[Victory. V. 2, No. 51]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
VICTORY
formerly DEFENSE
OFFICIAL WEEKLY BULLETIN OF THE AGENCIES IN THE OFFICE FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
WASHINGTON. D. C.
DECEMBER 23, 1941
VOLUME 2, NUMBER 51
DEFENSE PROGRESS
MANPOWER
National labor force, Nov____ 53,300,000
Unemployed, Nov_____________ 3, 900, 000
Nonagrieultural workers, Oct_*40, 749,000
Percent increase since June 1940 14
18 defense industries, Oct__ 2, 700,000
Percent increase since June 1940 69
FINANCE (jₙ millions
June 10 W to latest reporting date of dollars) Authorized program, Dec. 15_______*74,440
Obligations Nov. 30_______;-------*47, 726
Total disbursements, Nov. 30______*13,299
PRODUCTION
Paid on contracts, June 1940-
November 30, 1941__________$10, 488, 000, 000
Combat vessels in November 2
Merchant ships, November. *11
Weed ended December 20 Strikes Workers
Significant defense strikes in
progress during week-------- 5 800
Number settled------------- 3 300
♦Preliminary.
In this issue
Review of the week . • . . " ᵣ ... 2
Tires to be rationed . v*. . . 3
PRIORITIES
Materials requisitioned at ports . . • • • • 4
PRODUCTION
Warplanes and tanks roll off the lines • . . > . 8
CIVILIAN SUPPLY
Local boards to apply rationing..................10
PRICE ADMINISTRATION
Stabilizing the rubber industry..................12
MATERIALS
High ratings to speed new steel capacity ... 23
LABOR
Aid for rubber workers...........................24
MEDIATION BOARD
No strikes on the calendar.......................25
CONSERVATION
War compels immediate saving of “waste” . . 26
AGRICULTURE
Rubber planting stock arrives safely • • • • 28
CIVILIAN DEFENSE
Wing commanders for civilian air patrol ... 30
432938°—41
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December 23, 1941
Review of the Week
The American public began last week to learn at first hand about our stake in the Pacific. Price Administrator Henderson, who also is director of the Division of Civilian Supply in the Office of Production Management, announced that rationing of new rubber tires would begin January 4. He said the present view of such rubber supplies as we can count on is that virtually none can be spared to manufacture tires for private owners of passenger cars. Mr. Henderson emphasized that the rationing would be by local boards set up through the defense councils, and in response to questions he said the local boards probably would be useful in case other items must be rationed.
All tin under Federal control
At the same time the Federal Government moved through the OPM Priorities Division to take charge of all tin in the United States and en route. Tin, like rubber, comes largely from the Far East.
The Priorities Division took direct control of iron and steel alloys containing several elements for which we depend in various degrees on the Orient. Manufacturers of ferrochromium agreed to changes in specifications permitting the use of lower-grade ores. Tungsten allocation was prolonged.
Ceilings put on wool prices
Action was taken on a number of fibers affected by the war with Japan. The Office of Price Administration put ceilings on prices of raw wool, wool tops, wool yarns, and wool floor coverings. Manufacturers of woolens pledged aid in conservation. Meanwhile, OPA announced it was preparing further emergency price schedules on a number of textiles.
A ceiling was placed on prices of kapok, a life-jacket filling of which 90 percent comes from the Netherlands East Indies. OPM put drastic restrictions on the sale of manila cordage, a Philippine product. OPA asked handlers of natural resins and shellac to keep charges at or below December 5 levels. Second-hand burlap bags.
as well as used cotton bags, were subjected to a schedule of maximum prices because of urgent Army and Navy needs for sandbags and the threat to burlap imports.
First goods requisitioned
Meanwhile the Priorities Division, making the first use of new powers, requisitioned over a million dollars’ worth of steel, copper, and teakwood waiting at American ports for forwarding to foreign owners to whom shipment can no longer be made.
On the production front, machine tool manufacturers were told in an OPM meeting that they might have to double their output. They promised to do everything necessary. The Production Division announced that the first Army bomber from parts fabricated by the automobile industry will be assembled soon after the first of the year, months ahead of schedule.
OPM organization tightened
To speed decisions on war production and the conversion of plants to military output, industry branches of OPM were told to report directly to the Director General and Associate Director General, and to work more closely with management and labor.
A strike of welders on the West Coast interfered with huge war contracts while labor and management representatives prepared to resume their conference in Washington for uninterrupted production in all armament factories during the emergency.
The Office of Civilian Defense stressed that production should continue without interruption in arms plants during trial black-outs.
Further moves on iron and steel followed the addition, late in the previous week, of domestic stoves to the list of goods for which use of the metals is curtailed. OPA put a price ceiling on all resales of iron and steel products in quantities normally handled by jobbers, dealers and distributors. The OPM Materials Division announced that priority ratings
just below those accorded top military projects would be granted to speed expansion of capacity to make steel for our ships and tanks and guns.
Steps were taken to prevent, so far as possible, dislocations caused by restriction of the rubber supply. A ceiling was put on prices of reclaimed rubber, and the two principal American sellers of guayule rubber, made in small quantities from a shrub grown in Mexico and California, were asked to keep their prices down. OPM Associate Director General Hillman issued a five-point program that management and labor will be expected to follow in alleviating unemployment among rubber workers. Price Administrator Henderson asked makers of rubber soles and heels to avoid price increases pending completion of an OPA study.
Stabilizing consumers’ goods
Manufacturers of seven types of consumer:? durable goods—china, glass, lamps, lampshades, clocks, watches, and silverware—were asked to curb their prices. Prices of bleaching powder, needed by the armed forces to combat poison gas and disease, were stabilized by voluntary agreement. More than 700 makers of paper products, from envelopes to straws, were asked to give a month’s notice before increasing prices. The waste paper price schedule was revised.
Other price action or agreements concerned sulphuric acid, pyrophosphate (basis of cleaning compounds), benzol, toluol (starting point for T. N. T.), xylol, solvent naphtha, zinc oxide, and blast furnace beehive coke.
The Priorities Division removed red tape to speed up action on rated orders involving less than $500 worth of material. Preference ratings for industrial repair, maintenance, and supply were liberalized.
Don’t wait—save now
Because of needs made urgent by the outbreak of war, the Bureau of Industrial Conservation asked householders the Nation over to start saving “waste” materials without waiting for the- inauguration of the formal salvage program.
OPM authorized the setting up of a committee to determine over-all supplies necessary for preserving the health of the civilians and fighting men and to see that the supplies are made available.
VICTORY
OFFICIAL BULLETIN of the Office for Emergency Management. Published weekly by the Division of Information, Office for Emergency Management, and printed at the United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.
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December 23, 1941
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Henderson outlines rationing system, virtual ban on new tires for private cars
Tires will be rationed after January 4, through local boards set up in cooperation with the defense councils, Leon Henderson, price administrator and director of Civilian Supply, told a press conference December 17. Excerpts from the conference appear on page 10. Mr. Henderson’s prepared statement follows:
Spread of the war to the East Indies area threatens the future importation of rubber into this country. Approximately 50 percent of crude rubber comes from land areas already occupied or being invaded by the Japanese. Another 43 percent comes from the adjacent Dutch and British Islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, all of which are threatened by the Japanese.
This means that consumption of rubber products already manufactured and of crude rubber-must be conserved by every possible means until the outlook for future crude rubber imports is cleared up.
At the present time this country has on hand a substantial stockpile of crude rubber and large inventories of manufactured goods held by producers and dealers.
However, expanding needs of the military forces plus the uncertainty over the possibility of getting further imports make it imperative at this time that we cut down our civilian consumption to not more than 10,000 tons of crude rubber per month. This is taking a pessimistic view of the situation but no other attitude is justified in the present emergency.
Consumption of crude rubber for production of civilian goods in recent months has been running at a monthly rate of around 47,000 tons. It is obvious that we will have to reduce this consumption df crude rubber by nearly 80 percent.
75 percent normally goes into tires
Approximately 75 percent of crude rubber consumed in this country normally goes into tires. A small amount of the balance, aside from nontire military needs, goes into such products as golf and tennis balls, bathing apparel, stationers’ goods, toy balloons, etc. Manufacture of such products can be eliminated entirely. But most of the balance goes into essential mechanical goods and other products such as fire hose, transmission and conveyor belts, packings, friction tape, jar rings, surgeons’ gloves, hot water bottles, syringes,
protective clothing, and thousands of other products. Substantial amounts of reclaimed rubber are available but will have to be used in large part to replace crude rubber in the manufacture of mechanical goods and other products. Likewise, a substantial part of the 10,-000 tons of crude rubber available per month for civilian goods will have to be
RUBBER
FURTHER EXPLANATION of rationing, by Mr. Henderson—page 10.
RECLAIMED RUBBER put under price ceiling—page 12.
GUAYULE SELLERS asked to keep prices down—page 12.
CARBON BLACK, tire component, permitted price increase—page 12.
EMPLOYMENT program to meet dislocations due to restricted output— page 24.
SAVING TIRES—10 rules—page 12.
PLANTING STOCK reaches U. S. ahead of war—page 28.
used in manufacture of such products. Amounts of synthetic rubber available in the near future will be very small. This means that only a part of the 10,000 tons per month of residual supply will be available for tire production.
At the present time there are between 7,000,000 and 8,000,000 new tires in stock in this country. In recent months replacement tire sales have been running around 4,000,000 tires a month. It is obvious that existing stocks on this basis would be adequate to meet only, about 2 months’ normal requirements.
The Government moved to meet this situation on December 11 by imposing a ban on sales of new tires, except for those buyers having priority ratings of A-3 or higher. This ban was to extend to December 22, during which period it was hoped that a rationing plan could be perfected. Much progress has been made on development of this plan through the combined efforts of the Division of Civilian Supply of OPM and the Office of Price Administration. It will be necessary, however, to extend the ban on new tire sales through January 4 to complete preparation of the rationing plan.
Framework of rationing
Basic framework of a tentative rationing plan has been worked out, however, and I want to review its principal features:
1. For the time being production of new passenger car tires will be alxfiost entirely eliminated and production of new truck tires will be curtailed.
2. A monthly quota of tires which can be sold in the United States and its possessions will be determined on the basis of the amount of crude rubber which can be used in production of new tires.
3. These monthly quotas will be broken down into State and county quotas primarily on the basis of commercial vehicle registrations in each area.
4. State and local rationing boards are being set up by Frank Bane, director of Field Operations, OPA, through State defense councils. The State boards will serve largely as clearing agencies for information passing between the Federal Government and local boards.
5. Sales of new tires will be limited to individuals and agencies requiring them for the maintenance of industrial efficiency and civilian health. These will include the following broad classes: vehicles required for the maintenance of public safety and health; passenger transportation equipment, exclusive of private passenger cars; and a limited group of essential truck operators. Details of this list of users who will be permitted to buy new tires will be issued within a few days. In any event sales of new tires to owners of private passenger cars wijl be virtually prohibited for the present.
6. Would-be purchasers of new tires will be required to show to the local rationing boards that they fall within the eligible groups, and that .it is essential for them to get tires for the safe operation of their vehicles.
7. Purchasers fulfilling these requirements will be given certificates permitting them to make purchases.
Prices will be stabilized
8. Controls are also being developed over the sale of retreaded tires and the retreading of tires.
9. Appropriate price action to stabilize tire prices will be taken by the Office of Price Administration before the rationing plan is instituted.
10. The rationing plan will be issued as a priority order and will carry all the legal sanctions behind such orders, including the power to withhold priority assistance in replenishing stocks and criminal penalties incident to falsification of reports to the Government.
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December 23, 1941
PRIORITIES ...
OPM seizes over million dollars in scarce materials stored for foreign shipment
Priorities Director N61son announced December 19 the requisitioning of more than a million dollars’ worth of critical scarce materials being held in warehouses and railroad terminals for shipment to foreign countries.
The seizures were the first moves under the requisitioning authority extended to the OPM in the Executive order signed by the President on November 19.
I Steel stocks, other items seized
More than 13 million pounds of steel in bars, plates, and shapes, 3V₂ million pounds of electrolytic copper, 34,000 pounds of tin, and 70,000 feet of teakwood decking and squares, on order for shipment to European countries, have been taken over by the Navy Department, with the approval of the Priorities Director.
All of the stocks of steel seized had been located by the Bureau of Research and Statistics of the OPM, as a result of its survey off immobilized Inventories. The copper, tin, and teakwood supplies had been reported directly to the Navy Department.
Owners to be compensated
The owners of the seized materials, mostly firms in Holland, Switzerland, and Sweden, which had placed their orders before the outbreak of war, will be compensated according to the regulations promulgated by the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board on December 8. These require that immediately upon the seizure of any property, notice of the requisitioning shall be given by the requisitioning authority to all persons known to have, or claim, any interest in such property. Owners are directed to file claims with the requisitioning authority.
The requisitioning authority will make a preliminary determination of the just compensation to be paid for the requisitioned property and submit this determination to our owners. Provision is made for the holding of hearings in cases where disagreements arise as to the price to be paid.
Further requisitions expected
The inventory and requisitioning section, which passed upon the Navy’s requests to make the seizures, was set up in the Priorities Division on December 9,
the day after the President signed the declaration of war with Japan, and the first approvals were signed by the Director of Priorities on December 13.
Mr. Nelson pointed out that the materials requisitioned had become immobilized, as they had been set aside for shipment abroad before the outbreak of the war in Europe made this impossible. They were being held in a number of warehouses, yards, and other places of storage.
It is expected further requisitions of idle materials will be made by the Army, Navy, and Maritime Commission, following approval by the OPM, and by the OPM itself.
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Alloying elements placed under strict control
To conserve scarce alloying elements used in the production of alloy iron and steel, an amendment to General Preference Order M-21-a has been issued, effective December 20, prohibiting producers from melting any alloy iron or alloy steel containing specified alloying elements in specified amounts, except to fill orders with rating of A-10 or higher, or by special direction of the Director of Priorities.
More stringent January 1
Effective January 1 is a prohibition of delivery of such materials save on the same terms, with an added proviso that the Director of Priorities may issue orders directing or forbidding specific deliveries.
Under the terms of the amendment, the Priorities Director may also issue orders governing the amount of any alloying material to be used in the production of any alloy steel or alloy iron.
Alloy iron or alloy steel containing any one or more of the following elements in the following amounts, are covered by the restrictions:
Manganese in excess of 1.65%; copper in excess of 0.60%; chromium in excess of 0.60%; molybdenum in excess of 0.60%; nickel in excess of 0.60%; cobalt, tungsten, or vanadium in any amount specified or known to have been added to obtain a desired alloying effect.
Drastic restrictions placed on sale of manila cordage
Drastic restrictions on the sale of manila cordage were ordered December 19 by OPM in a further amendment to General Preference Order M-36 covering manila fiber and cordage, which is imported from the Philippines.
The sale of manila cordage to the mining industry is eliminated.
Further manufacture of class C cordage is prohibited. Such cordage consists half and half of sisal rope and manila cordage. Stocks now on hand or in process of manufacture may be sold.
Under the latest amendment, manila cordage may be sold by processors and dealers only for the following categories of orders:
1. Defense orders accompanied by preference rating certificates (not including a Preference Rating Order) having a rating of A-l-j or better.
2. Commercial marine usages in vessels engaged in the carriage of cargo or passengers, or in towage, lighterage or fishing for commercial fish markets or canneries, and usages for shipbuilding. (Boats used in taking out sportsmen for hire are excluded.)
3. Oil wells and gas wells—for drilling cables only.
Sales of existing stocks have been further restricted. Previously such sale was permitted in lengths of 540 feet or less. Now it is limited to 200 feet or less, provided the rope has already been cut in such lengths.
With certain exceptions, manila fiber may be imported only by the Defense Supplies Corporation or the Navy. The exceptions are certain existing contracts with cordage manufacturers where shipping is scheduled between now and April 30, 1942.
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Limits on methyl alcohol deliveries removed for three uses
Limits on the amounts of methyl alcohol which may be delivered for use (a) as a denaturant for ethyl alcohol; (b) for the production of formaldehyde; (c) for general chemical manufacture, have been removed by an amendment to General Preference Order M-31 issued December 19 by the Division of Priorities.
The purpose of this amendment is to promote these uses for methyl alcohol at 'the expense of less essential uses.
December 23, 1941
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Federal Government moves to take charge of all tin supplies in U. S. and en route
The Federal Government moved December 18 to take charge of all supplies of tin in the United States and all tin afloat.
General Preference Order M-33, issued by Donald M. Nelson, Director of Priorities, provides that:
1. All supplies of tin shall be subject to specific allocation by the Director of Priorities and the purposes for which tin is used shall also be specified.
2. No tin may be sold or delivered without specific permission of the Director of Priorities.
3. Future imports of tin may not be sold except to the Metals Reserve Company or other governmental agency.
4. Tin now afloat may not be sold except by special permission of the Director of Priorities.
The only exception to the order is that a distributor may deliver to his regular customers less than 5-ton lots of tin, subject to Priorities Regulation No. 1.
No supplies to those who have plenty
Inventory provisions of Regulation No. 1 will be invoked and no deliveries of tin or tin products will be made to fabricators who have ample stocks on hand.
Purpose of the order is to conserve existing supplies of tin, which is used largely in the canning of food. Practically all our tin comes from Malaya and the Netherlands Indies.
Approximately a year’s supply of tin, at normal demand levels, now is on hand in the United States. Careful conservation is expected to make this supply stretch through any possible emergency period. A conservation order, limiting the uses of tin and the uses of tin-lined cans, will be issued within the next few days, it was announced.
U. S. produces little
The United States consumes more than 100,000 tons of tin a year and produces practically none. Bolivian ores to be refined in a new smelter now under construction in Texas cannot supply more than a third of our normal requirements.
According to tin experts in OPM, detinning of cans is an expensive process, but salvage operations in that field may be necessary.
Iron and steel for home cooking appliances cut 35 percent beginning January 1
Use of iron and steel in the manufacture of a wide variety of stoves, ranges and other domestic cooking appliances will be curtailed sharply beginning January 1 under an order issued December 13 by Priorities Director Nelson.
The order calls for an average cut of 35 percent during the period from January 1 to April 30 below the monthly average of iron and steel used in the 12 months* ended June 30, 1941.
Between now and January 1, use of these critical materials will be frozen at the level of average daily use during the 12-month base period.
Quarterly saving of 58,000 tons
Producers affected by the order, numbering about 200, used approximately 500,000 tons of iron and steel in the year ended June 30,1941. The initial curtailment is designed to result in savings of about 58,000 tons in the first quarter of 1942.
Curtailment is based on size of firms, so that many smaller manufacturers located in little Southern towns where no defense work is obtainable will not be faced with too serious a labor displacement problem. The industry as a whole is not well adapted for conversion to arms production, lacking the equipment for precision work. The industry employs approximately 60,000 workers.
Cooking appliances covered by the order include all types of ranges, stoves, hot plates, combination ranges, camp and trailer stoves, and fuel oil conversion range burners, using gas, electricity, coal and wood, kerosene, fuel oil or gasoline, or any combination of coal and wood or fuel oil with gas or electricity.
Companies classed by dollar volume
Companies are classed according to the factory sales value of products manufactured during the base period. The following table shows the percentage cut for each class during the first quarter of 1942:
Class Factory sales value Percent
cut
A....... $3,000,000 or more_________________ 42
B_______ $1,000,001 to $3,000,000............. 36
0....... $1,000,000 or less........-.......... 30
Government purchases of cooking appliances obtained on a competitive bidding basis for defense housing are ex
cluded from the quota, as are lend-lease and certain other defense purchases.
Iron and steel covers banned Dec. 15
Other important features of the order are:
1. Effective December 15, no manufacturer is permitted to use iron or steel to produce cover tops or lids to cover cooking surfaces of cooking appliances equipped with tops or lids containing these materials.
2. Beginning February 1, no manufacturer can use any bright work, bright finish, metal finish, or trim containing copper, nickel, chrome, or aluminum in producing the appliances.
3. Inventories of raw materials, semiprocessed materials or finished parts are restricted to minimum requirements.
4. Manufacturers cannot shift production between different fuel types, except by appeal to the Office of Production Management.
Institutions not affected
The order, which does not affect institutional and commercial cooking appliances and does not cover repair and replacement parts, was drafted by the electrical products and consumers durable goods branch of the Division of Civilian Supply after meetings with industry representatives and after consultation with interested Government agencies.
Urged to reduce number of models
In a letter accompanying the order, manufacturers were urged to reduce the number of models produced, concentrate on those making the most economical use of iron and steel, and adopt conservation measures such as substitutions, redesign, and respecification.
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DISTRICT OFFICE OPENED IN ARIZONA
The Priorities Division of the Office of Production Management announced December 17 the opening of a priorities district office for Arizona, to be located in Room 408, Security Building, Phoenix.
C. S. Jamison will be acting district manager until appointment of a district manager for Arizona is announced.
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December 23, 1941
New preference order liberalizes policy on repair, maintenance, operating supplies
A new order which helps many thousands of manufacturers and producing plants to obtain repair, maintenance and operating supplies was announced December 18 by the Division of Priorities.
The new order is known as Preference Rating Order P-100. It takes the place of the old Repair and Maintenance Order, P-22, which is being revoked.
Main purpose of the new order, as was the case with the old, is to extend priority assistance to manufacturers and producers so that they can keep their plants and production machinery in good running order. This is in accordance with the policy set by the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board.
To clear up misunderstandings
The differences between P-100 and P-22 are largely technical. However, some provisions of the old plan have been liberalized and a number of clarifications have been made in order to eliminate misunderstandings and misapplications of the order which occurred in the past.
The assistance granted by the order is not available for retail operations. It is available, however, to the following:
1. Any governmental unit.
2. Any Individual, partnership, association, corporation or other form of enterprise engaged in one or more of the following capacities to the extent that it is so engaged or so acts:
a. Manufacturing, processing or fabricating.
b. Warehousing—maintaining warehouses for storage or distribution of any material.
c. Wholesaling—acting as a distributor of products sold to manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers or other persons not consumers.
d. Charitable institutions—any charitable or eleemosynary institution which is recognized as such for purposes of the Internal Revenue Laws of the United States.
e. Carriers—urban, suburban, and interurban common or contract carriers of passengers or freight by electric railway, electric coach, motor truck or bus, including terminals of any of the foregoing; railroads, including terminals; shipping—commercial carriers of freight and passengers by ocean, lake, river or canal, including terminals.
f. Educational institutions (including vocational training).
g. Printers and publishers.
h. Radio—commercial broadcasting and communication.
i. Telephone and telegraph communication, including wire services.
j. Hospitals, clinics, and sanitoriums.
k. Petroleum and natural gas—discovery, development and depletion of pools of petroleum and associated hydrocarbons and derivatives thereof, and transportation of petroleum, associated hydrocarbons and derivatives thereof.
1. Irrigation systems, whether publicly or privately owned; toll bridges and toll canals.
3. Any person using tools or equipment to repair or maintain the property of any Producer as defined in the Order.
P-100, like the former P-22, continues the policy of protecting the health of the Nation and maintaining necessary services for its businesses and institutions.
Inventory dollar allowance boosted
The former restriction on acceptance of materials for inventory of maintenance, repair or operating supplies by producers using the order has been changed to permit inventory and stores not exceeding 110 percent of the maximum dollar volume of such materials purchased during the corresponding calendar quarter of 1940. The previous figure was 100 percent.
This change has been made to allow for price increases. However, the Order now specifically states that no materials may be accepted for additions to inventories and stores of maintenance, repair and operating supplies until such inventories have been reduced to a practicable working minimum.
Exemption broadened
The restriction on withdrawals from inventory or stores has also been changed to permit withdrawals up to 110 percent of the aggregate dollar volume of such withdrawals in the corresponding quarter of 1940, or, at the producer’s option, up to 27^ percent of the aggregate dollar volume of withdrawals during the calendar year 1940.
Producers whose aggregate purchases of materials for maintenance, repairs, and operating supplies do not exceed $5,000 in a calendar quarter, and whose withdrawals of such supplies from inventory or stores likewise do not exceed $5,000, are exempt from the restrictions as to purchases and withdrawals. Under P-22 amended (the former order), the exemption was limited to producers whose purchases, and withdrawals did not exceed $2,500 in a calendar quarter.
More aid for overtime factories
Allowances for inventory use will be made for manufacturers operating on an overtime basis as it is realized that overtime or extra shifts consume an abnormal amount of operating consumable supplies and that an extra allowance is necessary for maintenance and repair due to machine fatigue.
It is not permitted to purchase materials under the order for expansion or
betterment of property or equipment. The user in such a case should file form PD-1 when it is necessary to increase the operating capacity of his business. The producer should also use a PD-1 to obtain items that are capitalized and carried on his books as a fixed asset.
The rating cannot be extended by suppliers except to replace materials sold under P-100, and it must not be used to build up stocks in anticipation of filling rated orders.
Ferrous parts for containers
Operating supplies have also been redefined in the new order to include ferrous parts required to manufacture containers. This change will assist producers in obtaining nails, barrel hoops, and other ferrous items necessary in the operation of their business.
A new provision forbids the application of the A-10 rating under P-100 where any other order of the Division of Priorities assigns some other rating to specific uses of a particular material. The purpose of this change is to prevent draining off of a number of materials, chiefly chemicals, for which “ladders of use” have been established by already existing E or M orders. The preference rating assigned by P-100 may not be used to obtain deliveries of any material to be used for purposes prohibited by any order or regulation issued by the Director of Priorities.
Producers and suppliers purchasing metal cutting tools as defined in order E-2-a must use the metal cutting tool certificate of inventory control, stating that the tools on the order will not increase stocks beyond a three-month period.
Users of repair tools get help
Special attention is called to provisions of the order (in B-3) which grant priority aid to:
“Any person using tools or equipment to repair or maintain the property of any Producer as defined.”
The above permits welding repair shops, blacksmith repair shops, small machine repair shops and other persons whose business is primarily a repair function to use this Order to keep in working order their own establishments. It also permits such persons to procure the necessary tools and other items consumed in the course of their repair business.
This also applies to the acquisition of mechanics’ hand and fine mechanical measuring tools when purchased by a mechanic for use in his capacity as an employee of a plant engaged in defense work.
A mechanic, in order to obtain fine precision measuring tools such as micrometers, calipers, and other tools of this type may sign the P-100 certification by simply stating where he is employed and manually signing his name.
Operating supplies covered by the or
December 23, 1941
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7
der include files, hack-saw blades, grinding wheels and any other items abraded and consumed in the operation of the business.
May include office supplies (not paper)
Operating supplies may also include office supplies with the exception of paper products, but if those items are purchased under the P-100 order they must be Included in the person’s inventory.
Parts such as gears, bushings, and other items incorporated into final products cannot be purchased under P-100. These items can be purchased, however, if the item being manufactured is a repair or maintenance item. Example: a machine manufacturer producing new equipment could not purchase gears for new equipment, but if he had to furnish a repair part including a gear this could be purchased under the order.
A restriction under P-100 is the fact that nonferrous materials cannot be purchased under this Order as packaging supplies.
This order is not applicable to any utility defined in Order P-46 nor to any mine operator as defined in Preference Rating Order P-56.
The provision that the rating shall not be applied unless the material cannot be obtained without its use has been deleted from P-100.
The original copy of purchase orders placed under the terms of P-100 must be manually signed; all other copies must bear the special certification as indicated in the Order. The Office of Production Management requires that one copy be retained for inspection.
Method of use explained
Any plant or business qualified to use the rating can do so without making application for its use. If a manufacturer needs a repair part, for example, he simply places his repair order with a supplier and on the face of the order manually signs the following statement:
“Material for Maintenance, Repair, or Operating Supplies—Rating A-10 under Preference Rating Order P-100, with the terms of which I am familiar.”
This constitutes legal use of the rating. Any order so rated must be accepted by the supplier in accordance with the terms of Priorities Regulation No. 1. The supplier may extend the rating in the same manner, if necessary to obtain materials going into the producer’s order. Sup* pliers may use the rating for their own repair and maintenance needs, of course, if they are qualified to do so under the terms of the order.
A supplier who does not physically al
ter parts which he supplies to another is permitted to group several orders together so as to purchase in a minimum commercial quantity.
Purchase orders for repair, maintenance, and operating supplies bought under the order must be made up separately from all other orders.
Fuel eliminated
Misuse of the plan may result in punitive action.
Operating supplies have been redefined to eliminate fuel.
Questions about order P-100 should be addressed to the Maintenance and Repair Section, Office of Production Management, Washington, D. C.
PD-73 forms on steel plates must be filed despite allocation
Allocation of steel plates does not relieve consumers of the necessity of filing PD-73 forms with suppliers and with the Office of Production Management, the Division of Priorities announced.
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AVIATION FUEL CONTROLLED
Centralized control of all of the Nation’s aviation gasoline by the Office of Petroleum Coordinator, as a means of insuring prompt and adequate filling of wartime needs, is provided in orders issued by that office.
Contracting officer’s signature eliminated in extending ratings to orders under $500
Because of the outbreak of war and the need for speeding up production, the Division of Priorities moved December 18 to streamline and simplify regulations governing the extension of preference ratings on orders involving less than $500 worth of material.
Such orders amount to approximately 60 percent of the total number of extensions handled in the field by the Army and Navy contracting officers, although these small orders amount to only about 2 percent of the total dollar value covered by all certificates.
Old system remains for large purchases
Under the previous system a manufacturer who wanted to extend a preference rating had to go to the appropriate contracting officer and have him fill out and authenticate a PD-3 form in order to extend his rating to a supplier.
This system still holds for extensions of ratings in transactions over $500.
Under the new system, however, a manufacturer who wants to extend an Army or Navy preference rating to obtain material valued at less than $500 may attend to the extension himself, without the necessity of having a contracting officer go through the previous routine requirements.
This new streamlining privilege, how ever, may be used only if the material to be obtained with the rating is to be physically incorporated in the finished product covered by the certificate being extended.
To make such an extension, the manufacturer involved will certify on his purchase order the rating applicable, the name of the issuing bureau, the number of the prime contract, and the serial number of the certificate being extended; and will type on the purchase order the wording of Paragraph No. 3 of the PD-3 Form, which reads as follows:
“I hereby certify (a) that the material specified in this Certificate is essential for completion of the contract(s) cited herein, (b) that the specified quantities are not greater than required for said contract(s), and (c) that the specified Delivery Date(s) in the installment Delivery Schedule on the face of this Certificate (or appended hereto) are not earlier than actually necessary for completion on time of said contract(s).
This endorsement on the purchase order must be signed by the manufacturer but need not be countersigned by a Government official where the amount is less than $500 and the material is to be physically incorporated, as above described.
Copies of purchase orders so certified must be distributed by the manufacturer as follows:
One to the supplier of the material in question: 1 to the supply arm or bureau of the Army or Navy initiating the prime contract; and 1 to the Director of Priorities in Washington, D. C.
It is hoped that the new system will greatly speed up deliveries on all small purchase orders which, in the aggregate, are vital to rapid defense production.
The new system is described in a telegram sent to Army and Navy field officers.
8
★ VICTORY ★
December 23, 1941
PRODUCTION...
6 plants turning out tanks, 7th to start;
30 percent of peak expected by January
American tanks have gone into battle on the wastelands of North Africa.
As they roar across the sand under the operation of British forces, these tanks give substantial evidence of the increasing flow of armored vehicles from the Arsenal of Democracy.
Already seven American plants are participating in a tank program for which contracts well past $300,000,000 have been awarded. By the start of the New Year production of tanks will be going at 30 percent of its peak, and by the end of 1942 tanks will reach a rate of 2,800 a month.
Light model “on schedule”
Production lines of the American Car and Foundry Co. at Berwick, Pa., and St. Charles, Mo., are turning out “on schedule” the fast-moving, hard-hitting light tanks that are brothers-under-the-armor of the ones defending the democratic front in Libya.
In five other American plants and one in Canada, the larger, twice as heavy, medium tank M-3, which military observers have said surpasses any other in mobility and mechanical reliability, is being produced in ever-increasing numbers, doubling monthly figures set early in the fall. By spring the production of medium tanks will be on a considerably larger basis.
Meanwhile a later model is to go into production. The new medium tank will have, among other improvements, a cast steel hull that will replace the majority of riveted plates being used in the production of the medium M-3. Welding will further eliminate the use of rivets.
18 months’ progress
Although production of this latest model is expected to begin shortly, its introduction will in no way affect the scheduled flow of medium M-3’s.
From spring, 1940, when the first light tank rolled from the production line at the American Car and Foundry Co.’s Berwick plant, to the 1941 Battle of Libya, was only 18 months. But it was long enough for American arsenals to build tanks enough to fill preliminary requirements of the United States Army’s five armored divisions and tank battalions and have a considerable number left over for shipment to the British forces.
The story of American tank production is one of long-range planning, by the Army’s Ordnance Department, and of speedy, efficient operation by the automotive and locomotive industries.
It was not until the fall of 1940 that large appropriations from Congress became available to put the tank program into operation. Immediately there began a series of transformations from cornfield to tank arsenal; from idle factory to humming production line.
It was to the locomotive industry that the Army first turned for production because many problems of tank construction were more closely associated with it. So it Was that with the light tank being produced by the American Car & Foundry Co., four other locomotive plants began turning out medium tanks. These were the Baldwin Locomotive Works at Chester, Pa., the American Locomotive Co., at Schenectady, N. Y., the Pullman Standard Co. at Hammond, Ind., and the Pressed Steel Co. at Chicago. A sixth plant—that of the Lima Locomotive Co. at Lima, Ohio— soon will start its production of medium tanks. In Canada the same medium tank is being produced by the Montreal subsidiary of the American Locomotive Co.
Auto industry is producing tanks
The automotive industry entered tank production last summer upon the completion of the Detroit Tank Arsenal. This huge plant, operated by Chrysler Corporation, is turning out a larger number of tanks than any other single industrial unit. Even this capacity will be enlarged greatly when existing facilities are expanded. Also scheduled for construction are tank arsenals to be operated by Ford and General Motors.
Lessons learned from the battlefields of Europe and Africa are being translated into better armament, more protection, and other improvements for American tanks that already outstrip similar-sized tanks used by other nations. Ilie pressing need for quantities of tanks for Russia and Britain has resulted in higher priorities for the steel and equipment that goes into the manufacture of these vehicles.
The light tanks of the kind now in action in Libya weigh 13^ tons.
50 to 100 percent gain needed, OPM tells machine tool makers; they’ll do “everything necessary”
A production increase of from 50 to 100 percent over the 1941 volume was tentatively set for next year by OPM officials at a meeting December 17 with representatives of manufacturers of machine tools making critical items for the armed forces.
Nearly two dozen tool makers talked over their problems with William S. Knudsen, Director General of OPM; William H. Harrison, director of Production of OPM, and members of the Production Division staff. A similar meeting with another group of twenty representatives was to be held December 18.
In reply to Mr. Knudsen’s observation that “the heat’s on—we are going to demand a great many more tools,” the manufacturers pledged to do “everything that is necessary to do the job.”
More hours, better spirit reported
The visiting tool makers reported that since the outbreak of war many had stepped up the number of man-hours worked and that there was a “very great difference in the frame of mind” of the men at the machines. This change, it was reported, was toward getting more production in the same length of time.
“We ask all of you men to take another survey, take another look,” Mr. Knudsen said. “It’s your home, your institutions, that are being attacked. We ask you to give the job another push.”
Mr. Harrison estimated that between $1,250,000,000 and $1,750,000,000 would be spent for tools in 1942. This would mean a volume half again as large as for 1941 and a “fair possibility it will be double that of this year.”
“Machines now on the books for delivery in the future are needed right now— today,” he said.
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Spates to direct OPM personnel
OPM announced December 16 the appointment of Thomas G. Spates as director of personnel.
Mr. Spates has been loaned to OPM by General Foods Corporation. He has had approximately 20 years’ experience in industrial relations and personnel administration.
December 23, 1941
★ VICTORY ★
9
HOW WE ARE SPENDING THE DEFENSE DOLLAR
Self-seal plane fuel tank plant sped by priorities
In order to speed the production of bullet sealing fuel and oil tanks for airplanes, a high priority rating covering the construction and equipping of a plant in Los Angeles has been given the United States Rubber Co.
Self-sealing tanks are part of the equipment of military aircraft and the company has orders to produce a large number of them. With the A-l-d rating given for structural and reinforcing steel, floor mesh, sheet iron and electrical supplies, the plant will be completed before the end of spring.'
The special tanks are far superior to the old-type metal containers that leaked when pierced by bullets. Such leaks wasted valuable fuel supplies and often caused fire. The self-sealing tanks constructed of rubber products are designed to close the hole caused by the bullet immediately after being punctured.
Victory production should go on in test black-outs, OCD says
Continuous operation of defense industrial plants, without interruption for test black-outs was urged by the plant protection division of the Office of Civilian Defense December 18, following conferences with Army and Navy officials.
“All industrial plants should progressively participate in black-out drills until such time as they have demonstrated to the responsible local authorities that their plans for black-out are workable and satisfactory,,” OCD declared.
“When the tests are satisfactory, the plants having defense contracts should no longer be asked to participate. In no case should any plant having defense contracts be required to stop production.”
OCD has adopted the policy that industrial plants should not be evacuated. It suggests that every plant should provide temporary places of safety during an actual air raid.
First bomber from parts made by auto companies to roll from line months ahead of schedule
The first Army bomber assembled from parts fabricated by the automobile industry will roll from the production line of a new $11,000,000 plant at Kansas City, Mo., shortly after the first of the year, several months ahead of schedule. Tentative plans had been made for a ceremony to mark the beginning of production in the plant that will make the B-25 two-engine bomber. But the ceremony has been cancelled and time that would have been devoted to preparing for opening exercises will be spent in assembling the first plane. It is expected to be finished ahead of the day set for its coming-out party.
Subassemblies from auto companies
Built and partly equipped by the Government, the plant will be managed by North American. Special jigs and tools were supplied by the company which has its main plant in Inglewood, Calif.
Under the Mid-western bomber assembly program, wing, tail, and other subassemblies will be fabricated in plants operated by automobile companies and assembled in other plants managed by aircraft companies. '
Subassemblies for the Kansas City
plant will be made in the Fisher Body plants at Detroit and Memphis. These parts will be shipped to Kansas City for final assembly. About 35 percent of the parts, however, will be made from raw materials in the plant there.
Other plants to produce in 1942
Meanwhile, work is being speeded on other plants included in the program under construction at Tulsa, Okla., Fort Worth, Tex., Omaha, Nebr., and Willow Run, Mich. Production is scheduled to begin in 1942.
Four-engine Consolidated B-24 bombers will be assembled in the Tulsa plant. Douglas will be in charge of operation and Ford will furnish the parts. Ford also will make parts for the B-24’s to be assembled at the Fort Worth plant under the management of Consolidated, and for the Ford plant at Willow Run.
Chrysler and Goodybar will supply parts for the Omaha plant where the Martin two-engine B-26 bombers will be assembled under the management of Glenn L. Martin.
10
★ VICTORY ★
December 23, 1941
CIVILIAN SUPPLY . . .
Emphasis in rationing will be placed on administration by local people—Henderson
In announcing that tires would be rationed after January 4, OPA Administrator and Civilian Supply Director Henderson told a press conference December 17 that the emphasis would be on neighborhood administration set up through the defense councils. The local boards, he said in response to a question, could be useful also in case other items are rationed.
Mr. Henderson. I think most of you have the press release. I’d like, however, to run through it.
“Spread of the war to the East Indies area threatens the future importation of rubber into this country. Approximately 50 percent of crude rubber comes from land areas already occupied or being invaded by the Japanese. Another 43 percent comes from the adjacent Dutch and British Islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, all of which are threatened by the Japanese.”
My understanding is that the remaining amount to make up the 100 percent is somewhere in that area and might all have to pass through the Japanese infested waters.
Local administration stressed
Now, that in the handout is intended to compress as much of the mechanics as possible, the general outlines of the plan. What I was anxious to point out in addition to what I feel the complete necessity of taking this step is that really local citizens are the determining agencies for the issuance of such tires as are available. In other words, whether or not a man gets a tire will in the main depend upon his own neighbors and I feel that this is above all and in essence a democratic reliance.
Some tires for new cars
Q. Are you allowing any tires to be made in conjunction with new passenger cars?
A. The available stocks of the automobile companies are not known, but it is obvious that we must allow some equipment in order to do what we are doing with automobile curtailment—permit a gradual tapering off.
Q. Then the exception to this order is that there will be stocks that are existing that may be used to put on new cars that are manufactured in the time from
February on, or any time from January on?
A. Well, we have the automobile allocations which extend up to February 1. I don’t know what we will do beyond that point.
SPAB must decide on exports
Q. Will you permit any tires for export?
A. When that question comes up it will have to be resolved by SPAB, in other words, we will treat this question of a limited supply on the same basis that we do a determination by SPAB as to which of the four main claimants are to get the material. As you know, SPAB was intended to represent the Army, Navy, Lend-Lease, and the economic warfare.
Q. It is quite possible that the shortage of tires will limit production of new cars to some extent?
A. It is quite possible. We will have to consider that matter anew next month.
Situation after February 1
Q. Mr. Henderson, while we are talking about automobile production, Sheridan Downey said on the Hill today that he had been , advised there would be no passenger car production for civilians after February 1. Is that true to your knowledge?
A. I don’t believe a determination has been made.
Q. Is it likely?
A. Well, I think it depends on what the situation is on January 15 when we have our regular meeting. The last meeting' I think was on December 12, and I must say that the industry and labor came forward with the suggestion of the additional curtailments for December and January in a very fine cooperative spirit.
Mounting war demands expected
Q. To get back to your figures on rubber here, it seems to indicate that your curtailment has just about cut out that part of the rubber supply that normally went into tires. What happens If the war demands for rubber and all sorts of military vehicles Increases, or do you expect that?
A. I expect it, yes, and two things will,
of course, happen. First of all we will meet that demand from the stock pile. That is what we have it for. Secondly, we will keep up as we have been for quite some time, a canvass of the essentiality of all civilian uses of this and other products.
I talked informally with the Army and Navy yesterday as to their specifications, which were made, as you know, at a time when there was no question as to the supply of rubber and we have hopes that we can get some saving out of a redefinition of the specifications.
Question of expanding capacity
Latin American countries claim that if we are willing to pay for it, we can get tremendous quantities of rubber from down there.
There are several potentials, not in the rubber so much as in the raw material like guayule, and these are being canvassed along with all the other questions of synthetic production.
I’d like to point out that each one of these potential expansions, also calls for the building of facilities which in themselves use up other critical and strategic materials, that is, we are at a tight supply situation on many things that would go into them—stainless steel and other items. I have no doubt, however, in fact there is every evidence that the possibilities of these alternative supplies will be greatly expedited.
Program based on worst possible future
Q. Mr. Henderson, in this on the first page I notice you point out that a small amount of the balance, aside from nontire military needs, goes into such products as golf, tennis balls, and so forth, then you say a manufacture of such products can be eliminated entirely. Does that mean that is a decision?
A. Let me put it this way. In canvassing all the items that are imported for civilian account, we have had a very critical analysis made and our program was geared as to what the military situation was likely to be. Now you know just as much as I do as to what the threat to Singapore and the Dutch East Indies is and I indicated that the pessimistic attitude and the drastic position that we have taken is based on the worst possible situation. That if that changes we are in a position to modify what we do on civilian account. We have obviously no commitments, but if we got additional supplies we might consider using a part of that in the maintaining of our stock
December 23. 1941 * VICTORY * 11
pile intact and using a part of the increase to resume production of these items.
Q. In other words, for the time being they are out?
Frankly a rationing plan
A. Well, there is a freeze order covering practically all of this production of rubber products, and again I’d like to say for the rubber manufacturing industry and for the Industry Labor Committee, we had to get them together very hurriedly last week and they were fully prepared, and, in fact, these suggestions that they made were in the nature of helping this situation. I mean, the attitude was extremely fine, although the first people that get hit, of course, with the freeze order or the curtailment order, are the workers. Between the time of curtailment and conversion your civilian using the passenger car has a considerable amount of fat, to put it frankly, to carry them on. This is obviously the time to go into a rationing plan and I want you to notice I have called it a rationing plan instead of thinking of some spiffy title that would disguise the fact that it is a rationing plan. It is one and it is one I have entered into with prayer and advice because I think I know as well as anybody what this step means.
We canvassed .all the possibilities as to what would be the danger of alternative plans or of letting this thing go free, but the transportation by means of automobiles is such an essential item in keeping the wheels*of this economy going that there was no other course that was available.
The private owner’s hopes
Q. What are you going to do about supplying tires to new cars coming off the assembly lines during this period of suspension?
A. They will be supplied. That would cover only about 150,000 at the most, I think, and there is a possibility that the fifth tire will not be from the virgin rubber.
Q. Mr. Henderson, your statement says that sales of new tires to owners of private passenger cars will be virtually prohibited. Does that mean there will be a few permitted, or none at all?
A. Well, virtually means that after we get into our experience with these categories of essential uses for which you can get a coupon, we will determine how much else can be allowed to percolate out. * ♦ *
The essential categories that we have laid out will take on this rationing basis all that we see available for distribution now.
Q. Mr. Henderson, don’t you anticipate there will have to be a tremendous increase in motor bus construction? In Washington, probably half the people will go to work on the motor buses.
A. What I anticipate is that even these boards will be taking charge of the situation locally and finding means for the conservation of transportation space and will be urging doubling up and will also be bringing to our attention the crowded« situations. In other words, I expect that we will get out of this particular plan not only this rationing of this highly essential item, but that the community which has, as we know, been telling us how eager they are to participate, they will really in this particular happening give us a great wealth of advice and suggestions.
Boards could ration other products
Q. Will these rationing boards be available for any additional rationing we might have to undertake in other scarce materials—products?
A. It will depend on the commodity
but we expect to get some experience out of this.
Q. I mean, could they serve as general rationing boards for something else?
A. I think they could serve for many items, as a matter of fact, that is one of the considerations that we had in establishing a formal plan.
Q. For all rubber products?
A. Sure.
Companies have some on hand
Q. You talk about 150,000 cars being supplied at the present stocks of tires and tubes. For what period is that? All the way through to February?
A. I made a guess, Al, from what would be manufactured in December and January. I said I didn’t know how many they actually had on hand. My impression is that some of the automobile companies have their tires on hand for that amount.
Q. That just covers the allocation for production already authorized under the revised order, that is, the balance of December and January?
A. Yes.
Local tire-rationing boards to be formed;
10 OP A consultants sent to help organize
Machinery for the organization of local tire-rationing boards was set in motion December 19 with the departure to the field of 10 Office of Price Administration consultants who will handle this work in about half of the States.
The local boards are being established through State and local defense councils to handle applications of individuals and companies wishing to purchase new tires under the rationing plan scheduled to go into effect January 5. Frank Bane, director of field operations for OPA, was to meet in Chicago December 20 with a second group of consultants who will direct formation of the local boards in the balance of the States.
The men now in the field and the States in which they will arrange with State defense councils for creation of the local boards include:
Dudley Harmon—executive director. The New England Council, an organization composed of business and governmental officials in New England, will work in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
David W. Robinson—director. Interstate Commission on the Delaware River Basin, will work in Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Paul Morton—for many years city manager of Lexington, Ky., and Petersburg, Va., will work in Ohio and Michigan. His home is in Alexandria, Va.
Alexander Harris—formerly director of public service, City of Knoxville, Tenn., and for many years vice president and general manager of the Tennessee Marble Co., will work in Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
L. L. Gravely—formerly mayor of Rocky Mount, N. *C.; State Senator of North Carolina; vice president Chinese-American Tobacco Co.; and was for some time general consultant in the Southern States for the National Defense Advisory Commission, will work in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
W. T. Ellis—assistant director of the budget, State of Virginia, and assistant director of the Virginia State Council of Defense, will work in Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.
James J. Harrison—chairman of the Arkansas State Planning Board and chairman of the State Council of Defense in Arkansas, will work in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Formation of local committees in New York and New Jersey will be under the direction of Sylvan Joseph, New York regional director of OPA.
12
★ VICTORY ★
December 23, 1941
PRICE ADMINISTRATION . . .
Reclaimed rubber ceilings established at November 5 to December 5 levels
Ceiling prices for reclaimed rubber, most important substitute for crude rubber, are established at the levels that prevailed between November 5 and December 5 in a price schedule issued December 17 by OPA Administrator Henderson.
The new schedule was to become effective December 20. Pressure for higher reclaimed rubber prices is growing more acute with the threat to continued crude rubber supplies from the Fftr East, Mr. Henderson said. OPA has determined after investigation that further price advances will not increase supplies. It is of vital importance to the Nation’s war effort, the Administrator added, that substitution of reclaimed rubber for crude rubber be encouraged by keeping the cost of doing so at a minimum.
Has many uses
Reclaimed rubber is made from scrap rubber of all kinds. It is used in a wide variety of products.
In 1940 consumption of reclaimed rubber reached an all-time peak of 190,000 tons, as compared with crude rubber consumption of 650,000~ tons. Output and use of reclaimed, rubber has expanded sharply this year and is now running at an annual rate of approximately 300,000 tons.
The principal products in which a high percentage of reclaimed rubber to crude rubber is used are such goods as rubber hose, mats, moulded goods, cushions and bumpers, as well as insulation for wire and cable, hard rubber goods, rubber heels, and rubberized fabrics. Reclaimed rubber used in automobile tires varies from little or nothing in first line tires to a fairly high percentage in third and fourth line tires. Despite the low percentage use of reclaimed rubber in the average tire, the overwhelming importance of tire production in the rubber industry makes this product the major consumer of reclaimed rubber.
On and after December 20, according-ing to the new schedule no sales of reclaimed rubber may be made at prices higher than the maximum price level that obtained between November 5 and December 5, 1941, for reclaimed rubber of the same grade, quality, and comparable amount.
Every person who sells reclaimed rub
ber is required to file with the Office of Price Administration on or before January 15, 1942, complete price lists for the period between November 5 and December 5 and a record of the prices he actually received for all reclaimed rubber sold during that period. Affirmations of compliance must be filed on or before January 10, 1942, and monthly thereafter by all persons who make any sales of reclaimed rubber during the preceding month whether for immediate or future delivery.
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10 rules to make tires last
Inaugurating a Nation-wide rubber conservation campaign, the Office of Production Management today called upon the country’s 27 million cat owners to observe 10 rules to make tires last longer.
1. Have worn tires retreated instead of buying new ones.—Cost of retreading tires is usually about half that of a new tire, and will give you about 80 percent as much wear.
2. Cut out high speeds.—Your tires will last twice as long at 40 miles per hour as at 60 miles per hour.
3. Inflate tires weekly to recommended levels.—Never let pressure fall more than 3 pounds below recommended minimums.
4. Don’t stop short or make jackrabbit starts.—Every time you ignore this rule you burn up the tread.
5. Avoid striking curbs, road holes, rocks, etc.—This can result in broken cords or blowouts. Drive slowly and carefully over paved roads.
6. Check wheel alinement twice a year.—Misalinement causes scuffing and uneven wear. A tire a half inch out of line will be dragged sidewise 87 feet every mile.
7. Repair all cuts, leaks, breaks, promptly.—Delay may cause damage that can’t be repaired. Breaks and cuts should be vulcanized whenever possible; blowout patches should only be temporary.
8. Change wheel positions every 5,000 miles.
9. Always get the tire made to fit the rim of your car.
10. Don’t speed around curves.
Two U. S. sellers of guayule rubber asked not to raise prices over those of December 6
The two principal American sellers of guayule rubber—the Intercontinental Rubber Co., and American Cyanamid & Chemical Corporation—were asked December 16 by OPA Administrator Henderson to refrain from raising prices above those prevailing on December 6.
Increase demand for other types
Guayule rubber is secured in small quantities from a shrub grown in Mexico and California. In letters to presidents of the two companies, Mr. Henderson pointed out that continuity of imports from the Far East, our principal source of crude rubber, is threatened and that as a result the demand for other types of rubber will be greatly increased. The letter read in part:
It is of vital importance to the Nation’s war effort that this process of substitution should be facilitated in every possible manner and that the cost of such substitution be held to a minimum. In view of this fact, I request that your company refrain from advancing the price of guayule rubber beyond the level prevailing on December 6, 1941.
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Carbon black price rise allowed; costs no longer absorbable
Because of cost increases which have gone beyond the point where they could be absorbed by a relatively depressed industry and because of reduced revenue from export sales, producers of carbon black are being permitted to raise prices by slightly less than 5 percent above present levels on deliveries made beginning January 1,1942, OPA Administrator Henderson stated December 16.
Carbon black is produced from natural gas by 3 large and 14 smaller companies. Approximately 85 percent of the output is used in the production of automobile tires. The balance is used largely in the manufacture of ink, paints, and plastics.
Prices on standard domestic grades which may be charged beginning January 1 are as follows:
Ordinary carbon black in bulk, 3.30 cents per pound; carbon black in bags, compressed or dustless, 3.55 cents per pound; carbon black in light bags, suitable for ink or paint, 3.625 cents per pound.
December 23, 1941
★ VICTORY ★
13
700 paper product makers asked not to raise prices without notifying OP A
More than 700 makers of a long list of converted paper products, ranging from envelopes to drinking straws, have been asked not to raise prices above December 15 levels without 1 month’s advance notice to OPA, Administrator Henderson announced on that day.
The request was contained in letters telling manufacturers that any notice of a price increase should be accompanied by a “detailed factual statement of the reasons believed by you to justify the proposed increase, including quarterly profit and loss statements and balance sheets for the current year.” Mr. Henderson also asked for price lists in effect since 1936, including discounts, and financial statements from that year through 1940.
Products affected by the December 15 request include: envelopes; drinking straws; tags; gummed paper; cups and liquid-tight containers; glazed and fancy papers; dishes, spoons, and plates; lace paper; milk caps, sanitary closures, and paper milk containers; and tissue products, such as toweling, napkins, patterns, crepe paper, and facial paper.
A similar letter, asking for a month’s advance notice prior to any proposed increase over December 1 prices, was sent last week to more than 100 manufacturers of waxed paper.
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Prices stabilized for
4 grades of kraft paper
Stable producer prices for four grades of kraft wrapping and bag paper are assured for the first quarter of 1942 as result of individual agreements reached between the Office of Price Administration and 16 principal manufacturers, OPA Administrator Henderson an-nouncd December 15.
Under the agreements, producers will not charge more than 4% cents a pound for "imitation kraft” and “standard kraft” wrapping paper, nor more than 5 cents a pound for “No. 1 kraft” wrapping paper. Standard kraft bag paper, it was agreed should not sell above $87.50 a ton.
For other types of kraft paper the producers agreed to retain the price differentials in effect during the period immediately preceding July 1, 1941.
Waste paper amendments shift 2 prices, add 4 new grades; other changes
Several important changes in Schedule No. 30 dealing with waste paper prices were announced December 16 by OPA Administrator Henderson. One increase and one decrease in the maximum prices for two grades of waste paper, abolition of one grade, addition of four new grades and several changes in language are included in the new amendment.
The maximum price for “No. 1 mixed paper” is raised by $1 to $14 a ton. The new amendment also abolishes the separate grade for “super-mixed paper” and the definition of “No. 1 mixed paper” is revised to cover types formerly classed as super-mixed. The new definition includes, among other items, dry-goods waste, department-store waste, printers’ waste, container manila, print manila, country packing and so forth, in addition to the “clean, dry wastepaper” previously defined as “No. 1 mixed paper.”
Maximum prices for 4 new grades
Second, the new amendment establishes maximum prices for four additional grades of waste paper not previously covered. The new grades and their price ceilings per ton are: Manila tabulating cards of plain manila color, free from ground wood, $45; colored manila tabulating cards, free from ground wood, $30; ground-wood manila tabulating cards of plain manila color, $27; and ground-wood manila tabulating cards, colored, $20.
Third, the maximum price for the “new 100-percent-kraft corrugated cuttings” grade has been reduced from $49 to $45.
Fourth, the amendment changes the definition of “new corrugated cuttings” by eliminating kraft cuttings. The new definition limits this grade to jute corrugated cuttings. Definitions of several other grades of waste paper have been clarified.
Additional charge for transportation
Fifth, the amendment permitting a maximum additional charge by jobbers or producers of $1 a ton for loading on freight cars has been revised to make it clear that only the actual cost per ton of transporting waste paper from the seller’s door and loading it on freight cars or barges may be added to the maximum prices established by the schedule and that in no case may this extra charge exceed $1 a ton. A provision permitting jobbers or producers to charge the actual
cost of transporting waste paper for export to the ship on which it is to be loaded and baling it for maritime handling is also added. The maximum additional charge allowed for this service is $3 a ton.
Must keep records
Sixth, in no case may any jobber or producer charge for the costs of transporting and loading waste paper on freight cars or barges, or for transportation to ships for export, unless he has kept the records required by Section 1347.4 of the Schedule and filed the affirmation of compliance required of him by Section 1347.5. A jobber is also prohibited from charging a jobber’s allowance unless he has met these two requirements. Though not a requirement of the schedule, a written statement by the jobber or producer making such a charge on the invoice or otherwise that he has kept the records and filed the affirmations of compliance required by the schedule, will afford protection to the buyer, Mr. Henderson stated.
Seventh, the amendment limits allowance for tare in all instances to not more than 2 percent of the gross weight per bale of waste paper.
★ ★ ★
Restore old flashlights, Henderson urges
Take a look around the attic, make a tour through the cellar, and find that old flashlight that can be made to work again for a few cents, Leon Henderson, Director of the Division of Civilian Supply, recommended last week.
Disturbed by reports that thousands of Americans are trying to buy new flashlights, Mr. Henderson obtained from one of the country’s largest manufacturers a survey which showed that a vast majority of families need not fear blackouts if they will only put discarded flashlights to use.
“I am told,” Mr. Henderson said, “that 70 percent of the families of this country possess one or more flashlights. Millions of these flashlights are forgotten, apparently—tucked away in the attic or the cellar.
14
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December 23, 1941
News for Consumers
Seattle Fights Inflation
The outbreak of war heightened consumer problems in many communities throughout the Nation as unfounded rumors of shortages brought consumer hoarding and rising prices in their wake.
One such locality was Seattle, Wash., a Pacific Coast defense area where there has been a great expansion of aircraft and shipbuilding industries, with resulting housing shortages, rent raising and price boosting. In Seattle the first news of war was followed by runs on flour and sugar, price increases of essential commodities, and profiteering in blackout materials.
On Monday night, December 8, heavy buying of flour kept groceries open in several sections of the city. About 9 in the evening, one group of stores raised the price of a 49-pound sack of flour from $2.15 to $2.30.
Two consumers who were in the store at the time reported this on the following morning to Mrs. Edward H. Lauer, consumer representative of the Seattle Defense Council.
Mayor Obtains Reduction
Consumer representatives conferred with Seattle Mayor Earl Millikin, the price increase was confirmed, and the store manager agreed to withdraw it. The price dropped back to a level of $2.10 for this brand of flour. Prices in many other stores stayed at $2.15, though some advanced to $2.25.
Meanwhile wholesale flour prices began to rise. Flour millers advanced their price of flour 40 cents a barrel on Monday, and one miller announced a further increase of 40 cents two days later. (Wholesale flour prices in Seattle had already increased almost 50 percent since September 1, 1939.) In the face of this increase, the consumer representatives and the mayor received assurances from chain grocery managers that they would not raise the price of their present stocks.
The Mayor made requests through the press and radio that prices be held steady during the emergency. A telegram from the OPA, in support of this plea, cited President Roosevelt’s assurance that there were adequate food stocks. The OPA wire stated that advance buying should not be resorted to, and that there was no justification for the raising of prices.
Uniting to fight the problem of rising
prices, Seattle women representing State and local women’s organizations met on December 13, to form the Seattle Consumer Representatives Council.
Many Groups Represented
Among those present were members of women’s clubs, labor union auxiliaries, welfare and professional societies.
Mrs. Frederick Davidson, State president of the League of Women Voters, was named chairman of the group.
Mrs. Bertram Thomas, State president of Federated Women’s Clubs, and chairman of the consumer interest division of the State Defense Council, outlined plans for State-wide action.
Price-Reporting Service Set Up
A price-reporting service was set up whereby women throughout the city could report price increases for investigation.
A committee was appointed to call upon millers, wholesalers and retailers of flour, asking them that prices hold steady on a wholesale level and that retailers make only their customary mark-up.
A resolution was passed condemning profiteering in black-out goods. The resolution cited an instance where black yardage goods increased from 50 cents to $1 a yard overnight.
Women were asked to report increases in sugar prices above the December 6 level. Note was taken of the OPA action on wholesale prices of coffee, tea, pepper and fats and oils, and wholesalers and retailers were requested to sell present stocks at pre-war prices.
Flashlights
Elaborating on OPA’s request that householders refrain from unnecessary purchase of flashlights, the Consumer Division has released the following information on methods of conserving flashlights and batteries:
1. The purchase of flashlights when they are not needed wastes plastics and electrical material which are needed for the Victory effort. Scour the basement and attic for flashlights which can be rehabilitated. A flashlight consists of three main parts—case, batteries and bulb—with reflector, lens, switch and other minor parts. Any one of these may be damaged in an old flashlight, or new batteries may be needed. Bring the flashlight into an electrical supply store.
a hardware store, or a 10-cent store, where parts may be bought separately. The girl behind the counter can help restore the flashlight to use.
2. Do not stock up on batteries. Batteries lose power as they stand, and it is useless to attempt to stock up beforehand. Buy only as your old batteries wear out.
3. Heat reduces the life of the battery. Keep the flashlight where it will not be near heat or hot water pipes. Moisture also is destructive of batteries. Like canned goods, the flashlight should be kept “in a cool, dry place.”
4. The flashlight will find its greatest use in the home. It may become necessary to use the flashlight out of doors, but this is to be guarded against as defeating the purposes of blackout. In England during black-outs, pedestrians are allowed the use of small flashlights with dark red transparent materials (like cellophane) or with several sheets of paper pasted over the lens, so that only a very tiny glow is emitted. And the flashlights are pointed down when out of doors—never up.
5. If you do not use the flashlight often, check occasionally to make sure the batteries are in good condition.
If your and your friends’ storerooms fail, and you find it necessary to go out to buy, keep the following rules in mind:
1. Buy a flashlight with fresh batteries that are cheap and easily replaceable. Do not buy trick, novelty, or freak flashlights (pencil affairs, flashlights concealed in compacts, etc.) as these are not economical in the long run, and batteries are not so easy to get. Buy a standard type. Small flashlights which use one or two regular-size batteries are preferable to large, powerful ones, which use up critical materials in greater quantity, give unnecessarily powerful light, cost more in upkeep (batteries) and repair, and constitute a hazard to black-out, in that the light may penetrate black-out curtains and guide enemy aircraft. Look for an inexpensive case with good batteries and bulb. “De Luxe” cases and focusing features' are not essential and cost more.
2. A flashlight that will stand by itself on the table or floor is preferable to one that must be supported or held in the hand.
3. In most cases the manufacturer will have a bulb in a flashlight that is adapted to that particular flashlight. Make certain, however, that the bulb is not high-current, as such a bulb will throw an unnecessarily high light and will drain the batteries more quickly.
★ ★ ★
Economic Defense Board
now Economic Warfare
Vice President Wallace announced December 18 that the name of the Economic Defense Board has been changed to the Board of Economic Warfare, by Executive Order No. 8982, of Dec. 17.
December 23, 1941
★ VICTORY ★
15
Kapok prices under ceiling at pre-war levels
Kapok, a Far Eastern vegetable fiber used in life jackets, sleeping bags, and other articles of military and civilian importance, is brought under a price ceiling at levels prevailing between November 15 and December 6 in a new schedule issued December 19 by OPA Administrator Henderson.
About 90 percent of the kapok used in this country is imported from the Netherlands East Indies. The remainder comes from South America, the Philippine Islands, and British India. In the 12 days following the outbreak of war, kapok prices have risen around 12 percent, reflecting fears of a shortage. Further price increases cannot bring out additional supplies in any great quantities, Mr. Henderson stated.
The present schedule becomes effective December 22. Like others issued recently affecting imported commodities, it is temporary in character. After the completion of studies of the situation and accumulation of additional data, a longer range program will be developed.
Sellers of kapok are required by the December 19 schedule to file with OPA by January 10, 1942, the details of all sales and deliveries made between November 15 and December 6. Records must be kept of all further sales and of Inventories on hand at the end of each calendar month.
★ ★ ★
Dan A. West appointed deputy director of Consumer Division
Appointment of Dan A. West as deputy director of the Consumer Division of the Office of Price Administration was announced December 16 by Administrator Henderson.
Mr. West will conduct the program of the division under the general direction of Mr. Henderson.
Prior to joining the Consumer Division, Mr. West was in the wholesale and retail food business in the States of Washington and Oregon and was president of the West Dependable Stores of Washington, operating 20 units in that State.
Harriet Elliott on advisory council
Mr. Henderson also announces the appointment of Miss Harriet Elliott and Dr. Mabelle Blake as members of the director’s advisory council in the Consumer Division.
News for Retailers
Price request on 7 types of consumer goods
Manufacturers in seven important consumers’ durable goods industries— china, glass, lamps, lampshades, clocks, watches, and silverware—have been asked by OPA not to raise prices on current items above the levels prevailing December 1, 1941, Administrator Henderson announced December 19.
Letters to manufacturers in these industries state that programs regarding prices of their products are being developed and that assistance and cooperation of the companies involved is hoped for by OPA.
The letters read in part:
While our study is in progress, we urge you not to increase your prices on current items above the levels prevailing on Decem-
ber 1,1941, and to price new items at the same relative level. In cases where you feel it impossible to comply fully with this request, we also ask that you inform us of contemplated price changes and of the prices of new items well in advance of their effective date. May we have an expression of your willingness to cooperate with our request as soon as possible?
Rubber soles, heels
Manufacturers of rubber soles and heels were requested December 20 by OPA Administrator Henderson not to raise prices above present levels, pending the results of a price study now being made by his office.
Manufacturers are asked to refrain from modifying discount schedules, and to notify OPA in advance of any contemplated changes in size, design, style, or proportion or quality of materials used which might affect the quality of rubber soles and heels.
Fort Dodge, Iowa, firm admits violations of steel scrap schedule, refuses refunds
Profiteering at the expense of America’s war effort was denounced December 19 by OPA Administrator Henderson, as he cited publicly the Fort Dodge (Iowa) Iron & Metal Co. as a “frequent and persistent” violator of the OPA iron and steel scrap maximum price schedule.
The Fort Dodge firm is the third important middle western dealer in iron and steel scrap to be publicized by OPA to other Government agencies, to the industry and the public for flagrant violations of the ceiling on iron and steel scrap within the last 2 weeks. The two other dealers were the Capital Iron & Metal Co. and the Pioneer Iron & Metal Co., both of Oklahoma City, Okla.
Most buyers, sellers cooperating
“America is fighting for its life and for its future,” Mr. Henderson said. “We need every pound of steel we can produce for the weapons with which to fight. Steel is the backbone of war production and scrap is a vital raw material of steel. Any person who deliberately tries to profiteer in scrap at such a time does so at the expense of the safety and welfare of his country.
“There are few members of the iron and steel scrap industry who are thus attempting to exploit their country’s danger. Most of the buyers and sellers are loyally cooperating in our country’s
war effort and with the terms of the price schedule, by which we seek to assure an orderly and sufficient flow of scrap to the consuming mills at fair prices. But those who do profiteer deserve public exposure and condemnation. America at war has no place for such profiteers.”
Admit violations, refuse refunds
The repeated violations of the iron and steel scrap schedule by the Fort Dodge Iron & Metal Co. were unearthed by OPA field investigators. The partners of the firm, Sidney R. Robinson, Arthur Robinson, Tom Robinson, and Hyman Robinson, all of Fort Dodge, were invited to Washington to explain their actions. They did not appear. A second invitation was extended and finally one of the partners, accompanied by an attorney, presented himself. Although they admitted the violations they refused to refund what had been paid them in excess of what they should have received under the ceiling, nor would they agree to comply with the schedule.
Notice of their proved and admitted violations of the schedule has been given to the Office of Production Management, to other Federal agencies, and to Iowa authorities for further action. OPA itself also will take additional measures to enforce compliance.
16
★ VICTORY ★
December 23, 1941
Jobber, dealer, distributor-sized resales of iron, steel products put under ceiling
All resales of iron and steel products in quantities normally handled by jobbers, dealers, and distributors are brought under a price ceiling at levels prevailing April 16, 1941, in a new price schedule announced December 15 by OPA Administrator Henderson.
Almost every stage now covered
Taken in conjunction with Price Schedule No. 6, which applied to sales by primary producers, the December 15 action means that maximum prices now have been established by OPA for iron and steel products at virtually every stage of distribution—mills, warehouses, jobbers, distributors, dealers, exporters, agents, and brokers.
To end profiteering
“Object of the new schedule is to end the profiteering which has developed in certain quarters of the steel distribution trade and which is threatening to disrupt the entire steel price structure,” Mr. Henderson stated.
“Jobbers, dealers, and distributors of iron and steel play an important part in American industry. Through them, manufacturers and other users of steel are able to obtain a great variety of products in comparatively small quantities. Many small businesses filling contracts directly or indirectly connected with the victory program are entirely dependent on the distributing industry for their supplies of steel.
“Because the nature of their business requires them to maintain extensive stocks in their warehouses and to be prepared to make quick deliveries, distributors’ prices always have reflected the special character of their services.
Leading jobbers have cooperated
“When maximum prices were established by my office several months ago for iron and steel products sold by the primary producers, it was expected that jobbers, dealers, and distributors would keep their prices in proper relation. The leading jobbers have cooperated admirably, but certain others have profiteered. Manufacturers urgently in need of steel have been forced to pay prices from 50 percent to 200 percent and more above normal.
“Here are typical excerpts from complaints received by my office:
“‘ ... Since January 1 of this year sheet metal prices have been increased
by the jobbers about 7 times. The price to them from the mill has not been increased. This is plain unadulterated profiteering and is causing a complete upheaval in the sheet metal using industry. . . .’
“ . Within the last 10 days the
prices here in__________have increased 100 percent on sheet metal. . . .’
“There are many others, some citing increases of as much as 270 percent above the mill price.
“In many instances ‘seconds,’ ‘wasters,’ and ‘rejects’—steel containing imperfections—and used steel have been sold at prices well above those which should be charged for steel of first grade.
Severe hardship on purchasers
“Carload lots bought from producers at or under the OPA ceiling are being sold to manufacturers at warehouse prices ranging from $20 to $30 a ton above the mill price, yielding to the distributor inordinate profits and imposing severe hardship on the purchasers, many of whom are working on defense orders.
“Effect of this profiteering has been to offset in large part the cooperative efforts of the steel industry and OPA to keep steel prices stable, an objective that must be attained if our war effort is to be successful and if we are to avoid runaway inflation.”
SCOPE OF SCHEDULE BROAD
Both schedules, No. 6 and the latest, No. 49, use the same ceiling date, April 16, 1941, and the same list of iron and steel products. However, in addition to “prime” products, the resale schedule covers “seconds,” “rejects,” and “used” products.
While the maximum resale prices are intended to apply primarily to jobbers, dealers and distributors of iron and steel products, the schedule forbids a resale by anyone at a price higher than the ceiling.
This provision extends the scope of the schedule over various businesses which distribute iron and steel products in the course of their general operations. Plumbing-supply houses, hardware jobbers and dealers, industrial supply firms, oil field suppliers and mail order houses are in this category.
To exclude resales of small quantities by hardware stores and other retail outlets, the schedule provides that the maximum prices do not apply to sales of iron and steel products by retail merchants in quantities smaller than those which jobbers, dealers, or distributors normally deal in or quote prices on.
For example, sale by a hardware store of a few pounds of nails out of an open keg, or of a short length of pipe, or of a small amount of wire fencing out of a broken bundle are exempted from the maximum prices. However, should the needs of a customer of this same hardware store call for a full keg of nails, a standard length of pipe, or an unbroken bundle of fencing, the store must not price the sale at more than the OPA schedule allows.
Individuals or companies possessing stocks of steel must conform to the price ceiling upon any resale.
HOW PRICES ARE FIGURED
To achieve its objective of establishing the resale ceiling at April 16 levels, the schedule uses the price lists for heavy line and merchant wire products publicly circulated in the trade by leading distributors in 23 cities or metropolitan free delivery zones. These are termed “listed cities.” Separate sections explain the methods by which maximum prices are to be computed under various circumstances, such as sales on the Pacific Coast or for export, and for specific products, such as nails, annealed smooth wire and galvanized smooth wire, pipe, and tubing.
A seller located in any city or free delivery area may not charge more for an iron or steel product than he charged on April 16, 1941. However, sellers in “listed cities” whose April 16 prices were below those of the published listed prices applicable to such “listed cities” may apply to OPA for permission to adjust their prices upward to the “listed prices.”
Provisions are made to calculate maximum prices for sales in places other than the “listed cities”; for sales by persons having no prices on April 16; and for “dislocated tonnage.” “Dislocated tonnage” is a term applied to sales in areas not normally served by a particular distributor, but which he is now serving because of the emergency.
PACIFIC COAST, GULF PORTS, AND EXPORT SALES
In the case of resales in the Pacific Coast States of California, Oregon, and Washington, the schedule permits the addition of 350 per hundredweight to the April 16 prices for a restricted list of products. This is designed to overcome transportation problems created by the shipping shortage. Pacific Coast sellers are required to file with OPA information on tonnage received both by rail and by water for the first and third quarters of 1941. Forms will be provided for this purpose.
Until the collection and analysis of adequate data no special provision is made for sellers located in ports on the Gulf of Mexico, which also are affected to some extent by the shipping shortage. Forms designed to provide OPA with the information necessary to arrive at a decision will accompany the schedule to sellers at these points.
Export sales, it is stipulated, shall not be priced above the applicable maximum domestic price, f. a. s. the port of shipment. However, on sales made by export brokers, an addition of $3 a net ton is permitted on less-than-carload quantities. Limited extra charges for packing are allowed.
NAILS, WIRE, PIPE, AND TUBING
The schedule contains a formula for computing the maximum delivered prices for standard wire nails, annealed smooth wire, and galvanized smooth wire. Under this formula, in the city or free delivery area in which the seller is located, he may charge for less-than-carload lots the mill carload price after deducting the regular jobber allowance of 150 per cwt. plus (a) carload freight from mill basing point to warehouse and (b) one of the following: for standard wire nails, 500 per cwt.; for annealed smooth wire, 600 per cwt.; for galvanized smooth wire, 680 per cwt.
To arrive at maximum selling prices for less-than-carload quantities of these products at any other place, the seller is instructed to use the lowest delivered price that is the result of the less-than-carload price (as computed above) of any seller located in any “listed city” plus the less-than-carload freight from such “listed city.”
Maximum delivered prices for all other merchant wire products, it is stated, shall be computed on basis of April 16 prices. Jobbers and dealers shall charge the same extras on merchant wire products as regular
December 23, 1941
★ VICTORY ★
17
published mill extras in effect on April 16 and shall grant customary deductions on the same basis. A special form will be sent to dealers in merchant wire products on which they shall file required price information. .
Separate methods are set forth in the schedule for calculating ceiling prices for the following pipe and tubular products: Standard pipe, seamless pipe, water well casing, large O. D. pipe, line pipe, wrought iron pipe, oil country tubular goods, boiler and other pressure tubes, and cold drawn seamless and other mechanical tubing.
Tool steel ceiling prices are based upon those listed in the April 16 price list of Crucible Steel Company.
CARLOAD PRICES LIMITED
To bring to an end the profiteering that has taken place on resales of iron and steel products in carload lots, the new schedule provides that prices in excess of mill prices established in Price Schedule No. 6 (Iron and Steel Products) shall not be charged for direct mill shipments of any quantity of iron or steel products; for shipments of any quantity diverted from delivery to warehouse; or for shipments of any quantity not put through the operation commonly known as “warehousing.”
Carload shipments out of warehouse stock made up of a variety of items shall not be sold above the maximum delivered price for a 500-pound quantity, minus a discount of not less than $7 per net ton.
Mixed carloads of merchant wire products, however, cannot be sold above the published mill base prices set forth in Price Schedule No. 6, but sellers in this case are allowed to retain the regular jobber allowance given by mills. A similar provision is made for sellers of mixed or straight carloads of pipe and tubular products, with a special exemption for sellers of oil country tubular goods out of distributors’ stocks.
RECORDS, COMMISSIONS, AND FORMS
Records on any sales of 40,000 pounds or more of any wire or steel products to a single customer in any calendar month must be filed with OPA on or before the 15th day of the following month. This record must include a sworn statement giving the names and addresses of the buyers, the product and quantity sold, and the price for each quantity.
Commissions in effect on April 16, 1941, may continue to be collected by brokers, agents, etc., except that such commissions must not increase the selling price above the OPA ceiling.
Mr. Henderson stated that copies of the schedule and the various forms required to be filed under its provisions would be mailed to jobbers, dealers, and distributors within the next few days.
* ★ ★
CANNING SUBCOMMITTEE
The Bureau of Industry Advisory Committees announced, December 18, the formation of a technical subcommittee on conservation, substitution, and simplification for the fruit, fish, and vegetable canning industry advisory committee.
Committee members are:
Carl Scudder, John S. Mitchell, Inc., Windfall, Ind.; Henry P. Taylor, Taylor & Caldwell, Inc., Walkerton, Va.; Harold Humphreys, Snyder Packing Corporation, Rochester, N. Y.; H. F. Cannon, H. P. Cannon & Son, Inc., Bridgeville, Del.; H. M. Riley, H. J. Heinz Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.
OPA lists approved prices for zinc oxide, effective Jan. 1; will ask producers to agree
A list of maximum prices for all grades of zinc oxides to which producers will be asked to agree individually was made public December 16 by OPA Administrator Henderson. These prices are to become effective January 1, 1942.
The proposed agreement is now being drafted and copies will be sent to producers for acceptance in the near future.
Zinc oxide is a pigment with a great variety of uses, ranging from printers’ ink to adhesive tape. Industry use, in the order of consumption, is as follows: Rubber, paint, ceramics, floor coverings, and textiles.
The OPA-approved ceiling prices per pound for the various grades of zinc oxide delivered in bags in carload lots are as follows:
Lead-free American process oxide, 7.25 cents.
Leaded zinc oxides containing 35 percent or more lead, 6.75 cents.
Leaded zinc oxides containing less than 35 percent lead, 7.125 cents.
Lead-free French process oxides, other than U. S. P., made from slab zinc or secondary metal (including any oxides made partly from slab zinc, partly from secondary metal), 9.60 cents.
Note.—The price as announced for these French process oxides is the maximum price for all grades other than U. S. P. and the producers may wish to sell their less select grades at appropriate differentials below the maximum price.
French process U. S. P., oxide, 10.50 cents.
To determine the maximum prices for any other oxides which customarily have sold below the price of lead-free American process oxide, producers should deduct from the new “American process” price a differential at least as large as that which prevailed on October 1, 1941.
To the foregoing maximum prices may be added % cent per pound for less-than-carload lots.
% cent more on West Coast
Sellers on the West Coast—California, Oregon, and Washington—may add cent a pound to any of the maximum prices. In the case of less-than-carload sales on the West Coast, the ceiling prices may be applied f. o. b. warehouse, instead of on a delivered basis. Excluding this single exception, all of the OPA-approved prices are delivered prices.
For oxides sold in barrels, cent a pound may be added to any of the prices.
Nickel scrap dealer willing to refund excess over ceiling
The first refund under action taken to enforce maximum ceiling prices on nickel scrap was announced December 16 by OPA Administrator Henderson.
An important dealer in New Jersey has agreed to refund amounts received in excess of the maximum prices on Monel metal (nickel) scrap established in Price Schedule No. 8. This dealer sold scrap to a consumer, who needed it for defense orders, on a contract made at the speculatively high price levels prevailing before establishment of the ceiling on June 2. No permit had been sought or obtained for completing the contract at the inflated prices it called for.
Mr. Henderson stated that action was taken on basis of the language of Schedule No. 8 which specifically stated that after June 2, 1941, no person without special permission could either sell or buy nickel scrap or the related scrap materials covered by the schedule at prices higher than the maximums, “regardless of the terms of any contract of sale or purchase, or other commitment, entered into prior to such date.”
Ferrochromium makers agree to use of lower grade ores
All American manufacturers of ferrochromium, meeting in Washington December 16, voluntarily agreed to changes in specifications which will permit the use of lower-grade chrome ores and conservation of higher grades, OPM announced December 17.
Present specifications of 68 to 69 percent chromium, 4 to 6 percent carbon and 1 to 2 percent silicon will be changed to 60 to 63 percent chromium, 6 to 8 percent carbon, and 4 to 6 percent silicon, by the agreement.
The agreement affects the type of ferrochromium used in making engineering steels running up to about 3 percent chromium and does not affect stainless steel and heat-resistant alloy steels in which a larger amount of chromium is used.
The new specifications are a return to those in common use 20 years ago and are approximately the same as the ones in use during the World War.
The Orient has been supplying about 30 percent of our annual supply.
M
* VICTORY *
December 23, 1941
Temporary ceilings to be set on wide variety of textiles, finished products
Price schedules setting temporary ceilings at levels prevailing prior to December 6 on a wide variety of textiles not now subject to price control are being prepared by the Office of Price Administration and will be issued as soon as possible, OPA Administrator Henderson said December 17.
Purpose of the schedules is to call a quick halt to steady price advances which have occurred in many types of textiles since the war, and to stabilize prices while definitive price schedules are being developed.
Apply at all levels except retail
The schedule on wool goods will forbid any person to sell at prices higher than those which were reached between October 1 and December 6, 1941, while the schedules on all other types, including rayon and cotton, will forbid sales at prices higher than those reached between November 1 and December 6, 1941.
The ceilings will apply at all levels of production and distribution except the retail level. The maximum prices estab-
lished by the schedules will apply to all deliveries made after their effective dates. Mr. Henderson stressed that no contracts should be entered into pending issuance of the temporary schedules at prices higher than the maximums reached in the base period.
Not to cover garments
In case of goods which were not offered for sale during the base periods, the schedules will require that prices be in line with those then prevailing on substantially similar goods.
The schedules will be unique in that they will mark the first entry by OPA into finished textile products such as blankets, towels, table cloths, sheets, and pillow cases. In addition, the schedules will cover woolen goods, cotton grey goods not now under ceilings, cotton finished goods, rayon grey goods not now under ceilings, rayon finished goods, and all mixtures and combinations of textile fibres. The schedules will not cover garments or accessories such as handkerchiefs and ties.
OPA to investigate “hardship cases” caused by ceilings on 1,800 fats and oils
Administrative work in connection with the price schedule recently issued for some 1,800 fats and oils will include at the outset a special study to determine the extent of hardship cases resulting from imposition of the ceiling prices, OPA Administrator Henderson announced December 16.
Since the most important cases of hardship brought to OPA’s attention thus far have been from independent cottonseed crushing mill operators, these claims will be investigated first. Some independent operators have declared that the maximum price set for cottonseed oil allows them no margin over the cost of their seed.
Action taken in extreme emergency
“Our action on fats and oils, as in the case of several other food commodities, was taken under conditions of extreme emergency,” Mr. Henderson stated. “The schedule itself is temporary, as our original announcement said, and is subject to revision.
“However, it must be emphasized that the price level of November 26 was used because, on the basis of preliminary studies, fats and oils prices on that date were most nearly free of the distortions that subsequently developed.”
Imported and domestic closely connected
The administrator explained that while the initial impact of war naturally made itself felt immediately upon the prices of imported fats and oils, these products are interchangeable to a great extent with domestic fats and oils. Hence, under emergency conditions, it was impracticable to confine ceiling action to the imported group.
Referring to complaints received from independent cottonseed crushing mill operators, Mr. Henderson said: “If our investigations disclose that our ceiling price schedule for cottonseed oil contains provisions that are contrary to the public interest, modifications will be made. Mill operators who have maintained an evenly balanced, or ‘hedged’ position, of course, were not adversely affected by the OPA price action.”
Wool floor coverings put under formal ceiling as war threatens materials
Supplanting the short-term individual price agreements with concerns in the wool floor covering industry, OPA issued December 17 a formal price schedule designed to stop any increase,, in prices for such products and to avert evasion of the schedule through changes in specifications, Administrator Henderson has announced.
This action was made imperative, Mr. Henderson stated, by outbreak of the war in the Far East, since that area is the source of all jute and much wool, the two principal raw materials used in the wool floor covering industry.
Manufacturers’ suggestions helpful
A final meeting to discuss the provisions of the schedule was held with wool floor covering manufacturers December 12 in Washington. Several important changes from the tentative draft were made as the result of suggestions offered by the manufacturers at the meeting.
Maximum prices established in the schedule fall into three categories:
1. Maximum prices for “regular line” items are those quoted in price lists in effect October 13, the date used in establishing maximums under the agreements which have Just expired.
2. Maximum prices for contract, special order, and other items not quoted in October 13 price lists are the highest prices charged between January 1 and October 13, 1941.
3. Maximum prices on items having new specifications can be established only with the written approval of OPA. No sales or deliveries can be made until such prices have been established.
Specifications limited
Furthermore, the manufacturers are prohibited under the order from selling items having specifications differing from the three following categories:
1. Wool floor coverings in price lists in effect on October 13.
2. Wool floor coverings not in price lists in effect on October 13, but sold or contracted to be sold during the period of January 1 to December 15, 1941, Inclusive; or
3. Wool floor coverings manufactured or In process of actual weaving between October 13 and December 15, 1941, inclusive.
The prohibitions against changes in specifications do not extend to colors or patterns; to certain changes in yarn specifications; and to other changes made necessary by nonavailability or excessive cost of materials. The schedule becomes effective immediately.
December 23, 1941
★ VICTORY ★
19
Ceilings placed on used burlap, cotton bags to check profiteering and hoarding
Second-hand burlap and cotton bags cannot be sold for more than the highest prices that prevailed during the period November 15-December 6, under the provisions of a new emergency ceiling schedule issued December 16 by OPA Administrator Henderson.
Mr. Henderson cited the following factors as reasons why immediate action by his office was imperative:
Prices getting out of hand
1. Used bag prices, which have doubled since the start of 1941, are now threatening to get •completely out of hand, especially on the West Coast, where flagrant profiteering and hoarding already have appeared.
2. Urgent demands from the Army and Navy for sandbags have been superimposed upon the existing heavy requirements for bags to package industrial and agricultural products.
3. Burlap imports are in danger of being completely interrupted by the war situation in the Far East.
4. Production of new cotton textile bags cannot be increased fast enough to make up for the threatened burlap deficiency.
“Used bags have become a vital war material overnight in areas threatened with attack by our enemies,” Mr. Henderson said. “To profiteer in articles so' urgently needed to protect American lives and property is reprehensible. My office will enlist the support of all other agencies of the Government, if necessary, to enforce the maximum price schedule issued today.”
★ ★ ★
Woolen manufacturers pledge compliance in conservation
Woolen and worsted manufacturers from all sections of the country, meeting In Washington to form an industry advisory committee, have promised OPM their full compliance with whatever program of wool conservation is worked out. A program is now being developed.
★ ★ ★
Enemy ship firms banned
Japanese, German, and Italian steamship companies and their representatives have been ordered stricken from membership and barred from participation in American freight conferences and agreements by the United States Maritime Comnz ission.
Emergency ceilings placed on raw wool, wool tops and yams to protect public
Raw wool, wool tops, and wool yarns must not be sold at prices higher than those which prevailed between October 1 and December 6, 1941, under the provisions of an emergency schedule issued December 18 by OPA Administrator Henderson.
Mr. Henderson said he considered it imperative to protect the civilian population against increases in the cost of clothing, blankets, and other articles essential to health and well-being. About 60 percent of wool consumed in the United States this year is coming from abroad, principally from South America, Australia, and South Africa.
Curtailment of imports threatened
War in the Pacific is threatening to curtail imports, the administrator pointed out, and, in addition, domestic supplies will undoubtedly be drawn upon very heavily to meet increased demands from the armed forces. Under these conditions, there is real danger that inflationary price increases will occur, unless forestalled.
The schedule of December 18 applies to all forms of selling—“futures” as well as “spots,” but excludes retail sales of wool yarns. Grease wool “futures” and wool tops “futures” are traded on the Wool Associates of the New York Cotton Exchange. The OPA ceiling for these futures is 127.8 ($1,278 a pound) for wool tops and 95.5 (95% cents a pound) for grease wool. While these prices are be-, low those prevailing, the schedule allows completion of all “futures” contracts outstanding as of the close of trading December 17 at the contract prices.
All other outstanding contracts in raw wool, wool tops, or wool yarns, may also be carried out at the contract price.
Any contracts made hereafter in compliance with the provisions of the December 18 schedule, may be carried out at the contract prices, irrespective of any changes in the price levels that may be made in the future.
Schedule will be revised later
In this connection, Mr. Henderson pointed out that the current price action on wool is taken under emergency conditions and that a revision of the schedule would be made after studies now under way were completed.
Wool, according to the schedule, means the fibers from the fleece of sheep or lambs, or hair of Angora or Cashmere
goats (or of the camel, alpaca, llama, and vicuna), and related fibers; and includes noils, wool waste, clips and rags, and reworked wool of all grades and mixtures.
“Wool tops” is a term applied to a semiprocessed clean wool, consisting of relatively long fibers, since the shorter fibers have been combed out. It comes in the form of a rather thick, slightly twisted strand, or loose rope,- in which the fibers lie parallel. These tops are spun into yarn.
“Noils” are the waste obtained from combing the shorter fibers out of “tops.” This waste is generally used to make various woolen fabrics. “Clips” are another kind of waste derived from the cutting tables.
Determining ceilings
Method of determining the ceiling prices is set forth in the schedule as follows:
1. The maximum price shall be the highest price contracted for or received by the seller for the sale or delivery during the period between October 1, 1941, and December 6, 1941, inclusive, of wool or wool tops or yarns of the same class, kind, type, condition, and grade, to a purchaser of the same general class.
2. If during said period, no such sale or delivery was made, the maximum price shall be the price contracted or received by the seller for the last sale or delivery made prior to October 1, 1941, of wool or wool tops or yarns of the same class, kind, type, condition, and grade, to a purchaser of the same general class.
3. In all other cases, the maximum price shall be the highest market price during the said period of wool or wool tops or yarns of the same class, kind, type, condition, and grade, to purchasers of the same general class.
★ ★ ★
Canning subcommittee appointed
The Bureau of Industry Advisory Committees of the OPM announced December 16 the formation of the technical subcommittee of the fruit, fish, and vegetable canning industry advisory committee.
Members are:
Mr. Carl Scudder, John S. Mitchell, Inc., Windfall, Ind.; Mr. Henry P. Taylor, Taylor & Caldwell, Inc., Walkerton, Va.; Mr. Harold Humphreys, Snyder Packing Corporation, Rochester, N. Y.; Mr. H. F. Cannon, H. P. Cannon & Son, Inc., Bridgeville, Del.; Mr. H. M. Riley, H. J. Heinz Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.
20
★ VICTORY ★
December 23, 1941
Ceilings on acetone, butanol, ethyl alcohol changed to aid manufacture from com
In order to facilitate the increased production of acetone, butanol, and ethyl alcohol from corn, a high-cost raw material, the Office of Price Administration has acted to increase its ceiling prices for these three basic industrial chemicals, Administrator Henderson announced December 20.
The new maximum price levels, contained in temporary amendments to each schedule and effective January 1, 1942, also recognize the increase that has taken place in molasses prices and provide for a sliding scale, based upon the cost of raw molasses, when that material is used to make acetone, butanol, and ethyl alcohol. Scale slides with molasses price
As compared with an original ceiling price of 7 cents a pound, delivered in tank cars in Eastern territory, the amended acetone schedule sets a maximum price of 15.8 cents a pound. The butanol ceiling, formerly 10% cents a pound, delivered in tank cars in Eastern territory, is raised to 15.8 cents a pound. The ethyl alcohol ceiling is raised from 24% cents per gallon for the basic formula, “SD 2B,” to 50 cents a gallon “at works.”
In the case of any acetone and butanol
produced from the fermentation of molasses, the new maximum prices apply where the cost of the molasses used is $2.50 per hundred pounds of sugar content delivered to the plant of the producer. In the case of ethyl alcohol the new ceiling prices apply where the molasses costs $2.47 per hundred pounds delivered.
Ban on quotations can now be withdrawn
It is provided that for each increase or decrease of 10 cents per hundred pounds of sugar content in the delivered price of molasses the new maximum prices shall be adjusted upward or downward as follows: for acetone, $0,004 a pound; for butanol, $0,004 a pound; for ethyl alcohol, $0,015 a gallon.
The maximum prices for acetone and butanol when delivered from local stocks maintained by others than producers may be increased by 1 cent per pound. This is a new provision designed to assist dealers and jobbers.
Producers were asked by Mr. Henderson on December 11 not to quote prices on any of these three chemicals for delivery after January 1,1942. Issuance of the temporary amendments makes it possible to withdraw this request.
Voluntary price limit asked on byproduct coke-oven chemicals
Action to stabilize first quarter prices of benzol, toluol, xylol, and solvent naphtha obtained from byproduct coke-ovens was taken December 16 by OPA.
In telegrams sent to all producers, the OPA administrator requested that no sales of these products be made during the first 3 months of 1942 at prices more than 1 cent per gallon over the prices that prevailed during the last 3 months of 1941. Several of the largest producers had indicated their intention of raising first quarter prices an average of 1% cents a gallon on a delivered basis.
Benzol is used chiefly to make synthetic phenol and aniline. Toluol, which is under rigid priority control, is the starting point for the manufacture of TNT and also is used industrially as a dyestuff intermediate. Xylol is used as a dyestuff intermediate and as a solvent. Naphtha is a widely used solvent.
The December 16 request is directed only to those producers who recover these chemicals from byproduct coke-oven “light oil.”
Handlers of natural resins, shellac asked not to raise prices
Action to prevent further advances in the prices of natural resins and shellac, two more imported commodities directly affected by war in the Pacific, was taken December 13 by OPA Administrator Henderson in the form of telegrams asking importers and others handling either or both products not to raise prices above the levels of December 5.
Temporary pending further study
This move by Mr. Henderson followed quickly after requests sent out by the Office of Production Management restricting shipments of natural resins and shellac.
The date of December 5 was selected, Mr. Henderson said, because it represents the last full business day preceding the outbreak of hostilities.
The December 13 requests are of a temporary nature. Longer-range price programs for natural resins and shellac will be developed after further study of the situation.
Pyrophosphate producer agrees to hold prices down
One of the country’s major producers of pyrophosphate, basic chemical in the manufacture of cleaning compounds, has- advised the Office of Price Administration that it reduced the price of this chemical bn December 12 from 5% to 5% cents per pound and has agreed to keep the price reduced through the first quarter of 1942, Administrator Henderson announced December 19.
This action was taken by the Grasselli Chemicals Department of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. after investigation of price increases for pyrophosphate recently announced by Grasselli and other major producers had been started by the OPA.
The Navy Department is a particularly large user of soap compounds in manufacture of which pyrophosphate plays an important part. It is also used widely in the textile industry, in water softeners and in a variety of cleansing agents.
★ ★ ★
OPA acts to hold down price of blast furnace beehive coke
Action to forestall an indicated 25-cent increase in the price of blast furnace beehive coke in Pennsylvania, where about 85 percent of the Nation’s production originates, was taken December 19 by Price Administrator Henderson. He sent telegrams asking producers to make no advance beyond a price to consumers of $6 per net ton.
The telegrams went to 55 beehive coke producers responsible for virtually all the output in Pennsylvania.
Beehive blast furnace coke prices in general have not changed substantially since May 1, 1941. Production, which was at a low ebb until the outbreak of the war in 1939, has risen sharply and currently is running at somewhat morfe than 600,000 tons monthly. Considerably more than 500,000 tons of this production originates in Pennsylvania. Except for a comparatively small amount of foundry coke, the entire output of beehive ovens is used by blast furnaces in the production of pig iron.
Text of Mr. Henderson’s telegram follows:
I am requesting that as of December 15, 1941, no sales or shipments of Pennsylvania beehive blast furnace coke be made to any ultimate consumer in excess of $6.00 per net ton f. o. b. car ovens. Please wire or notify me by return mail that you will comply with this request.
December 23, 1941
* VICTORY *
21
CONTRACT DISTRIBUTION. . .
List of Contract Distribution offices
The Contract Distribution Division of OPM December 19 made public a revised list of its field offices and their principal personnel.
Offices have now been established in 95 different cities throughout the United States. Additional offices will be opened in other industrial centers as rapidly as possible.
These offices provide information and engineering assistance to prospective producers of war material. If they have not already done so, manufacturers seeking war work should take or send to the nearest field office full information regarding their equipment and the products they normally manufacture.
The offices, managers, and addresses follow:
Alabama — Birmingham, L. E. Geohegan, Edw. Lee Norton, 301 Phoenix Bldg., 1706 2d Ave., N.
Arizona—Phoenix, Fred F. Schalmo (acting), 406 Security Bldg.
Arkansas—Little Rock, Alfred M. Lund, (state director), Chas. L. Tompson (chairman, advisory committee), 304 Rector Bldg., 3d and Spring Sts.
California—Fresno, E. H. Cameron (acting), Mattei Bldg.; Los Angeles, Howard Hutchins, W. S. Rosecrans, 1031 S. Broadway; Oakland, W. P. Collins (acting), Financial Center Bldg.; San Diego, Paul C. Farmer (acting), 510 Union Bldg.; San Francisco, Col. Francis M. Smith, Furniture Mart, 1355 Market St.
Colorado—D env er, Clyde C. Hartzell (state director), Wm. L. Petrikin (chairman, advisory committee), U. S. Natl. Bank Bldg., 817 17th St.
Connecticut—Hartford, Carl Gray (state director), Phoenix Bank Bldg., 805 Main St.; Bridgeport, Raymond L. French (acting). Professional Bldg., Main St.
Delaware—Wilmington, Bradley L. Giest (acting), 314 Penn Bldg., French and Water Sts.
Florida—Jacksonville, Chas. C. McCubbin (state director), George W. Simons (chairman advisory committee), 620 Hildebrandt Bldg.; Miami, Forrest D. Banning (acting), 514 Congress Bldg.; Tampa, Arthur B. Hale, 901 Wallace S. Bldg.
Georgia—Atlanta, W. C. Cram, Jr., Wiley Moore (chairman, advisory committee), Suite 150, Hurt Bldg.
Idaho—Boise, H. W. Bogie, (acting), 409 Capital Securities Bldg.
Illinois—Chicago, Thos. S. McEwan, Federal Reserve Bank Bldg., 230 South LaSalle St.; Springfield, Edward Gerrity, 407 Leland Office Bldg.
Indiana—Indianapolis, Frank Hoke (state director), Circle Tower Bldg.; Evansville, J. T. Mooney (acting), Koenig Bldg., Room 8, 112 North West 4th St.
Iowa—Des Moines, George Beese, (state director) , Vernon L. Clark (chairman, advisory committee), 505 Crocker Bldg.
Kansas—Wichita, Harold Hartzell (state director), George B. Weeks (chairman, advisory committee), 517—518 Union Nat’l Bank Bldg.
Kentucky—Louisville, Prentiss M. Terry, 200 Todd Bldg.
Louisiana—New Orleans, R. E. Judd (state director), A. B. Paterson (chairman, advisory committee), Room 423 Canal Bldg.; Shreveport, R. H. Cone (acting), 916 Giddens Lane Bldg., Milan and Marshall St.
Maine—Bangor, Charles E. Walker (acting), 363 Union St.; Portland, Herbert Pay-son, Jr. (state director), Room 501-502, 443 Congress St.
Maryland—Baltimore, G. W. Creighton (state director), W. F. Roberts (chairman, Advisory Committee), Federal Reserve Bank Bldg., Lexington and Calvert St.
Massachusetts—Boston, Edward V. Hickey (state director), 17 Court St.; Fall River, Harold S. Ramsay (acting), 27 South Main St.; Lowell, W. E. Standwood (acting), Sun Bldg., 8 Merrimac St.; Springfield, Howard G. Phllbrook, 95 State St.; Worcester, Dwight Clark Daniels, State Mutual Bldg., 340 Main St.
Michigan—Detroit, Warren H. Clarke (state director), Clarence Avery (chairman, advisory committee), Federal Reserve Bank Bldg., 160 Fort Street, West.
Minnesota—Minneapolis, Harold C. Timberlake, Roger Shepard (chairman, advisory committee), Midland Bldg.
Mississippi—Jackson, A. G. McIntosh (acting) , 610 Tower Bldg.
Missouri—St. Louis, F. J. McDevitt, Federal Reserve Bank Bldg., 411 Locust St.; Kansas City, R. W. Webb, Federal Reserve Bank Bldg., Tenth St. and Grand Ave.
Montana—Helena, R. E. Towle (state director), J. C. O’Connell (chairman, advisory committee), Federal Reserve Bank Bldg., Park and Edward Sts.
Nebraska—Omaha, Arthur Walker (state director), 501 Grain Exchange Bldg., 19th and Harney.
Nevada—Reno, Leonard E. Faber (acting), Saviers Bldg.
New Hampshire—Manchester, S. H. Dann (acting), Amoskeag Industries Bldg., Stark St.
New Jersey—Newark, R. L. Kennedy (state director), Tom Jones (chairman, advisory committee), 176 Sussex Ave.
New Mexico.—Albuquerque, George Lusk (acting), 103% West Central Ave.
New York—New York City, W. O. Crabtree, Chanin Bldg., 122 East 42d St.; Albany, F. J. Holman, State Bank Bldg., 75 State St.; Brooklyn, Emile Weinberg, 16 Court St.; Buffalo, Thos. J. O’Rourke, John J. Lenahan, Mfrs.’ & Traders’ Bank Bldg., Rm. 212 Main and Swan Sts.; Rochester, Mahlon Gregg, 119 E. Main St., Commerce Bldg.; Syracuse, T. D. Harter, 302 Starrett-Syracuse Bldg., 224 Harrison St.
North Carolina—Charlotte, Frank H. Cothran (chairman, advisory committee). New Liberty Life Bldg.
North Dakota—Bismarck, Paul W. Fawcet (acting), 14 First Nat’l Bank Bldg.
Ohio—Cleveland, Dr. Charles Terry (state director), Herman Lind (chairman, advisory committee). Union Commerce Bldg., E. 9th and Chester Ave.; Cincinnati, Clifford Schulte, Clifford Wright, Room 804, Union Trust Bldg.; Columbus, Benjamin J. Zuhars (acting), 305 Spahr Bldg., 50 E. Broad St.; Day ton, Collins Wight (acting), 1021 Third Nat’l Bank Bldg., 32 North Main St.; Toledo, Henry A. Jordon (acting), 519 Spitzer Bldg.; Youngstown, Leif Oyen (acting), 1002 Union Nat’l Bank Bldg.
Oklahoma—Oklahoma City, Morton R. Harrison (state director), Fred Jones (chairman, advisory committee), 540 Key Bldg.
Oregon—Portland, John G. Barnett acting) , Thomas Harry Banfield, 815 Bedell Bldg.
Pennsylvania—Philadelphia, Orville H.
Bullitt (state director), Thomas S. Gates (chairman, advisory committee), Federal Reserve Bank Bldg., 925 Chestnut St.; Allentown, Ernest R. Follin, Jr. (acting), 506 Hamilton St.; Chester, Abbot Smith, 12-14 East 5th St.; Erie, Harry B. Joyce (acting), Erle Trust Company Bldg.; Harrisburg, Ritchie Lawrie, Jr. (acting), Black Stone Bldg., 3d and River Sts.; Johnstown, John S. Wagoner, U. S. Natl. Bank Bldg., 216 Franklin St.; Lancaster, Arthur K. Barnes, 655 Woolworth Bldg.; Norristown, Geo. Peterson, Jr., 306-308 Norristown-Penn Trust Bldg.; Pittsburgh, M. F. McOmber, Alex E. Walker, 406 Fulton Bldg.; Reading, John A. Archer (acting), 615 Penn St.; Scranton, Alfred T. Snyder (acting), Room 717 First Natl. Bank Bldg.; Wilkes-Barre, W. H. Pierce, 53 West Market St.; Williamsport, H. D. Stuem-pfle, Susquehanna Trust Co., Bldg., 120 W. 4th St.; York, Richard S. Cole, Manufacturer’s Assn. Bldg., 25 N. Duke St.
Rhode Island—Providence, Walker Mason (state director), Col. Wm.-Shawcross (chairman, advisory committee), 530 Industrial Trust Bldg.
South Carolina—Columbia, Harry G. Greene (acting), Room 204-206 Manson Bldg., 1207 Taylor St.
South Dakota—Sioux Falls, Fred M. Chase (acting), 309-310 Boyce Greely Bldg.
Tennessee—Memphis, Arthur M. Field (state director), Arthur J. Dyer (chairman, advisory committee), 2112 Sterick Bldg.; Chattanooga, Paul E. Shacklett, 909-910 James Bldg.; Knoxville, W. W. Mynatt (acting), 202-204 Goode Bldg.; Nashville, W. G. Whitsltt, 1014 Stahlman Bldg.
Texas—Dallas, A. J. Langford, Chas. R. Moore, Fidelity Bldg.; El Paso, L. A. Wilke, W. R. Blair, 222 El Paso Nat’l Bldg.; Houston, I. M. Griffin, R. Lee Blaffer, Federal Reserve Bank Bldg., Texas Ave. and Caroline St.; San Antonio, P. E. Locke, Hull Youngblood, 1100 South Texas Bank Bldg., Houston and Navarro Streets.
Utah—Salt Lake City, Bayard W. Mendenhall (acting), Geo. M. Gadsby, 432 Utah Oil Bldg., Cor. 8. Temple and E. State Sts.
Vermont—Montpelier, A M. Creighton, Jr. (acting), 12 State St.
Virginia—Richmond, Julian Lorin Mason, Johnson Publishing Bldg., Fifth and Cary Sts.
Washington—Seattle, F. C. Bold, J. G. Larson (chairman, advisory committee), Nat’l Bank of Commerce Bldg.; Spokane, T. Wilber Weger, Room 629-630 Old Nat’l Bank Bldg.
West Virginia—Wheeling, M. S. Sloman (acting), 1025 Main St., Hawley Bldg.
Wisconsin—Milwaukee, Clifford E. Ives (state director), Harold H. Seaman (chairman, advisory committee), 610 First Wisconsin Nat’l Bank Bldg.; Eau Claire, Dorance W. Walters (acting), 128% Graham Ave.
Wyoming—Casper, H. C. Gustafson (acting), P. and R. Bldg.
★ ★ *
Large sulphuric acid producer to maintain present prices
The Grasselli Chemicals Department of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., one of the largest producers and sellers of sulphuric acid, a key chemical of universal use, has agreed to continue present prices through the first quarter of 1942, OP A Administrator Henderson announced December 18.
22
★ VICTORY ★
December 23, 1941
Conditions for reproducing priority forms
The Division of Priorities on December 12 issued the following statement relating to the reproduction of official forms and orders.
Reproduction of Priorities Division forms and orders is permitted only in accordance with the following instructions:
Any application form, including form PD-1, may be reproduced.
Any report form, including inventory report forms, may be reproduced.
Any “M” order, “L” order, or “E” order may be reproduced.
As to “P” orders, two rules are to be followed:
1. If the order is issued to a general class of persons, and does not name any individual as the recipient of the order (as is the case in P-22, the Maintenance and Repair Order) the order may be freely reproduced in the same manner as “M” orders.
Limits on individual “P” orders
2. If the “P” order has been issued for the use of specifically named firms or individuals, it may be reproduced for use either by the individual producer or by his suppliers who are entitled to use the order, by the photo-offset or similar photographic process. Such copies must be identical in size and every other respect with the order as issued by OPM. Blank forms of “P” orders may be reproduced for informational purposes only when they are stamped “Specimen” or “Sample,” so as to make it clear that the copy is for information only and not for use.
The purpose of these rules is to permit reproduction of forms and orders for (1) informational purposes, or (2) for purposes of applying for priority assistance, or (3) furnishing information to the
OPM—but also to prevent reproduction of forms and orders which might lend themselves to improper use.
Whenever any form required by the OPM is reproduced, for whatever purpose, it must be reproduced in the exact format, language, color, type, size, and phraseology of the original.
★ ★ ★
Reproductions of some orders governed by special rules
The Division of Priorities issued December 15 the following additional statement relating to the reproduction of “P” (blanket preference rating) orders:
The general instructions permitting qualifie^ persons to reproduce “P” orders, by photo-offset or similar photographic process, do not take precedence over any specific instructions or regulations which have been issued in connection with any specific order.
In the case of P-7, for example, issued to ship builders, specific instructions state that copies of the order must not be reproduced by ship builders, rated subcontractors or suppliers, but that all copies to be used must be obtained from the chief of the Priorities Administration Branch of the United States Maritime Commission, Social Security Building, Washington, D. C.
Similar instructions have been given in connection with P-14-a and P-14—b, issued to ship yards.
Whenever such specific instructions have been issued, it was explained, they are to be followed. When this has not been done, however, the general instructions (in PM 1761) relating to “P” orders should be followed.
Hog bristles over 3 inches long reserved for military needs
Hog bristles more than 3 inches in length are reserved for military requirements by General Preference Order M-51, issued December 17 by the Division of Priorities.
Reason for the order is the uncertainty of future shipments of pigs’ and hogs’ bristles from abroad. They have been largely imported from China and are used in 12 sizes, graduated in quarterinches from 3 to 6 inches, for the manufacture of brushes.
The December 17 order, which took effect immediately, provides that no person shall process bristles or otherwise commence the manufacture of any product of which bristles are a part, except on defense orders, unless specifically authorized by the Director of Priorities.
Transfer is controlled
The order prohibits the sale, delivery, or transfer of title to bristles unless specifically authorized, provided that transactions involving bristles may be made if those engaged report to the Office of Production Management by the day following the transaction, the amount, origin, size, color, number of cases, and identifying case numbers of any bristles so sold, delivered, or to which title has been transferred.
Opening any cases of bristles also is prohibited unless it is necessary to prevent their deterioration and then the action and circumstances must be reported at once to OPM.
Two factors make China the largest source of supply of bristles; the fact that hogs are allowed to grow older before slaughter, thus growing longer bristles, and low-cost labor which sorts bristles for a few cents a day.
Report forms to be issued shortly by the OPM will require each owner of bristles to report, as of the effective date of the order, all bristles of all types in his possession or to which he owns title. Bristles to be reported include those afloat, in transit, in warehouses or in the process of manufacture.
★ ★ ★
NAVAL ENLISTMENTS MOUNT
The Navy Department announced December 17 that 11,303 men enlisted in the Regular Navy recruiting stations in the 8 days immediately following the Japanese attack on Hawaii. From December 8 to and including December 15, the rate of first enlistments increased from 361 per day to 2,930 per day.
Retail consumers in general don’t need preference ratings
In the confusion incident to attacks upon the United States by the Axis Powers, many distributors of consumers’ goods have told their customers that they cannot sell to them unless their orders are accompanied by preference rating certificates. This seems to have been most prevalent among dealers who handle metal products, particularly in the farm machinery and hand-tools fields.
The Priorities Division pointed out that retail consumers cannot and must not be expected to produce preference rating certificates, when placing normal orders for finished goods.
In the case of important civilian items, as for example, farm machinery and spare parts for privately owned automobiles and trucks, the Priorities Division has given assistance to manufacturers so that they may continue their production. The goods manufactured as a result of this assistance are then made available through the normal trade channels.
December 23, 1941
★ VICTORY ★
23
Refrigerated space increased 21 percent, survey shows
A complete survey of refrigerated warehouse space throughout the country, made to assist the War and Navy Departments, the Lend-Lease Administration, Surplus Marketing Administration, and other agencies, has been announced by Ralph Budd, OEM Transportation Commissioner. This survey was made by the cold storage section of Agricultural Marketing Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, at the request of the warehousing section of the Transportation Division.
It lists the gross space in all types of cold storage warehouses and meat packing establishments and shows a total of 1,879 units with 766,383,000 cubic feet Under refrigeration. This is an increase of 21 percent since 1921. These totals do not include approximately 36,000,000 cubic feet of ice storage space which could be used for the storage of many vital defense food products, nor the large aggregate capacity of the many refrigerated locker plants throughout the country.
Copies of the survey may be obtained from the office of J. Raymond Shoemaker, consultant on Refrigerated Warehousing, Room 1244, Federal Reserve Building, Washington, D. C.
★ ★ -W
CARLOADINGS
Revenue freight carloadings for the week ended December 13 totaled 807,225 cars, an increase of 9.6 percent over the corresponding week in 1940 when loadings totaled 736,340 cars; but a decrease, due to seasonal influences, of 26,150 cars or 3.1 percent under the previous week in 1941 when loadings of 833,375 cars were recorded.
OARLOADINGS—WEEK ENDED DEO. 13
Per-
1941 1940 cent
increase
Grain and grain prod-
ucts................ 41,533 33,056 25.6
Livestock____________ 13,841 13,727 .8
Coal---................ 154,910 149,679 3.5
Coke_____________--- 14,029 13,272 5.7
Forest products______ 42,377 39,618 7.0
Ore___________________ 16,173 13,470 20.1
Merchandise 1. c. 1-___ 152,741 153,619 1.6
Miscellaneous________ 371,621 319,899 16.2
Total___________ 807,225 736,340 9.6
Cumulative (50 weeks). 40,879,704 35,114,792 16.4
1 Decrease.
MATERIALS . . .
Capacity for pig iron and special steels to be sped by high ratings, other means
Expansion of the Nation’s steel-making facilities, particularly in the field most vital for war production, will be pushed forward with new speed, W. L. Batt, Director of Materials, announced December 16.
A first step in the steel speed-up program is the decision to grant high preference ratings for expansion projects. Ratings in the high military categories will be used.
Pig iron, electric furnaces
The immediate aim is twofold: .
1. An increase in pig iron facilities, to balance present finishing facilities and to offset expected shortages in iron and steel scrap.
2. An increase in electric furnace and other finishing facilities, to provide special treatment steels, alloy steels, and specific steel products necessary for war production.
Ratings just below top military projects are expected to forestall any possible delays in getting the expansion program now under way completed in a minimum number of months. All other steps possible to rush the program will be taken, Mr. Batt said.
Air conditioning to step up production
One now under consideration is to equip an important number of existing blast furnaces with air-conditioning units, which can be installed within four or five months without delaying plant operations. It is estimated this will increase pig iron output by 5 to 8 percent for 8 months a year, meaning an additional 1,000,000 to 2,500,000 tons a year. This dry blast process also would result in a substantial annual saving of coke.
Steel-expansion projects approved to date, totaling more than 7,000,000 ingot tons, Mr. Batt pointed out, are designed to meet specific needs of war production. These are alloy bars, tool steel bars, cold finished bars, armor plate, special steel castings, and steel plates. Another consideration of prime importance is the increase in Great Lakes ore-shipping capacity. Contracts for the construction of sixteen new ore boats already have been let by the Maritime Commission.
Detailed reports on steel will be made regularly to the Supply Priorities and
Allocations Board, Mr. Batt said, based on additional information being gathered by the iron and steel branch, Office of Production Management.
Emphasis will be given to completion of projects now approved or under construction, and additional projects will be recommended as the need for them is demonstrated. Long-range planning is vital in steel, he pointed out, because it takes from 18 to 24 months to complete all production facilities necessary for each million-ton increase in steel output.
Timing of the building of various units and the amount of tonnage which may ultimately be required will depend, he said, on the turn of war in various parts of the world.
★ ★ ★
Houghton named assistant to Materials deputy director
Appointment of Amory Houghton, Corning, N. Y., glass manufacturer, as assistant deputy director of the Division of Materials, was announced December 18 by OPM.
Mr. Houghton becomes an additional assistant to Philip D. Reed, deputy director. C. H. Matthiessen, Jr., of Pasadena, Calif., is the other.
Rapelye chief of nickel branch
Another change in the administrative staff of the division is the appointment of Harry A. Rapelye, of Kansas City, Mo., as chief of the nickel branch. Mr. Rapelye replaces Louis Jordan, who has been acting chief. Mr. Jordan will continue on a part-time basis with the branch, devoting the rest of his time to the Research Council of the National Academy of Science.
★ ★ ★
Defense Bond sales set record in first week of war
Sale of Defense Savings Bonds was boosted 117 percent to an all-time high during the first week of war, a spot check of representative banks in 45 key cities, made for the Treasury Department by the American Bankers Association, showed.
24
★ VICTORY ★
December 23, 1941
LABOR ...
5-point program for labor, management issued to meet rubber industry problems
Sidney Hillman, Associate Director General, OPM, issued December 18 a 5-point program for the rubber industry which labor and management will be expected to follow in handling labor problems arising out of the war curtailment of civilian production in the industry.
Based upon the statement of policy which OPM issued on September 17, 1941, the program includes provision for the protection of seniority rights; transfer of employees from nonwar to war jobs within plants; preferential hiring of displaced workers; recall of workers by original employer for war tasks; and retention of seniority by workers in training for defense jobs.
Conversion to war production
In addition, Mr. Hillman said, the Government’s discussions with labor and management indicated the importance of converting civilian tire and rubber factories, wherever possible, to war production. The Contract Distribution Division of OPM is collaborating with Labor Division and industry officials on methods to advance this program of conversion.
Arrangements are also being made for close cooperation of rubber workers unions, managements, and the State employment services for group registration of all displaced or laid-off workers, for the purpose of expediting their employment in war industries and, if necessary, retraining for war production.
Representatives meet at Akron
The conferences leading up to the adoption of the labor transfer program were held at Akron, Ohio, on December 11 and 17, 1941, under the chairmanship of Eric Nicol, associate chief, labor supply branch of the OPM’s Labor Division, and were participated in by representatives of the leading rubber manufacturers and labor unions.
Taking part in the conference at Akron, December 17, were:
S. H. Dalrymple, general president, L. S. Buckmaster, general vice president, Frank Grillo, general secretary-treasurer, George R. Bass, president, Local 5, George Cummins, president, Local 65, C. V. Wheeler, president, Local 2, C. F. Richmond, president, Local 7, Gerald T. Palmer, president, Local 18, E. L. Templeton, president, Local 6, Howard Haas, president, Local 9, and Rex C. Murray, district representative—United Rubber Workers of America; John J. Murphy, representative
of the AFL Rubber Workers; I. B. Calvin, Seiberling Rubber Co.; John A. Christie, factory manager, Mohawk Rubber Co.; W. R. Murphy, Firestone Tire and Rubber Co.; H. B. Spencer, U. S. Rubber Co.; H. L. Barnes, General Tire and Rubber Co.; D. D. Reichow, B. F. Goodrich Co.; Fred W. Climer, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.; and H. W. Croysdale, Republic Rubber Division, Lee Rubber and Tire Corporation.
Five-point program
The following is an interpretation of the policy statement of the Office of Production Management of September 17, 1941 as it applies to the rubber industry, which the OPM will expect industry and labor to follow in handling the displacement of workers in the rubber industry:
1. Protection of Seniority Rights.
Where an employee working on nondefense production is laid off and obtains defense employment with another company, and that fact is certified to his former employer, he will not have to report back for nondefense production work in order to protect his seniority so long as he retains the defense employment to which he was certified. If he shifts from one defense employment to another, there must be a recertification as to his new defense employment. Employers involved in the application of this policy will work out arrangements which will result in the maximum possible acceleration of the defense program.
A. It shall be the responsibility of the employer to furnish an employee being laid off full information regarding the procedure which he should follow in protecting his seniority rights, together with a partially filled out form entitled, “Certification of Hire for Defense Work.”
It is the employee’s responsibility to see to it that his original employer, with whom original seniority was acquired, receives from his defense employer the form “Certification of Hire for Defense Work.” This certification form shall be completed by his defense employer. Copy of this certification form shall be immediately sent by the defense employer to the local State Employment Office and a copy thereof furnished to the worker for his retention.
B. Employees working in plants on nondefense work who can be spared or loaned; who elect to accept such defense employment; and who are found acceptable and are so certified by the prospective employer, will be released upon agreement with their original employer with full protection of their seniority rights.
C. Skilled tradesmen partially employed, or employed at occupations other than their trade, unless such occupation is considered to be equally essential to defense, will be released upon their request with full protection of their seniority rights for full time defense work at their trade. In Instances in which a collective agreement provides for a reduction of hours before employees are laid off, the schedule of hours so reduced may be regarded as full time employment for the purpose of this provision. The defense employer shall, upon request, notify the original employer that he has offered the worker full time defense work at his trade before the worker’s request for release is granted.
Workers securing defense employment with another employer under the terms of this policy will, while employed on defense work, continue to accumulate seniority with the employer with which their original seniority was acquired, providing proper certification of such employment has been made to their original employer.
2. Transfer of Employees Within Companies.
Transfer of employees from nondefense to defense work in each local bargaining unit shall be in line with agreements regarding the transfer of employees. Employees fully qualified for skilled and semiskilled jobs on the basis of past experience and training shall be transferred in line with their seniority.
Employees with the greatest seniority working in the plant who have applied and who can qualify within the period normally given to new employees shall be given the opportunity to qualify before new employees are hired to be trained for the job.
If no such employees or an insufficient number of such employees who have made application are available, management will notify the Shop Committee and new, fully qualified applicants may be hired.
3. Preferential Hiring of Displaced Work-ERS.
When hiring new employees for defense work, preference will be given to persons laid off on account of authorized Government curtailment of nondefense production, and where curtailment in their industry is authorized for the near future
Such employees who are working or/ who have worked in local industries will be given preference over employees from other localities.
It is understood that in the event that workers are displaced in the rubber industry within a given community as the result of shortage of materials or as a result of the authorized curtailment of production, the Labor Division of the Office of Production Management will endeavor to secure agreement from other companies and Industries in the community which can logically absorb such displaced workers to provide defense employment for these displaced workers in accordance with the provisions of this policy. 4. Recall of Workers by Original Employer for Defense Work.
In order to retain his seniority, an employee loaned or laid off, whether unemployed or currently employed on defense or nondefense work, must report back for defense employment to the company with which he holds his original seniority for work in the same community, if and when called, on notice of at least one calendar week. Recall of employees to defense work presupposes the management will endeavor to provide full-time employment, contingent upon the availability of the essential tools, material, and facilities. Skilled tradesmen will be subject to recall only for full-time defense employment at their trades or the equivalent.
5. Status of Workers in Training for Defense Jobs.
For the purpose of these policies, defense training is to be considered defense employment, provided there is an understanding between the employer and the employee that the employee is being trained for a specific defense job.
The above provisions shall become operative December 10, 1941, and will cover all workers who have seniority rights on that date. . The provisions of this policy shall continue in effect throughout the duration of the war.
December 23, 1941
★ VICTORY ★
25
* MEDIATION BOARD ...
Board passes fourth consecutive week with no strikes on calendar
The National Defense Mediation Board last week (December 15-21) for the fourth consecutive time had a week completely free from strikes.
Central States Employers Negotiating Committee
Hearings resumed on Monday, Dec. 15, in the dispute between the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, AFL, and the Central States Employers Negotiating Committee, Chicago, Hl. The hearings had been recessed for one week to allow a subcommittee to assemble necessary data for the Board’s arbitration award. After 3 days, during which both sides finished presenting their arguments, the six-man panel adjourned the meetings and will make its decision as soon as possible.
The controversy, which arose over wages of over-the-road drivers, 225,000 trucking employees in 12 midwestern States, is the second largest case ever handled by the Board. Both parties have agreed to to accept the Board’s decision as final and binding.
Nevada Consolidated Copper Corporation
On Dec. 15,-hearings opened in the dispute between the Nevada Consolidated Copper Corporation, Santa Rita and Hurley, N. Mex., and the Chino Metal Trades Council, AFL, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers, and the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. A threatened strike of 2,300 men had been postponed at the two plants, which are engaged in smelting and mining copper essential to national defense.
The issue causing the controversy was the refusal of the company to bargain with any union until certified by the National Labor Relations Board. After 2 days of hearings, the panel, composed of William G. Rice, Jr., Frederick Fales and James Wilson, issued recommendations which were accepted by the union. The recommendations urged that all parties avoid causing delays in the case now pending before the National Labor Relations Board; that until the -NLRB certifies one union, the employer bargain with each union for its members only. The union accepted the recommendations.
and the company asked for time to consider its answer.
Anaconda Copper Mining Co.
It was decided by the Board after a one-day hearing in the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. dispute with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL, that a special representative would have to be appointed to investigate the wage question. This issue was the cause of a threatened strike of 175 men employed in mining and smelting copper.
John A. Roebling Sons Co.
On December 16, hearings were resumed in the case of John A. Roebling Sons Co., Trenton, N. J., and the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. Hearings had been held early in November on the demand by the union for a closed shop and the application of standard railroad rules in the yard of the company. Hearings were then recessed to give the union time to study the company’s proposals before the parties came in again before the Board. Because the union representative admitted they had no power to make any changes in the standard rules of the Brotherhood which they wanted incorporated in any agreement, the Board decided to recess the hearings once more. A letter was then sent by the panel to W. L. Reed, vice president of the Brotherhood, who represented the union in the case, stating that the Board “obviously cannot function in its mediation capacity unless the representatives of each party are empowered to bargain collectively upon all the issues in dispute.” It also pointed out that the company was so empowered and declared that the Board had decided to recess the hearings “until such time as the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen arranges to have present at the hearings a representative, either yourself or someone else, with authority to negotiate upon all the issues in dispute.”
Meanwhile the Board retains jurisdiction of the case with the understanding that production will not be interrupted while the case remains before it. A strike would affect 8,300 men at the company’s plant, which has defense contracts for steel and aircraft products.
Two new cases were certified to the Board last week. One involved the Hammond-Irving Co., Inc., of Auburn, N. Y„ and the International Association of Machinists, AFL. When the union agreed to end the 13-day strike, the case was certified to the Board. The plant is making steel forgings and employs 132 men. A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 5.
On Saturday, Dec. 20, the month-old strike of 200 employees of the Johns-Manville Products Corporation plant at Watson, Calif., was certified to the Board. The employees represented by the Rock Products Workers Union, AFL agreed on immediate resumption of production as soon as the case was certified. The plant is making asbestos for construction at the Phelps-Dodge Copper Co. mine, Morenci, Ariz. The issue in dispute is wages.
★ ★ ★
OPM industry branches to act more closely with labor, management, Director General
William Knudsen and Sidney Hillman, Director and Associate Director of OPM, on December 20 announced organizational changes within OPM designed to speed up war production, to quicken the conversion of civilian industry to war output, and to widen the participation of management and labor along every step of the way in achieving these objectives.
Under this new arrangement, the industry branches which are charged with the responsibility for converting civilian facilities to wartime purposes will henceforth report directly to the Director General and the Associate Director General. This will make it possible to arrive more swiftly at decisions relating to such industries and to translate those decisions into effective action.
In shaping plans to increase war production, both the Director General and the Associate Director General are calling upon all industry branch chiefs to draw more extensively upon the experience and active services of labor and management committees in meeting such problems as the maximum war use of the equipment and manpower of every shop and factory, the spreading of war orders, the orderly transfer and retaining of workers for war jobs, the conservation of strategic war materials, as well as many other key questions.
26
★ VICTORY ★
December 23, 1941
CONSERVATION . . .
War brings call for everyone to start now saving waste paper, rags, metals, rubber
An appeal to every American to join a “Salvage for Victory Campaign” was issued December 14 by Lessing J. Rosen-wald, chief of the Bureau of Industrial Conservation. Mr. Rosenwald called upon the entire public to begin immediately to save for war production all waste paper, rags, metals and old rubber.
The goal of this campaign is the salvage and re-use of every pound of wasted or idle material, Mr. Rosenwald declared. The salvage of materials critically needed to wage war against the Axis powers he said, “is an immediate and grave responsibility for every man, woman and child.”
In homes, shops, and factories
Prior to the Japanese attack on the United States, the defense program and Lease-Lend aid to Britain, Russia and China had reached such proportions that it had become necessary to begin planning a national salvage campaign that would reach into every home. The outbreak of a “fighting war,” however, now makes it necessary to use every pound of materials, including so-called waste materials, for war industries and the essential civilian economy.
“Let no American fail to realize the extent of the threat to supplies essential to our war production by the events of the last few days,” Mr. Rosenwald urged. “There is, of course, no need for hysteria. Americans have never failed to meet every emergency which has confronted them, no matter how sudden or vast it has been. We have been preparing for the situation which now confronts us. Stock piles have been accumulated; new sources of critical materials are being tapped; substitutes have been and will continue to be found and used; every possible economy in the use of the materials we have will be achieved.
Events make need immediate
“But the greatest source of many of the things we must have is the waste pile scattered over the face of America. In homes, shops, and factories, on farms and city dumps, in automobile ‘graveyards’ there is a huge, untapped mine of scrap metal, paper, rags, and rubber. Not one pound of this rich potential stock pile must be left lying idle and unused.”
The Bureau of Industrial Conservation recently announced completion of a carefully planned program for nationwide salvage of waste materials. The program was launched on December 9 with the appointment of a State Salvage Committee in Maryland, after which similar committees were to be set up in every State. The sudden and drastic change in the whole problem of scarce materials brought on by Japan’s attack, however, now demands immediate action.
Asked to surmount inconvenience
“Undoubtedly there will be inconveniences and delays while the details of organizing State and local salvage committees are being worked out,” Mr. Rosenwald said. “It may not be possible to provide for the immediate collection of all waste materials from every home,” he continued. “Facilities for collection, transportation and so forth vary from place to place, so we must ask the public for patience. But I feel sure that when the need exists and the life of the Nation is at stake, the people of this country will not complain about inconveniences.”
Committee being set up in East
The Bureau will continue along the lines originally laid out, it was said, and is already setting up salvage committees in a number of East Coast States. Wherever possible, these committees will be a part of local defense councils. By this method, it is felt, the salvage program can be most effectively executed on a continuous, regular basis. Until such time as special instructions may be issued by such State committees, however, the Bureau urgently requested that all available waste materials be set in motion toward war plants.
The Bureau has recommended that scrap metals, paper of all kinds, rags; old tires and innertubes be sold to local collectors, or given to collecting charities. Waste materials dealers usually are listed in telephone books, it was noted. As a general rule, collectors will not call for less than one hundred pounds of waste paper, so that in many instances it will be wiser for the average householder to deliver small quantities directly to a dealer, in order to expedite the return of the material to production.
Knudsen appeals to every industry, large and small, to “get in the scrap!”
The following statement was issued to industry December 18 by OPM Director General Knudsen.
In this shooting war our planes, tanks, ships, and guns have an enormous appetite for metal. This appetite must be satisfied.
Return every pound to market
The drain on our raw materials must be supplemented in every way possible. Most important at this time is the quick return to the market of every pound of scrap metal we can find.
This scrap, of which there can be a great harvest in industry, must be gathered up and sold at once.
Every industry, large and small, must GET IN THE SCRAP.
Obsolete machinery wanted
Obsolete machinery, old boilers, old gears, pulleys, discontinued patterns, molds, scraps of rods and bars and other steel shapes can be found lying around thousands of shops and factories.
Don’t think because you only find a hundred pounds or so that it not important. Get it all back into the market—by the pound, the ton or carload.
Your country needs it!
Needed to boost production
OPM’s Bureau of Industrial Conservation has started the wheels turning on an Industrial Salvage Program. I want those wheels to spin!
1. Act now.
2. Appoint a salvage man to ferret out “dormant” scrap and sell it promptly.
3. Give him the necessary authority to do a real job.
4. Bring this problem to the attention of every man in the plant. Encourage this participation.
5. Make this a continuous program.
6. Make this your problem.
For tanks, guns, planes, ships
You can return to our mills the additional scrap needed to boost production of tanks, guns, planes, and ships.
I expect every shop and factory to see that this scrap gets back into the market to help us do the job we all want done.
GET IN THE SCRAP!
December 23, 1941
★ VICTORY *
27
OPM discourages use of new doth, surgical tape in air raid precautions
OPM last week discouraged the purchase of new materials as blackout cloth, suggesting as substitutes articles found in the average home. Also, the use of ordinary gum, industrial, or scotch tape was recommended for application to windows as an air-raid precaution. Surgical tape contains critical materials.
Concerned over reports of large buying of so-called blackout cloth, R. R. Guthrie, chief of the textiles, clothing, and equipage branch of the Purchases Division, sent the following telegram to Lew Hahn, executive director of the National Retail Drygoods Association, New York:
“Would appreciate your cooperation regarding purchases of new materials for blackout usage. It is intent that no new yardage be used for this purpose. There is no official blackout cloth, and materials now in the homes and waste materials should be used. Please advise your members that it is our policy to discourage use of any kind of new materials. The present wave of buying will seriously hinder our war effort.”
Blankets, overcoats will do
Mr. Guthrie said that a number of articles found around the home would serve the same purpose as so-called blackout cloth—that is, prevent light within a house from being visible from the outside and minimize the effect of shattered glass.
He suggested that windows and glass doors be covered with such things as blankets, qiWts, bedspreads, carpets, rugs, draperies, or overcoats. They need not be black so long as they hold in the light.
Druggists can help
William M. Bristol Jr., head of the health supplies branch of the Purchases Division, said that, “the surgical adhesive tape contains three materials needed for defense—rubber, zinc, and cloth. It seems hardly necessary to point out that in the event of a bombing such tape might be needed for surgical dressings, and it would be unfortunate if the supply in some bombed locality had been exhausted through purchases of surgical tape for use on windows.”
“Druggists,” he said, “can help out by explaining the situation and recommending another material that will be equally effective.”
U. S. mothers, children can aid war effort
by saving every scrap of paper—Henderson
The mothers and children of America can give important help to their country’s war effort in their own homes by making every house in America a unit in the national campaign to save waste paper, OPA Administrator Henderson said December 16.
For packaging weapons
Waste paper is the raw material from which is made the corrugated box containers that carry the weapons of war to the men on America’s fighting fronts, the administrator pointed out in an appeal directed to every housewife in the country. Even before we were in the war the Government was already using one third of the Nation’s paper box production for arms needs. Now the need has greatly increased and will continue to grow. If there are to be boxes enough, every scrap of paper needed in their manufacture should be saved.
“The boxes that carry the bullets to the front are made of last Sunday’s newspapers,” Mr. Henderson said. “Now America needs them for war. They are necessary material for the arsenal of freedom.”
Suggestions for saving
Here are specific suggestions:
1. If you have children, make your son or your daughter responsible for saving all the newspapers, magazines, wrapping paper and other usable waste that used to go into the incinerator or ashcan. Give your child a job on the Home Front. Make your child a soldier in the battle against waste. Or take the responsibility yourself. Everyone wants to do his share now. And this is an important share.
2. Telephone a waste paper dealer, your favorite local charity, the Boy Scouts, or the Salvation Army. They will call at your door and collect all the paper you save for them. If you live in a city where a special waste paper headquarters has been set up by the industry (and there are already 37 of them), call that number. Information will give it to you.
3. Listen to your radio and watch your local paper. They will give you more news of the waste paper campaign.
4. Don’t forget the' Christmas wrappings and gift boxes already arriving at your home. They are made into boxes for weapons too. This year forget the “don’t open until Christmas” labels, and turn those wrappings in now. Hide the presents in the closet instead.
5. Tell the neighbors on your street about the waste paper campaign. Help make your street 100 percent in this national effort. And husbands see that your offices aren’t wasting paper. Every office needs a monitor now to watch those waste-baskets.
The material we used to burn
Mr. Henderson’s appeal to households is another step in the national conservation campaign begun by the paper-consuming industries and calling for the
help of all State and local governments, every factory, every office and every home in the land to save the paper we used to burn so that there may be enough for America’s war effort.
50 pounds a month per family
Fifty pounds of waste paper a month from every family in America is the quota which Mr. Henderson hopes will be collected for the needs of war.
Waste paper is the raw material of corrugated paper boxes. So many of these containers are needed for war shipments that an all-time record collection of 14 billion pounds of waste paper will be necessary this year in order to make boxes enough. The homes of America can salvage that much waste paper if every family saves at least 50 pounds a month.
Two newspapers a day, plus whatever magazines, wrapping paper and old boxes can be mustered, will make up a monthly bundle of 50 pounds or more, the OPA Administrator explained. Turned over to the paperboard mills through local waste paper dealers or charitable organizations the monthly family accumulations could produce a total return running into several millions of dollars a month at current waste paper prices. This would be a sizeable addition to the income of America’s families and an important help to the budgets of organizations which raise money in this way for their charitable work.
> ★ ★
Iron and steel products “extras” clarified by OPA
A letter clarifying the definition of “extras” which may be charged on iron and steel products under Price Schedule No. 6, Iron and Steel Products, was sent to members of the steel industry December 20 by OPA Administrator Henderson.
★ ★ ★
Group to fight gasoline waste
Appointment of a subcommittee of the Petroleum Industry Council for National Defense to determine measures for the prevention of waste in the use of petroleum and its products has been announced by W. R. Boyd, Jr., chairman of the council.
28
★ VICTORY ★
December 23, 1941
AGRICULTURE...
Rubber planting stock reaches U. S. ahead of war; program to proceed on schedule
(.Information furnished through Office of Agricultural Defense Relations, U, S. Department of Agriculture)
Despite war in the Pacific, the program to reestablish rubber production in the Western Hemisphere will proceed on schedule, the U. S. Department of Agriculture said December 16. Large quantities of propagating material representing the most promising strains now growing in the East have already been established in the Americas. Within the last few weeks a final shipment of 5,500 budded trees from the Philippines reached American shores safely.
Plant 15 million seeds in year
Nearly 15 million rubber seeds have been planted in Latin America since the program started about a year ago. This includes about 5 million seeds planted by U. S. commercial interests. The remainder have been planted as part of the cooperative rubber program in which the department is working closely with 12 Latin American governments.
From Mexico to Peru
The rubber seeds have been planted in nurseries from Mexico to Peru, at sites selected by rubber survey parties of U. S. and Latin-American rubber experts. These seeds, collected for the most part in the countries where they are to be grown, will be budded with high-yielding, disease-resistant strains chosen from all of the important rubber-growing areas of the world. Already, a start has been made in the budding operations in several countries. In 9 to 12 months after a stump is budded it grows into a tree 6 to 8 feet high, which usually supplies enough buds for 20 more seedlings.
U. S. world’s greatest rubber consumer
Events of the last week emphasize the importance of establishing rubber growing on a commercial scale in the Western Hemisphere, the department said. The United States is the world’s greatest consumer of rubber, and has been importing practically all of its supplies, normally about 600,000 tons annually, from British Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies.
Another phase of the rubber program is research to produce higher yielding and more disease-resistant strains, with which to develop an industry that can compete with existing sources of supply after the war. Headquarters for this
work are at Para, Brazil, and Turrialba, Costa Rica. Results of all investigations will be available to each of the cooperating Republics and to both large and small growers. The Hevea rubber tree is a native of Brazil and may be grown in any warm climate with a rainfall of at least 70 inches, well distributed throughout the year. Tapping may be started when trees are 4 to 5 years old.
★ ★ ★
OF INTEREST TO FARMERS
SECOND-HAND BAGS made of burlap or cotton have been put under a price ceiling—page 19.
TIRES under the forthcoming rationing plan will be available to a limited group of essential truckoperators—page 3.
SCRAP of all kinds, now lying unused on farms, is urgently needed in armament production—page 26.
Agricultural Defense Board set up by Wickard to bolster win-the-war effort
Secretary of Agriculture Wickard has created an Agricultural Defense Board and reorganized the department’s administrative machinery “in order to increase to the fullest possible extent the contribution of the Department of Agriculture toward winning the war.”
The Board is composed of: M. Clifford Townsend, director, Office of Agricultural Defense Relations; M. L. Wilson, director. Extension Service; H. R. Tolley, chief, Bureau of Agricultural Economics; R. M. Evans, Agricultural Adjustment and Conservation administrator; C. B. Baldwin, Farm Security administrator; Roy F. Hendrickson, Agricultural Marketing administrator; John B. Hutson, president. Commodity Credit Corporation ; Earle H. Clapp, acting chief, Forest Service; Eugene C. Auchter, Agricultural Research administrator; Albert G. Black, governor. Farm Credit Administration; and Harry Slattery, Rural Electrification administrator.
War effort aided by food and fiber reserves stored under commodity loans
Reserves of food, feed, and fiber stored in the Ever-Normal Granary in times of abundance under commodity loan programs are making an effective contribution to the war effort, J. B. Hutson, president of the Commodity Credit Corporation said in his annual report to the Secretary of Agriculture on the activities of the organization during the fiscal year 1940-41.
Lend-lease requirements for cotton, corn, tobacco, wheat, and naval stores are supplied from stocks accumulated through loans and purchases by Commodity Credit, Hutson’s report stated, while corn reserves accumulated in years of surplus harvest are providing additional feed supplies required for the planned expansion of the production of pork, dairy, and poultry products.
$513,000,000 in loans and purchases
Commodity Credit loans and purchases amounted to approximately $513,-000,000 during the 12 months of the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1941. The commodities affected include cotton, corn, wheat, rye, barley, grain sorghums, tobacco, peanuts, prunes, raisins, turpentine, rosin, dairy products, and seed for conservation practices.
Substantial quantities redeemed
Substantial quantities of commodities, particularly cotton and wheat, pledged for loans in 1940 were redeemed in 1941 and sold by producers. Heavy liquidations of corn stocks during the fiscal year were also reported.
The total of loans and purchases is the largest expended in any one fiscal year.
Report describes loan operations
Operations of the various loan programs during the fiscal year are described in detail in the report, copies of which are available from the Commodity Credit Corporation, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.
December 23, 1941 ★ VICTORY ★ 29
HEALTH AND WELFARE ...
First wartime nutrition poster shows 7 foods essential to good health
Federal Security Administrator Paul V. McNutt issued December 19 the first wartime poster in the nutrition campaign of his office of Defense Health and Welfare Services in order to get every American to "Eat the Right Food.”
Seven foods that should be eaten daily to enable the average man, woman, and child to keep in good health are listed.
Council of military, civilian specialists set up to meet health needs of population
Because of the importance of maintaining good health among the civilian and military population of all the countries fighting the Axls powers, the Office of Production Management authorized December 18 the setting up of a committee of health specialists from military and civilian life to ascertain the requirements of such a program and then to see to it that the supplies are produced and made available.
The committee, known as the technical council of the health supplies branch of OPM, is headed by William M. Bristol^ Jr., chief of the OPM health supplies branch, and includes-the following:
Dr. James A. Crabtree, executive secretary of the health and medical committee, Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services; Col. C. F. Shook, assistant chief of the finance and supply division, Office of the Surgeon General, United States Army; Capt. Carlton Andrus, chief of the planning division of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, United States Navy; and Maj. Clifford V. Morgan, chief of the Commodities Division, Office of the Under Secretary of War. Fred J. Stock, of the OPM health supplies branch, is secretary.
Council functions
It will be the responsibility of the technical council to ascertain the health supply requirements of the Army, Navy, and civilian population of the United States as well as the lend-lease countries; make recommendations for the production and distribution of such health supplies; insure the securing of necessary materials for the production of such supplies; and make recommendations to OPM concerning the production and distribution of items (such as garbage pails and screens) not classified as health supplies but essential for sanitation.
Acts in advisory capacity
The council will act in an advisory capacity and make recommendations concerning:
1. The securing from commodity branches of allocations of raw or essential materials or products that are, in the opinion of the council, essential for the maintenance of health.
2. Approval of requisitions and purchases for health supply items for the Army, Navy, all Federal agencies, lend-lease countries, American Red Cross, and other war relief organizations.
3. Issuance of priorities for commodities that are not specifically under allocation.
4. The relative degree of necessity of all items classified as health supplies and the allocation of available materials for production on the basis of such determination.
Mr. Bristol said health supply requirements cut across the whole defense program and it is vital to see to it that supplies necessary for health are made available even when they involve critical materials. '
Girls like to dance with privates too—and boys don’t want to see just the local “400”
College girls want the United States Army to change its "etiquette” for behavior of enlisted men at social functions, Mark McCloskey, director of recreation, Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services announced December 16.
Mr. McCloskey said that he had received a report from an Eastern women’s college, growing out of a two-day conference called to discuss the subject "How Can Girls Help the Defense Program?”
The report, in part, is as follows:
“A torrent of dissent was loosed when the matter of dancing with soldiers came up for discussion. Part of the dissatisfaction has to do with the military rules of etiquette. ‘When we dance with a nice boy who is a private,’ one delegate said, ‘the sergeant cuts in and that’s the last we ever see of him.’ It seems that the Army Tias a rule that a private can’t cut in on a superior.”
The other side of the picture, said Mr. McCloskey, is more serious. Emphasizing the importance of "all-out” volunteering for community hospitality, Mr. McCloskey said:
Same treatment for everyone
"To the young men of this country ‘selective service’ means the same treatment for everyone and no playing favorites. In too many towns, ‘selective service’ might be applied to community hostesses and dance partners as meaning a selection of the elite and no bids out to the girls from ‘the other side of the track.’
"Men in uniform are a cross section of the USA. There are some few enlisted men who may be used to spending their leisure time in the rarified atmosphere of country clubs or cafe society; there are plenty more who are used to finding their fun in the church social, the corner movie, the nickel dance hall, the trade-union boat ride, and the manifold other folk ways of the great American public.
“The ‘Colonel’s Lady’ and the bank president’s wife—and their daughters— are needed in this community hospitality program for soldiers and sailors—and they are doing a good job. But the Judy O’Gradys are needed too.”
★ ★ ★
CHRISTMAS WAR MENU RICH IN VITAMINS
It’s the new trimmings on the turkey that put the health “plus” into Christmas dinner, according to Dr. Helen S. Mitchell, principal nutritionist of the Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services, Federal Security Agency.
Her Christmas war menu:
TOMATO JUICE—WITH WHOLE-WHEAT CRACKERS
RELISHES-CELERY, RADISHES, AND GREEN PEPPER STRIPS
ROAST TURKEY AND DRESSING—CRANBERRY SAUCE
MASHED SWEET POTATOES—BUTTERED BROCCOLI
ENGLISH PLUM PUDDING—WINE SAUCE COFFEE OR MILK—FRESH FRUITS AND NUTS
30
★ VICTORY ★
December 23, 1941
CIVILIAN DEFENSE . . .
Wing commanders named to enroll licensed civilian pilots for Civil Air Patrol
Wing Commanders who will enroll licensed civilian pilots of both sexes for the new Civil Air Patrol for the duration of the war were announced last week by the Office of Civilian Defense,
The Civil Air Patrol will enlist 90,000 licensed pilots, 90,000 student pilots who will be licensed by spring and a ground personnel estimated at 100,000 persons. It will include approximately 23,000 privately owned civil aircraft and 2,000 airports in the United States on which there are no military or scheduled airplane operations, as well as hangers, shops, etc. The Civil Air Patrol will be under the command of Maj. Gen. John F. Curry, U. S. A. Air Corps, who has been assigned by the Army to the Office of Civilian Defense and designated by Director F. H. LaGuardia as National Commander.
Wing commanders and States served
Alabama, Birmingham, Harold F. Wood; Arizona, Phoenix, Carl C. Knier; Arkansas, Little Rock, Gilbert Leigh; California, Los Angeles, Bertrand Rhine; Colorado, Denver, Maj. W. W. Agnew; Connecticut, Newington, Thomas H. Lockhart; Delaware, Wilmington, Holger Horriis; Florida, West Palm Beach, Maj. Wright Vermilya, Jr.; Georgia, Atlanta, Winship Nunnally; Idaho, Boise, A. A. Bennett; Illinois, Evanston, Jack Vilas, Sr.; Indiana, Indianapolis, Walker W. Winslow; Iowa, Cedar Rapids, Lt. Col. Daniel F. Hunter; Kansas, Anthony, J. Howard Wilcox; Kentucky, Louisville, Albert H. Near; Louisiana, New Orleans, Byron A. Armstrong;
Maine, Portland, Guy P. Gannett; Maryland, Rockville, Arthur C. Hyde; Massachusetts, South Hamilton, Gordon Chickering Prince; Michigan, Lansing, S. B. Steers; Minnesota, Minneapolis, Maj Leslie L. Schroeder; Mississippi, Jackson, Mitchell Robinson; Missouri, St. Louis, Maj. William B. Robertson; Montana, Billings, Herman H. Henrickson; Nebraska, Lincoln, I. V. Packard; Nevada, Reno, E. J. Questa; New Hampshire, Concord, Russell Hilliard; New Jersey, Summit, George A. Viehmann; New Mexico, Santa Fe, Harllee Townsend, Jr.; New York, Garden City, L. I-, Beckwith C. Havens; North Carolina, Asheville, Mark Reed; North Dakota, Wahteton, Arthur M. Sampson;
Ohio, Cleveland, Earle L. Johnson; Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Moss Patterson; Oregon, Portland, Capt. Leo G. Devaney; Pennsylvania, Hummelston, William L. Anderson; Rhode Island, Hillsgrove Willard M. Fletcher; South Carolina, Columbia, Dexter C. Martin; South Dakota, Pierre T. B. Roberts, Jr.; Tennessee, Nashville, Lt. Col. Herbert Fox; Texas, Dallas, D. Harold Byrd; Utah, Salt Lake City, Joseph Bergin; Vermont, Burlington, Frederick W. Shepardson; Virginia, Richmond, Allan C. Perkinson; Washington, Spokane, Philip H. Hinkley; West Virginia, Charleston, David M. Giltinan; Wisconsin, Waukesha, Seth W. Pollard; Wyoming, Cheyenne, Dillard Walker.
The Wing Commanders from each of the 48 States flew to Washington last week for a series of conferences with
General Curry and for final detailed instructions concerning their organization.
A comprehensive pamphlet which includes application blanks and requirements was mailed to all 48 Governors, to State aviation authorities, to the field officers of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, and to airport managers throughout the United States.
★ ★ ★
IN CIVILIAN DEFENSE
RATIONING to be applied by local defense councils—pages 3, 10.
BLACKOUT CLOTH—Buying new materials hinders defense. Cloth already in the home will do the job— page 27.
SURGICAL TAPE contains important materials; other adhesives should be used for taping windows—page 27.
FLASHLIGHTS should not be bought new when old ones around the house can be restored to usefulness—page 13.
PRODUCTION should go on during test blackouts, OCD says—page 9.
★ ★ ★
Four new communities added to housing critical area list
With the accelerated rate of production under the Victory Program drawing more and more factory workers into the national effort, the Priorities Division announced December 18 the addition of four new communities to the defense housing critical area list.
The assistance of high priority ratings will be extended to builders of privately financed housing for war industry workers, in Pueblo, Colo.; Ashtabula, Ohio; Woonsocket, R. I.; Wheeling, W. Va. (Martin’s Ferry, Ohio, locality).
★ ★ ★
TEXTS OF ORDERS
Texts of all official notices of OEM agencies, as printed in the Federal Register, are carried in the weekly Supplement of Victory. The Supplement will be mailed to any paid subscriber of Victory on request to the Distribution Section, Division of Information, OEM.
Palmer reports total of j
105,927 defense homes now being built or completed
Charles F. Palmer, Coordinator of Defense Housing, announced December 17 that 1,045 new publicly financed homes for families of defense workers and enlisted personnel had been completed during the week ending December 13, making a total of 60,357 completed or occupied.
With 125 homes going into construction during the week, the total of publicly financed homes now being built or completed reached 105,927.
Federal funds have already been allotted for 126,889 defense homes.
FHA-inspected privately financed homes started during the week totaled 3,390. Since January 1941, 207,515 such homes have gone into construction.
The total number of dormitory Units for occupancy by single defense workers has reached 6,678.
★ ★ ★
Housing priority applicants will be required to report rent or sale price
Owners of privately financed defense housing, operating with the assistance of Preference Rating Order P-55, are required to make definite statements as to the amounts at which they will sell or rent the properties they construct, in a new application form issued December 19 . by the Priorities Division.
They must also agree to erect signs, • legible at a distance of 100 feet, on which are lettered the serial number assigned to the project, and sale and rental prices of the family units under construction.
The new form calls for certain additional statements, among them a schedule showing the number of new houses to be started each month, and an agreement by the builder to keep copies of all of his purchase’ orders to which he applies the rating issued, and to make reports as called for.
The new form PD 105 Revised, supersedes PD 105 and PD 105a. It may be used beginning December 22. Beginning January 1,1942, all applications for priority assistance in the construction of approved defense housing must be *
made on it. These forms may be obtained from the local offices of the Federal Housing Administration and from building and loan associations.
December 23, 1941
★ VICTORY ★
31
Members of baking committee named
The Bureau of Industry Advisory Committees has announced the membership of the baking industry advisory committee.
John T. McCarthy, consultant to the food supply branch of the Division of Purchases, OPM, is Government presiding officer.
Members are:
Charles Montgomery, vice president, National Biscuit Co., New York, N. Y.; Robert Johnson, treasurer, Johnson Biscuit Co., Milwaukee, Wis.; Morris Messing, manager, Messing Bakeries, Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y.; Frank Rushton, president. Rushton Baking Co., Kansas City, Mo.; Ralph Ward, president, Drake Cake Co., Brooklyn, N. Y.; Albert W. Lantz, president, Lantz Bros., St. Louis, Mo.; M. Lee Marshall, president, Continental Baking Co., New York, N. Y.; Henry Stude, vice president, Purity Bakeries Corporation, Chicago, Ill.; J. W. Carence, president, Campbell-Taggart Assoc. Bakeries, Dallas, Tex.; G. R. Williams, president, Williams Ba’ ry Inc., Scranton, Pa.; E. Franz, president. United States Bakery, Portland, Oreg.; William Wolf, president, William Wolf Baking Co., Baton Rouge, La.; C. W. Swanson, vice president, Worcester Baking Co., Worcester, Mass.; Paul N. Helms, president, Helms Bakery, Los Angeles, Calif.; Sterling Donaldson, president, Donaldson Baking Co., Columbus, Ohio; W. D. Ebinger, president, Ebinger Baking Co., Brooklyn, N. Y.; Jack Koenig, Jr., prop., Koenig’s Bakery, Chicago, HL; E. H. Fisher, vice president, Fisher Bros. Co., Cleveland, Ohio.
★ ★ ★
Weinberg appoints distilled spirits industry committee
"Sidney J. Weinberg, chief of the Bureau of Industry Advisory Committees of the OPM, announced December 16 the formation of a distilled spirits industry advisory committee.
Committee members are:
Samuel Bronfman, president, Jos. E. Seagram & Sons, Inc., Chrysler Bldg., New York, N. Y.; Harry C. Hatch, president, Hiram Walker-Gooderham & Worts, Ltd., Walkerville, Ontario, Canada; James F. Brownlee, president, Frankfort Distilleries, Inc., Co-lümbia Building, Louisville, Ky.; Julian P. VanWinkle, presidept, Stitzel-Weller Distillery, Shively, Ky.; A. Smith Bowman, proprietor, A. Smith Bowman Distilling Co., Sunset Hills, Fairfax County, Va.; John C. Quinlan, vice-president, Century Distilling Co., Board of Trade Building, Chicago, Ill.; Lewis S. Rosenstiel, chairman of the board of directors, Schenley Distillers Corporation, Empire State Building, New York, N. Y.; Seton Porter, president, National Distillers Products Corporation, 120 Broadway, New York, N. Y.; Ousley Brown, president, Brown-Forman Distillers Corporation, Louisville, Ky.; I. Strouse, vice-president, Baltimore Pure Rye Distilling, Dundalk, Baltimore Co., Md.; L. J. Gunson, president, Continental Distilling Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa.; Warren Oakes, vice-president, Fleishman Distilling Corporation, Peekskill, N. Y.
INDUSTRY ADVISORY COMMITTEES
Sidney J. Weinberg, chief of Bureau of'Industry Advisory Committees, announced December 15 that 24 main committees and 82 subcommittees have been fully organized in the following industries :
Steel valve, turbine and gear, shoe and leather, hosiery, fruit, fish, and vegetable canning, baking, rayon producers, cordage, burlap -importing and bag manufacturing, can manufacturers, automotive, rubber, radio, pulp and paper, plumbing and heating, farm machinery and equipment, iron and steel, protective and technical coatings, distilled spirits, copper and zinc, cork, electrical, die casting, and waste materials dealers.
★ ★ ★
A. C. Brett, R. J. deCamp named to key posts in contracts clearance
Two changes jin important positions in the contracts clearance. branch of the Division of Purchases, OPM, were announced December 16 by Douglas C. Mac-Keachie, Division director.
Brett succeeds Hiram Brown
Alden C. Brett, treasurer and comptroller of the Hood Rubben Co., Watertown, Mass., has been appointed acting chief of the contracts clearance branch. He succeeds Hiram Brown, who has resigned to return to private business.
Mr. Brett is on loan from the Hood Rubber Co. with which he has been associated for the past 20 years. His home is in Belmont, Mass.
R. J. deCamp named assistant chief
Robert J. deCamp, banker industrialist, and contractor, has been appointed assistant chief of the contracts clearance branch. He succeeds Col. H. B. Hayden who has been transferred to the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs headed by Nelson Rockefeller.
Mr. deCamp was with the Chase National Bank 15 years and with the National City Bank of New York 7 years. He spent 8 years in the principal capitals of Europe during which he handled financial negotiations with European governments and corporations. Mr. deCamp has had broad industrial experience both in management and reorganization work.
Bakery committee discusses reduction of distributing costs
In line with the Office of Price Administration’s policy of stabilizing prices of bakery products, the newly formed bakery industry advisory committee has discussed with representatives of the OPM and OPA ways of reducing distribution and packaging costs.
Quality would not be affected. The industry representatives.were unanimous in belief that in wartime it was more necessary than ever to maintain high nutritional standards because of the added strain imposed on those in civilian life as well as in military service.
Eager to cooperate
The industry representatives expressed themselves as eager to cooperate with OPM and OPA in every way possible to stabilize prices.
There was unanimity of feeling on the following points:
1. Greater economy is possible in the use of packaging and wrapping materials, such as greater reuse of corrugated and fiber containers in which bread is shipped, the use of substitutes, and reduced materials.
Discontinuing of premiums favored
2. Considerable economy can be had in the field of trade practices. The baking industry representatives all favored curtailment of unnecessary sales and distribution expenses, such as discontinuing premiums, combination offers, free goods, prizes/and furnishing display racks and other facilities in stores.
3. Better control of stale returns was also recommended. The feeling was that a considerable saving would result by reducing the quantity of bakery products returned as stale.
A. C. Hoffman, who represented OPA at the meeting, warned the industry not to stock up on materials in anticipation of possible price increases or curtailment of supply. Such buying, he said, would only add to undesirable speculative activity.
J. T. McCarthy, in charge of the bakery section of the food supply branch of the Division of Purchases and Government presiding officer of the bakery advisory committee, added that regulations might later be issued governing wrapping and packaging materials that would render without value any materials that might now be stocked up.
32
★ VICTORY ★
December 23, 1941
OPM order limits sugar inventories;
amendment relieves hardships in December
The Office of Production Management on December 20 amended the sugar conservation order of December 13 (General Preference Order M-55) in order to give manufacturers and distributors of direct-consumption (refined) sugar an opportunity to adjust their operations between now and the end of the year.
The order issued December 13, 1941, restricted delivery of direct-consumption sugar to the quantity delivered to a particular manufacturer or distributor in the corresponding month of 1940. Thus, the amount of sugar that any manufacturer or distributor could receive during this month was the same amount he received during last December.
Inasmuch as large quantities of sugar had been sold or used during the early part of the month prior to the issuance of the order, many manufacturers and wholesalers found themselves in a position where the quantity of sugar they had on hand was inadequate to meet their requirements for the remainder of the month.
In order to avoid loss of employment or undue hardship due to this condition, the amendment permits such manufacturers and distributors to receive additional supplies of sugar up to 15 percent of the average of their monthly use or resale during the months of September, October, and November 1941.
In determining the amount the manufacturer or distributor may receive, he must of course, deduct from this 15 percent of his average use in September, October, and November of 1941 the stocks he now has on hand, and must file a statement with his primary distributor in a form prescribed in the amended order indicating that he is entitled to the deliveries of the sugar applied for.
Beginning January 1, 1942, manufacturers and distributors will be required to regulate their operations so as to comply with the sugar allotments fixed in the original sugar order.
The amendment also defers until January 15, 1942, the deadline for filing reports.
★ ★ ★
Chlorine to be allocated
All chlorine produced in the United States will be subject to direct allocation after February 1,1942, in accordance with the terms of an amendment to General Preference Order M-19 issued December 20 by the Director of Priorities.
★ ★ ★
Vanadium under allocation
Vanadium was placed under a complete allocation system December 20 by the Director of Priorities.
Bleaching powder prices stabilized by agreement
Prices of bleaching powder, vitally needed by America’s armed forces in increasing quantities for protection against poison gas and disease, have been stabilized by a series of individual agreements with producers, OPA Administrator Henderson announced December 19.
The agreements set maximum prices for 1942 deliveries. They were concluded in anticipation of more formal ceiling action later.
The temporary maximum prices for bleaching powder set by the agreements are as follows (all prices are per 100 pounds in drums f. o. b. at the producers works):
800- 333- 100-
pound pound pound
' drums drums drums
Carload lots____________ $2.25 $2.50 $3.10
5 drums or more________ 2.50 2.75 3.35
Less than 5 drums...... 2.75 3.00 3.60
Tungsten orders extended
General Prefence Order M-29, which provides for the control and allocation of tungsten metal powder, ferro-tungsten, and tungsten compounds, has been extended six months to June 30, 1941, by the Director of Priorities.
Supplementary Order M-29-a, which exempts purchasers of 100 pounds or less of contained tungsten in any month from filing reports required of larger users, has been similarly extended. Both orders would have expired December 31,1941.
OFFICE FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
Wayne Coy, Liaison Officer
Central Administrative Services: Dallas Dort, Director.
Defense Communications Board: James Lawrence Fly, Chairman.
Defense Housing Division: C. F. Palmer, Coordinator.
Information Division: Robert W. Horton. Director.
National Defense Mediation Board: Wm H Davis, Chairman.
Office of Scientific Research and Development: Dr. Vannevar Bush, Director.
Office of Civilian Defense: Fiorello H. LaGuardia, Director
Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs: Nelson Rockefeller, Coordinator.
Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services: Paul V. McNutt, Director
Office of Price Administration: Leon Henderson, Administrator.
Consumer Division: Leon Henderson, Administrator. Dan A. West, Deputy Director. •
Supply Priorities and Allocations Board:
The Vice President of the United States, Chairman.
Donald M. Nelson, Executive Director.
The Secretary of War.
The Secretary of the Navy.
William S. Knudsen.
Sidney Hillman.
Harry Hopkins.
Leon Henderson.
Transportation Division of the Advisory Commission: Ralph Budd, Commissioner.
Office of Facts and Figures: Archibald MacLeish, Director.
Office of Lend-Lease Administration: E. R.
Stettinius, Jr., Administrator.
Office of Production Management:
William S. Knudsen, Director General.
Sidney Hillman, Associate Director General.
Secretary, Herbert Emmerich
General Counsel, John Lord O’Brian.
Production Division: W. H. Harrison, Director.
Purchases Division: Douglas C. Mac-Keachie, Director.
Priorities Division: Donald M Nelson, Director.
Materials Division : William L. Batt, Director.
Civilian Supply Division: Leon Henderson, Director.
Contract Distribution Division: Floyd B. Odium, Director.
Labor Division: Sidney Hillman, Director.
Research and Statistics Bureau: Stacy May, Chief .
Bureau of Industry Advisory Committees:
Sidney J. Weinberg, Chief.
Bureau of Industrial Conservation:
Lessing J. Rosenwald, Chief.
■. S. «OVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1941