THE INDUSTRIAL REHABILITATION PROGRAM OF UNRRA

391 Pages·018.023 MB·English

by  COLBERT, JAMES LEEDER

THE INDUSTRIAL REHABILITATION PROGRAM OF UNRRA
by 1
James Leeder Colbert
Submitted in partial fulfillm ent of the requirements for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy in -the Faculty of Political Science
Columbia University
February 18, 1950
PREFACE
This study was undertaken in the winter of 1947, and its scope and
general approach were discussed with Professor Philip C. Jessup. "When
Dr. Jessup took leave of absence from Columbia University, the work was put
under the supervision of Professor Joseph P. Chamberlain. The w riter wishes
to acknowledge the interest shown and assistance given by Professor Chamber-
lain during the preparation of this paper. Acknowledgment is also due to
Professors LLssitzyn and Macmahon of Columbia University, and to Dr. Allen
T. Bonnell, and Mr. Arthur J. Kelsey, formerly of UNRRA. The staffs of
the UNRRA Historian and of the UNRRA Archivist were also very helpful. Last
but not least, my wife Evelyn S. Colbert gave me editorial assistance and
general encouragement.
The sources which have been used in this essay are largely frcm the
official records and reports of the Administration, which were transferred to
the United Nations in September 1948. Minutes and notes of conferences and
discussions on the industrial rehabilitation supply operation have also been
referred to. The author was connected with the UNRRA Bureau of Supply from
January 1945 until September 1948, and in the period after March 1946 was
Chief of the Requirements and Program Analysis Section, Industrial Rehabilita­
tion Division, Washington.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER Is INDUSTRIAL REHABILITATION : ORIGIN AND SCOPE 17
Introduction 17
A Note on Definition 18
The UNRRA Agreement 21
The First Council Session 24
The Estimation of Requirements Bases for Europe 30
lim itations on United States Participation 38
United States Signature of the Agreement 38
Joint Resolution Authorizing United States
Participation in UNRRA 42
CHAPTER II: THE PROGRAM OF OPERATIONS FOR INDUSTRIAL
REHABILITATION 49
The Estimation of Impart Requirements (1944*1945 ) 49
Headquarters Policy 49
Contributing Country Influence in the Early
Industrial Program 50
Receiving Country Influence 52
Headquarters Strengthens the Industrial
Rehabilitation Division 56
Attanpts to Secure Requirements Information 59
The Advance Procurement Program 61
Stockpiles in Advance of liberation 62
The Budget for Industrial Rehabilitation 63
Transportation 66
Road Transport 67
Rail Traisport 73
Public U tilities 81
Shelter and Building Construction Equipment 87
%ning Equipment 89
Fuels and Lubricants 97
Raw Materials 106
Machine Repair Industry 108
Miscellaneous Consumer Goods 110
Summary of the Advance Purchase Program 111
Response of Receiving Countries to the
Advance Purchase Program 112
Requests to the Combined Shipping
Adjustmait Board 114
The Program of Operations for Industrial Rehabilitation 117
Organization and Orientation of the Industrial
Rehabilitation Division 117
Equitable Distribution Not Equal Distribution 123
Establishment of the Field Missions 126
The Third Session of the Council (August 1945) 137
Preparation of the Program of Operations by
the Administration 139
The Seoond Supply Conference 151
Summary of the Programs Established by the
Supply Conference 165
Action by the Program Subcommittee of the Central
Committee on the Industrial Rehabilitation Program 168
CHAPTER IH s SCME ASPECTS OF PROCUREMENT FOR INDUSTRIAL
REHABILITATION 174
Introduction 174
Procurement in the United States 184
Effects of Economic Maladjustments 184
Removal of Controls, Cancellation of
Lend-Lease 186
Policy Guidance for U.S. Operating Agencies 188
Procedure for Allocation Qit of U.S. Supplies 196
Industrial Rehabilitation Division Requests
for Priority and Procurement Assistance 204
Procuranaxt of Supplies in Relation to the
Voting of Funds 211
Ehcumbrance of United States Funds Related to
Approval of Procurement 215
Sane Methods Used by the Division to Secure
U.S. Supplies 232
The Diversion of United States Surplus Rail
from China to Yugoslavia 241
United States Overseas Surpluses 253
The Procurement of United States Surpluses
in Europe 257
Pacific Surpluses far China 301
Some Aspects of the Relationship vdth Receiving
Countries 327
Fourth Supply Conference 328
Pressure to F ulfill Programs 338
National Representation in the Industrial
Rehabilitation Division ! 342
CHAPTER IV: REVIEW AND CONCLUSIONS 360
APPENDIX I
Resolution No. 12 371
Resolution No. 13 374
APPENDIX II
Report of Shipments of Industrial Rehabilitation Supplies 377
1
The Industrial Rehabilitation Program, of UNRRA
Introduction
The last two world conflicts have been closely followed by large-scale
humanitarian efforts to alleviate some of the suffering and distress caused
by the battles and the bombings. After each war, there has been a period
when there was common agreement among the Allied Powers as to the necessity
for such aid and the measures to furnish it. After World Wars I and II, the
United States was the principal benefactor of the states and the peoples
that had been the principal sufferers.
The parallel between the two periods may be carried further. In each
war, the participation of the United States was not as prolonged as that of
most of the other participants, and the sacrifices made by the United States,
although unprecedented in its history, were relatively not as great as those
of the other A llie s .T h e national economy during each war had become fully
oriented and organized under systems of controls for the attainment of
victory. After World War I, the United States responded with the Hoover
Relief Mission, which was a purely United States operation for the d istri­
bution of relief. After World War H , apparently wishing not to duplicate
the mistakes of the 1920's, when the United States turned away from inter­
national cooperation, the Roosevelt Administration's policy of post-war
assistance to liberated countries was announced as a policy within the frame­
work of the United Nations. The Declaration of the United Nations had
been signed at the White House on January 1, 19U2, by the United States and
twenty-five other states, and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
1L For a good survey of the relief programs after World War I, see Lindsay
Rogers, ed., The Problems of Reconstruction, International and National
(New York, 19151
- o
Administration.'*' was the first specialized agency of the United Nations
brought into existence*
The United States adhered to the Declaration of the United Nations by
an executive agreement, which action, of course, did not require the advice
and consent of the Senate* As w ill be discussed, it was also intended by
the Secretary of State that adherence to UNRRA should be by executive agree­
ment, but the Senate objected to this procedure. At various further stages,
from the time when discussions were held of the draft UNRRA Agreement, up
to the final appropriation of funds for UNRRA, the Senate and the House of
Representatives qualified their endorsement of UNRRA by placing various
lim itations on the scope of its operations. An important lim itation was
that the Administration not engage in reconstruction. As w ill be seen,
their guidance on this point was not always followed by the Administration.
The basic covenant which framed the objectives of UNRRA was the
Agreement, signed by h3 nations on November 9, 19k3* The Agreement in
Article I stressed the need for relief and rehabilitation in the liberated
countries and UNRRA was established "to plan, coordinate, administer or
arrange for the administration of measures for the relief of victims of war
in any area under the control of any of the United Nations through the
provision of food, fuel, clothing, shelter and other basic necessities,
medical and other essential services; and to facilitate in such areas, so
far as necessary to the adequate provision of relief, the production and
transportation of these articles and the furnishing of these services."
A rticles III and IV provided for the direction and management of UNRRA
affairs. A rticle III set up the governmental policy-making bodies, the
Council, the Central Committee, the Committee on Supplies, and the regional
1 Henceforth to be referred to as UNRRA or the Administration
3
committees* Article IV vested in the Director General of the Administra­
tion fu ll powers to discharge the obligations arising from the operation
of UNRRA in accordance with the broad intentions set out in Article I*
Article V provided that each member government contribute to UNRRA to pro­
vide the means of relief, and, so that relief supplies should be most
adequately utilized, purchases by a ll countries for this purpose were to
be reviewed by the Director General.
In drawing up the blueprint for the structure of UNRRA in 19U2 and
19U3, the United States and Great Britain had few historical parallels and
functional analogies in the record of international organizations to go on.
1
The operating responsibilities of UNRRA in the field of relief supply were
to be far broader and more extensive than those of organizations previously
constituted to deal with subjects of international concern.
Before discussing the general structure of UNRRA, it would be well to
point out the broad sim ilarities between UNRRA and other international
organizations. UNRRA was created by national governments to perform a task
which i t was their concensus needed to be done and would be best done by
acting in concert. UNRRA1s ultimate authority was lodged in the govern­
ments of the participating 3tates. Manbership in UNRRA was voluntary.
Equally, there was no compulsion on members of UNRRA who had been invited
to request supplies of UNRRA, and members which were eligible to make con­
tributions for supplies did not uniformly regard themselves as bound to make
contributions to the fu ll amounts specified. Resolutions of the UNRRA
Council had no mandatory binding force on UNRRA members, the tests of all
contain the statement "the Council recommends"•
1 This essay is concerned only with UNRRA’s supply job, and not the other
large tasks it undertook such as the care of displaced persons.
4
"When a government requested UNRRA's assistance, a subcommittee of the
Council had to determine whether the government was in a financial position
1
to pay for supplies and services. UNRRA recipient states therefore, passed
a foxro of means test before becoming eligible for help. As a practical
matter, the degree of monetary solvency was not taken into account in eval-
2
uating the size of the supply program. From a prestige standpoint, the
•test for eligibility on the basis of ability to pay introduced a factor of
inequality between states members of UNRRA. To a certain extent the contri­
buting countries in general and the principal contributors in particular
(United States, United Kingdom and Canada) were the dominant countries in
UNRRA. As a practical matter, it could not have been otherwise. 'While the
psychological factor of national sensitiveness should not be overlooked,
the central struggle in connection with industrial rehabilitation was for
real control over decision-making.
UNRRA was set up for the specific purpose of arranging for the relief
of victims of war by the provision of certain supplies and services. Once
the peoples in need had been relieved, UNRRA's purpose was fulfilled. In
contrast to most other international organizations, therefore, UNRRA was a
short-term operation. But equally in contrast to organizations with con­
tinuing jurisdiction, its task was of such great magnitude that over a very
short period of time it had to exercise extensive powers and call for extra­
ordinary cooperation from governments in order to accomplish its objectives.
1 Resolution No. ll;, para. 16. "It shall be the policy of the Administra­
tion not to deplete its available resources for the relief and rehabilita­
tion of any area whose government is in a position to pay with suitable
means of foreign exchange."
2 Ibid., para. 18.
5
Shipments and procurement of supplies had to be completed for each European
country and the Far East in a two-year period extending roughly over 19l;6
and part of 19h$ and 19U7* Procedural rules and administrative practices,
therefore had to permit rapid decisions.
The organizational structure of UNRRA embodied elements drawn from
experience with other international organizations, as well as innovations.
The two broad subdivisions of the structure were the policy-making and the
administrative. In general the latter classification covered the Director
General and his numerous staff, and the former the governmental planning
and policy bodies, such as the Council, the Central Committee, the regional
and the functional committees. The Council, on which a ll members of UNRRA
were represented, was the most numerous group, with the power of final re­
view and approval. There was ample precedent for this type of control in
the various international commissions. At the peak of UNRRA’s operations,
the Central Committee, on which membership was largely limited to the Great
Powers, operated to screen and evaluate UNRRA supply programs through a
Program Subcommittee, which exercised very close supervision over the opera­
tions of the international organization.
The Council, on which virtually all powers were represented,'1' took
2
decisions by a majority vote on the basis of the rule of none state, one
vote”. In the Council, recognition was given to the principle in inter­
national law of the equality of states. The predominance of certain powers,
and the necessity for continuing management through a board of directors,
were acknowledged in the creation of the Central Committee, consisting of
the representatives of China, the USSR, United Kingdom and the United
States. In March 19U6, its membership was increased to nine states.
1 Forty-six states were members in March 19U6.
2 UNRRA Agreement, Article III, para. 1
3 Ibid., Article H I, para. 3*
6
l
It was hoped that much of the real guidance to the Administration
would be given by the two regional committees, the Committee of the Council
2 3
for Europe and the Committee of the Council for the Far East* The member­
ship of the CC/E consisted of a ll members of the Council "representing mem­
ber governments of territories within the European area and such other
members of the Council representing other governments directly concerned
k
with the problems of relief and rehabilitation in the European area. n The
CC/FE consisted of all members of the Council "representing member govern­
ments of territories within the Far Eastern area and such other members of
the Council representing other governments directly concerned with the
k
problems of relief and rehabilitation in the Far Eastern area. " These
Committees met within their respective areas, and were responsible for
establishing relief standards and policies for their regions.
Drawing in part on the war-time successful experience with joint efforts,
both two power and m ultilateral, to deal with various specific subjects,
various technical subcommittees were also created to give the Administration
guidance and the opportunity to deal directly with governments on technical
m atters. Appointment to membership on the technical committees was made
by the Council from among members which indicated their intention to parti-
cipato. This paper w ill be concerned with the work of the industrial
rehabilitation subcommittees which met in London and Washington.
1 P. C. Je3sup, "UNRRA, Another Step Towards World Order". Post-War World
(Feb. 15, 19Wl)
2 Referred to hereafter as CC/E
3 Referred to hereafter as CC/FE
I4. UNRRA Agreement. Art. III., para. 5*
5 Resolution No. 26, para. 2.