16 



bureaus, this department, in addition to its 

 other transportation problems, will have to 

 provide and maintain a large fleet of ships. 

 Doubtlessly, a considerable number can be 

 obtained thru charter, the confiscated 

 German and Austrian ships will be avail- 

 able, and the special wooden and steel 

 vessels now being built by the Government 

 should be placed under the direction of this 

 department of the National Food Commis- 

 sion. Furthermore, the powers of the Com- 

 mission should be enlarged to include the 

 building of such aditional ships of mod- 

 erate tonnage as may become necessary or 

 desirable. The work of this Department of 

 Transportation unquestionably will be 

 among the most important of the Commis- 

 sion's activities, for the utility and adequacy 

 of those of all the others will depend to a 

 large degree on the way in which the food 

 supplies are made available to the ultimate 

 consumer. 



4. Department of Distribution. The 

 activities of this department, at first 

 thought, might be looked upon as falling 

 within the scope or field of the Department 

 of Transportation, but as conceived in the 

 scheme of organization under discussion, its 

 duties will be quite distinct, for they will 

 have to do in particular with the manifold 

 details pertaining to the elaborate mecha- 

 nism of vending and accounting between the 

 producers, distributors and consumers. So 

 complex will lie the questions involved that 

 only the most general description of the du- 

 ties of this department will be possible at 

 this time. Suffice it to say that all compli- 

 cated problems concerned with the establish- 

 ing and satisfying of proprietary interests, 

 the transferring of rights and ownership in 

 food supplies, the investigating and approv- 



