Mr. RIEHLMAN. How many items in the sale!

Mr. MORRIS. There were 56 different lots in this sale.

Mr. KASTER. May I explain the reason for so many 56 lot sales? We found out that in lotting our sales, there are 14 columns on 1 sheet of the abstract and 14 on the back. So we can take 2 sheets of abstracts and that makes 56 items. By cutting it down to 56, 1 girl can record all of this information without any trouble.

By going over the number of 56 you would have to have someone else help out because on some of your sales, mostly the textiles, you may run into 7, 8, and possibly 9 fractions, and to call those, those figures run together. It is quicker to lot up, and it takes less effort and less manpower to work up the abstracts and forward them and make the awards.

We find it is cheaper to do it that way.

General MARSHALL. I think that would answer a previous question as to some of the things that are done here that seem to be good ideas, based on the fact that on study they work out better, and that is one. Mr. BALWAN. This is a study based on convenience in disposing here.

Mr. KASTER. Yes; the economy involved, because it cuts down on manpower.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. Now, on this sale, how many bids were there?
Mr. MORRIS. Twenty-three bids.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. Do you have a figure of the procurement value and the amount of the highest bid for the whole fifty-six-some items?

Mr. KASTER. It is on the abstracts.

Mr. MORRIS. Is there a total for all of the items on the sale? Is it on the abstract?

Mr. KASTER. I do not have it.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. I would like to know what he got for the whole sale.

Mr. KASTER. That is on No. 17? I do not have it. That was opened Thursday, and we have not worked it up.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. Suppose you get it on sale No. 16 and No. 17, both. Mr. KASTER. All right, sir. We will have that.

Mr. COTTER. Was that No. 17 a scrap sale?

Mr. MORRIS. Salvage material.

Mr. BALWAN. You do not describe the item any more than the fact that it is used?

Mr. KASTER. New or used.

Mr. BALWAN. That is the only description you have of it?

Mr. KASTER. Or incomplete.

Mr. BALWAN. If you have a table that is used, it can be a table that you might interest someone in by saying that it is in fairly good shape.

Mr. KASTER. If we state that we think is in fairly good shape, it will keep them from inspecting the property, and they will say we kept them from inspecting it. The regulations say that you will specify no guaranty or warranty to the effect that in your best judg ment it is in that shape, new or used. We used to give a condition code like R-3 or R-2 or 0-1.

Mr. BALWAN. If Sears, Roebuck is putting out a catalog they describe each item in order to interest the buyer.

Mr. KASTER. They are handling only new merchandise.

Mr. BALWAN. But you are handling all kinds of merchandise, and so are they.

Mr. KASTER. It may look good. On a table it would be rather easy, but on some of the machinery you would have to have a machinist to go over it top to bottom to state what was wrong with it.

Mr. BALWAN. You are not equipped to do that?

Mr. KASTER. That is right, and it would not be economical.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. Many of these people do not come out to inspect it. Mr. KASTER. If there is very much money in it, they will come out to inspect it. We would like to encourage that because if they once come in maybe they will bid on something that they had no idea of bidding on originally.

General MARSHALL. If they come in from any distance for a piece of equipment like a dough mixer, and you advertise it as being in fairly good shape, that means it works. We are not set up to try it out, but if you advertise it in fairly good shape they expect it to work.

Mr. MORRIS. We might list a few of the items that were on the sale. There is an engine cockpit heater which had an acquisition cost of $175, and they received bids ranging from two-dollars-something to six-dollars-and-some-cents. It is probably an obsolete item.

There were several dish-washing machines, and their acquisition cost ranged from $2,000 to $2,700, and they received bids ranging from 25 cents up to $28.86.

There are also several mixing machines, bread pans, and a drycleaning-pressing machine.

We will see all this property. It is on the base.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. What is No. 16?

Mr. MORRIS. These invitations, No. 16, were mailed September 15, 1953, to 361 potential bidders.

The bids were opened on September 30, 1953. There were 27 bidders.