The Surplus Surplus Bill

Ever since the President named Will Clayton as the Surplus War Property administrator last February, the grey, hard-fisted Texan has been a prime target for left-wing New Dealers. The hatchetmen have accused Will Clayton, the world's biggest cotton broker, of: 1) planning to handle surplus property solely in the interests of big business; 2) freezing out small farmers and veterans in the disposal of Government lands.

Perturbed, the skittery Congress last week passed a surplus property bill which clipped Mr. Clayton's power (see above). Where he ruled alone, a three-man board will henceforth dispose of the estimated $100 billion in surplus war goods. Previously, Clayton had informed Home Front Czar Jimmy Byrnes that he would not be one of the three; he wanted to quit. His reason: Congress has turned surplus property disposal into a political grab bag. The U.S., he felt, should get what cash it can out of selling surpluses; it should not let them be parceled out among Government agencies by a political board with divided authority.

Will Clayton was not alone in this view: Jimmy Byrnes was dead-set against the three-man board, and Elder Statesman Bernie Baruch had personally phoned Congressmen, begging them to drop it. Georgia's Senator Walter George called the bill almost impossible to administer. New York's bell-shaped Mayor LaGuardia nut-shelled all the complaints; he told a Senate committee that the bill could be fixed by "one little amendment. Strike out every thing after the enacting clause."

As the uproar swelled, the homeward-bound Congressmen wearily realized that the price for getting rid of Will Clayton had been too high. One of their first jobs after the election recess will probably be to patch up the bill.

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