50-50 Decision

When the Foreign Operations Administration granted India $20 million last December to renovate its creaky railway system, it planned to buy 100 locomotives and 5,000 cars at the lowest possible price. But when FOA asked for bids from railroad equipment shops around the world, it ran into trouble. The bids from U.S. builders were about twice as high as those from foreign competition (TIME, Sept. 6). The domestic makers, who need the business, and labor unions put the pressure on FOA Boss Harold Stassen for the contracts.

Last week Stassen found a way out of the dilemma: he decided to split the orders 50-50 at home and abroad. This meant that the Government would have to put up an extra $7,000,000 to make up for the higher cost of the U.S. products. FOA's policy in the future, declared Stassen, would be to continue buying competitively on the free-world markets. But the policy would be tempered where necessary to help U.S. industries suffering from unemployment.

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