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The Committee Investigating the National Defense Program, of which I am Chairman, has been following with the keenest interest the developments in the war programe The Committee has been very mindful of the fact that public criticism of major phases of the war effort might givided -be and comfort thenemy detrimental to the public morale. Because of this, the Committee in recent months held as few public hearings as possible, and the bulk of its work has been done privately. The Committes will continue that policy, but there are some things the public is entitled to know and unfortunately it is sometimes necessary to have the force of public opinion to insure rosults. This Commi ttee was organized largely because of the waste that was reported in the defense program às it was being administered in the early part of 1941, particularly waste on construction jobs. One of the first tasks of the Committee was to investigate construction, and the Committee found an enormous amount of unnecessary waste, particularly in camp construction. The Committee recommended that camp construction should be transferred from the Quartermaster Branch of the War Department to the Engineering Corps. This was done, and a substantial improvement was AUMAN NARA JERSED