COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND CURRENCY UNITED STATES SENATE EIGHTIETH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON S. 2187 and H. R. 5314 BILLS PERTAINING TO THE NATIONAL STANFORD P72-19 FEBRUARY 24 AND MARCH 2, 1948 Printed for the use of the Committee on Banking and Currency CONTENTS Bruce, David, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Department of Com- Firestone, Harvey, Jr., Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio_. Keener, J. W., vice president, B. F. Goodrich Co., Akron, Ohio_- McCoy, H. B., Director, Office of Materials Distribution, Department of Commerce; Earl W. Glen, Chief, Rubber Division, Office of Ma- terials Distribution, Department of Commerce; John Caswell, Assist- ant to the Chief, Rubber Division, Office of Materials Distribution, Department of Commerce; Everett G. Holt, Rubber Adviser, De- partment of Commerce; Admiral C. E. Braine, Munitions Board, G. B. Hadlock, Office of Rubber Reserve; Donald B. Kennedy, State Department; and L. F. Walston, Chief Counsel, Office of Rubber Reserve, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Washington, D. C‒‒‒‒ Morss, Everett, preident, Simplex Wire & Cable Co Morton, Thruston B., Representative in Congress from the Third Con- O'Neil, president, General Tire & Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio_. Seiberling, J. P., president, Seiberling Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio___ Tisdale, George M., vice president, United States Rubber Co., New Wilson, Robert S., executive vice president, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Winters, Robert A., executive director, Association of Sole and Heel Manufacturers, New York, N. Y‒‒‒‒‒ Exhibits, statements, letters, etc., submitted for the record by- Bruce, David, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, memorandum and sug- Steelman, John R., letter to Senator Bricker- 52 Viles, A. L., president, Rubber Manufacturers' Association, New York, Welch, William, president, Midwest Rubber Reclaiming Co., East St. 34 III NATIONAL RUBBER POLICY TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1948 UNITED STATES SENATE, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a. m., in room 301, Senate Office Building, Senator John W. Bricker (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Bricker, Cain, and Robertson. Senator BRICKER. The committee will now come to order. This hearing is on Senate bill No. 2187, which has been introduced by members of this subcommittee. The committee would also be interested in any observation the witnesses care to make regarding H. R. 5314, introduced by Congressman Shafer. By way of preface, let me say that Congressman Shafer's committee held hearings during the summer and fall on the question of the Government control of synthetic-rubber production, took a voluminous record, did an excellent job, and prepared this House bill 5314. We have relied considerably in the preparation of the Senate bill upon that record and upon the several provisions of the House bill. We introduced Senate bill No. 2187 so that we might proceed with the hearings here. The statement of policy and several of the provisions of our bill are quite different from those in H. R. 5314. In the very beginning, though, we do feel like commending Congressman Shafer for the excellent job that he did, and the provisions of the Senate bill which are different from the House bill resolve around questions of policy. We have present this morning several witnesses. The first witness is Congressman Thruston B. Morton, of Louisville, Ky., who is here to testify, as I understand it, upon a portion of the bill; and then we have Mr. Harvey Firestone; Mr. William O'Neil; Mr. J. P. Seiberling; Mr. William Welch; Mr. Robert A. Winters; Mr. Everett Morse; Mr. Robert S. Wilson; Mr. George M. Tisdale; and Mr. Ward Keener, who will appear in that order. We are hopeful to get as far along as we possibly can before the convening of the Senate at 12 o'clock. (S. 2187 and H. R. 5314, and accompanying report are as follows:) [S. 2187, 80th Cong., 2d sess.] A BILL To strengthen national security and the common defense by providing for the maintenance of an adequate domestic rubber-producing industry, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Rubber Act of 1948". 1 |