Statement by the President Upon Signing Act Authorizing the Sale of Long Staple Cotton.

I HAVE TODAY approved H. J. Res. 172, legislation to authorize the sale of 50,000 bales of long staple cotton which were produced in the United States and heretofore bought for the national stockpile, but which are no longer needed for stockpile purposes. The disposal authorized is not in accord with the procedures established by Congress for the disposal of stockpile items. In approving this legislation, I wish to make two points clear.

First, in approving this departure from statutory procedures, I am convinced that there will be no adverse effects on nations which traditionally have supplied long staple cotton to the United States. During the present crop year those nations have not used the import quotas available to them, and there is no evidence that they will make full use of such quotas by sales in the United States before the dose of the present crop year on July 31. Furthermore, all of the cotton sold under this legislation will be sold at the domestic price. This will mean that there will be no price advantage to any which may be acquired for export. Authority for the sale of this cotton will have a beneficial effect upon American producers and users. Domestic long staple cotton is needed in the American market now. Approval of this legislation makes it possible to meet this need in the interim period before the new crop becomes available in the late fall.

Second, I do not look upon this legislation as a precedent for similar actions in the future. I believe that this is an isolated instance and that it represents no jeopardy to the established national policy of releasing in an orderly manner materials no longer needed for the stockpile. The United States has no intention of using stockpile inventories to influence world market conditions. The progress of this legislation through the Congress coincided with announcement that long staple cotton was no longer considered a strategic and critical material and that a plan for liquidation of the entire stockpile would be announced and submitted to the Congress for approval. That plan is required by law to have due regard to the protection of producers, processors, and consumers against avoidable disruption of their usual markets. The sale of the 50,000 bales under this legislation will be credited against the first year's releases under that plan.