There are 5,828,510 licensed receivers (June 1947) of which 18 percent are inoperable due to a shortage of replacement tubes and parts; 109,000 of the above total are in schools, Government offices, etc.

Receiver production schedule is 60,000 monthly. This is not always met. The first transmission provides blanket coverage of the country. Program hours are 0530-2230. During 12 periods each day, local stations which carry this program may drop it and originate locally.

The second transmission which is designed to provide metropolitan listeners with a choice of two programs, operates from 0630 to 0800 and from 1700 to 2200. During three periods each day, local stations may leave the network for local originations.

There are occasional broadcasts between 0800 and 1700 of special events.
First transmission low-power relay stations (medium wave)

Registered receivers number 175,000 in United State zone. Seoul carries into Russian zone and is known to be listened to there.

Mr. STEFAN. What I am leading up to is this: I know that you give private industry a certain number of hours; there are some of these stations that are run where you sell time to people in that area and they also have their own particular programs sometimes.

It has been said on the floor of the House in respect to one of the Army stations, at least, under Army control, that the Army allowed some private operator to control a certain number of hours on that program where they allowed certain Communists to come in and put on a program, using Communist propaganda over that radio.

My own colleague, Mr. Bell, from Missouri, is very much exercised over that. But that is a matter of administration over which I have no control and I would not want to get into that, but I did just want to call it to your attention.

I am interested in the cost of this thing.

Is there any of the script for which we pay a tremendous amount under the State Department program available to you in order that we might be relieved from the expense of some of these writers? Colonel BINNS. My belief is "No."

The CHAIRMAN. Why?

Colonel BINNS. I do not know.

Mr. STEFAN. If they had good script about the United States you would like to have that made available to the German people, if it can be secured, you would like to have it, would you?

Colonel BINNS. Yes.

Mr. STEFAN. If they already have their own writers on it, instead of hiring people in New York with these funds.

Colonel BINNS. Any exchange that can be made

Mr. STEFAN. We are giving them $4,000,000 in the deficiency bill to put on some additional material.

The CHAIRMAN. Why would that be separate from the work of these people set up here?

Colonel BINNS. I can answer that. The program that the State Department has both within Germany and within Austria is not for consumption either within Germany or within Austria.

Mr. STEFAN. It is to be made available to someone else?

Colonel BINNS. Yes.

Mr. STEFAN. They must have increased range?

Colonel BINNS. Yes. Whereas our particular program is purely for local consumption.

Mr. STEFAN. They were planning for the civilians to take over the station; that was the plan to take over the program?

Colonel BINNS. Yes.

Mr. STEFAN. They are not to do that?

Colonel BINNS. No.

Mr. STEFAN. But we should, if we can save a little money, Colonel, try to do that.

Colonel BINNS. Exactly.

Mr. STEFAN. If they have the material available, since the real objective is the same, we ought to try to save as much as we can because we are spending the taxpayer's money.

Colonel BINNS. Yes.

LIBRARIES

Mr. STEFAN. You also conduct libraries over there, do you not? Colonel BINNS. Yes.

Mr. STEFAN. How many libraries do you have in the occupied areas, and what is the circulation of books?

Colonel BINNS. To that specific question I can only give you the approximate number. I can get the complete details for you. Mr. STEFAN. Who screens the books?

Colonel BINNS. They are screened by the New York field office, this particular group we are speaking of.

Mr. STEFAN. Do they consult experts in the library field?
Colonel BINNS. Yes.

Mr. STEFAN. To see that the right kind of books are circulated?
Colonel BINNS. Yes.

Mr. STEFAN. What is the story about that; do you have illustrations of the type that go to Germany? First, how many libraries do you have?

Colonel BINNS. Let me answer concerning the one where I know the exact number. In Japan there are 5 actually in use and the number is to be 17.

Mr. STEFAN. Do you have any report as to what success they are having?

Colonel BINNS. Yes; I visited one in Vienna two separate evenings last week for my own information, to see just what was going on there. On the lower floor is located the periodical room. It seats approximately 120 persons. At 5:30 in the two successive evenings there were not more than four or five vacant chairs.

The periodical section has 135 of the standard, not pulp type, periodicals from the United States available to the readers.

Mr. STEFAN. What I am getting at is this: Are they very popular? Colonel BINNS. They are very popular.

Mr. STEFAN. The private citizens seem to be interested?

Colonel BINNS. Yes. The library is upstairs, and in the library section the students do research work and get reference material. It has a capacity of approximately 45. There were 12 there in one evening and about 15 the second evening. They were using the Encyclopedia Britannica to extract certain information to help them in their studies.

Mr. STEFAN. I would like to have you put in the record, Colonel Binns, the number of books, the number in circulation.

Colonel BINNS. Yes.

Mr. STEFAN. And also the number of newspapers and magazines. Colonel BINNS. Yes.

Mr. STEFAN. I do not mean as to the particular titles, but the number and type.

Colonel BINNS. Yes.

(The information requested follows:)

THE INFORMATION CENTER PROGRAM

United States information centers, administered and maintained by United States military government in Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea, are important among those cultural agencies in the occupied areas which serve to implement United States policy. These centers are similar in many ways to the United States information libraries maintained by the Department of State in other countries. Built around basic open-shelf libraries of American books, documents and periodicals, free for loan or consultation, each center also contains motion picture films and film strips, with projectors and screens for their use, musical scores and recordings, with play-back machines, reproductions of American art, maps, charts, and other exhibit material. The centers, each of which is headed by an American, conduct active programs of lectures, discussion groups, concerts, and public forums. Attendance at these centers has been gratifyingly large, and the statistics of loans and of reference use of the collections show continual increase. Most encouraging has been the spontaneous formation of "Book Worm Clubs," study groups, and such organizations as "The Friends and Foes of Modern Music" which the readers of the various centers have built up as a result of the stimulation afforded by material available in the center collections. Wholly separate from any formal educational programs sponsored by military government, these groups are finding the information centers a focal point for cultural activities of as varied a nature as the best public libraries in the United States afford.

Some of the centers have been in existence since 1945. The English language collections of from 5,000 to 10,000 selected volumes and 300 periodicals and newspapers, are regularly supplemented by current purchases and by additional materials in German, Japanese, Korean, and other languages. A break-down of information centers follows:

During fiscal year 1947 books and other printed materials totaling $879,310 were ordered for a total of 49 information centers (20 in Germany, 4 in Austria, 17 in Japan, 7 in Korea, and 1 in Trieste), and several kindred military government agencies. In fiscal year 1948 the number of information centers increased to 59 (28 in Germany, 5 in Austria, 17 in Japan, and 9 in Korea). This involved requests totaling $1,151,000.

Import of books, periodicals, and other publications from the United States was entirely cut off from the areas currently occupied at the declaration of war in 1941. Since the war, efforts have been made to reestablish the flow of printed materials to these countries, but the shortage of all books, and of American books in particular, is still acute. A recent report issued by the American Textbook Publishers Institute, the American Book Publishers Council, and the Association of American University Presses states the problem of overseas book shortage as follows: