as his presidential appointment secretary. By June 1941, after more borrowing and dealmaking, Truman had assembled a staff of 10 investigators and 10 administrative assistants. Truman's first target was chosen to give him quick results. He knew that an investigation of waste and inefficiency in military housing projects would save a great deal of money and also would serve as good publicity for the Committee. On April 23, 1941, he began conducting hearings focusing on cost overruns related to the construction of cantonments and military facilities at places such as Fort Meade in Maryland, Indiantown Gap Military Reservation in Pennsylvania, and Camp Wallace in Hitchcock, Texas. As head of the Quartermaster Corps, General Brehon B. Somervell was in charge of the construction of military housing. He complained about the investigation and said that the Committee was "formed in iniquity for political purposes." The Truman Committee determined that the construction of military housing would be better managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, and the change was implemented by the Army. Somervell would later acknowledge that the Committee's investigation of military construction saved $250 million. Because of its quickly demonstrated success, the committee had its funding increased to $50,000 towards the end of 1941. Republican senators Harold Hitz Burton and Homer Ferguson joined it, as did Democratic Senator Harley M. Kilgore. The investigative staff expanded by 50%. Truman invited any interested senators to attend the hearings, which were held in the Senate Office Building in Room 449, where the Committee was based or, for larger hearings, in the Senate Caucus Room. Even Senator Nye came to visit, who had been the leader of the Senate investigative committee that Truman carefully studied and then denounced as "pure demagoguery." Unlike in other congressional hearings, witnesses were generally treated with respect by the Truman Committee and were neither rushed nor subjected to insulting or accusatory language. Even so, Truman revealed his persistence and quiet determination. Roosevelt had created a confusion of agencies to supervise war production. In January 1941, he ordered into being the Office of Production Management (OPM), headed by labor leader Sidney Hillman and business executive William S. Knudsen, an inefficient dual-leadership arrangement that suited Roosevelt's wish to prevent a challenge to his leadership. In July 1941, he formed another government department, the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board (SPAB), led by businessman Donald M. Nelson. The Truman Committee directed its attention on