Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-03-15
SURPLUS
Pentoeon Proposes Disposal Sale
OfS60 Billion in Defense Equipment

Continued From First Page
500 million a year Just for
storage and handling.
The admitted errors of the
past. the Pentagon says. will be
corrected over the next four
years If Congress approves the
giant disposal program.
Many congressman, says the
Pentagon is telling only part Of
the story. Men like Senator
Douglas, Democrat Of Illinois.
and Representative Mccormack.
House majority leader. say one
reason for the mountains Of
surplus is that too much was
bought in the first place.
These congressman are try
ing again this year to get
the Defense Department to ex-
pand its unified" purchasing
program-the only way. they
say. that wasteful and
duplicated purchasing can be
avoided.
But whether or not the back
log could have been avoided.
the Pentagon has a colossal
task ahead Of it.
Much VIII Be Junked
Some $26.7 billion worth Of
surplus is now ready for proc
eSsing. It accumulateS at the
rate of about SO billion a year.
So during the four-year dis /
posal program another $36
billion worth of material win
pile up.
If the program is successful.
about $40 billion worth of the
total will be used by other
Government departments. for
eign allies, schools. hospitals
and so forth. Almost $48 billion
worth will be sold or junked.
Only IS billion worth will be
left over.
These are the official valua-
tons put on the material byl
the Pentagon and Congress.
Government accounting pro
cedure requires every item to
be listed at its original cost to
the Government. no matter
how worn it is or what 1t would
be worth on the open market,
For instance, a staff automobile
bought i've years ago for $4,000
is still valued at that price, /
even though after years Of hard
use it could bring only 5000 or
$500 on, the used-car market.
Aircraft Bargains
Recently the Air Force sold
q batch Of obsolete aircraft.
carried on the books at s24l
million. for IS million. Some
obsolete tanks valued at $4.3
million were sold by the Army
for $4,000. And some old ships
valued at $106 million went for
$2.4 million.
Except for ammunition, 10
per cent Of the surplus material
Is used, even though deprecia-
ton does not show up in the
bookkeeping.
Most Of the surplus is hard
ware" fighting machinery,
spare parts, communications
equipment and the like. About
10 per cent is "consumable"-I
items like uniforms, medical
supplies, food. u
The Defense Department has
been nibbiing, at its surplus
mountain ever since World War
II, but without Impressive re-
suits. The fact is the military
services don't like to admit
anything is surplus. The att
tude is, Let's keep it. Who
knows, maybe some day 1t VII
come in handy" L
But now all three services
have new programs to deter
mine what is really necessary
now or as wartime reserve and
to get rid Of the rest,
1860 Program Scheduled
The Defense Department I'M
loaded SIT billion worth of
surplus in fiscal year 1856. Sal
billion in 1857. S6 billion in
1858 and expects to increase
that to SO billion in the current
fiscal year. The new program
would get underway in fiscal
1960-starting this July.
Disposals would rise to $40
billion in 1860 and then to
about S12 billion a year until |
the bulk has been removed. |
After that, disposals would
about equal the annual ex-
pected input of surplus material
some SO billion worth a year.
Total savings to the taxpayer
in the fox-year program are
hard to estimate. Assistant
Secretary MCGUIRE can only
point out that receipts from
sales should total about $1.3
billion and that storage costs
should be reduced by $21SI
million.
In addition, there will be a
savings through utilization Of
part Of the surplus by other
departments of the Govern