Dear
Charlie: I feel that the Defense Department could help materially in our present difficulties with beef prices. It is true that some months ago the Quartermaster General of the Army increased his beef reserves from 60 days to 120 days' supply. But I believe that at this moment--which I consider critical--the Defense Department possibly has it within its power to give a decisive reinforcement to existing programs.1
Secretary Benson's various measures have done much to alleviate suffering of the beef producers in drought areas and to halt precipitous declines in the prices of the lower grades.2
We seem to be in sort of a "teetering" stage--a real push could very easily start us on a general rise that would at least bring these grades of beef up to the cost of production.
The simple thing that all of the military services could now do would be to start, instantly, the purchase of beef to their maximum capacity to handle it.
All this could be done in numerous ways. I know of no reason (since every fighting man that I ever knew was particularly fond of beef) why we should not temporarily, even without publicity, increase the beef component of our ration at the expense of some other item which may now be expensive, i.e., pork, fowl, eggs, or even cereals and so on. With 3,500,000 people in the services, even a 2-ounce increase in the daily beef ration would be almost half a million pounds daily, or more than three million pounds a week.
Another way in which we could get immediate help would be to ask the services to buy, for immediate delivery, all the fresh beef that they could carry.
An even more important help would come from the purchase of a lot of canned beef (the lower grade) which could be included in the so-called "reserve" type of rations. Since well-canned beef lasts almost indefinitely, it would seem to me possible to buy a great deal of this kind of beef at the moment.
The only way to raise beef prices is to have a greater demand for it. At the same time, by initiating this kind of a program while costs are low, the Defense Department would be getting its supplies--especially in all the lower grades--at a price that is generally below production costs. In other words, it would be good business for the Defense Department and for the country.
Won't you please sink your teeth into this problem and see if you can get something going?
When we have our regular Monday morning conference, you can tell me about your progress.3 As ever
