White House Press Release, Statement by Assistant to the President John R. Steelman

40 IMMEDIATE RELEASE IMMEDIATE RELEASE IMMEDIATE RELEASE JANUARY 31, 1948 STATEMENT BY THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT The Departments of the Army and Navy, the Maritime Commission and the War Assets Administration, which last September undertook to provide 850,000 long tons of iron and steel scrap to industry in the last four months of 1947, have exceeded that goal and actually provided 934,000 tons, for a total for the year of 2,194,000 tons. During the first six months of 1948, they expect to provide 940,000 tons in domestic disposals and roughly 525,000 tons in overseas disposals, for a total of 1,465,000 tons. The agencies have submitted the following breakdown: DISPOSALS OF SCRAP (long tons) Domestic 1947 Sept.-Dec. 1947 Jan.-June 1948 Actual Est. Actual Est. Department of the Army 410,000. 150,000 174,000 300,000 Department of the Navy 686,000 200,000 233,000 150,000 Maritime Commission 814,000 400,000 443,000 400,000 War Assets Administration 254,000a 100,000 54,000 90,000 Total Domestic 2,164,000 850,000 904,000 940,000 Overseas Department of the Army - - - - 500,000 Department of the Navy 30,000 30,000 25,000 Total Overseas 30,000 30,000 525,000 TOTAL 2,194,000 850,000 934,000 1,465,000 a March-December only A joint government-industry mission has recently been sent to Europe to investigate the possibilities of accelerating scrap shipments to the United States, particularly from Germany. The 500,000 ton estimate for Army overseas disposals is preliminary, pending the findings of this mission. As a result of a reexamination of the nation's mobilization require- ments, announced earlier this month by Secretary of the Army Kenneth C. Royall, the Department of the Army cut in half its estimate of the amount of steel and iron scrap that could be made available to industry through the demilitarization of ammunition. Early estimates last September indicated that 600,000 tons of obsolete and surplus ammunition would be disarmed to produce the basic raw material for industrial steel production during the first six months of 1948. A resurvey of stockage needs has resulted in the reclassification of much ammunition formerly considered surplus, and postponement of some demilitari- zation plans. It is now estimated that 200,000 tons of ammunition will be demilitarized by July .to furnish some 60,000 tons of usable ferrous scrap to the steel industry. It is estimated that an additional 100,000 tons of ammunition will be demilitarized during the last half of 1948. That reclas- sified as non-surplus will be maintained as a national asset in the ammuni- tion stockpile. OVER