SURPLUS U.S. SUPPLIES

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27637, 19 April 1955, Page 3

SURPLUS U.S. SUPPLIES

CONFUSION FOUND BY COMMISSION

EFFICIENT HANDLING URGED

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) WASHINGTON, April 17. A bipartisan commission headed by the former President, Mr Herbert Hoover, reported today that the United States Government is wasting thousands of millions of dollars in piling up supplies of unneeded goods and then selling them as surplus at a fraction of the cost.

Some of these goods being disposed of by the services overseas were finding their way into Communist hands through “uncontrollable loopholes,” says the commission.

In a report to Congress, the commission set out a long list of recommendations for more efficient handling of Government supplies, now valued at 155,000,000,000 dollars (about £54,026,000,000) and scattered throughout the world.

The report estimates that the supplies will be disposed of at the rate of more than 2,000,000,000 dollars (about £725,000,000) a year during the next few years.

It urges modern techniques of selling to recover much more than the 5 to 7 per cent, of the cost brought in by the present methods. The ’Confusion in selling huge surplus supplies has become so acute, the report says, that the Air Force once offered sterling silver for sale as brass.

One spot check at Raritan, New Jersey, revealed that on 10 items the Army had an average of 32.6 years’ supply on hand.

At Merchanicsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Navy had enough gear drives to supply needs for 128 years at the current rate of issue, the report adds.