Mr. JOHNSTON. I think you are absolutely right. I think it is one of the most important measures for so-called full employment; if we can level off these economic cycles, we can avoid much of the domestic difficulty we have all the time. And certainly if you can provide continuity of employment, you can eliminate much of the industrial strife which is sweeping our country at this time.

Mr. O'NEAL. What I am thinking about is the actual effect on the Federal Treasury.

Mr. JOHNSTON. I understand. It certainly would help the Federal Treasury; there is no question about it. I think it is a fairly large sum of money for a research program, and you will recognize that fact. But I think it is trivial as compared to the good which could flow from it. It is one of the most important things, I think, that management, labor, agriculture, and industry could possibly do. For instance, how has Nunn-Bush regularized employment; how have they been able to continue work and have employment when other factories do not have it? Why should not we know that; why should not we study it; why should not we make those facts available to other industries? We must find out how to provide steady employment on a completely voluntary basis. The average employer wants to do it, but is so engrossed in his every-day business problems that he does not understand how to do it.

Mr. LUDLOW. The businessmen out in my section get terribly peeved over the voluminous forms they have to fill out all the time, and I wondered whether this study would involve a great many different questionnaires, forms, and all that sort of thing.

Mr. JOHNSTON. Mr. Chairman, I am one of those who gets provoked at all the forms businessmen are asked to fill out. I really appreciate that. I think this proposed study will involve only a relatively small number of firms, and the information will be gathered in a way which will not be resented by the employer.

Mr. LUDLOW. It is all to be on a voluntary basis.

Mr. JOHNSTON. Absolutely.

STATUS OF CURRENT APPROPRIATIONS FOR OFFICE OF WAR MOBILIZATION AND RECONVERSION

Mr. TABER. Now, Mr. McClure, can you give me that figure? Mr. McCLURE. Yes; the original appropriation was $3,955,400. From that has been transferred to the Department of Labor, with the transfer of the Retraining and Reemployment Administration, $281,312.06. That was the amount that was transferred for the expenses of that organization subsequent to its transfer in September. Mr. TABER. That is for how many months?

Mr. McCLURE. That is for 9 months' expenses of the Retraining and Reemployment Administration. That left a balance of $3,674,087.94 available from the appropriation.

Of that amount, $1,897,873.04 has been obligated as of the 28th day of February, leaving an unobligated balance in the appropriation of $1,776,214.90. The funds available are to carry out the regular programs of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, the Office of Contract Settlement on a reduced scale for the rest of the year, and the Surplus Property Administration.

Mr. TABER. Suppose when you come back here at 2 o'clock, you bring the monthly expenditures all throughout the year.

Mr. McCLURE. Very well, sir.

Mr. TABER. Mr. McClure, have you brought with you the statement of monthly expenditures during the fiscal year so far, so that you can give them to me?

Mr. MCCLURE. Yes, sir.

Mr. TABER. You have left $1,776,214.90.

Mr. McCLURE. Yes, sir.

Mr. TABER. You have two or three initials at the top of this sheet. There is OWMR.

Mr. McCLURE. That is the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion.

Mr. TABER. You have also the initials OCS.

Mr. McCLURE. That is Office of Contract Settlement.

Mr. TABER. You also have SPA.

Mr. McCLURE. That is for the Surplus Property Administration, and there is also the Retraining and Remployment Administration. Mr. TABER. What is that? That is extinct, is it not?

Mr. McCLURE. That has been transferred to Labor with the transfer of funds.

Mr. TABER. That is the one for which you transferred $281,000? Mr. MCCLURE. Yes, sir.

Mr. TABER. What increasing activity is there? That is in Surplus Property?

Mr. McCLURE. Mainly, sir.

Mr. TABER. That is not increasing to any great extent, is it?

Mr. McCLURE. The plan for that office, at the time the estimate you are considering today was prepared, was a gradual advance from 420 to some 520 employees. They were to reach 480 by the end of the past month, and the rest spread out over the balance of the fiscal year.

However, there has been a reorganization by which the Surplus Property Administration has been merged with the War Assets Corporation under General Gregory and will be set up as an independent agency on the 25th of this month. The Surplus Property Administration actually never exceeded 430 regular employees.

Mr. TABER. What is going to become of this money provided by us to the tune of something like $100,000,000 to carry these clerks along? Mr. McCLURE. You provided 170 million for the disposal agencies which up to this time have been quite separate and distinct from the Surplus Property Administration as a policy-making body. By the end of this month the principal disposal agency, which was the War Assets Corporation of the RFC, will be completely merged with this policy-making Surplus Property Administration into the War Assets Administration which will exercise disposal function as well as policymaking authority.

Mr. TABER. They are sort of shifting around so you cannot tell where you are. Is that about right?

It seems to me there has been about as little continuity of program in that set-up as anybody could envision.

Mr. MCCLURE. There have been four distinct organizations up to the present time.

Mr. TABER. Within a period of 10 or 12 months, and no one of them runs along enough so that there is any policy that anybody can check up on. I do not understand that way of doing it.

When is this supposed merger under this new title of policy making and the administrative end of that set-up to take effect?

Mr. MCCLURE. The merger has actually taken effect as of February 1. Mr. TABER. Would not all that money we made available be available to that organization, if it is proposed, provided they sell enough stuff to realize the $170,000,000?

Mr. McCLURE. There is a question, under the language of the appropriation, if that $170,000,000 would be available for the policymaking functions. The present plan is that on March 25, when the War Assets Corporation is established, the Bureau of the Budget will make a determination of what portion of our remaining funds belong to that policy-making function of the War Assets Administration, and that they will order the transfer accordingly.

Mr. TABER. You said, as I understood you, that they had about 500 people set up to operate the policy-making proposition?

Mr. McCLURE. Yes, sir.

Mr. TABER. How could they use 500 people for that? What could they be doing?

Mr. McCLURE. I could not answer that, sir.

Mr. TABER. I can see how 20 people could be used, but I would question very much how, with this arrangement of policy making, 500 could be used.

Mr. McCLURE. The law gives them certain responsibilities in addition to policy making. They have to make classifications of all the real estate, and they have to police the property that could be usable by agencies which exercise priority under the law, Government agencies, local governments, nonprofit institutions, and institutions of learning.

Mr. TABER. Why would not that be an administrative function that would be handled by the fellow who has charge of the sales? I do not see that.

Mr. McCLURE. I understand-I do not know what their organization will be—but it is my understanding that this present merging will place some of the operational functions that the Surplus Property Administration has heretofore been forced to exercise in the disposal agency, which will be the same agency, or another part of it. That was part of the reason for the merger.

Mr. TABER. I would like to have you put this table in the record, including the first five columns you have here, and the total, and put all of the items in this transfer together. Is that $403,000, the fund out of which the $281,000 transfer comes? Is that the one that got the $281,000?

Mr. McCLURE. No, sir; that has been eliminated.

Mr. TABER. You eliminated it separately?

Mr. McCLURE. Yes, sir.

Mr. TABER. I would like to have those five columns of that table in the record.

Mr. McCLURE. Yes, sir; we will put that in the record.

(The statement referred to is as follows:)

Statement of appropriation balances

Total appropriation available for obligation in 1946.
Deduct transfer to Department of Labor__-

Net appropriation available for obligation in 1946. Deduct obligations to Feb. 28, 1946___

$3,955, 400. 00 281, 312. 06

3, 674, 087.94 1, 897, 873. 04

1,776, 214. 90

Total

July.
August.
September.

$39, 411.39

30, 455.93

$137, 612. 20 157, 819.64

October

14, 686. 49 6, 426.14 113, 897.26

269, 789.87

273, 445. 20

249, 030. 49

January...

237,091.42

February..

35, 174. 27

14, 573. 15 256, 907.19

1 Credit.

Mr. TABER. That indicates that you have a margin in that appropriation on any basis anybody might want to figure of at least $850,000; is that right?

Mr. MCCLURE. No, sir. I have made some figures here that I believe you will agree with. Taking the average of the totals for the last 2 months, the reason being

Mr. TABER. That would be about what?

Mr. McCLURE. $286,000.

Mr. TABER. No; not as much as that, is it?

Mr. McCLURE. Yes; it is $286,000. Then take 412 months

Mr. TABER. Four and a half months would be about $1,150,000.

Mr. McCLURE. It would be $1,289,000.

Mr. TABER. That is only 5 months. You have $560,000 for 2 months, and that would be $1,120,000 for 4 months.

Mr. McCLURE. We have, as I pointed out, had only one pay roll in the February figure.

Mr. TABER. Yes.

Mr. McCLURE. It just happened that way, and there would be a pay roll for about half a month in addition to 4 months. Deducting that $1,289,000 from the available amount of $1,776,000 would leave a balance of $486,000, approximately, if the rate of obligation continued as is presently indicated.

As a matter of fact, the reduction in the program, whether it is because of the organization or the stoppage of their recruitment due to the merger, the reduction in the Surplus Property Administration, using that same calculation, amounts to about $450,000, which would make a change of only $36,000 net.

What part of this is available finally is based on the determination that the Bureau of the Budget makes of the utilization of the balance by the Surplus Property Administration.

LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY FOR STUDY OF WAGE PLANS

Mr. TABER. Did I understand that the reason for the presentation of this estimate was that there was a question as to whether or not there was legislative authority for the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion to go ahead and enlarge further on this program with the token appropriation of $50,000 for investigation at this time?

Mr. LATIMER. I do not know that I can answer that question authoritatively. I did discuss the matter with an official of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, who is a lawyer, and who gave it as his opinion that the authority in existing law was sufficient. But irrespective of whether there is authority or not, he felt, as a matter of policy, that this subject should not be pursued to any great extent without Congress knowing about it and giving it specific approval. Furthermore, irrespective of the question of authority, there is every desire to have Congress express an opinion, on the subject; and it is felt that approval of an appropriation would be a sufficient indication of the congressional intent.

NEED FOR GOVERNMENTAL COLLABORATION IN THE STUDY

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. What consideration has been given to having this work done by other than a governmental organization?

Mr. LATIMER. That question was asked of Mr. Johnston this morning, and he said he felt that the sponsorship of the Government was a highly desirable thing from his point of view. From the point of view of the work to be done, as I stated this morning-the analyses to determine the extent of the fluctuations, the interrelation of fluctuations, their causes, the relationship between fluctuations in one industry and those in another, as well as the interconnections between different firms of the same industry, and so on-there is now available, in Government records, great quantities of relevant data. It would be impossible for any private concern to duplicate the material already in the possession of the Federal Government. Under present law access to those records is not and never has been given to any private agency.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. You plan to supplement those records with considerable questionnaire work in that field?

Mr. LATIMER. There would be some supplementation. But that volume would be, in the aggregate, rather minor compared with the total volume of materials already in the possession of the Government. It is true, of course, that the materials may not be in the best possible form for our purposes. There will be companies willing to take material from reports which have been made to some Government agency and turn them around and make them more useful for our purposes. As an example of that, I may relate a story. We were approached about 6 weeks ago by the executive vice president of a large publicutility company, a part of one of our largest utility systems. He told