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White House Press Release, Message from President Harry S. Truman to the United States Congress
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- Part of White House Press Release Files (Truman Administration), White House Press Releases
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HOLD FOR RELEASE
HOLD FOR RELEASE
JANUARY 29, 1948
CONFIDENTIAL: To be hèld in STRICT CONFIDENCE and no
portion, synopsis or intimation to be given out or
published until the READING of the President's Message
has begun in either the Senate or House of Representa-
tives. Extreme care must therefore be exercised to
avoid premature publication.
CHARLES G. ROSS
Secretary to the President
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
Section 6(a) of Public Law 395, 80th Congress, First
Session, provides that whenever the President shall determine
that there is or threatens to be a critical shortage of any raw
material, commodity, or product which jeopardizes the health or
safety of the people of the United
es or its national secur-
ity or welfare and that there is no prospect that such critical
shortage may soon be remedied by an increase in the available
supply without additional governmental action and that the
situation cannot be solved by voluntary agreement under the pro-
visions of that Act, the President may prepare proposed measures
for conserving such raw material, commodity, or product which he
shall submit to the Congress.
Upon the basis of information furnished by the Secre-
tary of Agriculture, I have determined that there is at present
a critical shortage of grain which threatens to become even more
serious during the next few months; that such shortage jeopardizes
the national security and welfare of the United States; that
there is no prospect that such critical shortage may soon be
remedied by an increase in the available supply without additional
governmental action; and that the situation cannot be solved by
voluntary agreements under the provisions of Public Law 395.
Therefore, pursuant to section 6(a) of that Act, I am submitting
a proposed measure for the conservation of grain. This proposed
measure relates to the use of grain for the production of ethyl
alcohol, including but not limited to distilled spirits and
neutral spirits.
As a result of the devastation brought about by the war
and extremely unfavorable weather conditions, the grain situation
of most European countries is extremely grave. Careful studies
have indicated that the United States should endeavor to export
at least 500 million bushels of wheat from the crop harvested
in 1947.
The available grain supplies in the United States
in relation to essential domestic and export requirements
indicate a real need for conserving as much grain as possible,
especially between now and the harvest of the wheat crop this
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