Evening star., 1947-09-26
Hartman Committee
Struggles With Vital
Aid Quotas for Europe

Under the Marshall Plan should
the United States ship raw cotton
to Britain and let her sell the
textiles made from it to Argentina
in exchange for beef?
Should the plan be run by the
State, War or Commerce Depart
ment or by q new Government
agency?
Should we ship American mining
machinery or steel billets from
which European plants can make
their own?
These and host Of other tough
questions must be answered by the
19-man so-called Hartman Com
mlttee, the nonpartisan group of
business, labor and academic lead
ers, named by President Truman to
determine what and how American
resources can help the European
recovery program.
An authoritative spokesman yes
terday revealed that the group,
working under direction of Com
merce Secretary Hartman, expects
TO have report ready for President
Truman about November /. This
source said the report of the Paris
conference.-the 16-nation Commit
tee on European Economic Recovery
is IN such general terms in many
respects that it has Complicated"
the problem and that all sorts of
American experts will have to be
called in to help determine just
what Europe most urgently needs
and what America can provide.
May Shift Emphasis.
This source feels that the s19.-
330.000,000 total asked by the Euro
peans probably Is not too large.
but he thinks that some items
Will be cut and other requirements
boosted by the Hartman group.
Originally, 1t was pointed out, the
committee set out to determine what
was surplus" but soon concluded
that almost anything that can be
exported could be sold in America
instead. Hence the problem Is rather
one Of availability and the relative
urgency of European and domestic
needs for the available goods. 1t was
pointed out that more autos and
trucks are being exported today than
were sent out before the war, but
there certainly is no surplus" of
cars or trucks in the United States.
Preliminary reports Of the Euro
pean conferences subcommittee are
now In the hands of the 19-man
group, but the full report, flown
here only this week, has not vet
reached them, it was pointed out.
Preliminary figures submitted are
too general in some cases. Steel
needs, for example, were given only
in dollar terms and in three types of
the metal. These data are made
quate to determine the tonnage the
United States would have to export
which mills would have to supply
it or the drain it would reflect on
our own economy.
Coal Data Fairly Complete.
Figures on grains and coal, how
ever. are fairly complete, chiefly be-
cause OF the work already done by
the international groups working
In those fields before the Paris con-
ference began and on which that
conference could call.
1t was indicated that the Harri-
man group, when 1t meets next
Thursday and Friday, probably will
determine the most important cate
gories-anywhere from eight to
dozen-and concentrate on them.
These certainly will include food,
fuel (coal and petroleum., mining
equipment, petroleum refining
equipment, transportation equip
ment Of all types, raw steel and agri-
cultural machinery.
One of the groups subcommittee,
headed by former Senator Robert
M. La Toilette, jr., is delving into