Senator MALONE. That is a very plain statement by a branch of the United Nations that the International Materials Conference is organized to make effective the manipulation of stockpiles to carry out the purposes of the international cartel. Representative MARTIN. Yes, sir. I have given you most of my material. I will make one concluding statement here of my own. The United Nations views expressed above are completely divergent from the intent of Congress in establishing the stockpile of strategic and critical materials under Public Law 520 of the 79th Congress. This American stockpile was planned and authorized by Congress as a guaranty of America's ability to withstand the impact of war, and Congress safeguarded the industrial economy against the use of this stockpile by any Government official or Government agency for manipulating the raw-materials market in any way. The Congress took special precaution to safeguard the American mining industry and the American industrial economy against the use of the stockpile as a hammer over their heads in the hands of any Government agency that may seek to manipulate the strategic and critical materials market. This action by Congress to prevent such use of the stockpile by officials or agencies of our own Government can by no means be construed as congressional sanction of such use of the stockpile by any international agency, more especially any international agency such as the International Materials Conference, which Congress itself has refused to support. That concludes my statement, Mr. Chairman. Senator MALONE. Congressman Martin, I only regret that there is not time to go further into your testimony through cross-examination, but I look forward to some time when you can again come before the committee. Speaking for the entire committee, I am sure, we are deeply appreciative of the special effort you made to appear before us today. Representative MARTIN. Thank you, sir. I want to commend your committee very highly on your going into this. I know what a tremendous labor it is and will be for you. I know you are using great diligence and limitless energy in going through this whole investigation. As we bring to light this development from official sources, it cannot help but put us on notice nationally of some of the objectives and efforts to carry out a different pattern most certainly than Congress visualized or Congress planned or Congress authorized. To that end, I say more power to you. You are doing a great service to America in opening up this whole field. You can see how close it has been to my heart throughout my entire congressional service, and it started in my days in the Army way back when I was a very young man. I have always recognized this as a basis on which we build an effective national defense. Without it, we die. Senator MALONE. Then, Congressman Martin, could we not, in a short summation, say that this may be a fight to the finish between the legislative body, with its constitutional responsibility to regulate foreign commerce and with the necessity of having its congressional acts respected, and the executive department represented by the State Department over a long period of years? Representative MARTIN. Yes; it has all that potentiality most certainly. Senator MALONE. Would you not say, Congressman Martin, that the next session of Congress, beginning on January 6, 1954, might be one of the most important sessions of Congress for many, many years? Representative MARTIN. Yes, sir, I agree. Senator MALONE. That is, in determining who has authority to make the laws of the land. Representative MARTIN. And I shall continue my efforts to check up as fully and carefully as I can the administration of the laws of Congress in this field in particular. Senator MALONE. As chairman of the subcommittee, if you have any additional ideas which might be helpful to the committee, would you please communicate with the chairman or a member of the staff. Thank you again, Congressman Martin. Representative MARTIN. Thank you, sir. Senator MALONE. The committee will be in recess until January 5, 1954. (Whereupon the committee recessed to reconvene on January 5, 1954.) STOCKPILE AND ACCESSIBILITY OF STRATEGIC AND CRITICAL MATERIALS TO THE UNITED STATES IN TIME OF WAR TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1954 UNITED STATES SENATE, SPECIAL SUBCOMMITTEE ON MINERALS, MATERIALS, AND FUELS ECONOMICS OF THE Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 12: 15 p. m., in the committee room, 224 Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C., Senator George W. Malone, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. Present: Senator George W. Malone, Nevada (chairman of the subcommittee). Present also: Jerome S. Adlerman, counsel to the subcommittee; George B. Holderer, committee engineer; and Richard G. Sinclair, subcommittee accountant. Senator MALONE. The subcommittee will be in order. Representative Martin came before this committee in October and reviewed the formation and the activities of the International Materials Conference. His study was based on public documents which appeared in the press, in releases by Government agencies and in publications by the International Materials Conference. Following his testimony the committee decided it was important for us to examine the State Department documents establishing the International Materials Conference and providing for its implementation. We have accordingly asked representatives of the State Department and the Office of Defense Mobilization to appear here today with these documents so that we may examine further the statements which have been given to the committee by Congressman Martin. Will you have a seat, Mr. Winant? STATEMENT OF FREDERICK WINANT, SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR MATERIALS, OFFICE OF DEFENSE MOBILIZATION Senator MALONE. Mr. Winant, we have asked you to come here because of certain restrictions on information. Mr. WINANT. Yes, sir. Senator MALONE. I suppose you are familiar with the objectives of the committee. I will briefly outline them to you. Senate Resolution No. 143 has instructed this committee to determine the availability of critical materials to this Nation in wartime and for its expanding economy and for its security. It is necessary, then, for this committee to understand thoroughly the factors contained in arrangements by this Government with other governments which affect the availability of these materials. It is positively not the intention of this committee to ask for or to utilize any information publicly that affects national defense or the security of this Nation. It is the opinion of the chairman of this subcommittee, however, speaking for only 1 member of the 5-member subcommittee, that a great deal of covering up has been done through the use of security. We have now arrived at a time-I have been here 7 years—that apparently about everyone in the world, including our potential enemies, have the information except the people who have to utilize it to establish principles upon which the Government should be operated. So it is the intention of the committee to secure the information and to know what it is, and then to review its security. It is not our opinion-and I think I speak for the committee that the head of some Government committee should be the sole judge of what should be security information. For the Senate to arrive at a proper solution and at proper recommendations for policies that go to make these materials available in wartime, they must understand, themselves, what is behind the negotiations and the recommendations and the operations of a department that apparently is no longer subject to congressional check, and has been made so by congressional act. In other words, Mr. Winant, the Constitution of the United States, in article I, section 8, says that the legislative branch shall regulate foreign commerce. You are familiar with that provision? Mr. WINANT. Yes. Senator MALONE. Are you also familiar with the provision which says in the same paragraph that the Congress of the United States shall lay the duties, imposts and excises, which we call tariffs? Mr. WINANT. Yes, sir. Senator MALONE. Then you recall the 1934 Trade Agreements Act, which has been referred to as reciprocal trade. Mr. WINANT. Yes, sir. Senator MALONE. The Congress transferred that constitutional responsibility to the Executive, and that responsibility has been assumed by the State Department. I am not saying that that is a wrong thing to do. I am trying now to lay the foundation as to why we have you here and why we are going to ask you, to see why some of this material has been classified. To lay the foundation here, I presume, at least I must assume, that the State Department is subject to the President's order. Mr. WINANT. We can let someone else speak on that subject, sir. Senator MALONE. If it is not we ought to find that out. What is your position with the Office of Defense Mobilization? Mr. WINANT. I am special assistant to the Assistant Director for Materials in the Office of Defense Mobilization. Senator MALONE. Who is the Director of Materials? Mr. WINANT. His title is Assistant Director: Mr. E. H. Weaver. |