Operations. During the fiscal year 1953, more attention will have to be given to operations matters with which some of the borrowers have had little or no past experience. As of June 30, 1952, no systems without previous operating experience had completed construction, and the two borrowers which had completed construction had considerable experience in the operation of rural telephone systems before receiving their REA loans. During 1953, it is anticipated that 18 cooperatives will complete construction and go into operation for the first time. In addition, 48 commercial companies with some operating experience will complete construction, many of which will encounter operations problems far transcending anything encountered in the past. These 18 cooperatives and 48 relatively inexperienced commercial companies represent the real beginning of postconstruction operations workload in the telephone program. Improvements in administration.-The most outstanding aspect of management improvement activities during the past fiscal year was the extensive reorganization of REA to meet better the needs and changing requirements of the electric and telephone programs and to provide a better integrated and more efficient basis for carrying on REA relations with borrowers. Other recent examples of improvements are (1) development of a new subject-matter classification system for classifying REA policies, procedures, and related materials issued for the administration and execution of the Agency's programs; (2) reduction of REA engineering services in the electric program and transfer of the responsibilities to the borrowers; (3) transfer of responsibility to borrowers for large power contracts; (4) better control over the financial transactions of the Agency and provision for expeditiously obtaining financial data relating to both lending and administrative activities, with a minimum of time and materials, achieved through development of a new chart of accounts which combines under one system all accounting for both lending and administrative operations; (5) simplification of the handling of loan accounts and a significant reduction in number of statements to borrowers through conversion of borrowers' records from a combined manual and bookkeeping machine method to punch-card tabulating equipment and standardization of methods of computing interest; (6) training supervisors for better management through a seminar-type training course conducted during the past year for a "pilot" group of REA supervisors to help them develop and keep abreast of recent developments in the field of administration and supervision; (7) initiation of a contractual research program to develop materials and equipment suitable for rural telephone systems; (8) improvements in the processing of telephone loan applications, and (9) development of a telephone engineering and construction manual. Statement of obligations under allotments and other funds Includes only those amounts which, by Nov. 30, 1952, were actually received or programed for 1953 or 1954. Since work for other agencies is performed on a service basis at the request of those agencies and for their benefit, it is not practicable to estimate in advance the amounts to be received in most cases] Item Flood prevention, agriculture (Rural Electrification Admin- Working funds, agriculture, general (Rural Electrification Total, obligations under allotments and other funds... GENERAL STATEMENT Mr. ANDERSEN. Mr. Farrington, do you have a general statement for the committee? Mr. FARRINGTON. With me this morning, Mr. Chairman, is Mr. E. C. Johnson, Special Assistant to the Secretary and Assistant Deputy Land Bank Commissioner, who has been designated by the Secretary to work with REA pending the appointment of an Administrator; also Mr. Wise, Deputy Administrator; Mr. Shepperd, Mr. Beall, Mr. Weitzell, Mr. Herzog, Mr. Blackburn, and Mr. Roberts. That is all I have now, Mr. Chairman. Mr. ANDERSEN. Mr. Wise, would you like to make a statement to the committee? STATISTICAL SUMMARY Mr. WISE. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, as we have done previously, we have prepared a statistical summary of REA operations, a copy of which will be distributed to each member of the committee. Mr. ANDERSEN. Would you like to speak from that? Mr. WISE. If it is satisfactory to the committee. That is the procedure we have followed heretofore. Mr. ANDERSEN. We will include the statistical summary in the record at this point. (The statement referred to follows:) 1 For typical system with density of 2.5 consumers per mile. ? Designed for an average of 90 kilowatt-hours per consumer. * Designed for an average of 300 kilowatt-hours per consumer. NOTE.-At 1952 costs, a line of 1940 capacity (90 kilowatt-hours) would cost about $1,380 per average mile, an increase of 92 percent over 1940 costs. The remainder of the increase results from the necessary design changes to handle the heavier loads. |