White House Press Release, Message of President Harry S. Truman to the United States House of Representatives

255 HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE JUNE 14, 1948 CONFIDENTIAL. To be held 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 the House of Representatives. Extreme care must therefore be exercised to avoid premature publication. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: I return herewith, without my approval, the enrolled bill (H. R. 1508). "For the relief of Mrs. Lula Wilson Nevers." The bill directs the payment of the sum of $10,100.43 to Mrs. Lula Wilson Nevers, of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in full settlement of all claims against the United States arising out of a rental agree- ment entered into by her with the Iowa ordnance plant and the Kansas ordnance plant of the War Department, for the rental of one crawler crane. It appears that Mrs. Nevers entered into equipment rental agreement No. 75 for the lease of one Linkbelt crawler crane, Model K-44 (1933), to A. Guthrie and Company, Incorporated, a Minnesota corporation, and Al Johnson Construction Company, a Delaware corporation, co-adventurers and prime contractors for the United States, under Government contract No. W 6978 qm-1, for the construction of the Iowa ordnance plant near Burling- ton, Iowa. The lease provided for the payment of a rental of $600 per month, placed a valuation of $20,000 on the equipment leased, and con- tained a recapture clause providing that when the total amount of rental paid by the lessee should equal the value of the equipment, plus one per- cent each month of rental, the title to the equipment should be vested in the Government. The lease further provided that all necessary repairs to the equipment should be made by the lessee without cost to the lessor. When the need for the crane at the Iowa ordnance plant was terminated, Mrs. Nevers was notified promptly and her agent inspected the crane and requested that the constructing cuartermaster authorize certain repairs. The agent was notified that such repairs could not be authorized until the machine had been inspected and a determination made as to its condition where it was first received. The construction quartemaster declined to permit the crane to be taken from the premises unless Mrs. Nevers signed a conditional release of the lessees and the Government from any claim based on the rental contract in question. Mrs. Nevers signed such a release and then requested that the crane be shipped to Parsons, Kansas, where she had been negotiating for a new rental con- tract of the crane for use on the Kansas ordnance plant. At the time that the release was executed the Government had a recapture equity in the crane in the amount of $2,000, which was relinguished by the Govern- mont in consideration for the release. When received at Parsons, Kansas, the crane was found to be not, in good operating condition and Mrs. Nevers was requested to make the necessary repairs at her own expense prior to the execution of a now rental agreement. Certain parts were purchased and repairs made, but upon completion, the crane was still found to be unacceptable and was finally rejected by the authorities at Parsons. It was necessary for Mrs. Nevers to remove the crane at her own expense, and it was released to her upon reimbursement to the Government for the freight charges entailed in shipping the crane to Parsons. A claim in the amount of $20,298.67 for rental, repairs, parts and labor, freight; loss of rental, loss due to forced sale, and other items, was submitted to the General Accounting Office but was rejected (OVER)