mined that he is not able to secure needed funds from private lending agencies. Loans have not heretofore been made, now will they be made, under the policy announced by the Department, to farmers who are already in debt to the extent of their respective available credits in the community. Under the appropriation made last year no relief was available for farmers in this category. Under the terms of the resolution reported such farmers will be able to obtain suitable relief in the form of grants.

The committee is informed that many areas not affected last year have, this year, been inundated. The following are the principal rivers which have overflowed this year: Mississippi, Missouri, Red, Black, Wabash, Ouachita, Sacramento, Little Sabine, Arkansas, Illinois, and the Ohio. In the case of the Missouri River the flood stage is the highest in 100 years.

The flood areas affected are very productive from an agricultural standpoint and if prompt action is taken these can still be assisted to produce for the war program this year. It is essential that funds be made promptly available so that as floodwaters recede the farmers may be prepared promptly to proceed with their farming operations.

The funds are available to the Secretary of Agriculture for expenditure through such agencies of the Department as he may select for the expeditious handling of the responsibility. The committee desires to make it clear in continuing this authority for another year that it does not thereby intimate or intend that the life of the Farm Security Administration shall in any wise be extended or prolonged by virtue of this joint resolution. The fund is provided to the Secretary and he is free to use such agency of the Department in this and the next fiscal year as may be provided by other law than this joint resolution.

78th Congress, 2d Session

House Report No. 1443

POST-WAR ECONOMIC POLICY AND PLANNING

FIRST REPORT

OF THE

HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON POST-WAR
ECONOMIC POLICY AND PLANNING

PURSUANT TO

H. Res. 408

A RESOLUTION CREATING A SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON
POST-WAR ECONOMIC POLICY AND PLANNING

SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS ARISING FROM
TERMINATED WAR CONTRACTS

MAY 12, 1944.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House
on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

UNITED STATES

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON: 1944

POST-WAR ECONOMIC POLICY AND PLANNING

MAY 12, 1944.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. COLMER, from the Special Committee on Post-War Economic Policy and Planning, submitted the following

REPORT

[Pursuant to H. Res. 408]

Report regarding contract termination and settlement pursuant to House Resolution 408, establishing the Special Committee on Postwar Economic Policy and Planning, which provides that

It shall be the duty of the special committee to investigate all matters relating to post-war economic policy and problems; to gather information, plans, and suggestions from informed sources with respect to such problems; to study the plans and suggestions received; to report to the Congress from time to time the results of findings made and conclusions reached. It is the sense and purpose of this resolution to make accessible to the Congress, through the special committee, the most complete information respecting post-war economic policy and post-war problems that is available, to the end that Congress may be advised respecting those problems and in a position to formulate solutions with respect to them which will result in the greatest contribution by the Congress to achieve ment of a stable economy and a just peace.

PROGRAM OF COMMITTEE

In making its initial survey of the economic problems to be explored, the special committee realizes that its activities must cover a broad front. Among the questions to be studied, the following will occupy a prominent place:

1. The demobilization of civilians and servicemen from the wal effort and the measures which will expedite their reemployment.

2. Measures to care for the unemployed during the interim of reconversion to peacetime pursuits.

3. The cancelation of war contracts and means of paving the way for early resumption of peacetime production and an expanding postwar industry.

4. The disposition of war surpluses and of Government-owned industrial plants.

5. The modification and removal of wartime controls.

6. The place of public works and construction during the transition and in the post-war period.

7. The financing of post-war reconversion and expansion.

8. The relation of tax policies to post-war expansion.

9. The restoration of balance in the Nation's post-war economybetween the areas of the country expanded during the war and the areas reduced during the war; between agriculture and urban industry; between small and large business; between available goods and available purchasing power.

10. The cooperation of the United States in the restoration of international trade.

Each of these problems is important to the welfare of the Nation; and the special committee plans to explore these and other questions on behalf of the Congress. It is already studying several of the problems listed above; hearings on the first two are scheduled for an early date. The committee, as it scanned the subjects awaiting consideration, was immediately impressed with the necessity for prompt enactment of legislation that would facilitate the termination and settlement of canceled war contracts with speed, certainty, and equity. This must be done to pave the way both for the undertaking of new contracts while the war is on and for an early resumption of civilian production and employment when the war effort has come to a close. Accordingly, the subject of war-contract termination was placed first on the list of problems to be studied and reported by the committee.

STUDY OF CONTRACT TERMINATION

Witnesses representing business organizations, labor organizations, and Government agencies have appeared before the committee in public hearings to discuss this and related subjects. All have stressed the importance of early congressional action to give the necessary authority and policy direction for effecting a smooth transition from war to peace. The staff of the committee has studied the extensive hearings held by other committees of the House and Senate. The staff and the committee have carefully examined the reports of these several committees.

The committee has considered the matter at length and appointed, for the purpose of studying the problem in detail, a subcommittee, consisting of Mr. Francis Walter, chairman; Mr. Orville Zimmerman; Mr. Eugene Worley; Mr. Charles A. Wolverton; and Mr. Charles S. Dewey. The subcommittee has met many times. It has studied the bills which have been introduced in the House relating to contract termination. It has also studied Senate bill 1718. This latter bill has been developed over the past 8 months by the Senate Post-war Committee and the Subcommittee on Contract Settlement of the Military Affairs Committee, after many hearings and consultations with businessmen and war agencies, the Comptroller General, and many others. This bill was based upon the recommendations of the Baruch-Hancock report and has the approval of the several war agencies. It was unanimously recommended by these two Senate committees and was passed by the Senate without dissent on May 4, 1944.

The committee has felt that the Senate bill 1718 comes nearer to meeting the requirements of the situation than the bills pending in the House, and has used this bill as a basis for its recommendations. It was found, however, that certain changes would be desirable in the provisions of S. 1718.