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Show Abolish Post Exchanges? Oh! Perish the Thought By BAUKHAGE Nsts Analyst and Commentator. WASHINTON. Members of a sub-committee of the armed services committee of congress have recently completed com-pleted a highly interesting tour of investigation. It was ordered or-dered because of a spirited controversy now going on in Washington. I can't help mentioning the subject because its background is made up of some ancient vivid memories memories of the day when, as a lonely recruit in an ill-fitting uniform and sagging wrap-leggings, I wandered wan-dered into an army post-exchange for the first time, more than three decades ago. As I looked around the dreary set- ting my loneliness was not alleviat-' alleviat-' ed. I was at that moment yearning . for the corner drugstore back home, i I can hardly reconcile that men- J tal picture with the one of Corporal i rr:: bf f I? Roberts, shown on this page, as he reaches for his milkshake proffered prof-fered by a plump and friendly damsel! dam-sel! The smile she is passing out with the drink would have meant far more to me that day than the smile on the face of the general. Now don't think I'm prejudiced preju-diced against gen- . $ I think the returning congressmen congress-men will verify this. The army and navy don't say so, but it is no pleasure to them to have to take on the burden of a business simply to offer advantages to servicemen and women and their families which make life easier and cheaper. Ask any post exchange officer how much of a headache an inventory is. He would far rather be inspecting foot-lockers or standing stand-ing reveille. The biggest gripe the retailers have against the post exchanges and ships' service stores is the fact that such stores don't have to pay (or charge for) excise taxes. In fact the retailers have demanded that the department of justice look into the legality of the situation. How the department decides has nothing to do with the army and navy that is, it will be a matter for the civilian branch in this respect: If the justice department says it's OK by them, the merchants probably prob-ably will carry their lament to the congress. Then the congress which makes the tax laws and is elected by the people who pay those taxes and also the people whose sons and daughters are in the armed forces, will decide the matter. And there is also this to be remembered: re-membered: true, the exchange does have the excise tax-exempt privilege, priv-ilege, but otherwise it must meet many if not most of the expenses any retailer has to meet. The ex- I , , erals, as a class, j Bankhages (gome q my best " friends are generals). But I must ij say that what I missed most in the j gloomy PX of my rookie experience " was not the gleam of a general's 1 stars. l Slnoe that sad day, I have vis- p Ited many army post exchanges ' ' and somej ships' service stores j (the navy equivalent) , and I was J a little startled when I heard J Just recently that they were be- " lng threatened with abolition. Of course there are two sides to p every story. I'll try to forget per- sonal prejudice in favor of any-n any-n thing that gives the armed services a. i break, and present both sides, jj One side is represented by private businessmen. They charge that the txchanges which sell the soldier ij and his family a lot of things at reduced prices is "big business" lubsidized by the government, competing com-peting with "little business" run by private enterprise. The exchanges take in about $130 million gross-annually. According Ac-cording to a recent analysis, quoted by the "Army Times" (a non-official but approved newspaper news-paper for servicemen) the average aver-age soldier spends $24 a month in the PX. 1 Three-fourths of this $24 goes, ac-' ac-' tording to the analysis, for "tobac- ;o. food at fountain, cafeteria and mack bar, for uniforms and insignia, insig-nia, and for candy and bottled drinks." The remaining one-fourth goes for all other purchases, including includ-ing the "special orders" which many merchants object to, "although "al-though special orders constitute less than 3 per cent of the exchange j business." t This 25 per cent of the total sales 1 of the exchanges (or 40 million dol- tl iars) is only a tiny fraction of the 1 Sillions spent by the American peo- Vf pie every year in private stores on R lewelry, watches, radios, cosmetics, toilet goods, and semi-durable house f furnishings which come under the tead of the "all other purchases" New off-duty hangout for Fort Ord, Calif., soldiers was opened recently when soda fountain No. 10 was put into operation officially by Maj. Gen. Jens A. Doe (left), the commanding general. Lois Kuykindall serves first milk shake to Cpl. James B. Roberts. change manager has help to pay and insure, has maintenance, supervision super-vision and accounting costs along with a host of other expenses faced by any merchant costs and burdens bur-dens which seldom oc;ur to the average av-erage consumer. The exchanges also have to make a "profit" not a profit tr them, but a 6 per cent figure which the law demands they must clear over all expenses and torn into welfare funds. Their "mark-ups" are, of I bought in the exchange. The Army Times points out that the PX competition is chiefly with the stores in the immediate vicinity Df army posts. But would those business people rather have no post I there at all? The soldier spends plenty off post. Enough, anyway, ! to have the congressman vsry anx ious and very active in trying to j Dbtain or hold army and navy in- stallations within his constituency. I Looking at the other side of the j picture, it is true 'Jiat some serv- ,. icemen and ex-servicemen have tak- course, less than those of the merchant. The Army Times puts the argument argu-ment this way: "Out of these markups, the exchanges ex-changes run themselves and pay the 6 per cent to welfare. That is, the GI buying in an exchange pays enough over costs to return to himself him-self over 70 per cent of the expense of a multitude of off duty activities music, service clubs, day rooms, hobby shops, soldier shows, library service, athletic facilities and equipment, equip-ment, and the like. "The theaters ante under 10 per cent of the welfare requirement; the taxpayers put up just about 15 per cent of the vitally necessary welfare and recreation bill." If the exchanges didn't turn in that 6 per cent profit, the taxpayer would have to provide the welfare items mentioned above. Or the GI of today would have even less diversion diver-sion to brighten the barren surroundings sur-roundings of camp or post than did this lonely rookie when he walked into the decidedly limited institution institu-tion which the regular army post provided where your correspondent began his none-too-brilliant but nevertheless nev-ertheless unforgettable army career. Sgt. Waiter W. Wynhoff and Capt. C. A. Cubbler look over a hen counter that Wynhoff built for the I 34tb general hospital at Seoul, i Korea, during his off-duty time. p I en advantage of the exchanges. P They have made purchases for re sale and bought for friends who had no service connections. Also retired personnel have made purchases when they no longer legally should exercise the privilege. Restrictions have been tightened tight-ened up, however, and every ef-. ef-. , fort Is being made to defeat the Ut, serviceman who is trying to cut off his own nose to spite his face when he violates regulations. |