Disposal of Surplus War Materials

Report Outline
Problem of Liquidating Surplus War Supplies
Disposal of Surpluses After World War I
Disposal of Surpluses After World War Ii
Special Focus

Problem of Liquidating Surplus War Supplies

Need for Congressional Legislation on War Surpluses

At The End of World War II the United States government will own vast quantities of war materials no longer needed for military purposes. Estimates of the value of the probable surpluses have ranged from a low of $25 billion to a high of $150 billion. The surpluses will include almost every conceivable article and commodity—some of little utility in a peaceful world; others in great demand by the civilian populations of the United States and other countries.

The value of the surplus of war materials at the end of World War I was compared by an official of the Budget Bureau, in testimony before a congressional committee, Feb. 18, 1943, with the probable value of the surplus at the end of the present war.

At the end of the last war [he said] we had surplus stocks worth at least $5 billion and at the end of this war we anticipate that we shall have at least $50 billion worth of supplies and equipment on hand, which will require intelligent management of the highest order not merely to insure the federal government against wasteful disposition of that inventory but even to prevent some serious impacts upon our peacetime economy.