Evening star., 1948-09-27


beyond planned reserves but he, like
Mr.. Royal, declared that Il do not
think we would do it differently
if we had to do it over again"
The committee cleared for surplus
sale down to one years supply Ill
certain items" Gen. Osborne said,
I'VE all knew that this would hap
pen-that We would have to come
back in year or two and buy back
the same things and we told Con-
gress that at the time. We never
thought that we were not taking
a calculated risk"
Recalling his experience during
the period right after the war, Gen.
Osborne said, Il don't believe there
was single agency of the Govern
ment that wasn't pushing the Army
to release goods to surplus or sim
gle Congressman who at one time or
another did not get in touch with
us on the same subject"
In reply to a question about the
Quartermaster Corps current pur-
chase of $4,000 wool serge field
trousers for the National Guard and
the fact that even now surplus
Army trousers are available in civil
ian stores. Gen. Osborne replied
that the Guard had refused to take
the older type clothing.
100000 Shirts Needed.
The general and Col. Daley said
that many of the cotton khaki
shirts on sale in civilian surplus
stores were what they termed non
standard, which could not meet
Army specifications. The Quartet
master Corps has just requested
bids on 100000 such shirts.
It was the Mead Committee of the
Senate, formerly known as the Tru-
man Committee, which first went
into the Army's Strategic Reserve
Plan and reported that, it found
that the program called for storing
consumer type goods such as tex
tiles for use as late as 1862"
The committee reported that the
department planned to retain huge
quantities of supplies for the pur-
pose of equipping and maintaining
the Army during the period of de-
mobilization, during the period of
occupation and for the first year Of
the next war"
The committee began its investi-
cation after a trip to the Jefferson
Quartermaster Depot, Louisville, KY.
where it found some Spanish-Am
ican wagon parts and other equip
ment being kept polished under the
Strategic Reserve Plan.
Hodges Made Estimate.
Questioned by Senator Mead, DEM
ocrat of New York, as to whether
he had any information about the
contemplated size of the Army and
whether his board went into that,
Gen. Hodges replied:
Yes. sir, as the background. For
example, the War Department esti-
mates that by the middle of l949 the
bulk of the demobilization will be
over and we will be down to strength
something around 100000, that we
will continue on that level until the
middle of 1949. - We selected that
period. BY the middle of 1949-we
considered that the end of the true
emergency, and made that the out
side limit for the retention of sup
plies of civilian type by the Army"
In that portion of it's formal re-
port to the Army Chief of Staff
made available to the committee.
the Hodges Board recommended:
with respect to civilian type itms,
it is the policy of the War Depart
ment to release Immediately its sup
plies and equipment except the
quantities required to meet mill
tary needs during demobilization
and that part of the occupational
period to include June 80. 1949."
Mr.. Royal said that the report
was adopted by the department,
but that even with the huge stocks
of goods which the boards report
actually released it was felt that
still additional amounts were nee
essary to combat imitation" in the
civilian economy.