Into the Ocean?

Every minute one postwar problem was getting bigger & bigger. What will the U.S. do at war's end with the vast supply of war machines it has sent overseas?

In Postwar I the problem was comparatively simple. The U.S. purchased most of its supplies in Europe. It sold all but some 2% of the salvageable material back to European countries (at a handsome loss) and left the stuff there. Less than $1 billion of material was involved.

World War II has already cost U.S. taxpayers $184 billion--the cost of World War I was only $32 billion. Lend-Lease has passed $24 billion. In addition, the U.S. has shipped abroad 60 million tons of supplies for our troops. Although some of it was food, oil, other expendable items, a great deal will still be whole and usable after the war is over--tanks, jeeps, guns, trucks, tools, vast bakeries and all the other heavy equipment needed by armies to fight and live. No one can predict how much will be destroyed, but the leftover pile is sure to be tremendous.

Pondering the problem, Major General Lester T. Miller, supply chief of the Army's Air Service Command, said last week: "To return much of it would be prohibitive, due to transportation and handling costs and because many items quickly become obsolete." Unless stuff can be disposed of on the spot. General Miller advised, "it will be more economical and cost taxpayers less to dump it in the ocean."

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