17 



ing of credits and liabilities related to these 

 supplies with countries, companies, associa- 

 tions and individuals, and the adjusting of 

 all claims, will come within the administra- 

 tive authority of this department. Its de- 

 cision will be final, with, of course, the ex- 

 ception of appeal to the laws of the land. 

 Special provision will have to be made to 

 handle and protect individual interests in 

 the delivery of food supplies to European 

 governments. The Commission should 

 stand in the position of middleman in such 

 transactions, and save the producers from 

 the annoyances and red tape which all too 

 often work a genuine hardship on those 

 who deal with governments. 



5. Department of Finance. The func- 

 tions of this department will be identical 

 with those of similar departments in all 

 large commercial enterprises ; the handling 

 and disbursement of all funds placed at the 

 disposal of the Commission for conducting 

 its affairs ; the actual payment of all claims 

 on presentation of orders from the Depart- 

 ment of Distribution ; the collection of all 

 accounts due from transactions between the 

 Department of Distribution and the nations, 

 parties and persons with whom the Commis- 

 sion has commercial dealings, as agent or 

 principal ; and the entire supervision and 

 discharge of the fiscal affairs of the Com- 

 mission. 



6. Department of Conservation and Re- 

 search. This department will have a most 

 important division of the Commission's 

 work altho it may not be as prominent as 

 some of the others. For example, the ques- 

 tion of waste will require especial attention. 

 It is a well established fact that the waste of 

 food each year is enormous. The amazing 



