaints Rise in Frequency.
Complaints were heard with in
creaslng frequency late in the day
These were directed not at tn,
slow pace of the registration, bu
at the length of time necessary tt
get in the salesroom and complet,
a purchase. Practically all buyer
had to wait from one to three
hours between the time they de.
cided to buy and the time theil
purchase and delivery certification!
were processed for formal com.
pletion of the sale.
Among several disabled veteran.
at the sale was John D. Burroughs
rs, Charlotte Hall, Md. He paid $25t
for power generating unit to use
on his farm. Although disabled vet.
Grams, some of them In wheelchairs
asked for no special consideration
they were allowed to enter the sales.
room ahead Of others If they wished
to buy materials, other than the
scarce Photographic equipment or
the set-aside lists.
Edwin Moore, 3430 Thirty-nintt
street NV, waited from $50 am
until after 3 pm. before he wa
registered and until after pm
before he entered the salesroom
He said he realized that the first.
day delays could be attributed te
some extent to the arrival of more
than $500 veterans and to the
fact that a backlog" of 267 appli.
eants had been waiting all night
But the delay experienced by the
later arrivals, he said, was being
blamed on the slowness of the flna,
sales processing. He was typica.
of most veterans when he said he
did not blame any one in particu.
lar.
Quality Of Goods Called Better.
BY pm. only about 900 of the
1,700 veterans registered at thai
time had been admitted to tn.
salesroom. Throughout the day
such admissions were limited t.
groups of so and 100. And of tn,
600, not more than 1875 had beer
able to complete sales of items they
picked out, in some cases, hours
before.
Mr.. Moore and many other vet.
Grams said that so far as they woule
see the sales layout and the quaint.
ty and quality of goods were better
than those of earlier site sales fol
veterans in this area. A few appli.
cants said they believed prices were
too high for some used items. These
complaints were Offset by other.
that there was not enough surplu.
goods available for all who wantes
to buy. Purchases ranged mostl,
from $5 to high of $4,000 in tota
sales up to 6 pm.
WAA officials we're busy through.
out the day denying rumors tha
item prices had been changed over.
night, that additional goods woule
be on the tables today and tha
almost everything, especially tn,
Photographic equipment, has beer
sold. Many OF the scarce proto'
graphic items, however. particular.
ly the fewer than 800 cameras, were
sold yesterday.
Several sales mixups occurred
late In the day. Miss Rebeccs
Kaminsky of New York City com.
planned she purchased $25l
camera at II am. and was still
waiting for it ats pm. She de.
clared that a WAA employe wa!
using 1t throughout the day tt
take official pictures of the sale
Further delay developed when th'
original sales slip was mislaid il
the accounting office.
Suffocutes in Oats Bin