USE OF FOREIGN CURRENCY Mr. MAHON. Now, with respect to indigenous personnel overseas in Italy, France, and places like that, I had hoped that there might be some way by which we could pay these citizens of these other lands in their own currency, and the amount would not be too significant. What is the situation on that, General? General LARKIN. The pay is set in Italy and France by the governments, the governments actually set the pay for those people. Mr. MAHON. But if we pay them in the French franc and they are willing to pay us for our wheat and other commodities, and so forth, in the French franc, if we spend the French francs over there, why is that very significant to us? Colonel MARSHALL. It is a matter of paying the private individual. We deal with the individual as a man, and his pay there is set by the local government. Mr. MAHON. But, nevertheless, in connection with the sale of surplus property, and in the settlement for surplus-property matters, and I believe recently in connection with the interim-aid bill, if not before, evidently we have considerable quantities of local currency in our possession, or it is due to us, and I am thinking that in our overseas cemeterial program in areas of that type that if we can use that money, why should there be an appropriation of money by our Congress for that indigenous personael? Maybe I am off the beam on that. Mr. CASE. No, the gentleman is not off the beam. There is a specific provision in the foreign aid act which was passed by Congress stating that the funds for the relief supplies that we furnish overseas, where they were sold, that the receipts therefrom would be put into a special fund to be expended within that country after such and such a date which would be by agreement with that country, and it clearly was part of that bill that we should receive a substantial amount of native currency to be spent in that country. Mr. MAHON. And also, if you cannot give a good answer to the general question which I have raised, and I can understand that you probably could not give a full answer as to certain monetary manipulations, I think we ought to have it, and we should do something about it if we can. I would like to have you look into that. Colonel MARSHALL. Could you let Colonel Moore of the Army Department comment on that? Mr. MAHON. Yes. Colonel MOORE. Even though it be possible to use the proceeds from the sales of surplus property overseas, in cases where we get local currency for it, we cannot use such local currency to augment the amount of money in this appropriation, but we must get that currency through the Treasury Department to pay our bills in lieu of having to procure local currency with dollars furnished by the Treasury. Mr. MAHON. I do not think that we ought to have to make an appropriation at all for these things about which I am talking. Colonel MOORE. Receipts from the sale of Government property, whether in the form of dollars, checks for dollars, or foreign currencies are deposited to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States and eventually become merged with money collected as taxes and money received from the sale of Government bonds-no part of such funds may be expended except pursuant to the provisions of an appropriation act. It appears reasonable to anticipate that foreign currencies which may be placed at the disposal of the United States by certain foreign countries as compensation in part for benefits furnished such foreign countries at the expense of the United States will be treated as other revenues of the United States. If this be so, an appropriation must be made to authorize the use of the foreign currency concerned for the purposes which the Congress determines to be necessary. Mr. CASE. You have no objection to our putting language either in the bill or in the report which would require you to use those native currencies to the extent we receive them in the manner described by Mr. Mahon, for that part of these budget requests which will be expended locally in countries where these cemeteries are located? Mr. MAHON. And for other expenditures of the War Department. Colonel MOORE. That is a very difficult question to answer. I will give you the best answer that I can at the moment, and that is that the United States has acquired foreign currencies through the sale of surplus property, which the United States is holding for use at an appropriate time. Due to the needs of the various forein countries for assistance at the moment you get into the field of high governmental policy, and you get into the field of every loan or grant that has been made or proposed, which the United States is going to finance. Mr. MAHON. I am just thinking about Uncle Sam. It is that angle of it. You did not make that rule, and I can understand the reasons why it may have been made. It is just the same old thing, we are just giving them more dollar exchange. Mr. CASE. In other words, we insist upon being rooked. Mr. MAHON. Yes; we insist upon being rooked. Mr. SCRIVNER. For instance, we probably have a few graves in Austria. There is a rate of exchange insisted upon by the Government, I do not know whether it is by the War Department, the State Department or who, but somebody insists that we take a certain. stated rate of exchange in Austria. Mr. CASE. Thirty-one to the dollar. Mr. SCRIVNER. Yes, 31 to the dollar, I believe it is. Colonial MOORE. In Austria the rate of exchange is 10 shillings for a dollar. Mr. SCRIVNER. All right, but yet when you go outside, and every other nation is doing it, they are dealing on the rate of about 100 to the dollar, so if we pay for a day's work in Austria we pay just 10 times as much as any other nation pays, including Austria itself. Colonel MOORE. May I say again that the situation is complicated. Mr. MAHON. I would like it understood, Colonel Moore, that we realize that this policy is not one fixed by this committee or by the War Department. I simply raise a question which I think should be pursued, which is that when we have expenditures overseas, where, say, we need to expend francs, or Italian lira, for some governmental expense of our own country, and we have currency of their country which they are willing to accept, and which is legal tender there, that we ought to use that rather than just holding it in abeyance and appropriating additional hard American dollars to pay those costs. After all, you might say it is just a bookkeeping operation, since we are furnishing certain relief to some of these areas, but I think the full implications of it are such that we ought not to put our head in the sack in any such way as we are now. Colonel MOORE. I think the War Department recognizes as a sound business principle that the War Department does not go out to buy foreign currency, so long as it has enough to meet its day-today requirements. Mr. CASE. We have some occupation currency to redeem because of the Russians and the printing presses, and we took some of that money in. We did that in Germany. Colonel MOORE. The program for the utilization of occupation currencies is proceeding satisfactorily. Mr. NORRELL. I think, Mr. Chairman, about all the questions that I was interested in have been asked. I want to say that I am thoroughly in accord with notifying the relatives of these deceased soldiers for permission before they are moved, and I certainly think the deceased soldiers ought to be congregated in one cemetery in that section of the world. I have been on Ökinawa, and I think if I were dead I would want to be moved to Guam, or be returned to America. SUMMARY OF PROJECTS Mr. ENGEL. We will place in the record the summary of projects. (The matter above referred to is as follows:) Project 111 is for the procurement of headstones, the estimated obligations for which for the fiscal year 1949 are $2,997 888. JUSTIFICATION OF THE ESTIMATE The justification of the estimate will be inserted at this point. (The justification follows:) To provide for the travel of headstone inspectors during the fiscal year 1949. Basis: An average of 4 trips per month to the marble and granite quarries and bronze factory. Inasmuch as requirements for headstones have increased approximately 100 percent, it will be necessary to employ 2 additional headstone inspectors and contract with at least 4 more quarries since the facilities of the quarries now under contract are not adequate to produce the required number of headstones. 03 Transportation of things. To provide for the freight charges on the shipment of 146,616 headstones, at $2.50. 07 Procurement of headstones (146,616, at $17.94+)---. To provide for the procurement of 53,640 headstones to cover normal requirements and 92,975 for marking graves of World War II dead returned from overseas at an average cost of $17.94+ each. The requirements for the fiscal year 1949 are based on the following: Unfilled applications carried over from fiscal year $1,000 366, 540 2, 630, 348 Number of applications received in fiscal year 16, 364 40, 844 Total fiscal year 1948 estimated requirements. Number which can be provided under fiscal year 1948 appropriation... 80, 416 72, 291 Estimated applications for World War II dead returned from overseas, fiscal year 1949: (1) In national cemeteries.. (2) In private cemeteries. Estimated receipts normal requirements, fiscal year 1949 Estimated carry-over, fiscal year 1948 to fiscal year 1949 8, 125 49, 421 31,000 61, 976 92,976 70546-48 -3 Recurring items-Continued Replacement of broken headstones in national cemeteries. Total fiscal year 1949 estimated requirements... Unfilled applications to be carried over to fiscal year 1950. Totala pplications processed and to be filled in fiscal Funds required in fiscal year 1949 for procurement of Unfilled applications carried over from fiscal year Number of applications received in fiscal year 1947. Total number of applications for filling in fiscal Contract, fiscal year 1947. $500 151, 022 5, 406 146, 616 $2,630, 348 16, 364 40, 844 57, 208 (Average cost per stone, current contract, $17.94+.) Estimate funds required in fiscal year 1949 for procurement of 146,616 headstones at $17.94+ $1,675, 638 41, 447 12, 005 174, 422 641, 330 85, 506 2, 630, 348 $2,630, 348 |