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Show ' oorIiIr Democratic Leaders Fear FearSurplus FearSurplus Surplus Property Scandals * - T By - BAUKHAGEics BAUKHAGENMOS BAUKHAGE T /iTrmjA iTrmjA TiTrmjA / FIT " * NMOS ics Analyst and Commentator Street NV N W \V V \ , . WNU ; Service oervlcc 1616 Eye Wishinrton WashIngton D C CWASHINGTON WASHINGTON DC-There DC There D C-There C There - Is Isan isan attributed attributedto to an old political axiom nx " carious "arlOUS arlOUS national . "i i " ' ? ; figures of the the1 \ , ( ' I ] . ! past , which yhlch runs runss | something like bke ' " ' J this Never argue ar " ' ' guc gue about aboutcharges aboutcharges charges of the theoppositIon theopposition oppositIon party\ party partyeither partyeither \ . , either admn admnthem admitthem them frankly franlJ.y franlJy . and andfully fully or deny denythem denythem them with every everytissue everytissue tissue of your yourora youroratoryMistakes ora tory MlStakes toryMlStakes of the the10S theins 10S are the theBaukhage theBaukharc Baukhage chief gnst-of gnst of grist-of grist - - the themill themill mill tor for theouts the thecuts cuts outs in m an election year yearThere yearThere There is a small but very earnest earnestbody earnestbody body of Democrats in m Washmgton Washmgtontoday Washingtontoday today . which V.hlCh VhlCh believes beheves that unJess unJesscertam unlessmistakes certam mistakes of the adminlstra admmlstra lion tIOD are freely and aDd ! frankly rankly admit admit- admitted - ted and given a thorough airing alrlDg they theywill theywill will come back to haunt the Demo Democrats Democrats crats even unto the third and fourth fourthgenera fourthgeneration fourthgenerationThese genera tion tionThese These mistakes they say are arethe arethe the ones wh ch have been made by bythe bythe the War Assets adminIstration adminIstrationThere administrationThere There is a segment of the admm admmistratIon admmistration istratIon on the other hand JDclud JDcludIng including Ing some of the White House chief chiefcounsellors chiefcounsellors counsellors who don t approve of ofthiS ofthis thiS theory They think that the thebest thebest best thing thmg to do is to get nd of the thesurplus thesurplus surplus property as quickly as pos possIble possible sIble and forget all about the whole wholemess wholemess wholemessBut mess messBut But the whole mess is not goingto gomg gomgto to be forgotten In fact , . it is qUite qUitesafe quitesate safe to predict some riotous head headInes } nes shortly after alter election which whichaill aill 1-111 1 111 ' ' - make the rather limited hmlted revel revelations a ations tions of the Mead committee on war warcontracts warcontracts contracts look like llhe very pale and andImpld andlimpid ] Impld proseThe prose proseThe The headlines headlmes are likely to can concern cern that matter , which yhlch alread already ) has hasemitted emItted some rather nox ous odors odorsbut odorsbut but buthlch \ which \\hlch hlch when exhumed w 11 J ] cause causea a still stronger stench in m the publ c cnostrIls cnostrils nostrIls Th s is the d sposal of sur surSenator Senator Murray Murrayplus plus steel equipment and facil facll t es esconnected esconnected connected . with V.lth Vlth the Geneva plant m mUtaha inUtah Utah-a Utah a - a layout that cost the gov government government ernment some 200 million dollars dollarsIt dollarsIt It was sold to the United States StatesSteel StatesSteel Steel corporal corporat on for $47 47 $ 500 000 m mMay inMay May of this year over the bid otthe of ofthe the Colorado Fuel and Iron corpora corporatIon corporation tIon the tre dominant dommant figure in m manu manufactunng facturlng and distr dlstr but on of steel steelproducts steelproducts products west of the Rockies Con Congressman Congressman gressman Chenoweth of Colorado.questioned Colorado Coloradoquestioned . questioned .questioned this W WAA AA d sposalThe sposal sposalThe The Small Business Busmess committee committeeunder committeeunder under the chairmansh chalrmansh p of Senator SenatorMurray SenatorMurray Murray has made a long and care careful careful ful study ot of the distribution dlstnbutIon of some some500 500 plants and facilities to date It Itmtends Itintends mtends to have a report on this sub subJect subect Ject ] early in 11l November The com commlttee cornmittee mlttee likewise hkeWlse intends to air the theassembled theassembled assembled material matenal and other tesb tesbmany testirnony many in bear-ngs bear ngs hear-Dgs hear Dgs - - thereafter wIth wIthemphas willemphas emphas s on certain certam mdustrles mdustrlessteel industriestteel steel for ( or instance In.tance Intance . because of Its Itsmany It ; many ram Scat ficat ons the chemical andthe chemicaindustry chemicalindustry industry for ( or slm simlar lar reasons and amthe the makers of farm tools and other otheImplements otherimplements implements crymgneed because of the crymg crymneed , need tor for such commodit commodlt es and the themany th'many thmany ' many veteran users interested Members of the I . Small Smal1 Bus ness nesscommittee nesscommittee committee bel eve that the pattern patternof of the d stnbution stnbutlOn so tar far has ha been haphazard beenhaphazard and not in accordance accordancev v ilh Ith that provision of the law wh ch chplainly chplainly plainly states that war materIal materIalmdY materialmay mdY not be sold to buyers ina In a man manner manner ner that will encourage monopoly but monopolybut that instead w will l stimulate free treecompetition freecompetition competition Members believe belleve that the thatthe faults of the past must be stud fed studled studfed carefully in order negatIvely negativelyto 10 prevent further encouragement of o I monopoly and positively to estab estabIjh estabUsh Ijh $ a pattern which will WIn stand as asa asa a standard of opera operations bons for the fa fature fulure fulureDisposal tureDisposal Disposalof ture Disposal of Alumtnum AlumtnumPlants AluminumPlants Plants Sets PatternThey Pattern PatternThey They point pomt out the distnbut dlstrlbut on onof onof of facilities facJllues for the manufacture of ofthe ofthe the light hght metals especially especlaIly aluml alumlnum aluminum num It was feared that the Alumi Aluminum Aluminum num Company of America Amenca mIght mIghtbcnefit mightbenefit bcnefit to the exclus on of competi competiI competitIon competition I tIon or potential competition But Butas Butas as a result of the co operation of ofStuart ofStuart Stuart Sym ngton when he was Sur Surplus Surplus plus Property administrator there thereare thereare are now three lusty competitors m mthe inthe the field all apparently having havingbenefited havingbenefited benefited from a fair distributionof dlstnbubonof dlstnbubon of the war enterprises enterpnses made ava available able to them on equal termsHo terms termsHowever Ho\\ Ho However Hoever \ ever other Pharaohs came cameto cameto to Egypt Haste and other incen incentIves incenlives tIves are said to have destroyed the thepattern thepattern pattern Present WAA officials deny denythiS denythis thiS but the Small Business Busl1less com commltteemen cornmitteemen mltteemen expect to prove their theircharges theircharges charges in open court v . hlCh mall mallBusmess I IThe Busmess boys would like to see tak taken taken en is the appointment of an admm admmIstrator admmistrator Istrator on whom they agree agrf'e agrfe ' They Theyfeel Theyfeel feel the official should be a clvll1an clvll1anrather civilianrather rather than an army man The In Incumbent incumbent cumbent at this writing wntmg Maj Gen GenRobert GenRobert Robert Littleiohn Littlejohn is said to have haveexpressed haveexpressed expressed the desire to be reheved rehevedof relievedof of WAA responsib responslb 1 I ties hes but no sue suecessor suecessor cessor has been mdlCatedThe indicated mdlCated indicatedThe The next step desired after alter the thebearmgs thehearings bearmgs is a thorough reorgamza reorgamzatlon reorgamzation tlon of methods and it If necessary an anoerhaulmg anoicrhaulmg o\erhaulmg o erhaulmg \ of the " , whole hole set setup up of ofthe ofthe the agency This Tlus proponents of the theIdea theidea Idea claim will not only be in m the thegood thegood good of the veteran the busmess busmessman businessman man and the national economy butm but butin in m the good of the party as well v . ell . . . Smart Pollttcos PollttcosOutsmart PoliticosOutsmart Outsmart Themselves ThemselvesWhen ThemselvesWhen When Senator La Follette raised raiseda a memorial to his senatorial career careerin careerID ID the form of one of the most pro progress progress gress \ ie e p eces of legislation affect affectng affectng ng the internal IDtemal affa rs of the con con'gress congress 'gress gress ' the reorganization reorgamzahon act some someI someth someth th g occurred which the I1beral liberalw I \ \ ng of the Democrat c party didn dldn t tI tre3l1ze trealize I re3l1ze was being bemg done and which whichhas whichhas has caused them no little I1ttle concern concerne.er concernever e.er eer . s nee nce its practical applicat apphcat on onda onda da vned med upon themWhat them themWhat What happened v . was as not Senator SenatorLa SenatorLa La Follette s fault but the result of ofthat ofthat that ancient evil seniority semonty " , wl llch llchthe ichthe the original ongmal reorgan zation zatlon measure measurewould measurewould would have elim el1m nated Congress Congresscouldn Congresscouldn couldn t accept that radical depar deparI departure departure ture and seniority semorlty still shll operates Un Under Under I der this procedure a senator auto autoI automahcal1y automatically I mahcal1y becomes chairman of any anyI anycommIttee anycommittee I commIttee to which he is apPointed appointedif apPointedI I If he has been a member of the thesenate thesenate senate longer than any other mem member member ber of the maonti maJont ] ) party on thecommittee the thecommIttee commIttee This Tins system has long longbeen longbeen been recognized recogmzed as an eviL evJl eviLJust . Just hav ng been around longer longerthan longerthan than anybody else is frequently less lessthan lessthan than a recommendation Unfortu Unfortunately Unfortunately nately there are too many cases caseswhere caseswhere where a stuffed stuffed shirt and an empty emptyhead emptyhead head although they canIn can \ win \\In In votes votesfrom votesfrom from a constituency provide a con contnbuuon contnbution tnbuuon v hich hlch contributes contnbutes less lessthan lessthan than nothing to the highly Impor Important important tant funct on of running runnmg a commit committee committee tee And chairmen ha\ ha ha\e ha e hae \ e become becomeeven becomeeven even more Important now thatthere that thatthere there are fe ver of themAdmmlstration them themAdministration Administration Admmlstration Democrats might mighthave mighthave have acted otherwise had they real realIzed realized Ized what they were doing domg Be Because Because cause of the semont } ) rule only t vo vonorthern vonorthern northern Democrats will retam retamtheIr retaintheir theIr chairmansh chalrmansh ps when the new newand newand and modernized congl congiess ess organlZ organizesnext S Snext next Janu January ry . , , . They are Walsh of ofMassachusetts ofMassachusetts Massachusetts and Wagner of New NewYork NewYork York ( prov ded of course they are arere arere re elected and the Democrats hold holdtheIr holdtheir theIr place as maionty maJonty party ) The rest of the chairmanships goto go goto to the South and since some south southern southem ern senators persist in m vot ng ngagamst ngagainst agamst the more 1 I beral measures measuresof measuresof of the adm mstration nIstratlon and JoinIng JoinIngwith coiningwith with the Republicans Repubheans on others Just Justto lustto to show their independence mdependence It Itleaves itleaves leaves the 1 b bcral ral Democrats in a asomewhat asomewhat somewhat precarious precanous posit on onThere onThere There is another factor wh u h ch rh I . ofI doesn t sit too well with Vllth a number of ofnorthern ofnorthern northern Democrats either Under Underthe the new set up the chairman of a acomMittee acomnittee comMittee will wll1 be more mlluentlal mlluentlalthan influentialthan than ever for he now is provIded provIdedwith providedwith with a large and efficient staff The Thework Thework work of his commIttee111 committee \ will \\111 111 be more moreImportant important moreimportant than formerly because becausecommittee becausecommittee committee work v . won on t be spreadas spread as asthin asthin thin as It wasS was wasS S nee nce the circle of chairmen is ismore ismore more exclusive andsince and since a mem ber member s perqu s tcs tes and contacts WIll willbe be greatly ncreased a chairman chairmanship chairmanship ship is a ju cier cler pi m than ever |