Memorandum of Disapproval of Bill for the Relief of the Cooper Tire and Rubber Co.

I AM WITHHOLDING my approval from H. R. 7499, "For the relief of the Cooper Tire and Rubber Company."

This bill would authorize and direct the Secretary of the Treasury to pay to the Cooper Tire and Rubber Company of Findlay, Ohio, the sum of $616,911.88 in full satisfaction of the claim of the corporation against the United States arising out of losses, due to increases in costs, incurred in performing seven contracts with the Department of the Army for the manufacture of rubber tires, tubes and camelback.

The contractor previously made application for relief under Title II of the first War Powers Act. This application was denied by the then Secretary of War, along with the claims of two other rubber manufacturers based on the same grounds.

The record indicates that the Company made a net profit of over $64,000 on the thirty-five Government contracts which were awarded to it during 1950, 1951 and 1952, the years in question, despite the fact that as to seven of them it sustained losses. from the Government's standpoint, it would be inequitable to grant relief to the Company with respect to the seven contracts on which it sustained losses, without giving consideration to the twenty-eight on which it made profits. The granting of relief in this case would also be discriminatory against many other contractors who sustained losses under fixed price contracts during the early part of the Korean War.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER