Letter from James B. Alexander to President Harry S. Truman

18/2 2610 Benvenue Ave. 122-1 Misc. Berkeley, 4, Calif. Nov. 27, 1946. wyatt-Con Hon. Harry Truman, President of United States, Washington, D. C. Dear Mr. President; I have been reading and thinking a great deal lately about the Veteran's Housing and I urge you very strongly to scrap the whole deal. First because we as a country cannot afford it. The army and navy and other government agencies wasted enough billions of money since 1941, and I mean money that in no way helped to win the war. The Latin American Highway, the oil deal in Canada, the general inefficiency of purchasing for the war needs. The continued manufacture of wooden crates for ammu- nition, literally millions, after that paticular crate was scraped. I say Mr. President that we just can't afford any more waste. Mr. Wyatt in my opinion just does not add up for his job. What has he done to indicate any training to fit him to have charge of housing? That job demands a hard headed business man, and Mr. Wyatt is far from that. In fact I have never heard of or known a lawyer who was a good business man. Mr. Rooseveldt's appointment of Mr. Wm. Jeffers and Mr. Donald Nelson for their respective jobs, were outstanding appoint- ments, and these men did a job. If we must have a Veteran's Housing, why not find some man whose ability would compare. favorably with those two men? I think it past time for you, Mr. President, to stop some of this enormous waste. Recently I read of a steel company here in Oakland having a contract for about four hundred thousand dollars to build some kind of landing boats for the army. Right out here at the Albany race track there are a few thousand of these boats, parked there at the mercy of the elements, doing nobody any good. WHY? I am sure Mr. President, that if you would have an investigator whom you personally could trust, find out for you just what has been going on around San Francisco Bay alone, during the war and since, you might better understand the recent election. I refer to the burning of food and clothing at the army and navy supply depots, the dumping of food overboard from navy boats and transports, both in San Francisco Bay and atbMare Island, the burning of tinned rations at Moore's Ship Yard. This all is general knowledge here and we don't like it. I personally Think, Mr. President, that we as a country have been going backwards since about 1930. I hope it is time to pick up the pieces, and start building for good again. The