Evening star., 1947-09-21


foe, the target of 26 congressional
and almost continual change OF poll
has disposed of about two-thirds OF
declared surplus by the Army, Navy
and other Government agencies
The proceeds have been about q
third Of the costs Operating ex-
penses have run around 81 per
cent, leaving a net return OF about
2eh per cent of declared cost.
All the choicer and easy-to-seu
items and most of the consumer
goods have been sold.
Some Big Items Left
Still on the books are some big
special-purpose machine tools and
manufacturing plants. Also unsold
are mountains of junk-some OF it
so useless and dangerous that con-
tractors will have to be employed to
haul it away. But the Governments
big, sprawling disposal agency with
. penchant for getting itself into
newspaper headlines in an unfavor-
able light is over the hump and
headed toward the liquidation trail.
Already WAA, which had 1871 en-
ployes in November last year, has
reduced its staff to around the 4o,-
900 mark.
Administrator Robert MCGOWAN
(Bigiohn} Littlejohn-slogan-nind-
ed erstwhile major general, cavalry
man, machine-gunner and wrestler
and tackle at West Point-has been
driving his army of workers to "sell
1t" since he took over in July, 1916
from 1t. Gen. e. B. Gregory, who
retired from the post with the part
ing shot that cts damned if you do
and damned If you don't"
Gen. Littlejohn hopes to get things
cleaned up and the residue in shape
to turn over to permanent Govern
ment agencies by the end of next
June.
Needles to Pipelines
He thinks he's "just about got
this Job licked"
There have been times when he
has cut red. tape to the bone, but
generally WAA has abided to the
letter of the complex and contra
dictory Surplus Property Act and
although its policies and procedures
have been the subject of almost
continual probing by Congress and
several denunciatory reports by
committees there is yet to be turned
up any top-drawer dishonest deal
ings. The history of surplus prop
erty disposal in World War-I, a
congressional committee reported,
was zone Of confusion, infnciency
and dishonesty"
The pile Of surplus turned over
to WAA, has been mountainous and
pretty much scrambled UP. 1t has
run all the way from needles and
girdIes TO the worlds largest"
DODGE -Chrysler plant in Chicago
and the famed Big Inch and Little
Inch pipelines.
There has been touch Of humor
here and there as in the case of
the Mare Island, Calf, Navy prison
cattle-48 registered purebred
Guernsey cows and bulls appearing
to multiply like rabbits. Harried
agents would count noses, make out
the proper papers and then find
their count short before sale could
be made. The running inventory
was always one Jump behind the
birth rate. The State of California
finally made a bid and a hurried
sale took place.
Pigeons and Dogs
A story that WAA had 2,000, 900
sets of false teeth brought deluge
of letters from folks demanding
store" sets. The agency had 1900
hungry Army pigeons at one time
and received 100000 letters request
ing them. ...
There were the sled dogs from
Admiral Byrd's Antarctic expedition
eight dogs and six puppies at
Richmond and Is more in Wayland,
Mass. At the Wayland sale boy
turned up with IS cents to buy a
particular dog and almost collapsed
when an Army officer bid him up
to $40. The officer then turned
around and presented the canine
to the boy.
Then, of course, there was Fort
Myer drive at Fort Myer-declared
surplus by the Army and sold by
WAA.
The story about the WAA Gus
toner Service Center balloon here
which broke away from It's moor
ings amid the cries of Congressman
hit the front pages and brought in
thousands of bids which the agency
has never been able to hll because
the Civil Aeronautics Board has
held them up as being a possible
menace to navigation. Before the
balloon took of the WAA had found
such sales few and far between.
The Dodge -Chrysler plant came
into the news when WAA leased 1t
to the Tucker Corp. to manufacture
an engine-in-rear automobile. The
office of the housing expediter at
tempted to freeze" the plant for
the Lustron Co. to build prefabricat-
ed houses. A stalemate resulted
but WAA finally had Its way and the
housing manufacturing company
took another surplus property.
Ghost Town for Sale
The pipelines. totaling 2,s15 miles
and costing $l45, 100000 to build,
were tied up With all kinds of COM
plications-social, political, military
and financial, not to mention private
pressure groups. When Gen. Little
John took over the highest bid was