[Victory : Official Weekly Bulletin of the Office of War Information. V. 3, No. 50]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
OFFICIAL WEEKLY BULLETIN OF THE OFFICE OF WAR INFORMATION
WASHINGTON, 0. C.
DECEMBER 8, 1942
VOLUME 3, NUMBER 49
FOOD, MANPOWER AUTHORITY CENTRALIZED
WICKARD HEADS FARM OUTPUT,
DISTRIBUTION
One-man control over production and distribution of food goes to Secretary of Agriculture Wickard by virtue of a Presidential order issued December 6. Powers of the War Production Board relating to food are transferred to him; the food requirements committee of WPB is abolished and a new advisory board is to be appointed by Mr. Wickard. -
The Secretary takes over power to determine the food needs of the military establishments, civilians. Lend - Lease and foreign governments, to formulate programs for producing the food and for allocating it among these claimants. He is to operate civilian rationing through the Office of Price Administration.
To recommend needed materials
- Materials needed for Secretary Wick-ard’s agricultural program are to be recommended by him to the War Production Board. WPB, according to the Executive order, shall consider the Secretary’s recommendations, allocate stated amounts of supplies and equipment, and direct their use “for such specific purposes as the Secretary may determine.”
To help the new food administrator carry out his program, the Department’s * agencies are regrouped into a Food Pro-duction Administration and a Food Distribution Administration.
WMC gets control over Selective Service, luring of workers, manning of plants
Over-all control of the Nation’s human resources, including the operation of the Selective Service System, went to War Manpower Commission Chairman McNutt December 5 by order of President Roosevelt. To the Chairman came also a mandate to “take all lawful steps” to see that hiring is done through the United States Employment Service or in such other ways as he shall approve; the job of assuring that no employer shall keep workers needed more urgently elsewhere; and power to direct manpower policies of all other executive agencies.
Many agencies represented
Important portions of the Executive order follow:
The War Manpower Commission (established by Section 1 of Executive Order No. 9139, dated April 18,1942) shall consist of a chairman appointed by ' the President and one representative, designated subject to the approval of the chairman, of each of the following departments and agencies: The Department of War, the Department of the Navy, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labor, the Federal Security Agency, the War Production Board, the United States Civil Service Commission, the National Housing Agency, and such other executive departments and agencies as the President shall determine; and a joint representative of the War Shipping Administration
and the Office of Defense Transportation, designated by the chairman of the War Manpower Commission (hereinafter referred to as the chairman).
Draft powers transferred
The Selective Service System created and established for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended, and all of its functions, powers, duties, personnel (including the director of Selective Service), records, property and funds (including all unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, or other funds available for the administration of said act, as amended) are transferred to the War Manpower Commission in the Office for Emergency Management of the executive office of the President, and shall be administered under the supervision and direction of the chairman. The local boards and appeal boards of the Selective Service System shall, subject to the supervision and direction of the chairman, continue to exercise the functions', powers, and duties vested in them by the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended.
The functions, powers, and duties of the director of selective service, including authority delegated to him by the President under the provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act of
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December 8, 1942
VICTORY
EVERYBODY- SHOULDER TO THE WHEEL !
OFFICIAL BULLETIN of the Office of War Information. Published weekly by the Office of War Information. Printed at the United States Government Printing Office.
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In this issue
MANPOWER * Pag<
McNutt given control of Selective Service and all hiring_____________________— 1
AGRICULTURE
Food production and distribution powers centralized under Wickard_____________ 1
' Benefits to be cut for farmers failing to plant allotments_____________________— 6
U. S. takes lid off farm wages____________ 7
WAR PRODUCTION
84 merchant ships in November_____________ 8
Wilson to “supervise” 1943 production_____ 9
WPB shuffling machine tool orders to distribute load____,____________-________ 9
Report on October output of munitions_____ 12
War Facts_________________________________ 13
1942 weapons short of numerical goal, heavier in power______________________32
TRANSPORTATION
Eastman worried over manpower shortage, 14
ODT trimming down travel for sports________ 15
RATIONING
Point system to begin early in 1943________ 17
Ickes gets central power over petroleum_19
PRICE ADMINISTRATION
Retailers cut services to carry out Economy for Victory plan.____________________ 20
Foods stay under control pending dollarsand-cents ceilings___________________ 21
Changes in textile pricing________________ 24
LEND-LEASE
$5,000,000 in goods bought for Africa_____ 26
CIVILIAN DEFENSE
Stirrup pumps go on sale; OCD offers rules for care___________________;_________ 27
Anti-fire precautions in public buildings_27
THE FIGHTING FORCES
Navy reveals heavy losses at Pearl Harbor • year ago-------------------------... 32
ODT appeals against “frivolous” use of taxis
The ODT appealed jointly to taxicab operators and the general public December 4 to avoid the use of taxicabs for frivolous purposes during the coming holiday season..
Taxicab operators were advised:
“Do not change operating schedules to make more cabs available for what in the past have been holiday peaks, such as New Year’s Eve. Discourage drivers from their past practice of changing days off for the purpose of being on duty at these peak hours.”
Christmas trees exempt from wartime regulations
Christmas trees are exempt from wartime regulations affecting the production distribution and sale of goods and services under a ruling jointly announced December 2 by WPB, OPA and ODT.
ODT has directed, however, that box cars be furnished instead of gondolas and flat cars for shipment of trees. Producers and distributors also are requested to avoid unnecessary use of rubber and gasoline, to maintain good forestry practice, and to avoid the employment of essential manpower.
December 8, 1942
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On the Home Front
The launching of a major offensive usually is followed by a less spectacular but equally important period devoted to what ^s sometimes referred to in dispatches as the “consolidation of positions.” This simply means that forces which have been released to plunge ahead, thereby losing some of their original coherence, must again be drawn together and supplied with the necessary tools for continuing the advance.
Where the new drive gathers great momentum, it may carry a long way before this consolidation take place. Periods of consolidation often give the effect of relative inactivity; actually, they are likely to be marked by efforts as energetic as those which accompanied the initial attacks.
The industrial parallel
A somewhat similar situation exists in wartime industry. In normal times the rise and fall of the production curve is determined by a number of factors, chiefly consumer demand. Since war is a consumer of almost unlimited capacity, war production ideally should rise uniformly to meet steadily increasing war demands, but in fact this never happens. There are periods of necessary consolidation and adjustment in the industrial forces as well as in the military. Furthermore, a changing military situation is bound to alter the character of industrial output—we may find it’s more important at a certain time to launch ships than to get out tanks, or that a new type of fighter plane is more immediately needed than other types.
And so, in order to keep our mode of warfare and our civilian war economy flexible enough to meet unexpected requirements of domestic and world strategy» a great many wartime measures must be labeled “subject to change.”
War has always demanded flexibility of mind. It was this quality which enabled General George Washington to swing his army from New Jersey to Virginia, where it could join Lafayette and the French fleet investing Yorktown, and so win the Revolution. It is a quality of vast importance in this war, where new models of every type ana new devices of every sort are constantly replacing older forms of military equipment—sometimes with such rapidity that by the time cer
tain items reach the battle fronts they are on the way to becoming obsolete, j
Somebody has to miss the bus
On the home front we have seen many changes in the approach to problems of adjusting civilian economy to the needs of war, and next year we may expect
many more. In transportation—one of our chief “headaches”—we have had to shift and extend policies in order to meet the pressures gradually exerted against every part of the whole transportation system, freight and passenger. And a major part of the over-all problem has to do with saving rubber. The rest of it is chiefly how to save space, in buses, streetcars,-railway coaches, freight trucks, and freight cars. We save rubber, or space, or both by shipping fewer goods, getting along with fewer deliveries, traveling less.
The terrific congestion in travel over Thanksgiving showed the absolute necessity of cutting down travel during the Christmas holidays. To ease the situation, Army furloughs between December 12 and January 12 will be granted to no more than 10 percent of the enlisted strength of any camp. If soldiers and their families are to be deprived of holiday reunions, it is obviously the duty of civilians to cut out all unnecessary travel, both local and long distance.
Indifference to rubber saving
The whole purpose of gasoline rationing is to keep as many autos on the road as possible. A survey showed that in the rationed areas 23 percent of the motorists were driving more than 40 miles an hour on rural highways, while in sections then unrationed, 31 percent were still indifferent to rubber saving. It is plain, therefore, that we could not safely trust to voluntary measures to conserve our precious rubber stockpile, now being reduced at the rate of 29,000 tons a month.
When we first entered the war it was confidently expected that whatever other shortages might develop, we would still have practically inexhaustible stocks of foods of every description. This year, it is true, we’ve had an abundance of every sort of food. Except for sugar there was no rationing of any food product until November 29, although we began to feel a pinch in the coffee supply before that date and had begun the voluntary share-the-meat program. But food consumption by the armed services and commitments to our Lend-Lease Allies have cut deeply into our food stocks, and now we have a new responsibility— to provide the people of North Africa with many necessities of which they have been stripped by the Nazis, including some food products, such as sugar, green tea, cheese, powdered and evaporated milk. And as the Allied arms release the impoverished and starving peoples of Europe, the resources of this country and the United Nations will be taxed to the utmost to supply them with the essentials of life—a job on which depends the future peace and stability of the world.
More flexible rationing
In anticipation of a much* wider extension of rationing next year, therefore, it has been found desirable to change the method of issuing ration coupons to a more flexible one, adapted to a wide range of foods and other products.
War Ration Book 2, to be issued around the first of the year, will be used to secure goods under a new system known as the “point system.” This is a program for rationing a group of related or similar commodities that can be substituted for one another in actual use. Under this system a low point value will be given to a plentiful commodity, and a high value to one that is scarcer than usual. Each individual may "spend” his points to buy any of the items in the point-rationed group in any way he likes, but when he has “spent,” or consumed, the products represented by his points for the month, he cannot buy any of these items until the next ration period begins.
REPRINTING PERMISSIBLE
Requests have been received for permission to reprint "On the Home Front” in whole or in part. This column, like all other material in VICTORY, may be-reprinted without special permission. If excerpts' are used, the editors ask only that they be taken in such a way that their original meaning is preserved.
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December 8, 1942
MANPOWER...
Escalator clause denied workers ■ \ •
as inconsistent with stabilization
Two decisions further indicating WLB wage policy were announced last week. In one case, the board announced that it would not permit escalator clauses in labor agreements to operate if they would result in wage increases inconsistent with the Board’s stabilization policy. Also, 4he Board stated that its formula for correcting maladjustments “does not call for an application of any formula which is based upon differences in costs of living between local communities.” Last week the WLB for the flist time took away an established maintenance-of-membership clause.
San Francisco hotel employees
While the WLB approved last week its arbitrator’s award of a 15 percent wage increase for virtually all the 800 employees of 36 hotels in San Francisco, it rejected his reasoning. The workers involved are paid on a daily basis. Whenever a straight application of the 15 percent did not result in a daily wage ending in a multiple of 5 cents, the arbitrator granted the workers an additional 1 cent to 5 cents a day on the ground that the “cost-of-living in San Francisco has increased slightly more than 15 percent during the period of the formula.”
The board rejected this reasoning but allowed the additional increments on the the ground that the bookkeeping expenses would be often greater than the cost of the adjustment.
Wayne L. Morse, public member, in writing the Board’s opinion on the case made it clear that the Board’s formula for correcting maladjustments “does not call for an application of any formula which is based upon differences in costs of living between local communities.”
Dean Morse also pointed out that the Board had rejected the logic of the arbitrator in granting increases above 15 percent to certain small groups of employees on the ground that their wages were substandard. He pointed out that the Board approved these increases, not in order to eliminate substandards, but to correct inequalities between the rates of these workers and those in San Francisco restaurants.
The Board unanimously took a position disapproving the escalator clauses in the contract between the Pyrites Co.,
Wilmington, Del., and the Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers, CIO, because it would have resulted in a general wage increase which would have brought the straight time rates of the company’s 186 employees above 15 percent over the level of January 1, 1941.
“The employees of the Pyrites Co.,” Dr. George W. Taylor, vice chairman of the board, said, “have received general increases of 19 percent over their straight-time hourly earnings of January 1941. Under the wage stabilization program they have no proper claim, therefore, for further increases in wage rates as a cost of living adjustment.
“In gearing our domestic economy to war necessities, this Nation has come to understand that wages and cost of living must both be stabilized substantially at the levels presently prevailing. A stabilized domestic economy is one of the prerequisites for successful prosecution of the war.”
Dr. Taylor in his opinion made it clear that the Board’s decision in this case did not preclude the operation of escalator clauses. He explained that “such clauses will be given effect to the extent that they provide straight time rates not more than 15 percent above the January
1, 1941, rates.”
Maintenance of membership denied
Because of a strike staged in a powder plant by the Chemical Workers Union, AFL, the WLB last week took away for the first time an established maintenance-of-membership clause from a union. The unanimous decision affected the East Alton Manufacturing Co., subsidiary of the Western Cartridge Co., at East Alton, Ill.
If the union convinces the WLB of its “good faith and responsibility” after a 6 months’ probationary period, the Board stated, it will be granted the usual voluntary maintenance provision, with a 15-day “escape clause,” which was not included in the maintenance provision in the' old contract, which expired August 1.
The Board followed the unanimous recommendations of its panel which reported, in part:
Although the panel Is convinced that the company is by no means blameless for its highly unsatisfactory labor relations, it remains the undeniable fact that the local union, with thoroughly irresponsible disregard of its national obligations, called a serious strike over comparatively .small Issues ...
If the panel were convinced of the wholehearted repentance of the union for its violation of labor’s pledge to the President, it might feel that the company’s persistently antiunion attitude would make an immediate grant of union maintenance the surest guarantee of stability of relationship. Not being convinced of the local union’s present responsibility, it seems advisable to leave the matter open.
It seems, furthermore, desirable that the company be ordered during the 6-month period to do nothing to take advantage of the failure of the' union to obtain a maintenance-of-membership clause at this time.
Members of the union went on strike September 8, returning September 11 at the urging of William H. Davis, WLB chairman, and William Green, AFL president. The walk-out resulted in closing of the adjoining Western Cartridge Co. plant, ’ making more .-than 10,000 employees idle.
The WLB in its present order delayed action on the union’s request for wage increases, pending a survey of comparable occupations in the area by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Shipbuilder, union told to employ Negro workers
The President’s Committee on Fair Employment Practice has directed the McAvoy Shipbuilding Corporation of Savannah, Ga., and the American Federation of Labor to permit a Savannah Negro local of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters "and Joiners, AFL, to “sign, and become a party to, the existing hiring or closed shop agreement or contract between the AFL, its affiliates and the McAvoy Shipbuilding Corporation.”
In investigating the charges, the Committee found that the McAvoy Co., which builds concrete barges for the Government, employed all its carpenters through the Savannah Building Trades Council, AFL, with which it has a closed shop agreement, and that the Council’s policy was to refer white members only, despite the fact that Local 1960, composed of Negro carpenters, was also a member of the Council and of the AFL.
December 8, 1942
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Manpower control goes to McNutt
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1940, as amended, are transferred to the chairman and may be exercised through the director of selective service and such other officers, agents, and persons and in such manner as the chairman may determine.
Army holds purse-strings
The chief of finance, United States Army, shall act as the fiscal, disbursing, and accounting agent of the chairman in carrying out the provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended.
The Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy shall, after consultation with the chairman, determine the number of men required to be selected each month in order to fulfill the total respective requirements of the Army and Navy as approved by the President. The chairman shall furnish the required number of men through the Selective Service System.
After the effective date of this order no male person who has attained the eighteenth anniversary and has not attained the thirty-eighth anniversary of the day of his birth shall be inducted into the enlisted personnel of the armed forces (including reserve components), except, under provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended; but any such person who has, on or before the effective date of this order, submitted a bona fide application for voluntary enlistment may be enlisted within 10 days after said date.
Hiring to be through U. S. E. S.
Insofar as the effective prosecution of the war requires it, the chairman shall take all lawful and appropriate steps to assure that (a) all hiring, rehiring, solicitation, and recruitment of workers in or for work, in any establishment, plant, facility, occupation, or area designated by the chairman as subject to the provisions of this section shall be conducted solely through the United States Employment Service or in accordance with such arrangements as the chairman may approve; (b) no employer shall retain in his employ any worker whose services are more urgently needed in any establishment, plant, facility, occupation, or area designated as more essential by the chairman pursuant to this section.
The Secretary of War and the Secre
tary of the Navy shall take such steps as may be necessary to assure that all training programs for the armed forces (including their reserve components) and the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, which are carried on in non-Federal educational institutions, conform with such policies or regulations as the chairman, after consultation with the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy, prescribes as necessary to insure the efficient utilization of the Nation’s educational facilities and personnel for the effective prosecution of the war.
Chairman to issue rules
The chairman shall (a) issue such policies, rules, regulations, and general or special orders as he deems necessary to carry out the provisions of this order, (b) take steps to prevent and relieve gross inequities or undue hardships arising from the exercise of the provisions of section 5 "of this order insofar as he finds so doing will not interfere with the effective prosecution of the war, and (c) establish such procedures (including ap-~ peals) as are necessary to assure a hearing to any person claiming that any action, taken by any local or regional agent or agency of the War Manpower Commission pursuant to section 5 of this order and said Executive Order No. 9139, is unfair or unreasonable as applied to him.
Executive agencies to comply
Subject to appeal to the President or to such agent or agency as the President may designate, each executive department and agency shall so utilize its f acil-
ities, services and personnel, and take such action, under authority vested in it by law, as the chairman, after consultation with such department or agency, determines necessary to promote compliance with the provisions of this order or of policies, directives or regulations prescribed under said Executive Order No. 9139.
The chairman shall be ex-officio an additional member of the Economic Stabilization Board.
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WAACS being trained for 33 jobs previously done by soldiers
Members of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps are being trained for at least 33 important functions previously performed by soldiers, the War Department announced this week.
These functions were listed by the Corps as it launched a Nation-wide recruiting campaign to comply with an Executive order of the President increasing its authorized strength from 25,000 to 150,000. They are: .
Bakers, clerks, postal clerks, cooks, radio repairers, mimeograph Operators, stenographers, teletype operators, typists, cashiers, telephone operators, stock record clerks, chauffeurs, bookkeepers, sales clerks, librarians, message center clerks, motor vehicle, dispatchers, messengers, weather observers, camera technicians, photo laboratory workers, telegraph printer operators, cadre clerks, draftsmen, radio operators, machine record operators, statisticians, musicians, truck drivers, classification specialists, accountants, and bookkeeping machine operators.
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December 8, 1942
AGRICULTURE...
1943 U. S. food goals set new record: AAA to cut benefit payments to farmers who fail to plant their allotments
Almost simultaneous with the announcement last week by Secretary of Agriculture Wickard of the food goals for 1943, calling for the highest production in the history of American agriculture, came the statement that the AAA in its program for next year will make stiff payment deductions on farms failing to plant their allotments of basic and war crops.
Milk, eggs, meat boosted
“The goals represent the minimum requirements for food produced in this country,” Secretary Wickard said. “These requirements—for our own military forces and for our Allies—now represent about one-fourth of estimated total food production in 1943 . . .
“The food goals for 1943, therefore, reflect the need for foods of most value in the wartime diet. They call for all the milk we can produce, more meat and eggs, more feed grains to support increased livestock production, more dry beans and peas to supply the proteins needed in our diets, more poultry to supplement our supply of other meats, more of the vegetables that are essential because of their high food value, more oil crops and more long staple cotton.
“Because we cannot waste labor and scarce production supplies on crops of which we already have large supplies, we are asking for less wheat, and less short staple cotton, and less of the vegetables that require the most extensive use of labdr, transportation, and other facilities in relation to their food value.”
The goals for each crop
Commodities and their 1943 goals as announced by Secretary Wickard:
Wheat, 52,500,000 acres; rye, 3,600,000 acres; rice, 1,380,000 acres; corn, 95,000,000 acres; oats, 37,300,000 acres; barley, 18,000,000 acres; grain sorghum, 10,00(1,000 acres; hay, 71,100,-000 acres; flaxseed, 5,000,000 acres; soybeans, 10,500,000 acres; peanuts, 5,500,000 acres; dry beans, 2,800,000 acres; dry peas, 665,000 acres; cotton, 22,500,000 acres; tobacco, flue-cured, Burley, and other domestic, 841,000, 421,000, and 272,000 acres, respectively; sugarcane, 340,000 acres; sugarbeets, 1,050,000 acres; potatoes, 3,160,000 acres; sweet potatoes, 757,000 acres; commercial truck crops, 1,720,000 acres; hay crop seeds, 4,709,000 acres; hemp, 300,000 acres; fresh fruit, 14,610,000 tons; cattle and calveu, 10,910,000,000 pounds; sheep and
lambs, 990,000,000 pounds; hogs, 13,800,000,-000 pounds; lard, 3,400,000,000 pounds; milk, 122,000,000,000 pounds; eggs, 4,780,000 dozen; chickens, 4,000,000,000 pounds, and turkeys, 560,000,000 pounds.
The goal for chicken is 28 percent more and that for turkey is 15 percent more than the estimated 1942 production. The egg goal calls for an 8 percent increase. The acreages for the oil crops have all been increased over the 1942 goals. The soybean acreage goal is 1,500,000 acres more. The peanut goal of 5,500,080 acres compares with 4,173,000 acres harvested in 1942. The flaxseed goal is 5,000,000 acres, compared with a 1942 planted acreage of 4,675,000.
Corn goal up 4 percent
The corn acreage goal is an increase of about 4 percent, and grain sorghums 8 percent. Hie dry bean goal is 18 percent more. The goal for dry peas is 25 percent above the 1942 level. Commercial truck crop production is set about the same as in 1942, with increases asked for the more essential crops and decreased acreages for the less essential.
The 1943 potato goal is 10 percent above the 1942 acreage. There will be no limitation on plantings of sugar beets and sugarcane in 1943 as in 1942.
Secretary Wickard at the same time announced a new price support program.
“So far as its resources will permit,” Secretary Wickard said “the Department will endeavor through all the means available to it to generally support prices for dairy and poultry products, meat animals, and for those food crops which are most essential for domestic consumption and foreign shipment at a level sufficient to assure producers attractive returns for the desired production. This general policy will be carried out through specific loan, purchase, or other programs.
16 percent more meat sought
The goals for- livestock production—“ beef, pork, lamb, and mutton—call for 25.7 billion pounds of meat. This is approximately 16 percent more than was produced in 1942 and nearly one-third greater than the amount normally consumed in this country. Military and
Lend-Lease requirements will take about one-fourth of the total supply. The biggest increase will be in pork. Farmers are being called upon to plan for at least a 15 percent increase over this year’s record pig crop. This 15 percent increase in total 1943 farrowings, announced November 27, supersedes an earlier request for a 10 percent increase in spring farrowings. If realized, the new goal will result in a 1943 pig crop, spring and fall farrowings combined, of 121 million head.
How deductions are calculated
Failure to plant at least 90 percent of the crop allotments' for basic crops— corn, cotton, peanuts, rice, tobacco, and wheat—the AAA said, will result in payment deductions at a rate five times the “compliance rate,” or rate at which payments are made. Thus a farmer’s crop payment would be wiped out entirely should he plant only 70 percent of his allotment. Being granted a 10-percent leeway, such a farmer would fall short of his allotment by 20 percent, and five times 20 percent would be the 100 percent of his crop payments that would be deducted. Failure to achieve 90 percent of the planting goals for “war crops,” such as soybeans, flaxseed, feeds, and oil peanuts, will incur crop payment deductions at the rate of $15 per acre.
Commodities and their compliance rates, as announced December 3 by the Department of Agriculture:
Cotton, per pound, 1.1 cents; corn, commercial corn area, per bushel, 3.6 cents; wheat, per bushel, 9.2 cents; rice, per 100 pounds, 2 cents; peanuts, per ton, $1.10; flue-cured tobacco, per pound, 0.4 cent; Burley tobacco, per pound, 0.4 cent; flre-cured tobacco, per pound, 1.2 cents; dark air-cured tobacco, per pound, 0.7 cent; Virginia sun-cured tobacco, per pound, 0.5 cent; Pennsylvania type 41 tobacco, per pound, 0.4 cent; cigar filler and binder other than types 41. and 45, per pound, 0.5 cent; Georgia-Florida type 62, per pound, 0.7 cent.
Henderson backs price support
Price Administrator Leon Henderson declared December 3 that the Department of Agriculture’s price support program for many major farm commodities had his complete and unqualified endorsement. At the same time, he said that the Office of Price Administration, in setting price ceilings, over these support “floors,” has not and will not take any action which might hamper maximum farm output.
“In setting ceilings on farm products or on items processed from raw agricul-
December 8, 1942
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turai commodities, OPA must and will continue to bear in mind its dual responsibilities,” Mr. Henderson stated. “On the one hand, the consumer must be protected -against any inordinate price advances. On the other hand, however, the American producer’s heroic fight against shortages of farm labor, machinery, fertilizer, and other production supplies necessary for. a record output must be recognized with a price sufficiently high to achieve the production goals. These considerations have been paramount factors in dictating OPA’s policy in the past; they will continue to be guiding considerations in any future OPA price actions.”
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Retailers can drop quantity . discounts on 11 foods
Retailers whose ceiling prices on 11 groups of food products are established by Government control of mark-ups were authorized by OPA, December 5, to drop quantity discounts and price differentials given to special classes of customers.
This action was taken, OPA said, because in calculating the maximum permitted mark-ups, OPA took into consideration quantity discounts prevailing in the trade for these products. The action also will eliminate wide variations in practices between retail stores, some of whom maintained discounts and some of whom did not during the base period of March 1942.
The products, covered by Maximum Price Regulation No. 238, are breakfast cereals, canned fish, cooking and salad oils, sugar, canned vegetables, coffee, rice, hydrogenated shortening, other shortening, dried fruits and lard.
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Conical milk bottles included in OPA paper products order
Specifically identifying the paper cups and containers covered by Maximum Price Regulation No. 129, OPA December 5 issued an amendment enlarging and clarifying the definition for this group of paper products and bringing conically shaped milk bottles under the regulation.
Paper cups, paper containers and liquid tight containers subject to the regulation now are defined as: “Round, open-end, nested food and drinking cups, spirally wound liquid tight containers made of chemical and/or mechanical pulp, and conically shaped milk bottles.”
U. S. takes lid off agricultural wages cis manpower and D. of A. plan to form mobile army of farm workers for 1943
The lid was taken off farm wages last week in a move expressly designed to bring them closer to industrial pay and keep an adequate labor force on the land. Economic Stabilization Director Byrnes, with the approval of President Roosevelt, amended last October’s general wage order so that agricultural workers earning less than $2,400 a year may get raises unless and until Secretary of Agriculture Wickard calls a halt.
The lift to wages cleared the way for action on one point in a six-point plan worked out by the War Manpower Commission and Agriculture Department, aimed at providing enough farm workers, for the record food goals of 1943. Their program:
1. Full-time continuous employment of mobile groups of experienced farm workers, transported at Government expense from one area to another as the crops mature.
2. Relaxation of legal barriers which now restrict the complete mobility of labor between States.
3. Transfer of experienced farm operators and workers now on substandard lands to productive areas of labor demand.
4. Expansion of the U. S. Employment Service farm placement machinery for direction of farm labor movement and full scale mobilization of local volunteer groups.
5. Adjustment of farm wages to bring the income of farm workers more nearly into line with those of industrial workers.
6. A farm labor training and management program, now being developed by the Department of Agriculture and the U. S. Office of Education. This will aid farmers to make the most effective use of the fewer number of experienced workers through expert supervision, training and upgrading.
“Next year’s farm-labor problem will be critical,” WMC Chairman McNutt said. "Increased Lend-Lease shipments, the growing size of our Army and Navy, and America’s pledge to feed the halfstarved populations of countries freed from the Nazi yoke, will make tremendous demands on our farms. We must produce more food than ever before. We will have to produce it with less labor.”
The wage amendment gives the Secretary of Agriculture authority to determine that farm pay increases “with respect to areas, crops, classes of employers, or otherwise,” can no longer be made without his approval.
As explanation for taking the ceiling off under-$2,400 agricultural wages, the amendment observed “that the general level of salaries and wages for agricultural labor is substandard, that a wide disparity now exists between salaries and wages paid-labor in agriculture and salar
ies and wages paid labor in other essential war activities, and that the retention and recruitment of agricultural labor is of prime necessity in supplying the United Nations with needed foods and fibers.” The text referred to the gaps between farm pay and other wages as “gross inequities.”
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Chemical nitrogen use to be cut 20 percent by grade substitution
A grade-substitution program expected to reduce the consumption of chemical nitrogen in mixed fertilizers by approximately 20 percent was instituted December 4 by WPB through issuance of General Preference Order M-231 as amended. Through this program a large amount of nitrogen, vital for war purposes, will be saved without impairing crop production in more than a negligible degree.
The amended order lists the grades of fertilizer, by nitrogen content, used during the 1940-41 season in the respective States. Opposite these are the approved grades which are to be substituted in 1942-43. Fertilizer manufacturers are required to produce the approved 1942-43 grades in the same proportion as the 1940-41 grades.
The amended order also placed manufacturers on the same basis as dealers and agents in respect to stocks on hand. That is, manufacturers may now deliver stocks of fertilizer packaged in lots of less than 80 pounds.
The order now also permits the sale, delivery, and use of stocks of unapproved grades located in warehouses more than 50 miles from the manufacturer’s nearest plant.
Manufacturers of fertilizer in pressed tablet form and for use in hydroponics are permitted to use up the stocks of chemical nitrogen they had on hand on September 12, 1942, the effective date of the original order.
Use of chemical fertilizer containing chemical nitrogen on melon and cucumber crops is prohibited. Use of mixed chemical fertilizer containing chemical nitrogen during the spring of 1943 on small grain to be harvested for grains, also is banned.
8
★ VICTORY ★
December 8, 1942
WAR PRODUCTION ...
84 ships in November raise year’s total to 6,890,000 deadweight tons
American shipyards, striving to carry out President Roosevelt’s directive calling for 8,000,000 tons of new shipping in 1942, moved a step nearer that goal by delivering into service 84 vessels totaling 891,700 deadweight tpns in November, the Maritime Commission announced December 2.
The month’s output of completed ships raised the total production for the year to 625 vessels of 6,890,000 deadweight tons, leaving 1,110,000 tons to be delivered in December. The Commission stated that its schedules for December indicate that the Nation’s shipyards will turn out the required tonnage.
November’s deliveries were an improvement over the previous month’s total- of 81 vessels. Included in the November total are 2 vessels of special types for the armed forces. Although there* has been a temporary diversion of a considerable portion of the merchant shipbuilding facilities to this special construction, it will not prevent the ship-
yards from attaining the figure set by the President.
Of the 82 merchant ships placed into service in November, there were 68 Liberty ships, 6 C-type vessels, 5 large tankers, 1 coastal cargo-carrier, and 2 cargo carriers for the British.
West Coast yards again led the merchant ship parade by delivering into service 48 vessels. East Coast yards followed by delivering 20 vessels, Gulf Coast yards delivered 13, and the Great Lakes delivered 1. The Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation of Portland, Oreg., and the California Shipbuilding Corporation, Wilmington, Calif., again tied for individual honors by delivering into service 13 vessels each.
November also saw the first delivery of a seagoing cargo ship to the Maritime Commission by a Great Lakes yard when Leatham D. Smith Shipbuilding Co., at Sturgeon Bay, Wis;, completed a coastal cargo ship.
National Synthetic Rubber Corp, will operate new Government-owned plant
A contract with the National Synthetic Rubber Corporation to operate a new Government-owned synthetic rubber plant to be built in Kentucky by the Defense Plant Corporation, a subsidiary of Reconstruction Finance Corporation, was announced by Secretary of Commerce Jones December 3. It is expected that the plant may be completed about June 1943.
The output of the new plant will be made generally available and, together with the products of other Government-owned synthetic rubber plants, will be allocated by the Government.
5 companies to operate plant
Formed for the specific purpose of operating the new Government-owned plant, the National Synthetic Rubber Corporation is owned jointly by five long-established rubber companies which manufacture a wide variety of products
ranging from tires to coated abrasives and including scores of articles of vital importance to the war effort.
The five independent companies which participate in the ownership are Good-all Rubber, Inc., and Hamilton Rubber Manufacturing Co., both of Trenton, N. J., Hewitt Rubber Corporation of Buffalo, N. Y., Lee Rubber & Tire Corporation of Conshohocken, Pa., and Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co. of St. Paul, Minn.
Companies pool resources
The working capital and executive and technical staff are supplied to National Synthetic Rubber Corporation by the five sponsoring companies, in approximate proportion to their respective size and range of operations. All have contributed important technical developments in various specialized fields, especially in the production methods for rubber products.
Smaller War Plants Division reports on prime «contracts
The Smaller War Plants Division of the War Production Board reported contract placements for the period of November 14 to November 27, inclusive, as follows:
PRIME CONTRACTS
Firms Value Subcontractin firms participating
Nov. 14-27...-. 19 39 $5,000,000 16,000,000 Not available. 30 (incomplete).
Previously reported Total
58 21,000,000 30 (incomplete).
CRITICAL TOOLS SERVICE
Firms securing contracts Value
Nov. 14-27 642 $21,000,000 86,000,000
Previously reported.. 935
Total. ... 1,577 107,000,000
During the 2-week period ending November 27, the division was instrumental in the placement of 19 prime contracts to the value of $5,000,000, bringing the total to date to 58 firms with contracts at $21,000,000.
The critical tools service, which records available hours on 55 types and sizes of critical machine tools throughout the country and offers this available time to contractors in need of it, was instrumental in obtaining work for 642 firms of a total of $21,000,000. Totals to date for this service, since it was moved to the Smaller War Plants Division, show utilization of tools in 1,577 firms with work valued at $107,000,000.
★ ★ ★
Wilson succeeds Knowison as Canada committee chairman
Charles E. Wilson, WPB vice chairman, and Harry J. Carmichael, coordinator of production of Canada’s department of munitions and supply, have been appointed co-chairman of the Joint War Production Committee of the United States and Canada.
Mr. Wilson succeeds James S. Knowlson as American chairman and Mr. Carmichael succeeds G. K. Sheils as Canadian chairman.
December 8, 1942
★ VICTORY ★
9
British planes changed quickly by combat lessons, U. S. mission finds
Lessons learned in combat are translated immediately into changed airplane design in England, T. P. Wright, chairman of the United States Aircraft Production Mission to England, states in a report on his observations. Mr. Wright is deputy director of the WPB aircraft division.
Mr. Wright said the United States, in gearing its aircraft production more closely to fighting experience, will continue to exchange information with the British on aircraft problems.
Mr. Wright was impressed with advanced aircraft engineering developments in England. He emphasized the need for "courage in projecting ahead the types of development which may contribute toward winning the war a year or two hence.” Of the planes now in production, he praised the Spitfire with its latest Merlin Engine, the Mosquito, and the Lancaster bombers,
Mr. Wright said that output in terms of man-hours is somewhat less than in the_United States. The factory set-up has been adjusted to the possibility of bombing, which, while lessening danger from enemy planes, reduces output somewhat. A frequent form of factory organization was to locate many small plants within a limited area, all of them feeding a few assembly plants. Large-scale line production is difficult under these conditions, Mr. Wright said.
A factor limiting British production in terms of manpower is the relative obsolescence of British equipment as compared with our own. Single-purpose machines, used in the United States as part of assembly line technique, are less frequent in England.
On the other hand, the working day of aircraft labor is about 15 percent higher than in the United States, and "it is possible that the intensity of labor effort is somewhat greater,” Mr. Wright said. Workers in aircraft plants, he found, “are more aware of the actual meaning of war than are the workers in this country.” He found that the relations between labor and management are excellent.
Further increases in British production, he said, will be the result of greater efficiency rather than of expansion in the labor force employed. He expressed doubt'that the British aircraft industry will be able to recruit additional workers to any important extent.
WPB’S WILSON TO “SUPERVISE” 1943 PRODUCTION PROGRAM
Army, Navy, and WPB have agreed on plans to place WPB Production Vice Chairman Charles E. Wilson in charge of the 1943 war production program. The conversations which have been going on for some time have been resolved into a program that meets with the full agreement of all concerned according to a joint announcement by Secretary of War Stimson, Secretary of the NavjrKnox and WPB Chairman Nelson, December 4. Their statement emphasizes the fact that the questions which have arisen "had to do with method; never with purpose or principle.”
“To win the war quickly, effectively, and with the lowest expenditure of life is everybody’s goal,” they said. “The new arrangements give assurance that the immense production task for 1943 will be carried through to a successful conclusion.” The new duties delegated to Mr. Wilson were defined by WPB chairman Nelson as follows:
Mr. Wilson will exercise general supervision of the scheduling of the programs between the various services to see that they do not conflict, and that they are of such a nature that they may be performed in accordance with the requirements of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and of the total war program. In carrying out these duties, Mr. Wilson will have the advice and assistance of the production executive committee. This
committee includes, in addition to Mr. Wilson, the following members: Lt. Gen. Brehon B. Somervell, Vice Adm. S. M. Robinson, Maj. Gen. Oliver P. Echols, Rear Adm. R. A. Davison, Rear Adm. Howard L. Vickery, of the Maritime Commission, and Ferdinand Eberstadt, program vice chairman of the War Production Board.
In addition to these duties, Mr. Wilson is charged with the particular duty of central .supervision and direction of the production programs of aircraft, radio and detection equipment and escort vessels. He will exercise these duties through the supply and procurement branches of the services.
In the case of the aircraft program, Mr. Wilson' wiHrhave the advice and assistance of the special Aircraft Production Board. The members of this board, in addition to Mr. Wilson, are: Lt. Gen. William Knudsen, of the Army, Maj. Gen, Oliver P. Echols, of the Army Air Forces, Rear Adm. R. A. Davison, and T. P. Wright, of WPB.
While Mr. Wilson has authority to inquire into any feature of the war production program and to consult on production matters with officials of the services or any producer, he will issue his directions through the supply services of the Army, the Navy and the Maritime Commission.
WPB redistributing machine tool orders to even up backlog among companies
Rearrangement of schedules of machine tool manufacturers to spread the work and reduce excessive backlogs of orders, is being undertaken as the No. 1 job of George H. Johnson, new director of the WPB tools division.
Mr. Johnson, who assumed the position several days ago, was faced with the problem of accelerating the production of machine tools needed for the aircraft program. One expedient move, it was decided, would be to relieve certain companies of orders that could not be filled for many months and to reassign these orders to companies with backlogs of shorter periods.
Examination of the order boards of companies engaged in machine tool production showed that some had backlogs of two years or more, while others had
orders for as little as a few weeks. . .
“Averaging out order boards will mean delivery of critical tools in less time,” Mr. Johnson said. “If we have 10 companies capable of making a certain type of tool, we don’t want 5 of them to have most of the orders. We want to let each one do his share. We cannot afford to have any idle or retarded capacity among companies able to produce. . .
“Machine tool production has reached a rate of approximately $130,000,000 a month, which is nearly twice the rate of this time last year and more than five times the rate of a decade ago. The industry can be proud of this achievement in volume. The need for critical tools, however, remains urgent and the volume of orders on the books continues very high.”
10
★ VICTORY ★
December 8, 1942
October alloy steel output 400 percent over prewar production peak
Alloy steel production in October was 60 percent higher than production in-an average month of 1941, Hiland G. Batch-eller, director of the WPB steel division, said December 2 in an address before the National Association of Manufacturers.
The October alloy steel production figure showed a gain of 400 percent over the pre-war production peak.
Mr. Batcheller declared that modern war is “a war of steel,” and that the balance of power insofar as steel’is concerned lies with the United States. Axis production of steel, he continued, exceeds by as much as 25,000,000 or 30,000,000 tons the production of the United Nations, exclusive of the United States. However, the United Nations’ steel out-
put, counting the United States, exceeds that of the Axis by upwards of 50,000,000 tons.
“In October 1941, steel plate production—the basis of our naval and cpm-mercial ship construction and of the tank program—amounted to 600,000 tons,” he said. “In October 1942, 1,100,-000 tons of plate were delivered—an increase of almost 100 percent in this critical item.
“Only a minute fraction of this increase is due to newly constructed facilities; by far the greatest portion is the result of turning the huge continuous strip mills, the peacetime suppliers of the automotive and other industries, into the production of plates for ships, tanks and other military construction.”
Jalopies converted to scrap faster than. 1929 production
Replenishing of the country’s automobile graveyards by autos which no longer supply transportation or cannot be fitted into the transportation system was urged November 29 by Merrill Stubbs, chief of the WPB scrap processors branch.
Auto graveyards, after converting four million cars into scrap since February 1, now have an inventory of only 277,234 cars. This conversion is at a rate substantially in excess of the rate of production of cars in 1929, the best manufacturing year, when 4,587,400 passenger cars were manufactured.
“Scrap from autos during the past nine months,” Mr. Stubbs said, “has been responsible for between 10 percent to 15 percent of the country’s steel production. Stimulated by the newspaper publishers’ scrap drive, independent campaigns to round up old jalopies in certain sections of the country resulted in increased tonnage from auto graveyards during October for the first time since June. October tonnage was 316,726 tons compared to 303,397 tons in September.”
\ * * *
METALLURGICAL MANGANESE ORE with a manganese content of 40 percent or less by weight, was exempted from price control by OPA November 30. Hitherto ore of 35 percent or less manganese content was exempt.
Stainless steel permitted for 18 Army items
Use of stainless steel in several products needed by the armed forces was permitted November 30 by WPB.
Use of stainless steel had been prohibited for these products after January 5, 1943?
The items placed on the exemption list are: ammunition boxes and chutes; boiler casings; cable terminals, fittings and turnbuckles; chains and cables; control levers; hot water heaters, tanks and coils; military identification tags and badges; radio antennas; powder boxes; stock pots; and canteens.
The order also exempts Army, Navy, Maritime orders for stainless steel which have been approved by WPB for melting and delivery during the fourth quarter.
★ ★ ★
Knoizen to direct mining equipment division
Appointment of Arthur S. Knoizen as director of the WPB mining equipment division (formerly mining division), was announced December 2 by WPB.
The functions of the mining equipment division will be identical with those performed by the former mining division except that it will not deal with the problem of taxation of mines. Only the name has been changed.
SEVEN SHIPYARDS, NINE PLANTS GET MERIT AWARDS
Seven shipyards and nine manufacturing plants, located in all parts of the United States, have been designated to receive high Maritime Commission M awards and gold stars for meritorious production, it was announced December 1.
The Delta Shipbuilding Co., Inc., New Orleans, La., for the first time joins the ranks of the Nation’s shipyards holding Maritime Commission/ Merit M awards. Delta will receive the Commission’s M pennant, Victory Fleet Flag, and labor merit badges for all workers for achievement in the production of Liberty ships.
Six other yards designated to receive gold stars for continued achievement in ship production are: Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Inc., Baltimore, Md., (third award); California Shipbuilding Corporation, Wilmington, Calif., (fourth award); North Carolina Shipbuilding Co., Wilmington, N. C., (third award); Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation, Portland, Ore., (seventh award); Richmond Shipyard No. 1, Richmond, Calif., (fourth award); Richmond Shipyard No. 2, Richmond, Calif., (third award).
Nine manufacturing plants will receive the Maritime M pennant. Victory Fleet flag, and labor merit badges for their employees for the first time. They are: Alcoa Division of American Locomotive Co., New York City, maker of masts and kingposts for Commission ships; Cooper-Bessemer Corporation, plants at Mt. Vernon, Ohio and Grove City, Pa, maker of low, medium, and high pressure cylinder castings; Davis Engineering Corporation, Elizabeth, N. J., feed water heaters; Federal Telephone and Radio Corporation, Newark, N. J., radio equipment; M. W. Kellogg Co., Jersey City, N. J., main condensers; The National Supply Co., Springfield, Ohio, Diesel engines; Production Engineering Co., Berkeley, Calif., triple expansion engines; Tube-Turns, Inc., Louisville, Ky., tube-turns and flanges; and Young Iron Works, Seattle, Washington, Timkin roller bearing blocks.
* * *
ELECTRIC ENERGY . produced for public use in October 1942 totaled 16,-486,868,000 kilowatt-hours, an increase of 9.9 percent over production in October 1941, according to a report issued today by the Federal Power Commission in its “Production of Electric Energy in the United States” series.
December 8, 1942
★ VICTORY ★
11
Arsenical insecticides probably will he adequate for 1943
Cotton growers, farmers, and those who produce food or other economic crops, who rely heavily on arsenical insecticides for their production, in all probability will be able to obtain an adequate supply during 1943, according to W. H. Moyer, in charge of insecticides and fungicides for the WPB chemicals division.
Urged to use substitutes if possble
In some cases farmers probably will be urged to make greater use of items such as nicotine sulphate and cryolite, which are more plentiful than arsenicals. Rotenone and pyrethrum, both imported materials, are decidedly limited, and substitution will be necessary wherever possible.
* * ♦
CROWN CAPS—Brewers and bottlers may not use crown caps made from scrap prior to September 26 in excess of quotas established by Order M-104 until all scrap now owned by them has been fabricated into crowns, the WPB containers division ruled December 2.
Wartime simplification of consumer goods studied by WPB
The WPB office of civilian supply, has begun a survey to determine what simplifications of consumer goods have taken place since the outbreak of the war, it was announced December 3 by Joseph L. Weiner, deputy director of civilian supply.
Industry to cooperate
The survey is headed by Irvin O. Wolf, a consultant to Mr. Weiner and a member of civilian supply’s inventory control committee. WPB industry divisions and industry itself will cooperate.
Mr. Weiner said that this is “a first step” in carrying out a request made recently by James F. Byrnes, Director of Economic Stabilization, that WPB undertake a vigorous program of simplification and standardization of consumer goods, not merely to eliminate frills and wasteful practices, but wherever is necessary and advantageous to concentrate on the production of relatively few types of goods of standardized quality, design, and price,
Mr. Weiner thinks that the survey will require about 3 weeks.
10 “thinkers for victory” will be honored by
President at White House
Ten American production soldiers will be honored by President Roosevelt, on December 10, at the White House for their outstanding contributions to the war effort, it was announced by William G. Marshall, director of the War Production Drive.
The prize-winning “thinkers for victory” include the first six workers who will be-given Citations of Individual Production Merit, the highest of the honors conferred by the War Production Board for individual achievement in war work. These men’s suggestions top approximately 20,000.honored with plant awards of Individual Merit by the Labor-Management War Production Drive Committees out of a total of 200,000 ideas submitted by workers in war plants.
The men to receive the citations and the committees submitting their suggestions are:
Joseph H. Kautsky, United Steel Workers and Link Belt Co., Indianapolis, Ind.; Clinton R. Hanna, United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers and Association of Westinghouse Salaried Employees and Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co., East Pittsburgh, Pa.; Edwin Curtiss Tracy, United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers and RCA Manufacturing Co.; Camden, N. J.; Madison E. Butler, Rochester Independent Workers and Stromberg-Carlson Telephone Manufacturing Co., Rochester, N. Y.; James A. Merrill, United Rubber Workers of America and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio, and Walter P. Hill, United Auto Workers and Calumet and Hecla Consolidated Copper Co., Detroit.
As the result of the action taken by the War Production Drive’s Board for Individual Awards, composed of distinguished engineers, the winners of citations will receive from the President both a gold emblem and a document signed by Mr. Roosevelt and Donald M. Nelson, Chairman of the War Production Board.
The other four workers being honored will be given Certificates of Individual Production Merit by the President. They and the committees sending in their suggestions are:
George Smolarek, United Auto Workers and Packard Motor Car Co., Detroit; Daniel Walter Mallett, United Auto Workers and Borg-Warner Corporation, Rockford, Ill.; Herbert Rudolph James, United Steel Workers and National Tube Co., McKeesport, Pa., and Stanley Crawford from United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers and RCA Manufacturing Co.t Camden.
♦ * *
DOMESTIC MICA—Allocation control over domestic mica will begin on December 10,1942, as a result of amended Conservation Order M-101.
12
★ VICTORY ★
December 8, 1942
3-percent munitions gain in October is disappointing, Nelson says in report
The fifth in the series of war production reports was issued December 7 by Chairman Donald M. Nelson of the War Production Board. The text:
OCTOBER HIGHLIGHTS
1. Overall production of munitions ^increased 3 percent over September, the lowest monthly increase this year.
2. Airplane production was down 5 percent, due in large part to special factors affecting de- , liveries.
3. The Government spent $5,722,-000,000 for war purposes in October, an increase of 4.8 percent, or $264,000,000, over Sep-
* tember.
4. Machine tool production reached a new high and increased 8.3 percent over September.
5. Merchant ship production, while
10 percent lower in October, was nevertheless ahead of schedule.
6. The box score for October production by major categories was:
Planes_________________down 5 percent
Ordnance_________________up 3 percent
Naval and Army vessels_up 4 percent Merchant vessels______down 10 percent Other munitions_______up 9 percent
The increase of 3 percent in October' production compared with a gain of 4 percent in September, 8 percent in August, 10 percent in July, and 12 percent in June.
Disappointing, says Nelson
The October results are disappointing. While it becomes more difficult to keep the rate of increase steady as total output rises, we have not yet reached the point where we can afford so marked a decline in that rate of increase. The program for the coming year is so large that a vigorous stepping up of the pace of recent months is essential, if our new objectives are to be achieved.
Many steps have been taken to improve the situation which has developed in recent months.
Our program in succeeding months calls for greater production under more difficult circumstances. As we approach peak output, problems of scheduling multiply rapidly. Adequate production cannot be achieved without much better scheduling than has yet been possible.
Despite the showing last month, United States production of combat armaments, according to the most reliable estimates obtainable, is currently in excess of all the Axis powers combined.
More detailed analysis of October production follows:
AIRPLANES
Although airplane production was down 5 percent in October, measured on the basis of fixed dollar value, this was due mainly to bunching of plane deliveries on September 30, many of which under normal circumstances would have been delivered in October, and the grouping of plane deliveries on November 1, many of which also would have been included in October shipments. One large manufacturer reported flying conditions during the end of October were so bad that test flights were out of the question, and 59 of his planes finished in October were not accepted until November 1.
Had deliveries been spread normally over September, October, and November, October would have shown a sizeable increase in plane production over September.
Despite the decline in over-all airplane production, deliveries of several of the most useful types of planes showed in-creases. The number of Navy fighters that rolled off the production lines increased substantially. Heavy bombers and two-engined fighters also were delivered in larger numbers. Production of one-engine light bombers jumped considerably.
October engine shipments were up 4 percent over the number shipped in September, those for tactical planes representing about three-fourths of all shipped, the balance being for trainers. Propeller shipments boosted
Propeller shipments increased 11 percent. Higher priorities for machine tools for certain types of propellers are expected to increase propeller deliveries still further, and thereby largely correct a condition that threatened to become a serious bottleneck in plane production.
Difficulty in obtaining fabricated parts for manufacture were reported by most of the manufacturers, alloy steel and aluminum being the chief causes of difficulty.
ORDNANCE
Ordnance continues to present one of the most difficult production problems. Inadequacy in the supply of a number of materials used in guns and tanks has limited output. Production of medium tanks dropped in October, although the output of light tanks climbed. Production of artillery and equipment for tanks rose markedly. In addition, battle- experience has demonstrated that the number of spare parts required for tanks and guns is larger than anticipated. Increase in spare part output competes with production of assembled units.
ARMY AND NAVY VESSELS
Measured on the basis of dollar value of work done on ships in shipyards, production of Army and Navy vessels increased 4 percent during October. The greatest advance was shown in the construction of minor combat vessels— patrol and escort ships. Landing vessels, such as those used in putting troops ashore on the North African Coast, also showed a sharp increase. Production of transports declined in the month.
MERCHANT VESSELS
In October we produced 80 cargo vessels with a total deadweight tonnage of 883,000 tons, compared with 92 vessels with combined tonnage of 1,009,000 tons in September. However, October deliveries were well ahead of schedules, which had been reduced to divert yard facil? ities for construction of Navy vessels and landing craft. Measured by the dollar value of work put in place on vessels in shipyards, production declined 10 percent in the month.
OTHER MUNITIONS
Other munitions, which include all items not mentioned in the four major categories, show a production increase of 9 percent over September. The chief explanation of this rise lies in the considerable increase over last month’s prod-tion in the miscellaneous aircraft items, which include engines, parts, and lighter-than-air craft.
MACHINE TOOLS
Machine tool production scored a marked rise in October, reflecting both the completion of new plant facilities and a drive within the industry to hasten production. The volume of output reached a new all-time peak of $130,000,090 compared with $120,000,000 in September. The gain was 8.3 percent, compared with an increase of 2.4 percent for September over August.
December 8, 1942
★ VICTORY ★
13
Indices of the American Industrial Effort and its Impact on the life of the Nation • . .
PRODUCTION DATA
Index numbers of program progress, 1942
Munitions War con- Total
Month • produc- struc- war
tion tion1 output
November 1941_. : .... - 100 loo 100
January 1942 163 114 R 136
February ... ..... 173 112 143
March— - 201 139 171
April— —; —— —— 238 175 205
May 269 192 230
June. —____ — — * 300 222 253
July 331 261 ' 284
August 357 278 302
September ... a. * R370 272 R311
October P 382 P256 P314
P Preliminary. R Revised.
xThe series has been revised due to an increase in coverage. The index number for July
was revised from 260 and not from 219, which was a misprint in Victory November 24.
EXPANSION OF WAR INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES
Cumulative from June 1940
Total Government financed Value Commitments Completions completed October 31, October 31, during Octo- 1942 1942 ber 1942 (Millions of dollars) $13, 551 $7, 682 $687
Construction.— — Machinery and eauinment. 6,403 7,148 4,445 372 3,237 " 315
Privately financed expansions as measured by 10,289 Certificates of Necessity approved, as of September 30, 1942 — - — —— —— $3,444,000,000
NON-INDUSTRIAL WAR CONSTRUCTION
Cumulative from June 1940
Commitments Completions Value com-OctoberSl, October 31, pleted during 1942 1942 October 1942 (Millions of dollars')
Government financed $14, 626 $9,275 $773
Military.... 12,828 8,451 705
Housing and public works. 1, 798 824 68
Privately financed war housing- i - 1,183 794 59
HOURS OF EMPLOYMENT AND PLANT UTILIZATION
Aircraft and Shipbuilding
Average weekly Percent in- Average- hours Percent in-
October 1942 hows per pro- per week of
ductive wage crease from plant utili- crease from
Industry earner October 1941 nation1 October 1941
Airplane frames 47.7 8.2 91.4 20.4
Airplane engines .... 48. 8 2.5 103.4 7.6
Airplane propellers. —— 48. 9 1.7 107.0 12.4
Shipbuilding1 ... P47. 2 »2.4 P76.8 «23.5
1 Total man-hours on productive work divided by the number of wage earners on the first shift; 168 hours equals theoretical maximum.
» Shipbuilding includes construction and repair yards. The percentage increases are measured from September 1941.
P Preliminary. .
MERCHANT VESSELS DELIVERED
November 1942 January-November 1942
Wnvnhpr nf shiTYR 80 619
Tonnage (deadweight tons) 873,000 6, 858, 000
For information qualifying the above statistics see Victory, November 24, 1942, page 13.
MUNITIONS PRODUCTION INDEX
As of As of
September November
SO, 1942 SO, 1942
(Billions of dollars)
Authorized war program —_____________$221. 6 1 $237. 9
Commitments 2_— 160.2 Not available
Expenditures ______ 50.0 P61.8
p Preliminary.
1 The program through October 31, 1942 has been revised from $240 billions to this figure.
2 Commitments include all transactions which legally reserve funds for expenditure.
MANPOWER
EMPLOYMENT
Percent
change from
Millions October
October 1942 of persons 1941
Labor force._____________54.0 —0.2
Employed.____—_____- 52.4 '4-4.4
Unemployed __________ 1. 6 —59.0
LABOR DISPUTES
Man-days lost on “strikes” affecting war production_______- 167, 865
Percentage time lost to estimated time worked_____________5/100 of 1 %
EARNINGS AND HOURS
Percent increase
September 1942 Manufactured durable goods: Average weekly earnings.— from September 1941 $44.47 27.9
Average hours worked per week 44.6 5.6
Average hourly earn- ings (cents) 99.4 18.2
Manufactured nondurable goods: Average weekly earnings $29. 71 15.0
Average hours worked per week 39.6 0.9
Average hourly earn* ,ings (cents) 75.0 12.5
For information further qualifying statistics on Finance, see Victory, November 24, 1942, page 13; for Manpower, see issue Ct December 1, 1942, page 13.
14
★ VICTORY ★
December 8, 1942
TRANSPORTATION
Eastman worried over
Grave concern over the domestic transportation system’s manpower crisis was expressed December 4 by ODT Director Eastman.
Mr. Eastman predicted that, on the basis of recent surveys, the transportation industry would have to find and train by midsummer 1943 approximately half a million new workers. These new employees must be obtained, he said, if the industry is to continue to perform its job in the war.
Three-point program
The ODT Director advanced a three-point program of recruiting, training and more efficiently utilizing labor to man the country’s trains, buses, trucks, airplanes, streetcars and other carriers.
Many thousand women, the ODT Director asserted, are able and willing to work in the transportation industry if they are given an opportunity. While the use of older workers involves some sacrifice of efficiency, he said, there are many positions in which they could be used, and there are more older workers available than employers are willing to hire.
Mr. Eastman listed as another source workers now employed in less essential industries.
Seniority, upgrading to be considered
The programs of recruiting and training in the transport industry must take
lack of manpower
into account the seniority principle and the upgrading process followed in the transportation system. Under these policies, promotion and grading of employes depends to a considerable degree upon comparative service records. Much of the new labor must be common labor hired at the bottom of the industry’s scale. Preemployment and on-the-job training, Mr. Eastman said, thus is required to man the industry from the bottom up, through the upgrading process.
Requirements report
In a detailed report of transport personnel requirements in future months, Mr. Eastman estimated that the railroads alone would require some 168,000 new workers. The figure represented almost 47 percent of the additional employees which—exclusive of replacements of workers transferred to other companies or industries—the whole transportation industry would need by next June.
His report set the requirements of the trucking industry at more than 65,000 new workers, those of the air transport industry at about 50,000, and those of the local industry at some 38,000.
Other transport industries and their estimated needs were: Great Lakes and inland water carriers, 8,000; taxicabs, 7,000; public warehousing, 4,000; pipelines, 2,000; and other transport services, 11,000.
Lake shipping season
With the 1942 iron ore movement on the Great Lakes already well above the 91,000,000-ton mark, ODT Director Eastman December 3 announced plans for stretching the shipping season well into December with the hope of exceeding the latest WPB goal of 91,500,000 tons.
In a review of the record breaking season, Director Eastman praised the Lakes carriers for their contribution to the expansion of steel mill capacities this year, for their cooperation with the ODT program, which called for diversion of vessels from the grain and coal traffic, and the ships’ crews for the unprecedented efficiency and speed with which the vessels operated.
extended
Because of winter weather, insurance rates and operating costs soar after the normal season closes, about November 30, and operating expenses are hiked by the lengthening of schedules as the result of icy weather.
To counteract these two factors, Mr. Eastman said, the ODT has arranged with the War Shipping Administration for the handling of the post-season insurance and with the OPA for the increase in shipping rates on ore to meet the higher costs. WSA will cover the post-season ore reinsurance, while OPA will permit a 31.25 percent increase in the ore rates.
Commercial operators who have applied for certificates qualify for tires until Jan. 1
Commercial vehicle operators, who are required to have obtained a Certificate of War Necessity from ODT as a first step in qualifying for tires under OPA rationing regulations, have been excused from this requirement until January 1, if they have applied for the certificate and have had no final word from ODT as to the status of their application.
This was announced December 1 by OPA in a move to give ODT more time to put the war necessity certificates into the hands of operators.
Applicants for tires for commercial vehicles between December 1 and 31, inclusive, will be required either to have an ODT certificate or to state on the tire application form that they have applied for one and have not been refused. OPA explained, however, that meeting this requirement is not tantamount to getting tires, since all other conditions of the rationing regulations must be met as well.
All other provisions in the regulations which refer to a Certificate of War Necessity will be in abeyance until January 1.
★ ★ ★
Parts, nonrationed fuel purchases simplified
Procedures to be followed by commercial motor vehicle operators in purchasing parts and fuel other than gasoline in States where such fuels are not rationed were simplified in an amendment to General Order ODT No. 21 issued December 1 by ODT Director Eastman.
The amendment, effective December 1 also makes it unnecessary for operators of fleets of trucks, buses, taxicabs or other commercial motor vehicles to keep detailed records of their vehicle operations on the backs of their Certificates of War Necessity. A fleet, under the order, is more than two vehicles.
Under the amendment, purchases may be made without presenting a certificate of war necessity where it is impracticable to do so, provided the operator furnished his name, address and certificate number to the person making the sale.
December 8, 1942
★ VICTORY ★
15
Cut the bases in game traveling next season, ODT urges baseball executives
Major league baseball executives were requested November 30 by ODT Director Eastman, to give “careful consideration to the problem of how your basic travel requirements can be met without waste
in space or mileage” during the 1943 season.
Identical letters were sent by Mr. Eastman to K. M. Landis, commissioner of baseball. Ford C. Frick, president of the National Baseball League, and William Harridge, president of the American Baseball League, asking that the joint meeting of the leagues, which opened
BOWL GAMES—Citing the critical shortage of passenger transportation facilites, ODT Director Eastman has urged that the sale of tickets to annual New Year’s Day football games be restricted to the immediate areas of the bowls in which the games will be played.
December 1 in Chicago, explore the possibilities for curtailing travel by the teams.
Mr. Eastman made these specific suggestions:
1. Travel incident to spring training might be minimized. Subject to suitable weather conditions, the selection of a training site as near as possible to the permanent headquar-i ters of the team would save transportation. ; Also, the elimination or drastic curtailment of preseason exhibition schedules would ease _the transportation burden.
2. Long duplicate trips must be avoided during the regular season. I understand that ! tentative schedules already drawn up reduce i the number of trips to each city and provide for a longer series of games in each city. While this is highly desirable, may I suggest that your schedules again be surveyed to determine if city-to-city trips can be pared further. Also, after the season begins, the rescheduling of postponed games should be arranged in a manner to avoid any extra travel.
3. Schedules should provide for ample traveling time between cities to avoid possible game cancellations in case of late trains or lack of accommodations. Consideration should also be given to the use of the less crowded secondary trains in place of primary trains; also, in certain cases it may be necessary to use day coach facilities rather than sleeping cars.
ODT bans use of school buses for sports
Because “the advantages of games-as-usual are unfortunately outweighed at the present time by the needs of war,” ODT Director Eastman said December 1 that the use of school buses for sports events will not be authorized this winter.
9 requests rejected
Mr. Eastman’s statement was contained in. a letter to nine school superintendents in Iowa, in reply to requests that school buses be exempted from the rubber conservation measures of the ODT so that interscholastic basketball could be continued at their schools this season.
Conferred with armed services
Mr. Eastman said the decision to forbid special bus service *for school sports was reached after conferences with representatives of the armed services. National Council of Chief State School Officers, State Directors of Physical Education, United States Office of Education and National Education Association. “It was our conclusion, after much discus-
sion and thought,” he said, “that adequate physical fitness programs could be maintained in the schools without creating the need for special bus service.”
★ ★ ★
Rental car industry
“frozen” by ODT
The rental car industry was “frozen” December 1 by order of ODT Director Eastman.
The order (General Order ODT No. 26) affects an estimated 30,000 livery cars, 28,000 funeral cars, and 5,000 drive-yourself cars.
Issued by Mr. Eastman November 30, and effective December 1, the order provides:
1. That no person or company shall engage in the rental car business unless on the effective date of the order the business was licensed by proper authority.
2. That no person or company shall increase the number of vehicles over those in rental service on the effective dates.
Farmers to get tires and gas enough, as long as they last; ODT will fix certificate errors
No farmer is to be put out of business as a result of the ODT Certificate of War Necessity plan, ODT stated December 1. As long as the tires, spare parts, and gasoline are available, the ODT will help every farmer get enough tires, spare parts and gasoline to carry on his necessary truck operations.
Any farmer who is dissatisfied with the amount of mileage and gasoline allowed in his Certificate of War Necessity for his truck or trucks should take the matter up immediately with his county agent, his county war board or his county farm transportation committee who, if convinced that any farmer should have been granted more mileage and gasoline, will make a recommendation to the ODT district manager serving the county in which the farmer lives. All ODT district managers have been Instructed from Washington to accept such recommendations, unless they contain obvious errors.
Farmers who have received certificates allowing them sufficient mileage and gasoline for a limited period are urged to delay filing appeals with their county farm transportation committees until those whose certificates contain obvious errors have been taken care of.
If a certificate does not contain an obvious error, the farmer’s rationing board will grant him a gasoline ration in an amount provided by the certificate. In accepting such a ration, the farmer does not forfeit his right to appeal for an additional gasoline allowance later.
If a farmer has received a certificate which does not allow enough gasoline to operate the mileage allowed in the certificate or which contains other errors, the farmer should go to his rationing board, present his certificate and ask for a temporary transport ration. This ration will be granted by the OPA board, giving the farmer enough gasoline to operate until January 1.
♦ * ♦
SHUTTLE PASSENGER TRAIN—To provide transportation for war workers, the ODT December 3 ordered the International-Great Northern Railroad and the Texas and New Orleans Railroad company jointly to establish a daily shuttle passenger train service between Houston, Tex., and the Houston Shipbuilding Corpoiation plant near Deepwater, Tex.
16
★ VICTORY
December 8, 1942
RATIONING...
Half of turned-in tires will go to work to keep Nation rolling; 3,000,000 unusables to be scrapped for rubber
Slightly more than half of the six million tires which have been turned in to the Government thus far under the Idle Tire Purchase Plan are usable in their present condition or can be made usable by repairs or recappings to help keep America’s 27,000,000 passenger cars rolling, the OPA announced November 30. This figure was reached on the basis of'sample check-ups on the quality of tires reaching central warehouses.
Discards paid for at scrap prices
The remainder are so badly worn or damaged by cuts through the carcass fabric or separation of cord plies that they cannot be made serviceable, according to the expert tire men who appraise them. These are being paid for at scrap prices—20 cents each in most cases—
and ultimately will be converted to reclaimed rubber to augment the Nation’s supply of crude rubber.
In this connection, persons who have yet to dispose of idle tires were urged again by OPA to sell any that are obviously scrap to scrap dealers, rather than turn them over to Railway Express Agency for shipment to warehouses.
Turn-ins still coming in
Tires received at DSC warehouses had reached a total of 4,739,765 at the close of business November 21, an increase of 1,867,765 over the total of 2,872,000 at the preceding week-end, OPA reported. At least 1,500,000 more are known to be in transit to warehouses, bringing total turn-ins thus far to about six and a quarter million tires.
Henderson apologizes to all “honest opponents”
“To my deep regret, the firm impression has been created that I said, in a radio program, that opponents of mileage rationing were ignorant or traitorous,” Price Administrator Henderson said December 1 in a statement.
‘ “This impression is incorrect, but since it came from my own words, I owe and sincerely offer my apology to all honest opponents. Whatever is needed to erase this unfortunate impression, I am prepared to do.
“The facts are these: In my radio talk last Thursday I said a Government survey showed certain organized groups were misleading the American people. All thru the broadcast my remarks were directed at this group, and not toward loyal individuals and members of Congress. A reading of the radio script will satisfy anybody as to this. Moreover, I had knowledge that Nazi propaganda, broadcast over short wave by a traitorous American, had sought to influence resistance to rationing.
“I offer the above as explanation, and offer my apologies to any and all I have offended.”
Reclaimed rubber limited to 45-day inventory
Consumers of reclaimed rubber are limited to a 45-day working inventory under the terms of Order M-15-b as amended December 1 by WPB.
The order previously limited inventories of all other types of rubber, but did not apply to reclaimed. All rubber, including reclaimed, is under complete allocation control.
The amendment does not apply to inventories in the hands of reclaimers. The inventory limitation on consumers was issued because of increased demand for high grade reclaimed rubber, plus the fact that a number of consumers have accumulated substantial inventories.
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“How to save fuel at home”
- “How To Save Fuel At Home,” a new circular compiled by the Bureau of Mines, offers advice on how to save coal in household heating. Copies may be obtained free of charge by writing to the Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C.
MILEAGE RATIONING SHIFTS INTO HIGH
The country’s rubber-borne transportation—27,000,000 passenger cars and 5,000,000 trucks and buses—shifted to a full wartime basis at 12:01 a. m. December 1 as Nation-wide mileage rationing put into effect the Government’s program to save rubber for war needs.
As the OPA rationing plan was inaugurated, basic ration books had been issued to more than 90 percent of the passenger cars now operating in the 31 States in which mileage rationing is being introduced for the first time, OPA estimated. According to reports from the field, almost all autoists who need their cars to drive to work, or in connection with their work have received their A coupon books. This basic ration, it was stated, should provide them with sufficient mileage until local war price and rationing boards have time to process all applications for supplemental rations.
Local war price and rationing boards were completing the task of issuing the new transport rations for trucks, buses, and other commercial vehicles, OPA also reported. While all transport rations are based on the. gallonage of gasoline allowed on Certificates of War Necessity issued by ODT, OPA boards have been authorized to grant temporary rations to commercial vehicle operators who have applied to ODT for certificates, but have not yet received them.
Henderson outlines highlights
As the plan went into effect Price Administrator Henderson outlined these highlights of mileage rationing:
1. All gasoline controls imposed for the purpose of conserving rubber became effective at 12:01 a. m. December 1. z a ,
2. Eastern car owners who held gasoline ration books under the East Coast rationing plan must file their tire serial numbers with local boards in time to receive a tiré inspection record by December 12.
3. Motorists in newly rationed sections who have not applied for basic A books may do so at local boards beginning Deceinber 3.
4. Commercial vehicle operators, including those who drive farm trucks, who have applied to the Office of Defense Transportation for Certificates of* War Necessity, but have not received thèm, may obtain temporary transport rations from local war price and rationing boards.
5. Dealers and. distributors of gasoline throughout the newly rationed area were to register with local war price and rationing boards December 1 and 2. A reporton gas-ollne supplies'on hand as of 12:01 a. m. Décembèr 1 and total storage capacity were I important parts of the registration.
December 8, 1942
★ VICTORY ★
17
'Point rationing to begin early in 1943; more coupons needed for scarce article than if you buy plentiful substitute
Point rationing, to. balance buying among similar articles and prevent runs on any of them, will begin early in 1943, OPA revealed last week that War Ration Book 2, containing coupons of graduated values, will go to every American soon after the first of the year. Within groups of items which can be substituted for each other in actual use, you will have to give up coupons of a higher value to get things that are scarcer than usual, coupons of a lower value for those that are relatively more plentiful.
In making the announcement, OPA reminded the public that the fighting forces will now require more and more supplies, food, and ammunition, and stated that the point system was adopted as the fairest way of distributing what remains in the groups covered.
OPA is not ready to give a complete list of things to go under thé point system, but meats will be one of the first groups.
Why old system is best for some things
The simple coupon system was selected for rationing sugar because:
Sugar is something almost everyone uses. It is a standardized article, usually of one grade, and commonly sold in packages of one pound or several pounds.
There is a large enough supply to give everyone a share big enough to be useful.
There is no widely used substitute that could be exhausted by people rushing to buy it in place of sugar, no danger of working a serious hardship on many people who made extensive use of the substitute.
The same conditions are true for gasoline and coffee.
But these conditions do not hold true for certain other kinds of commodities, such as cereals. (The following example
is purely hypothetical; rationing of cereals is not contemplated.)'
Suppose there were a shortage of branflakes.
Suppose the Government were to ration branflakes the way it is rationing sugar—an equal amount for everyone each month. Because of the shortage and because branflakes would thus be allotted to many people who don’t eat them regularly or at all, the result of rationing branflakes in this way would be a very small share for each individual—just a few ounces a month—too little to do anyone any good.
This might mean a buying rush on cornflakes by those who usually eat branflakes, thus creating a shortage of cornflakes—or afrush for cornmeal, oatmeal or wheatflakes to replace branflakes in the diet of those accustomed to eating them. These cereals might quickly disappear from stores on a “first-come first-served’’ basis. Many people would not get any of these cereals at all. Obviously, this is an unfair and undemocratic method of sharing the supply.
But under point rationing, all these cereals would be grouped and rationed together. And this would include packages of all sizes, all grades, and all bulk cereals. .
Although dividing the supply of any one of them would have given each individual only a small share, dividing the total supply of dll of them gives each individual enough for his basic cereal heeds. This gives everyone a fair and large-enough-to-be-useful share of the total supply.
The consumer would use War Ration Book 2 for all these cereals and would
use his point ration stamps to buy the cereals he prefers.
The Government will give each commodity in the group a “point-value.” A low point-value will be given to the commodity which is most plentiful as compared with the usual supply and demand for that commodity. A high pointvalue will be given to a commodity which is much scarcer than usual. A point-value somewhere between the two will be given to a commodity when the supply and demand are expected to be somewhat less than usual.
Here is how it works
Suppose the supply of cornflakes is about as plentiful as usual; the supply of wheatflakes a little less; oatmeal quite a bit scarcer; grits much scarcer; and branflakes very scarce, hardly available at all. The point-value assigned by the Government would be somewhat as follows:
Points
18
★ VICTORY ★
December 8, 1942
Ickes says there’ll be coal to replace oil; tells converters not to hesitate
The coal industry, if given adequate equipment, transportation, and manpower, can supply the 15,340,000 tons of coal that would be needed annually to replace fuel oil in the East and Midwest under present conversion goals, in addition to meeting the war-expanded requirements of regular coal users, Solid Fuels Coordinator for War Ickes said December 2.
Mr. Ickes said that domestic and industrial consumers who can convert from oil to coal should not hesitate to do so for fear of an inadequate coal supply. In general, the present coal supply is sufficient for current consumption requirements, although many users still need additional heavy tonnages to increase their storage piles to safe wartime margins, he said.
“If all consumers will order their coal well ahead of their actual needs,” Mr. Ickes said, ‘«they will have an excellent opportunity to get it, since this will enable the mining and transportation
industries to plan their operations so as to make continuous full use of manpower and equipment.”
Eastern and midwestern consumers who previously used approximately 35,-544,000 barrels of oil per year already have switched to coal, and are now being supplied with coal at a rate approximating 8,078,000 tons per year. This leaves the users of approximately 31,953,000 barrels of oil per year who have yet to convert under present goals. They would require approximately 7,262,000 tons of coal annually at their present rate of fuel use.
Mining output nearing peak
The present rate of output of both bituminous and anthracite coals is approaching the peak of mine capacity, but the steps being taken to help the coal producing and transportation industries to increase their output should result in sufficient fuel for wartime needs, Coordinator Ickes said.
27,000 barrels of oil a day added to plans for East
An additional 27,000 barrels of crude oil will flow daily in the near future to the East Coast as a result of adjustments recently made on a number of pipelines, Petroleum Coordinator for War Ickes announced November 28.
This additional movement has been counted on in forecasts of supply for the coming winter and therefore will not change the current shortage situation.
Total of 100,000 barrels daily
“Capacity delivery of 20,000 barrels daily over the recently reversed Tuscarora line—which extends from Nogley, Ohio, to Bayonne, New Jersey—will begin as soon as it can be tested and such minor adjustments made as are necessary in pipelines that have been reversed,” the Coordinator said. “The additional 7,000 barrels will be hauled by other lines. When the 27,000 barrels a day are added to present pipeline movement, we will have approximately 100,000 barrels of crude oil daily flowing into the Eastern States through connecting pipeline systems.”
OP A will adjust if necessary for 6-day week in soft coal
Reiterating the OPA’s willingness to take whatever measures are necessary to cover increased cost of bituminous coal production under an extended workweek. Price Administrator Henderson November 30 said that price ceilings would constitute no barrier to contracts involving the 6-day week.,
“It is of course obvious we cannot work out price adjustments or other measures to meet increased production cost until it is known what that added expense is to be. Any general application of readjustments to any industry as tremendous as bituminous coal mining cannot be put into operation over night. Representatives of the committee of bituminous mine operators, of the Bituminous Coal Division of the Department of Interior, and OPA coal price executives are working together to expedite and to solve the numerous and various problems involved. We hope to have specific information and cost data from' the industry itself with the least possible delay.”
65-degree temperature safe for health, Dr. Parran says
The 65 degree temperature that Government war agencies have asked Americans to maintain in their homes is well within not only the health zone but even the comfort zone, according to Surgeon General Parran.
Lower in Europe
In European countries, Dr. Parran said, with winter temperatures comparable to those of the Eastern and Northeastern United States, winter temperatures in the homes are maintained far below ours, with no evidence of increase in respiratory or other diseases which would be likely to result therefrom.
Dr. Parran’s opinion
In the absence of scientific data on the subject, Dr. Parran gave it as his best opinion that—
1. A room temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit would not result in any material impairment of public health.
2. Room temperatures ranging from 45 degrees to 55 degrees would result in a slight but not serious danger to public health.
3. Room temperatures below 45 degrees Fahrenheit would seriously endanger public health.
Dr. Parran’s figure of 55 degrees, which he said would not materially impair public health is 10 degrees lower than the room temperature for adults requested by Government war agencies.
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“Coupon credit” again extended
Homeowners using oil-burning equipment may purchase fuel oil through December 9 by giving to dealers promissory coupon notes in lieu of regular ration coupons, OPA announced November 30.
This latest extension of the “coupon credit” system, originally scheduled to terminate November 30, was necessary as distribution of the fuel oil ration coupons had not been completed in some localities of the 30-State rationed area, officials stated.
* ♦ ♦
CRUDE OIL REFINERS—Seeking information by which to measure the impact of governmental requirements and war emergencies upon the crude oil refining industry, the OPA announced December 2 it has ordered quarterly operational reports from all refiners of crude petroleum.
December 8, 1942
★ VICTORY ★
19
Coal, wood stove limits relaxed to assure supply
In order that coal and wood burning stoves for heating of dwellings, shops, offices, and stores may be obtainable by persons needing them to replace fuel oil heating equipment, quotas of Class C producers in the stove industry are temporarily removed under Supplementary Limitation Order L-23-d, issued December 3. This action permits unrestricted use of iron and steel for the purpose by the Class C producers.
To shift production schedules
At the same time, through an amendment (No. 5) to L-23-c, provision is made for clearance of factory and foundry space for stove manufacture by a shifting of production schedules from cooking ranges to stoves.
Until ‘January 31, 1943, any Class C producer engaged in manufacture of domestic heating stoves using coal or wood may use iron or steel without regard to quota limitations established under L-23-c, as amended. For February and March, quotas are again applied. Allowable consumption of iron and steel for the 2 months’ period may equal that of the full quarterly quota as defined' in the order.
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COAL USERS TO PAY 4-CENTS-A-TON TAX
Consumers of all grades of coal and other solid fuels will pay the 4 cents per net ton transportation tax imposed by the Revenue act of 1942 effective December 1, OPA announced December 5. Under the OPA ruling the tax may be passed on to the ultimate consumer, but must be stated separately from the price the consumer pays for the coal and may not be included in the computation of maximum prices, nor be charged except on coal on which the tax has actually been incurred.
For the purpose of collection of the tax, the Bureau of Internal Revenue has ruled that the term “coal” includes bituminous, anthracite, lignite, coke, and several other miscellaneous solid fuels. In the process of issuance are amendments to all Office of Price Administration maximum price regulations governing the sale of coal and other solid fuels, pertaining to the addition and collection of the tax. The amendments are retroactive to December 1.
Ickes becomes Petroleum Administrator with broad powers to regulate industry
Announcement of the appointment of Secretary of Interior Ickes as “Petroleum Administrator who shall be directly responsible to the President” came from the White House December 2 with the issuance of an Executive order establishing the Petroleum Administration for War.
The new agency supplants the former Office of Petroleum Coordinator for War which the Secretary had headed since its establishment May 28, 1941, under a letter from the President immediately following declaration of an emergency.
To conserve and utilize petroleum
The new order confers a broad delegation of war authority upon the Administrator. The President’s pre-war instruction to the Coordinator was that he “make specific recommendations to appropriate departments.” The new Executive order provides that “the Administrator shall establish basic policies and formulate plans and programs to assure for the prosecution of the war the conservation and most effective development and utilization of petroleum in the United States and in territories and possessions and issue necessary policy and operating directives.”
The order centralizes in the Administrator control over the petroleum industry by delegating far-reaching authority under the President’s war powers. This includes the power to issue and enforce necessary orders and directives regulating all the operations of the vast petroleum industry. It also empowers the Administrator to distribute among the branches and between companies engaged in the oil industry, whatever quantities of critical materials are allotted for the use of the industry by WPB.
In the foreign field, the Administrator “shall collaborate with the appropriate Federal departments and agencies authorized to determine plans and policies with respect to foreign petroleum activities and in conformity with such plans and policies . . . issue directives concerning the physical operations of their foreign petroleum facilities to units of the American petroleum industry which directly or indirectly engage in such operations in foreign countries.”
Concerning petroleum supplies for civilian consumption the order states that the Administrator shall “be advised of all plans or proposals which deal with the civilian rationing of petroleum and
consult with rationing authorities in the development of such plans or proposals; and in these instances where rationing is for the purpose of maintaining adequate supplies of petroleum for war and essen-tion industrial and civilian requirements determined after advising with WPB .the areas and the time within which such rationing should be effective and the amount of petroleum available for such purposes.”
That section of the order dealing with rubber, read in connection with the operating agreement between the Rubber Director and the Petroleum Administrator, means that the petroleum administration will conduct and promote developmental research in the production of petroleum components for rubber, develop plans for new production of such material, and be responsible for new refinery installations and their subsequent operation.
The order requires that all-other departments of Government “shall advise with the Administrator before taking any action which might affect the continuous ready availability of petroleum for military and essential industrial and civilian needs.”
Davies becomes deputy administrator
‘"Hie Petroleum Administration for War” exists under the order as an independent war agency, the Administrator reporting “directly to the President.” There is provided “a deputy administrator,” to whom the Administrator may delegate “any and all power, authority and discretion conferred upon him,” and who “shall serve as acting administrator in the absence of the administrator.” Ralph K. Davies, who had been deputy coordinator since the establishment of that office, becomes in the new organization the “deputy petroleum administrator.” i
Administrator Ickes said:
“In assuming the duties of Petroleum Administrator, I desire to accent two major facts: first, that the supplying of oil to our armed forces and those of our allies is no less than a prerequisite to survival; and, second, that the successful carrying out of this task is one -of enormous proportions—one which will call for tireless efforts, unending study, and continuing sacrifice, affecting directly or indirectly in some way every man, woman, and child.”
20
★ VICTORY ★
December 8, 1942
PRICE ADMINISTRATION ...
Retailers throughout U. S. cut services to carry out Economy for Victory plan
Merchants in cities throughout the United States—some war industry centers and some less directly touched by the war drive—are rallying behind the recently announced Retailers’ Economy for Victory Plan, reports to the OPA indicated December 4.
Lynchburg plan
As an example Lynchburg (Va.) retailers—department stores, women’s apparel shops, clothiers, shoe stores, jewelers, and furniture stores—have adopted a nine-point War Economy Program under the Retailers’ Economy Program Plan.
This restricts deliveries to three a week in each of the two zones into which the city is divided. Nothing less than $1.50 in value or less than 5 pounds in weight or 54 inches in circumference will be delivered. No merchandise will be sent out on approval. No merchandise will be accepted for return by delivery truck, except when there is a delivery to the same house, unless it is wrong merchandise or damaged.
Similarly, there are restrictions on return of gifts, on gift wrapping, on layaways and will-calls, and on C. O. D.
Full-page advertisements in the Lynchburg newspapers announced the plan and explained the necessity to conserve manpower and essential war resources.
In Harvey, Jll., stores staggered their business hours to meet the tight supply of available clerks—and at the same time serve men and women producing war goods. Perhaps for the first time in the community’s history, stores were closed Saturday nights and did not reopen until noon Mondays. Mondays and Fridays they are open from noon to 9 p. m.
Merchants of Harvey also are campaigning to drive home to their customers the importance of carrying all carryable packages.
The Retailers’ Economy for Victory Plan was launched jointly by OPA and the Department of Commerce. In addition to having conservation of manpower and war vital materials as its goal, it is designed to allow retailers to operate under price ceilings in 1943, which. Price Administrator Henderson has cautioned, will be a “tough” year for the retail trade because of impending shortages in both goods and retail manpower.
Gas coupon values set officially
In a supplement to the Nation-wide gasoline rationing regulations (Ration Order 5 C), the OPA December 3 officially set the value of gasoline coupons as follows:
Class A coupons—four gallons, except in the Eastern gasoline shortage area, where the value of coupons for the present shall be three gallons. The shortage area consists of the States of Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
Class B coupons—four gallons
Class C coupons—four gallons
Class D coupons—one and one-half gallons
Class E coupons—one gallon
Class R coupons—five gallons
Class T-l coupons—five gallons
Class T-2 coupons—five gallons
These values had been announced previously.
Sellers released from ceilings based on old contracts
Sellers who made general price increases prior to April 1 are authorized by OPA December 5 to apply the increases to ceiling prices for goods and services delivered last March under longterm contracts.
This provision was written into the general maximum price regulation and Maximum Price Regulation No. 188, and is of special interest to companies supplying goods to Federal, State and municipal agencies and institutions.
The effect is to allow one, who last March delivered at prices established by a contract signed many months before and who raised his prices generally before April 1, to bring his prices on the expiration of the contract in line with the increased prices he was charging in March. March is the base price period under the two regulations.
Coffee enough for rations if we just take it easy
Supplies of coffee in retail stores are ample to insure suecessful beginning of the rationing program provided housewives confine their first purchases to the amounts they actually need, Paul M. O’Leary, OPA deputy administrator in charge of rationing announced November 29.
Groceries restocked
“We have found that the one-week freeze of retail sales has permitted Nation-wide restocking by food stores,” Mr. O’Leary said. “In one or two restricted areas roasters have had some difficulty in getting sufficient green coffee, so that there may be some localities where retailers will be short for a few days more. But on the Whole, stamp 27 from War Ration Book One, showing the holder to be 15 years old or more, will buy a pound of coffee in virtually any food store in the United States.
“This statement is conditioned on the assumption that only those who actually need coffee at the very start will do any buying and then will limit their purchases to the amount they require for immediate use.
“Unnecessarily heavy buying at the beginning of coffee rationing will overtax the coffee distribution system and disrupt the even flow of coffee from roaster to wholesaler to retailer.* It is to the advantage of the shopper to buy coffee in the smallest amount needed and not to buy at all if she has any coffee on hand. Fresh coffee tastes better; lasts longer.”
★ ★ ★
Coffee roaster penalized
Deliveries of coffee by the E. M. Swing Co., Washington, D. C., roasters, will be limited to 30,000 pounds a month until March 31, it was announced December 1 by WPB.
Suspension Order S-161, putting the restrictions into effect, states that the Swing Co., owned and operated by E. M. Swing, violated WPB’s coffee conservation program by delivering mor^ than 28,000 pounds in excess of its permitted quota for October, and by failing to file required reports.
December 8, 1942
★ VICTORY ★
21
Standard wholesale beef cuts established by OPA
As the first step in setting specific cents-per-pound ceiling prices for all beef sold by packers and wholesalers, the OPA December 1 issued directions for standardizing throughout the Nation the cutting of beef sold at wholesale.
The OPA directions set up rigid definitions for the 19 so-called “primal” cuts into which a side of beef may be broken for sale at wholesale, and describe the exact manner in which the cuts may be made.
The standardized cutting will not apply to sales at retail and will have little effect on purchases by the housewife, since the retail meat seller may continue to butcher wholesale cuts into retail cuts by his customary method.
Conforms to “Chicago” method
The style of cutting adopte'd by OPA was worked out with representatives of the industry and, of the various styles in effect in the country, conforms more closely to that generally known as the Chicago method.
> Until the new beef regulation is issued, prices charged by packers or wholesalers for each cut may not exceed the limits established by the present regulation— Maximum Price Regulation 169, as amended. Prices at retail are controlled by the general maximum price regulation at March levels.
Does not affect grade specifications
The establishment of standard wholesale beef cuts will not affect grade specifications established by the Department of Agriculture and adopted by OPA in its present price regulation on wholesale beef cuts.
Following are the 19 primal cuts: Hindquarter, trimmed full 'loin, round sirloin, short loin, flank, flank steak, kidney, hanging tender, forequarter, cross cut chuck, triangle, arm chuck, rib, short plate, brisket, fore shank, back, and regular chuck.
♦ ♦ *
HARD-FACING MATERIAL—Deliveries of hard-facing material were restricted by the WPB December 2 to orders rated AA-5 or higher. This action, taken by issuance, of Limitation Order L-223, is designed to conserve considerable quantities of scarce alloying elements such as cobalt, molybdenum, tungsten, vanadium, chromium, an^ nickel.
Foods from butter to flour stay under control pending dollars and cents ceilings
Price control on food commodities previously covered by a 60-day temporary order expiring December 3 was extended December 3 by the OPA through issuance of a new regulation, continuing the features of the original temporary order and its amendments. .
Effective December 3, the Maximum Price Regulation No. 280 applies at the processor, wholesale and retail levels to milk products, including butter, cheese, evaported and condensed milk, as well as eggs, poultry (except turkeys), flour, cake mixes, fresh citrus fruits (at retail only), canned citrus fruits and juices, cornmeal and hominy.
Dollars and cents ceilings to be issued
OPA officials stated that the new regulation—under which ceiling prices of these commodities continue frozen at the highest level at which they were sold by each individual firm during the September 28-October 2, 1942, period—soon would be replaced by specific dollars and cents ceilings at the processor level and fixed margins for different classes of wholesale houses and retail stores. As such orders are issued, the commodities in question will be withdrawn from the coverage of Maximum Price Regulation No. 280.
Specific regulations have been issued
already on onions, potatoes, turkeys, and dry edible beans, which commodities also originally were covered by Temporary Maximum Price Regulation No. 22.
The regulation also provides that if any maximum price established. under this order is lower than any price set by a marketing agreement, order or license issued by the Secretary of Agriculture under the Agriculture Marketing Act of 1937, then in such a case the price set by the marketing agreement, order or license shall become the seller’s maximum price.
Cooperative’s fluid milk exempt
Sales of raw and unprocessed fluid milk by farm cooperatives, which were covered in the original 60-day “freeze” order and heretofore not removed, were exempted December 3 from price control because they fall under similar classification to sales by farmers, which also are not controlled. Sales of mutton and sales of flour made from rye, buckwheat, rice, oats, corn, barley and potatoes—also under the original 60-day “freeze” order—are not covered under the permanent regulation since mutton will be covered under a special control to be issued shortly. Sale of flour made from wheat is controlled Under the new regulation.
Ceiling deadline extended for four food items
Deadline for retailers and wholesalers of canned vegetables, canned fish, and dried fruits to calculate final maximum prices under two regulations designed to relieve a squeeze on distributors’ margins has been extended one month (untiLDe-cember 31), the OPA announced December 1.
Distributors of dry edible beans also were given an additional 10 days so that the period for calculating final maximum prices on these four items will expire at the same time.
The extension is contained in Amendment No. 5 to Maximum Price Regulation No. 237 and Amendment 3 to Maximum Price Regulation No. 238.
The time for filing ceiling prices on these four items was also extended until January 10, 1943, for wholesalers, and February 10 for retailers.
Mark-ups on less-than-carload sales of oil meals specified
Processors making less-than-carload-lot sales of oil meals and oil cakes now will have specified maximum mark-ups over full lot transactions, OPA announced December 1.
Effective November 30, less-than-carload-lot sales by a processor to a jobber, wholesaler or-retailer now will command not more than a $1 per ton premium over full carload dealings.
* * ♦
FROZEN DESSERTS — Commercial manufacture of ice cream, frozen custard, milk sherbet, and other frozen desserts and of ice-cream mix during December and January is reduced by about 20 percent below estimated 1942-43 winter output to conserve butterfat for butter.
22
★ VICTORY ★
December 8, 1942
New quinine substitute gets price
Dollars and cents maximum prices at the manufacturers’, wholesalers’ and retailers’ level were set December 4 by OPA for totaquina, a newly developed product of cinchona bark which will be used in fighting malaria in this country, thus freeing all available supplies of quinine for the armed forces.
The prices are contained in Maximum Price Regulation No. 278—Totaquina and Totaquina Products—issued December 4 and effective December 10.
Totaquina is a combination of the total crystallizable alkaloids of the chinchona bark, which is the source of quinine. The cinchona bark and quinine shortage was brought about by Japanese conquest of the Netherlands Indies.
The use of totaquina with attendant encouragement for the growing and collecting of the cinchona bark in Latin America, will extend the existing and future supply of cinchona bark by employing for malaria in addition to quinine these by-alkaloids of cinchona: cin-chonidine, cinchonine and quinindine.
Maximum retail prices will enable consumers to obtain totaquina at about half the cost of quinine. A smaller dosage of quinine is required, however.
The maximum prices were established on a basis of 40 cents an ounce for sales of totaquina powder in bulk quantities.
Specific maximum prices are set for the powder and for tablets and capsules at all levels, including retail.
OP A cuts number of reports required of rubber goods makers
Reduction in the number of reports required of manufacturers of mechanical rubber goods under Maximum Price Regulation No. 149 was announced December
3, by OPA.
This regulation sets manufacturers’ ceiling prices for such rubber goods as belting, hose, jar rings, and various rubber products used chiefly in industry.
Other changes made at the same time to clarify and simplify the regulation include:
1. In order to show more specifically what goods are covered by the regulation, three lists of items have been put into the regulation, one showing goods that are to be priced on the basis of conditions prevailing October 1, 1941; another showing goods whose prices are to be computed with January 5, 1942, as the base date, and a third illustrating the types of goods not covered at all by the regulation.
2. Any manufacturer of mechanical rubber goods who finds It impossible to compute maximum prices under methods now provided in the regulation will be permitted to suggest a price-determining method he believes is adaptable to such products.
3. There has been added a specific provision that once a manufacturer has determined his maximum selling price for an item, that price will stand as the ceiling for subsequent sales to buyers of the same class.
4. A manufacturer must keep records of all his regularly quoted prices on the base dates established by the regulation.
5. “Manufacturer” has been redefined. “Regularly quoted price” has also been defined, as has the term “standard list item,” in the interest of clarity.
These changes were made in light of six months’ experience under theregula-tion. They are contained in Amendment No. 3 to Maximum Price Regulation No. 149, Mechanical Rubber Goods, effective December 8.
40,000 vacuum cleaners released for public
Release of an additional 40,000 domestic vacuum cleaners frozen in the hands of manufacturers and private brand sellers since October 24 was announced December 5 by the WPB consumers’ durable goods division. The cleaners, which now become available for sale to the general public, are in addition to those released from stocks of retailers and wholesale distributors on November 21. Approximately 145,000 domestic vacuum cleaners still remain frozen as a reserve for requirements of Government agencies.
★ ★ ★
Oil operators now may sell material stocks to each other
Sale of heretofore frozen stocks of materials in the oil industry is now permitted by WPB Preference Rating Order P-98-c, which was issued December 1 upon the recommendation of the Office of Petroleum Coordinator for War. The new order permits the sale of inventory stocks by one oil operator to another oil operator. c
All reports required to be filed and all communications concerning P-98-c should be addressed to “Office of Petroleum Coordinator for War, South Interior Building, Washington, D. C„ Ref.: P-98-c,” or “Office of Oil Controller, Dominion of Canada, Toronto, Canada, Ref.: P-98-c.”
OPA changes regulation for gears, sprockets
Maximum prices for gears, pinions, sprockets and speed reducers—integral parts of machines—were incorporated December 7 in the OPA over-all regulation for machinery.
Effective December 11, 1942, gear and speed reduction items of all types will be priced under Maximum Price Regulation No. 136, as amended.
Gear makers under the machinery regulation are exempt from price control on developmental or secret contracts or subcontracts entered into with the Government or its agents. Exempt from price control, too, are emergency purchases by the Government.
The exemptions, in addition, apply to like transactions with the governments of the United Nations.
The highest prices for gears, pinions, sprockets and speed reducers will continue to be those charged on October 15, 1941, with the exception of the following, which henceforth may use as maximums their prices on March 31, 1942;
1—Gears, pinions, sprockets and speed reducers specially designed for use in military vehicles, aircraft or other military equipment.
2—Automotive or tractor transmissions, transfer cases, power take-offs, differentials, and axle assemblies.
3—Gears, pinions, sprockets and speed reducers sold for use in private or commercial vehicles, as well as items originally designed for use in private or commercial motor vehicles but sold for other uses.
However, maximum prices for gears, pinions, sprockets and speed reducers for replacement in any machine shall be those charged October 1, 1941, when manufactured by the maker of the complete machine.
Hereafter, there will be only two categories of gears—“standard” and “special.” Prices for standard items will continue to be those for which a list price was in effect on the base pricing date for the item. For “special” or specially designed items, maximum prices shall be calculated by the use of labor rates, materials costs and the pricing formula in effect on the base pricing date. Reports need be filed with OPA only when a price to a customer is increased.
* * *
LATE APPLICATIONS—Formal action setting December 15 as the deadline for late applications for War Ration Book One was taken November 30 with the issuance of Amendment No. 27 to Ration Order No. 3—Sugar Rationing Regulations.
December 8, 1942
★ VICTORY ★
23
Ceilings to be set for all ice boxes
A price regulation which will mean many dollars in savings to consumers and householders buying ice boxes will be issued soon, the OPA announced December 4.
The measure will replace the general maximum price regulation’s control over the sale of ice boxes. Under the latter regulation, sellers of ice boxes are being held to their highest March prices. The new measure will specify precise maximum prices for each model now on the market. In some instances, where the March price has been found to be excessive, a lowered price will be incorporated in the new regulation.
OPA officials warned dealers against overstocking at this time. Dealers purchasing abnormal quantities of ice boxes at what may be found to be inflated prices, when the new regulation appears, will find themselves squeezed against the new ceilings.
Dealers seeking to pressure consumers into higher prices by using the “shortage scare” technique are warned that such sales will be checked and the dealer prosecuted for a violation of the Emergency Price Control Act if the prices are found to be in excess of those allowed under the general maximum price regulation.
OPA makes rules to aid sale of wooden bedsprings
In an effort to promote the readjustment of the upholstered furniture industry to conditions made neceSsary by the banning of metal springs in such furniture since November 1, OPA Decem-cember 2 outlined two procedures which manufacturers may follow in making new-type furniture and offering it for sale pending complete change-over to production without metal springs.
Two procedures
These two procedures are authorized:
x 1. Manufacturers’ prices for furniture Using solid filling base construction may be submitted to OPA for approval without any laboratory reports of the construction.
2. Manufacturers who are employing new wooden springs to replace metal springs must have such springs tested and approved before the furniture containing them can be sold, though they may be exhibited. Prices for upholstered articles containing substitute wooden springs will not be approved by OPA unless the price applications are accompanied by laboratory test reports showing that the new springs meet standards now being prepared by OPA in cooperation with the National Bureau of Standards.
OPA will announce shortly the basis on which all new wooden springs in upholstered furniture must be tested. '
* *
REFRIGERATING, AIR - C O N DI -TIONING MACHINERY—The period of time within whichT the provisions of Preference Rating Order P-126, assigning preference ratings for emergency service to refrigerating and air conditioning machinery and equipment, has been extended to December 15, 1942, by the issuance of Amendment No. 4 to P-126.
Rolled zinc products price regulation amended
Specific mention of special shapes, particular types of packing, special grades or finishes, plates produced from zinc alloys, and small quantity sales as “extras” for which charges may be made is among regulatory changes affecting rolled zinc products announced December 3, by the OPA.
The changes in Maximum Price Regulation No. 124—Rolled Zinc Products— are announced in Amendment No. 1 to the regulation, effective December 9, 1942.
To guard against price increases, the amendment directs that cash and trade discounts which prevailed October 1, 1941, shall not be lowered. Another new feature calls for a report, within 30 days of the amendment’s effective date, from producers of rolled zinc products showing:
(1) Types of rolled zinc products produced during the period October 1, 1940, to November 1, 1942.
(2) Extra charges for each type in effect October 1, 1941.
(3) Cash and trade discounts in effect for each class of purchaser on October 1, 1941.
Another change giving specific effect to the original regulation’s intent includes maximum prices for zinc plates and zinc engravers’ plates in an enumerated list of products to whose prices permissible extra charges may be added. 5
I * * *
BRISTLES—Permission to use pigs’ and hogs’ bristles in production of shaving brushes and tooth brushes until February 28, 1943, was granted December 1.
Importance to war effort basis of plan to allot refrigeration facilities
A plan developed by the WPB refrigeration and air conditioning section, to assist in determining the allocation of refrigeration facilities to retailers of perishable foods, was discussed at a recent meeting with the general advisory committee of the industry.
The plan would enable the retailer to present his case for priority assistance, based upon predetermined importance in the war effort of the location of his establishment and the shortage of similar establishments in that locality.
The importance of a particular locality is measured by placing it in one of four defined districts in a war industry area and by its placement in the area. There are 152 such areas throughout the country. An area may consist of from one to four districts, rural industrial, semirural, suburban, and metropolitan.
Retailer’s application
The applicant seeking to obtain refrigeration facilities determines which of these definitions best describes the lo-‘ cality in which his business is located or is to be operated. He shows on his application that the facilities ^e requires are mainly for civilian use. His applica-, tion is then backed up by a statement of an officer of the city or State health department, the local Chamber of Commerce or the county agent of the United States Department of Agriculture, certifying to the need for the facilities and the character of the district selected by the applicant.
★ ★ ★
Ferrosilicon freight allowance equal for East and West *
Eastern and Western producers of fei> rosilicon will operate on'an equal basis insofar as freight allowances are concerned, the OPA announced December 2.
In Amendment No. 70 to Supplementary Regulation No. 14 to the general maximum price regulation, OPA provides that the maximum price of a West Coast ¡Seller shall include an allowance for actual freight which need not exceed freight from Niagara Falls to St. Louis plus the Federal tax on this freight, which became effective December 1.
The amendment affects producers in Washington, Oregon, and California and is effective December 8.
24
★ VICTORY ★
December 8, 1942
Changes make work clothing prices easier to calculate
Ceiling prices for men’s staple work clothing can be calculated by wholesalers and manufacturers in an increased number of situations as a result of numerous changes in pricing provisions of the work clothing regulation, OPA announced De-cember 1.
The entire text of the pricing section applying to manufacturers and wholesalers ©f such articles as overalls, work shirts, jumpers, and work pants is revised by amendment No. 2 to maximum price regulation 208—staple work clothing.
Retail costs unchanged
No basic change in ceiling prices of work clothing at these sales levels results from the amendment, OPA stated. Retail prices for these garments remain at March 1942 levels.
Hie following changes take place in the pricing provisions for sellers “other than at retail”;
1. Instead of limiting the period for making comparisons in price discounts normally allowed between classes of buyers to the last six months of 1941, wholesalers and manufacturers may use the entire year of 1941.
2. Wholesalers as well as manufacturers are now permitted to use the formula provided in the regulation for “in-line” pricing of models which are the same as those manufactured in March.
3. The "roU-back” in base prices for the purpose of setting maximum prices, as originally provided, is cut in half for boys’ models of work clothing. As under the original regulation, manufacurers and wholesalers must continue to furnish boys’ garments in the same range of sizes as during March 1942. Any reduction in the size range is specifically forbidden by an amendment to the evasion section.
4. Wholesalers are granted relief from the roll-back whenever it cuts their margins to less than 10 percent over the direct cost of any item.
5. Ducks, pin checks and pin stripes are added to the “roll-back” schedule.
6. Provision is made for the pricing of garments in which body materials have been changed or curtailed.
Further changes
In addition to alterations in the pricing provisions for wholesalers and manufacturers, a number of other changes are supplied by the amendment, effective December 5. These are;
1. Ducks (other than water-repellent ducks), as well as pin checks-and pin stripes, are added to the list of body materials used in garments covered by regulation 208. Certain other constructions of fabrics are redefined in order to clarify the intent of the regulation.
2. The simplification of work pants by the elimination of cuffs has been revised to include fabrics weighing 2% yards to the pound so that the present simplification provision of the regulation conforms to the work clothing limitation order of WPB.
3. As previously announced, the reporting date for manufacturers and wholesalers of staple work clothing is postponed from October 10, 1942, to December 5, 1942. Forms were printed and distributed during October, and manufacturers have had an ample period in which to prepare their reports before the new reporting date, officials said.
★ ★ ★
“On memorandum” sales permitted on 19 types of cotton grey goods
Because producers of fine cotton grey goods are withholding goods from , sale pending the issuance of new ceiling prices, the OPA November 30 permitted sales 'and deliveries of 19 fabric types “on memorandum” subject , to final settlement at the new prices to be announced shortly by OPA.
This step was taken to avoid any delays in war procurement of any of these 19 types.
Following are the types of fine cotton grey goods which may be sold and delivered on memorandum:
Broadcloth; lawns; dimities; dimity checks; pique; pongee; voiles; marquisettes; scrim; fine combed plains; organdie; tracing cloth; typewriter cloth; umbrella cloth; collar cloth; poplins; beat-up marquisettes; sateens; airplane cloth.
Through Amendment No. 6 to Revised Price Schedule No. 11—Fine Cotton Grey Goods—-deliveries against contracts entered Into after December 1, 1942, and sales or contracts of sale made after such date of these enumerated types may be made without specifying any price if the parties agree that the buyer’s obligation will be discharged at prices not in excess of maximum prices which will prevail on the effective date of the revision of Schedule 11.
To be revised
Schedule 11 will be revised and reissued as Maximum Price Regulation 11, OPA said. The new regulation will include all constructions of certain fabric types of fine cotton grey goods for which maximum prices are currently established not only by Schedule 11 and the general maximum price regulation, but also Regulation 157—Sales and Fabrication of Textiles, Apparel and Related Articles for Military Purposes.
Discount and premium provisions for carded cotton yarns supplied
Discount and premium provisions applicable to certain types of carded cotton yarns were supplied December 2 by the OPA through the issuance of amendment No. 1 to maximum price regulation No. 33—Carded Cotton Yarns and the Processing Thereof.
Eight changes set forth in the amendment provide:
1. A method of obtaining premiums for double-carded cotton yarns;
2. Modification of the specifications of the cotton content of base-grade yams to permit the use of cotton grading no lower than strict low middling white if the yarn produced is clean and uniform;
3. Revision of discount provisions for yarns made of waste or low-grade cotton to provide for differences in material and manufacturing costs;
4. Revision of information required in petitions for adjustment of prices for yarns composed of long staple or high-grade cotton;
5. Restriction of monthly report requirements to producers making “discount” yarns of low-grade cotton or cotton waste or which
-are not Cleary and uniform;
6. The addition of alternatives to the formula providing for deductions when a processor does not quill or wind yarn;
7. Exemption of all yarns produced on Brownell and Haskell-Dawes type twisting machines.
8. Clarification of instances in which premiums may be charged for sales of stock yam by jobbers.
★ ★ ★
Dollars and cents ceilings set on neoprene hose
Price ceilings for sales of industrial hose made with neoprene, a synthetic rubber, instead of natural rubber were announced December 4 by the OPA.
Maximums for sales of neoprene hose by persons other than manufacturers are determined by adding to the seller’s ceiling price for natural rubber hose the same dollars and cents differential that is permitted for manufacturers. There is no widening of the differential as the hose moves from one trade level to another.
Cost of neoprene is about three times that of natural rubber. Reflecting this, the manufacturers’ ceilings on neoprene hose range from 11 percent to 55 percent above their prices for natural rubber hose, the spread depending largely on the quantity of neoprene used in the product.
The previously established prices for~ rubber hose are contained in Maximum Price Regulation No. 149 „(Mechanical Rubber Goods) and the new ceilings for the neoprene product are set in Amendment No. 4, effective December 8.
December 8, 1942
* VICTORY ★
25
Second-hand textile bags price regulation revised
Numerous substantial changes in provisions of the price regulation applying to second-hand textile bags December 3 led the OPA to reissue the entire regulation as Revised Maximum Price Regulation No. 55.
While maximum prices either remain unchanged or, for additional constructions, are in line with the ceilings previously set, important changes in the regulation, effective December 8, provide for the following:
1. The table of ceiling prices on secondhand bags sold by “trade descriptions” is approximately doubled.
2. Maximum prices are established for manufacturers’ sales of custom-built small shipping bags made from used textile material, »
3. Several additional ceiling prices are added to the tables of maximum prices for second-hand bags in specified made-up sizes and qualities of materials.
4. Charges which sellers of second-hand bags may add to the applicable maximum prices, which are “f. o. b. shipping point;” when purchasers wish to buy on a delivered basis are set forth.
5. Other evasive practices prohibited are (1) refusing to sell second-hand bags unless the purchaser buys or agrees to buy a printing, stenciling or other service in connection with the sale, and (2) refusing to sell “unprocessed” or “as rise” bags unless the purchaser also purchases or agrees to purchase a quantity of “processed” or “in order” bags. .
6. Second-hand bags which are filled with a commodity are excluded from the regulation.
7. With the exclusion of filled second-hand containers from the revised regulation, the prohibition against deposit charges in excess of the unprocessed price on such bags is eliminated as unnecessary.
8. The definitions of “processed” and “unprocessed” bags are amended.
9. The requirement that buyers and sellers of second-hand bags must keep records of bags on hand and on order at the close of each month is deleted.
10. Every seller delivering 100 or more second-hand bags must furnish the buyer with an invoice or other memorandum containing certain specified information. This requirement will operate as a self-enforcing device.
11. Provision is made that after the effective date of the revised regulation all sales and deliveries must be made at prices not in excess of the maximum prices now established.
♦ ♦ ♦
RUBBER HEELS EXCISE TAX— Wholesalers of rubber heels will be given until December 31, 1942, to pass oh to shoe repairmen the amount of any Federal excise tax added to the price of rubber heels the OPA said. The deadline for passing on the tax from wholesaler to repairman is set by Amendment No. 3 to Maximum Price Regulation No. 200— Rubber Heels, Rubber Heels Attached, and the Attaching of Rubber Heels effective December 5.
WPB ISSUES NEW EDITION OF BUILDERS’ HARDWARE MANUAL
A Revised edition of the “Builders’ Hardware Manual” was issued December 2 by WPB. The Manual has been brought up to date by incorporating the provisions of all materials and limitation orders of more recent date than the old edition published July 15, 1942.
Copies may be obtained at any Regional or District Field Office of the War Production Board.
The new edition differs in no important respects from the earlier manual. The only changes are technical revisions and corrections. There have been 30,-000 copies of the original edition distributed.
★ ★ ★
Douglas fir plywood prices
Extension of the scope of the maximum price regulation covering Douglas fir plywood to the wholesale and retail levels was announced December 1 by OPA.
Effective December 5, the revision also brings price regulation for the plywood in line with the provisions of a WPB limitation order and, at the same time, simplifies and clarifies former provisions.
The revised regulation sets dollars and cents maximum prices for purchases originating at the mill, as did the original regulation, and then by. use of formulas controlling mark-ups, sets ceilings on sales out of stocks of wholesale and retail distribution warehouses and yards. The latter are divided into two basic categories—“plywood distribution plant” sales and all other warehouses and yard sales.
For plywood distribution plants the ceiling prices are composed of the basic f. o. b. mill price, plus transportation from the mill to the distribution plant, plus a mark-up of 20 percent on sales of $200 or more and of 25 percent on sales of less than $200.
The ceilings for other distribution warehouses and yards are computed in the saipe manner, except that the maximum permissible mark-up is 33 percent instead of 20 and 25.
* * *
PORTABLE TYPEWRITER PRICES— The retail list price for 17,000 new portable typewriters, which were released December 5 for unrestricted sale to the general public, was reduced slightly more than 10 percent by the OPA.
WPB cuts paper work in control of construction
Several changes wère made by WPB December 5 in Construction Conservation Order L-41 which controls most types of civilian construction.
Th©’ major amendments include the following changes:
Construction of railroad tracks is exempted from the provisions of order L-41. Buildings, tunnels, overpasses, underpasses or bridges, however, are still covered. Applications for laying trackage already are handled by the transportation equipment division and the change was made to eliminate unnecessary paper work required by the additional authorization by the administrator of L-41.
Agricultural construction incident to the erection or installation of machinery or equipment, which is now controlled by Limitation Order L-170, is exempted, in order to remove a second unnecessary control on farmers by order L-41.
Construction of facilities by the communications industry is exempted from the provisions of L-41. Adequate control of such construction is maintained by blanket Preference Rating Orders P-130 and P-132. Consequently, it is not necessary for the bureau of construction, which administers L-41, further to control construction or extension of communication facilities, except buildings.
The order was also amendedjto make dear the fact that telegraph and teletype-writer services conducted by telephone operators are to be treated in the same manner as telephone service as exempt from the order.
★ ★ ★
Dollars and cents ceilings set on aircraft production lumber
All lumber used in aircraft production was placed under dollars and cents maximum prices in a single regulation December 2, by the OPA.
Revised Maximum Price Regulation 109—Aircraft Lumber—effective December 7, adds yellow poplar and aircraft grades of Douglas fir to the woods covered by the original 109—Aircraft Spruce—and sets maximums for them all. Those covered by the original 109 were Sitka spruce, white spruce, red spruce, West Coast hemlock, aircraft Noble fir and aero grades of Sitka spruce, Noble fir and West Coast hemlock.
The original regulation, using Sitka spruce, the most popular type of aircraft lumber, as a pricing base, established maximums based on prices prevailing in the industry in the period October 1 to October 15, 1941. These are maintained, and existing price relationships between Sitka spruce and the lumber newly brought under Revised Maximum Price Regulation 109 are maintained with them. -
This regulation, unlike most other lumber regulations, is not limited to direct mill sales.
26
★ VICTORY ★
December 8, 1942
$5,000,000 in goods Lend-Leased for Africa includes food, clothes, medicines
More than $5,000,000 worth of civilian goods have been purchased under the Lend-Lease program for early shipment to French North Africa, in accordance with the President’s directive of November 13 to Lend-Lease Administrator Edward R. Stettinius, Jr.
In association with the Department of State a program has also been prepared for the purchase of additional civilian supplies of many times that value to be sent as shipping space becomes available. Allocation of funds for this
purpose has been made by Lend-Lease to the Departments of War, Navy, Treasury and Agriculture, which do the buying.
The Lend-Lease purchase program includes: sugar, powdered and evaporated milk, green tea and cheese, considerable quantities of cotton textiles, piece goods, ready-made new and used clothing and shoes, bandages, surgical instruments, sulfa drugs, anti-toxins, copper sulphate, coal, soap, matches, small quantities oi petroleum products, a limited quantitj of vegetable oils, and 1,000 tons of newsprint.
Vegetable fats, oils import sales schedule revised
Importers of vegetable fats and oils were notified November 30 of a revision in the schedule of commodities and consideration days under which the Commodity Credit Corporation considers offers submitted to sell fats, oils, and oil-bearing materials for importation under provisions of WPB General Imports Order M-63.
Jointly announced by the BEW, the WPB and the CCC, the revised schedule changes consideration days for offers from a Tuesday-Friday basis to Tuesdays only. On Tuesdays, the CCC will consider offers of commodities listed below, if received by 4 P. M., E. W. T., by the Director of Foreign Purchases, Commodity Credit Corporation, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.:
Babassu oil; babassu kernels; cashew nut shell oil; castor oil; castor seed; coconut oil; copra; corn oil; cottonseed oil; oiticica oil; palm kernels; palm kernel oil; palm oil; peanut oil; rapeseed oil; sunflower seed oil.
“Tom and Jerry,” egg nog now under price regulation No. 249
"Bottled Egg Nog” and “Tom and Jerry Batter”—two seasonal food commodities—have been removed from the general maximum price regulation and placed under the wholesale and retail price coverage of maximum price regulation No. 249.
Regulation amended to prevent upgrading of prunes, raisins
In a move to prevent upgrading of dried prunes and raisins, the OPA authorized sampling tests of these commodities before payment can be made by the packer to the producer. At the same time, action was taken to conserve the Nation’s transportation facilities by an order calling for the hauling of these commodities to the packer’s plant in the most direct manner possible.
These objectives will be attained by means of two provisions contained in Amendment No. 1 to Maximum Price Regulation No. 242.
★ ★ ★
Canadian apple imports cut 200,000 boxes
The understanding reached between Canada and the United States on Sep? tember 19, limiting the movement of British Columbia apples into the United States during the 1942-43 season, has been modified as a result of conversations held between representatives of /he two countries, the Combined Food Board announced December 3.
Under the new arrangement, the following maximum quantities to enter the United States are agreed to: 450,000 boxes for the first period ending December 31, and 150,000 for the second period, January 1 to April 30, or a total seasonal movement of 600,000 boxes against the 800,000-box maximum provided for in the x original understanding.
Winter increases need for food shipments to war victims, children, prisoners
With winter approaching, large quantities of foodstuffs will be needed to feed American and allied prisoners of war, and victims of 'invasion in devastated countries, according to a joint statement December 2 by the American Red Cross and the U. S. Department of Agriculture.
With food procured by the Agricultural Marketing Administration, the Red Cross has provided supplementary food for American and allied prisoners of war in the Far East. The shipment was made on the first trip of the exchange ship, Gripsholm and increased supplies are now loaded on the vessel for her second trip. These shipments included AMA supplies of dry whole milk, butter, and concentrated citrus juice packed in individual parcels to feed captured fighting men and interned civilians. Similar packages are being sent regularly to prisoners of war and civilian internees held by Germany and Italy.
Refugee children also fed
The Red Cross is now assisting in the feeding of Polish, Greek, and many other -refugee groups in Egypt and the Middle East, including war orphans and evacuee children. Some of the commodities sent to the Middle East are beans, canned tomatoes, grapefruit juice, cane syrup and molasses, oatmeal, enriched flour, rice, dehydrated soup, powdered milk, and oleomargarine.
Destitute children in unoccupied France recently received a shipload of-Red Cross supplies which included 274,000 cases of evaporated milk from AMA stocks. These supplies already were widely distributed before the complete occupation of France by Germany.
Other commodities procured for the Red Cross by AMA for distribution in the various war areas include rolled oats, enriched wheat flour, evaporated and dry milk, canned pork sausage, lard, syrup, canned and concentrated citrus juice, canned tomatoes, and Vitamin C tablets.
More foods needed this winter
The volume and variety of foods needed to feed prisoners, refugees and other war victims may be expected to increase sharply this winter and next spring, the joint statement pointed out.
The AMA is now procuring all the food requirements for American Red Cross shipments.
December 8, 1942
★ VICTORY ★
27
CIVILIAN DEFENSE ...
Stirrup pumps going on sale, OCD explains care and use
With stirrup pumps now going on sale in various “target area” cities, instructions for their care and use against fire were issued December 3 by ODT Director Landis.
Care of the pump
Instructions for care of the pumps when not in use, as forwarded by the OCD to State and local defense officials, are:
1. When not in use, the pump should always be kept in an accessible place, where it will not be subjected to extremes in temperature. It is highly important that it be kept dry.
2. The pump must be oiled to prevent rust, especially on the inside surfaces. It should be drained immediately after each use. This is particularly important in cold w .ther. To oil, work the plunger to'remove all water, then turn the pump upside down, with handle lowest. Squirt about a teaspoon of oil through the strainer. Keeping the pump upside down, work the plunger several times to spread the oil over the inside surfaces.
3. If a pump has not been used for some time, it may be found that it will not draw water from a pail. This generally means that the ball valve at the bottom of the pump has become "seated in” through lack of use. This can be easily remedied by turning the pump upside down and releasing the ball by pushing a pin or piece of wire through the gauze at the bottom of the intake. If the ball is too firmly lodged for this method to be effective, the bottom of the pump should be unscrewed and the ball pushed up with a thin stick.
4. When the pump is in use, water sometimes oozes from the top of the barrel. This can be remedied by screwing down the gland collar, just below the handle, a little more tightly. It should not be screwed down harder than is necessary to stop the leak or the pump will be difficult to work. If screwing down the collar is ineffective, it should be removed and the gland repacked with soft cord soaked in oil. Only plain water should' be used in a stirrup pump. If strong disinfectant or insecticide is used, the pump should be thoroughly washed out afterwards, otherwise the barrel and the hose might be injured.
5. Never leave the hose loose. Coil it smoothly and hang it carefully on the pump. The nozzle should be inspected both before and after use to make sure that the outlet is not clogged by any dust or pieces of grit. -
6. A reserve water supply of 10 or more gallons should be kept in suitable containers, conveniently placed, for use if the water is cut off during an air raid. The water should be kept as free from foreign matter as possible in order to prevent clogging of the strainer. A teaspoonful of oil or kerosene on the surface of the water will guard against the breeding of insects.
A V-Home conserves—but does not hoard—food, household supplies, and vital materials. "Hoarders," says OCD, "are on the same level as spies." Conservation is one of the five qualifications of a V-Home. Ask your Air Raid Warden or Block Leader about the other four. Make yours a V-Home! Gluyas Williams contributed the illustration.
(One of a series of 10 drawings by Williams for OCD. VICTORY will print others in forthcoming issues. OCD reports that mats, complete with captions, will be made available from local defense councils. Don't send requests to OW1.)
Fire prevention rules for movie theaters
Expressing concern over the unusual number of fires in motion-picture theaters reported from various parts of the country in the past several weeks, C. J. Dunphy, chief of the amusement section, WPB services division, December 2 urged theater operators to observe carefully nine rules of fire prevention drafted by the section.
The rules follow:
1. Pull the main entrance switch at the conclusion of each day’s operation. One employee should be delegated to this task.
2. Do not permit an accumulation of inflammable rubbish in store rooms, poster rooms, boiler or furnace rooms.
3. Appliance cords for vacuum cleaners, work lights, or other portable apparatus ‘should be inspected daily and, if found defective, should be repaired immediately.
4. Smoking in a projection booth should not be permitted under any circumstances.
5. At the conclusion of each day’s run, all films should be removed from the projector magazine or rewinder and placed in the film storage cabinet. Trailers and ad films should never be left exposed when not in use.
6. The use of electric or other types of portable heaters should be avoided at all times while handling film.
7. The operation of porthole shutters
should be frequently tested to see that the shutters slide freely in the grooves. The entire porthole shutter system should be properly fused to insure that shutters will close instantaneously in case of fire.
8. Have local fire officials make regular inspections of the theater from roof to the basement.
9. The entire electrical system should be checked frequently and electrical contacts carefully tightened to eliminate this fire hazard.
Landis urges OCD help fire prevention
At the same time, OCD Director Landis called on State and local defense councils to cooperate with fire officials in getting all places of public assembly stripped of trappings and trash that could cause a repetition, on great or small scale, of the disastrous Boston night club fire.
In a letter to all OCD regional directors and State defense councils, he called attention to the necessity of multiplied efforts in this direction because of the constant threat of an air raid and the increased danger of fire occasioned by Christmas decorations.
28
★ VICTORY ★
December 8, 1942
Details of Pearl Harbor attack
(Continued from page 32) capsized and that other vessels had been damaged. Fortunately, the salvage and repair accomplishments at Pearl Harbor have exceeded the most hopeful expectations.
Eighty naval aircraft of all types were destroyed by the enemy. In addition, the Army lost 97 planes on Hickam and Wheeler Fields. Of these 23 were bombers, 66 were fighters, and 8 were other types.
The most serious American losses were in personnel. As a result of the raid on December 7, 1941, 2,117 officers and enlisted men of the Navy and Marine Corps were killed, 960 are still reported as missing and 876 were wounded but survived. The Army casualties were as follows: 226 officers and enlisted men were killed or later died of wounds; 396 were wounded, most of whom have now recovered and have returned to duty.
Airdromes, ships hit within seconds
At 7:55 a. m. on December 7, 1941, Japanese dive bombers swarmed over the Army Air Base, Hickam Field, and the naval air station on Ford Island. A few minutes earlier the Japanese had struck the naval air station at Kaneohe Bay. Bare seconds later, enemy torpedo planes and dive bombers swung in from various sectors to concentrate their attack on the heavy ships at Pearl Harbor.
Torpedo planes, assisted effectively by dive bombers, constituted the major threat of the first phase of the Japanese attack, lasting approximately a halfhour. Twenty-one torpedo planes made four attacks, and 30 dive bombers came in in eight waves during this period. Fifteen horizontal bombers also participated in this phase of the raid.
Although the Japanese launched their initial attack as a surprise, battleship machine guns opened fire at once and were progressively augmented by the remaining antiaircraft batteries as all hands promptly were called to general quarters, the Navy reported. Machine guns brought down two and damaged others of the first wave of torpedo planes. Practically all battleship antiaircraft batteries were firing within 5 minutes; cruisers, within an average time of 4 minutes, and destroyers, opening up machine guns almost immediately, averaged 7 minutes in bringing all antiaircraft guns into action.
From 8:25 to 8:40 a. m. there was £ comparative lull in the raid, although air
activity continued with sporadic attack by dive and horizontal bombers. This respite was terminated by the appearance of horizontal bombers which crossed and recrossed their targets from various directions and caused serious damage. While the horizontal bombers were continuing their raids, Japanese dive bombers reappeared, probably being the same ones that had participated in earlier attacks; this phase, lasting about a half-hour, was devoted largely to strafing. All enemy aircraft retired by 9:45 a. m.
-Prior to the Japanese attack 202 U. S. naval aircraft of all types on the Island of Oahu were in flying condition, but 150 of these were permanently or temporarily disabled by the enemy’s concentrated assault, most of them in the first few minutes of the raid. Of the 52 remaining Naval aircraft, 38 took to the air on December 7, 1941, the other 14 being ready too late in the day or being blocked from take-off positions. Of necessity therefore, the Navy was compelled to depend on antiaircraft fire for its primary defensive weapon, and this condition exposed the fleet to continuous air attack. By coincidence, 18 scout bombing planes from a U. S. aircraft carrier en route arrived at Pearl Harbor during the raid. These are included in the foregoing figures. Four of these scout bombers were shot down, 13 of the remaining 14 taking off again in search of the. enemy. Seven patrol planes were in the air when the attack started.
105 Japs planes in attack
It is difficult to determine the total number of enemy aircraft participating in the raid, but careful analysis of all reports makes it possible to estimate the number as 21 torpedo planes, 48 dive bombers and 36 horizontal bombers, totalling 105 of all types. Undoubtedly certain fighter planes also were present but these are not distinguished by types and are included in the above figures.
The enemy lost 28 aircraft due to Navy action. In addition, three submarines, of 45 tons each, were accounted for.
The damage suffered by the U. S. Pacific Fleet as a result of the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, was most' serious, but the repair job now is nearly completed, the Navy declares. “Thanks to the inspired and unceasing efforts of the naval and civilian personnel attached to the vai^ous repair yards, especially at Pearl Harbor itself,” the news release concludes, “this initial handicap soon will be erased forever.”
KID SALVAGE
Drawn for OW1
WPB urges phone companies to increase party lines, accept slower public service standards
Materials used in telephone installations and in the operation of telephone systems are critically scarce because of the increasing need for them in carrying on the war, communications companies are advised in a bulletin addressed to them by Leighton H. Peebles, director of the WPB communications equipment division.
Engineers asked to save materials
Telephone engineers are asked to plan their operations in such a way that minimum amounts of material will be required for each essential engineering program. Recommendations of the director include:
1. Greater use of bridged telephones (or . party lines) on private branch exchanges both at time of installation and to provide additional service through existing exchanges.
2. Acceptance of slower service standards as a recognition of the fact that copper, which is essential for direct military and naval uses cannot be supplied merely to provide for the convenience of telephone subscribers.
3. Determination of the amounts and nature of traffic loads by analyses of the calls handled with a view to limiting personal and nonessential business calls and eliminating unnecessary service, as a means of relieving overloaded equipment.
4. Studies looking to a reduction of the average time interval of telephone conversations by adoption of more expeditious procedures.
December 8, 1942
★ VICTORY ★
29
ICELANDIC STUDENTS
OFFERED SCHOLARSHIPS BY EIGHT UNIVERSITIES
Marking the twenty-fourth anniversary of Iceland’s independence December 1, eight United States universities in a special shortwave broadcast offered scholarships to Icelandic students. Iceland obtained her sovereignty from Denmark December 1, 1918.
The scholarships to Icelandic students are being offered as an expression of sympathy and friendship. When a German bombing attack last September 5 injured several Icelandic children, Hobart College immediately presented a scholarship . to 7-year-old Gretar Hervald Oddsson. who lost a foot as a result of the bombing.
Other universities participating in this gesture of good-will include American University, Boston University, Brown University, Northwestern University, Southern Methodist University, University of Southern California, and the University of Wisconsin.
★ ★ ★
THREE MOVIE SHORTS HELP GET IN SCRAP
Within 3 months 85,000,000 American movie-goers will find out how any family, taking a hint from Henry Aldrich’s famous movie family, can take part in the continuing Nation-wide effort to salvage scrap iron, steel, copper, aluminum, rubber, tin cans, and fats.
Director of the WPB conservation division Rosenwald November 30 thanked the movie industry for its excellent work in producing, distributing, and exhibiting motion pictures like the new Aldrich film that bring the lessons of conservation and salvage into every community in America. Mr. Rosenwald’s message of thanks was extended to the industry on the occasion of a special screening in Washington of three “short subject” war pictures, “The Aldrich Family Gets in the Scrap,” an illustrated talk by Vice President Henry Wallace, and “Everybody’s War,” narrated by Henry Fonda.
• * ♦
MERCURY PIGMENTS—The possibility of eliminating mercury pigments in anti-fouling paint was discussed at a meeting of the marine paint industry advisory committee held in Washington with WPB representatives.
College enrollment drops almost 14 percent
A drop of nearly 14 percent in enrollment in institutions of higher education from October 1941 to October 1942 is reported by the U. S. Office of Education. A detailed report will be printed in the December 15th edition of “Education for Victory,” official biweekly publication of the Office.
Some important statistics taken from the report follow. The decease in the enrollment of women is set at 11.2 percent. Enrollment of men is off 15.5 percent. The combined drop comes to 13.7 percent.
The heaviest drop occurred in junior colleges which lost 24.3 percent of their students during the year.
State and other publicly controlled universities lost 15.9 percent while enrollment in those under the control of churches and other nonpublic organizations dropped only 11.7 percent.
Corresponding decreases for certain types of schools are: teachers’ colleges and normal schools, 21.4 percent, and universities, colleges of liberal arts, and professional schools, 10.7 percent.
The report, a preliminary analysis of a survey made by Henry G. Badger and Benjamin W. Frazier of the U. S. Office of Education staff, is based on answers to a questionnaire sent to all types of insti-
tutions of higher education in all parts of the country. As yet only one third of these schools have answered, and replies are still being received. Most of the larger institutions are yet to be heard from. When the final analysis is made, the facts as now stated may be altered.
An even sharper cut in enrollment will be noticed, Mr. Badger and Dr. Frazier point out, when the 18-19 year old draft goes into effect. One third of the men now enrolled in colleges are in that age group.
★ ★' ★
COLD WAVE BRINGS LOCAL GAS SHORTAGE
Last week’s cold wave—the first of the season—resulted in a gas shortage for industrial and commercial customers at Battle Creek, Mich., WPB announced.
The Battle Creek Gas Co. advised the WPB Power Division that it had already curtailed gas deliveries to some of its customers under the provisions of WPB Limitation Order L-174, which provides a schedule of curtailment of gas deliveries during periods of shortage of manufactured gas.
DR. GOEBBELS BROADCASTING!
Cut in Federal publicity, made to speed war news to press, turns up on Nazi radio as “suppression” of newspapers: x
On September 5, Elmer Davis, Director of War Information, announced that 239 nonessential Government publications issued in Washington had been discontinued and 284 others curtailed in order to clear the way for more important war information.
On November 29, the German-controlled radio from Paris said: “The Washington Director of United States War Information Bureau has decided to suppress 239 great United States newspapers and 280 other publications have suffered considerable reduction in size and circulation.”
30
★ VICTORY ★
December 8, 1942
New industry advisory committees
The Division of Industry Advisory Committees, WPB, has announced the formation of the following new committees.
LIME
Government presiding officer—J. E.
Russell, chemicals branch.
Members:
Philadelphia, Pa^ Ralph L. Dickey, president, Kelley Island Lime & Transport Co., Cleveland, Ohio; John R. Durrell, president, Hoosac Valley Lime Co., Inc., Adams, Mass.; Eric Johnston, president, Washington Brick & Lime Co., Washington, D. C.; Warren Lewis, vice president and general manager, Longview-Saginaw Lime Works, Birmingham, Ala.; H. B. Mathews, Jr., president, Mississippi Lime Co., Alton, Ill.; Bernard L. McNulty, president, Marblehead Lime Co., Chicago, Ill.; Amos B. Minor, sales manager. National Gypsum Co., Buffalo, N. Y.; W. W. Sprague, vice president, National Mortar & Supply Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.; E. I. Williams, president, Riverton Lime Co., Riverton, Va.
DENTAL EQUIPMENT
Government presiding officer—Francis M. Shields, chief; safety and technical equipment division of the equipment bureau, •
T. M. McDonald, Weber' Dental Mfg. Co., Canton, Ohio; Fred E. Steen, S. S. White Dental Mfg. Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; E. J. Ries, Ritter Co., Inc., Rochester, N. Y.; M. S. Weinstein, Peerless Appliance Co., New York, N. Y.
VITREOUS CHINA AND VITREOUS GLAZED EARTHENWARE
Government presiding officer—Joseph F. Wilber, director of the plumbing and heating division.
E. S. Aitkin, president, The Trenton Potteries Co., Trenton, N. J.; Stanley S. Backner, ' sales manager, Camden Pottery Division, Universal Sanitary Mfg. Co., Camden, N. J.; James M. Bonner, general manager, Washington Eljer Co., Los Angeles, Calif.; J. S. Clifford, president, Chicago, Pottery Co., Chicago, Hit; D. D. Couch, vice president, American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Radford R. Crane, vice president, Eljer Co., Ford City, Pa.; John F. Douglas, vice president, John Douglas Co., Cincinnati, Ohio; G. E. Kadisch, general manager, General Ceramics Co., Metuchen, N. J.; O. A. Kroos, executive vice president, Kohler Co., Kohler, Wis.; Harry F. Weaver, president, Peerless Pottery Co., Evansville, Ind.
LUBRICATION EQUIPMENT
Government presiding officer—C. S. Jarrett, general industrial equipment branch.
J. E. Allen, The Aro Equipment Corporation, Bryan, Ohio; R. J. Gits, Gits Brothers Mfg. Co., Chicago, Ill.; Lee Gray, Gray Co., Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.; Frank A. Hiter, Alemite Division, Stewart-Warner Corporation, Chicago, Ill.; Foster Holmes, Lincoln Engineering Co., St. Louis, Mo.; Edwin G. Hull, Trabon Engineering Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio; A. J. Jennings, The Farval Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio; Edward H. Kocher, Bijur Lubricating Corporation, Long Island City, N. Y.
EDIBLE OIL REFINING
Government presiding officer—C. T. Prindeville, of the chemicals division.
John H. Bryson, president, Dothan Oil Mill Co,, Dothan, Ala.; W. S. Dorsett, vice president, Interstate Refining Cotton Oil Co., Sherman, Tex.; Guy G. Fox, vice president, Armour &Co., Chicago, Ill.; Henry W. Galley, manager. Oils Division, A. E. Staley Mfg. Co., Decatur, Ill.; Frank Himschoot, vice president, Corn Products Sales Co., New York, N. Y.; R. W. Levenhagen, vice president,-Glidden & Co., Cleveland, Ohio; William E. Miller, vice president, Capital City Products Co., Columbus, Ohio; -James G. Parry, bulk sales manager, Procter & Gamble Mfg. Co., Cincinnati, Ohio; A. Q. Petersen, president. Wesson Oil & Snowdrift Co., Inc., New Orleans, La.; J. F. Wilson, bulk sales manager, Lever Brothers Co., Cambridge, Mass.
GLOVE AND GARMENT CATTLEHIDE LEATHERTANNERS
Government presiding officer—Harold Connett, chief of leather and shoe section.
Michael Flynn, John Flynn & Sons, Inc., Salem, Mass.; S. B. Foot, S. B. Foot Tanning Co., Red Wing, Minn.; A. V. Rice, A. C. Lawrence Leather Co., Peabody, Mass.; Solomon Katz, Superior Tanning Co., Chicago, Ill.; Oscar Plotkin, Midwest Tanning Co., South Milwaukee, Wis.; Herbert H. Sawyer, Sawyer Tanning Co., Napa, Calif.; Wm. F. Schumann, Hoffman-Stafford Tanning Co., Chicago, Hl.; Arthur J. Stumpf, H. Hahn & Stumpf, Harrison, N. J.; Helmuth M. Thiele, Thiele Tanning Co., Milwaukee, Wis.; Harold Röss, A. H. Ross & Sons Co., Chicago, Ill.
GENERAL REFRIGERATION AND AIR CONDITIONING
Government presiding officer—Sterling F. Smith, general industrial equipment division.
Members are: Donald French, vice president, Carrier Corporation, Syracuse, N. Y.; C. V. Hill, Jr., vice president, C. V. Hill & Co., Inc., Trenton, N. J.; J. B. Rainbault, manager, Air Conditioning & Commercial Refrigeration Department, General Electric Co., Bloomfield, N. J.; F. S. McNeal, president. Universal Cooler Corporation, Marion, Ohio; M. G. Munce, assistant to president, York Ice Machinery Corporation, York, Pa.; Harry Newcomb, vice president, Servel, Inc., Evansville, Ind.; W. D. Jordan, vice president. Liquid Carbonic Corporation, Chicago, Ill.; R. O. White, manager, Cooler Division, Day & Night Manufacturing Co., Los Angeles, Calif.; A. B. Schellenberg, president, Alco Valve Co., St. Louis, Mo.; E. R. Walker, Fedders Manufacturing Co., Inc., Buffalo, N. Y.
CATTLEHIDE CALF AND KIP UPPER LEATHERS
Government presiding officer—Harold Connett, chief of the leather and shoe section.
Members: Carl F. Danner, American Hide & Leather Co., Boston, Mass.; Kurt C. Friend, J. Greenebaum Tanning Co., Chicago, Ill.; Edwin A. Gallun, A. F. Gallun & Sons Corporation, Milwaukee, Wis.; Harold N. Goodspeed, A. C. Lawrence Leather Co., Peabody, Mass.; Joseph Kaltenbacher, Seton Leather Co., Newark, N. J.; V. G. Lumbard, The Ohio Leather Co., Girard, Ohio; Herman Poetsch, Poetsch & Peterson, San Francisco, Calif.; Willis E. Thorpe, Paris Tanning Co., Inc., South Paris, Maine; Arnold Horween, Hor-ween Leather Co., Chicago, Ill.
Thanksgiving travel less than expected
Passenger travel over Thanksgiving and the holiday week-end was less than anticipated in areas from which reports on traffic movements for the period have been received, ODT announced December 5. ODT Director Eastman^ interpreting the reports as indicating progress in ODT’s “Don’t Travel” campaign, urged continued and wider support of that campaign by the public.
Railway passenger agents in the East and Middle West reported that Thanksgiving traffic, although heavy, was less than the railroads expected. Motor bus operators in the Greater Chicago area reported reductions in intercity bus travel, compared with Thanksgiving 1941 ranging from 8 to 35 percent. A large bus company in the Minneapolis area, accommodated the Thanksgiving traffic with only 20 percent more extra sections.
In the Omaha region, on the other hand, Thanksgiving bus .traffic was over 50 percent higher.
“It is apparent,” Mr. Eastman said, “that many persons gave up trips they normally would have made over the Thanksgiving week-end. As Christmas and New Year’s approach, the urgent necessity of continued and wider public response to the ODT’s ‘Don’t Travel’ campaign must be emphasized.”
★ ★ ★
RATIONING CUTS RURAL TRAFFIC 40 PERCENT
Traffic on rural roads during December, thefirst month of Nation-wide mileage rationing, will be 35 to 40 percent less than a year ago, Public Roads Administration of Federal Works Agency estimated December 4 on the basis of monthly automatic-traffic-recorder data obtained from State highway departments.
These records show that in the area which has already been rationed for several months, traffic decreases on rural roads, compared with the corresponding months a year earlier, were 40 percent in October, 43 in September, 49 in August, 41 in July, and 38 in June.
♦ ♦ *
“THE GLOW FROM YOUR FIREPLACE”—"Don’t forget the glow from your fireplace,” the OCD warned December 4 in calling attention to a black-out problem common in residential districts on chilly nights.
December 8, 1942
★ VICTORY ★
31
7-280^8
Drawn for Office of War Information
^-278-/2/8
Drawn for Office of War Information
^287-/2/3
Drawn for Office of War Information.
1^279-/2/^
Drawn for Office of War Information.
32
★ VICTORY ★
December 8, 1942
THE ROAD BACK FROM PEARL HARBOR
Attack knocked out 8 battleships; repair now nearly completed
On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft temporarily disabled every battleship and most of the aircraft in the Hawaiian area, the United States Navy revealed last Sunday. Other naval vessels, both combatant and auxiliary, were put out of action, and certain shore facilities, especially at the naval air stations, Ford Island, and Kaneohfe Bay, were damaged. Most of these ships are now back with the fleet. The aircraft were all replaced within a few days, and interference with facilities was generally limited to a matter of hours.
No American carriers were in port
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, two surface ship task forces of the Pacific Fleet were carrying out assigned missions at sea, and two such task forces were at their main base following extensive operations at sea. Discounting small craft, 86 ships of the Pacific Fleet were moored at Pearl Harbor. Included in this force were 8 battleships, 7 cruisers, 28 destroyersr and 5 submarines. No U. S. aircraft carriers were present.
As result of the Japanese attack five battleships, the Arizona, Oklahoma, California, Nevada, and West Virginia; three destroyers, the Shaw, Cassin, and Downes; the minelayer Oglala; the target ship Utah, and a large floating drydock were either sunk or damaged so severely that they would serve no military purposes for some time. In addition, three battleships, the Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Tennessee, three cruisers, the Helena, Honolulu, and Raleigh, the seaplane tender Curtiss and the repair ship Vestal were damaged.
Only one “permanently and totally” lost
Of the 19 naval vessels listed above as sunk or damaged, the 26-year-old battleship Arizona will be the only one permanently and totally lost. Preparations for the righting of the Oklahoma are now in process, although final decision as to the wisdom of accomplishing this work at this time has not been made. -The main and auxiliary machinery, approximately 50 percent of the value, of the Cassin and Downes were saved. The
other 15 vessels either have been or will be salvaged“and repaired.
Salvage exceeds highest hopes
All of the vessels described above as having been damaged but not sunk returned to the fleet months ago. A number of the vessels described as having been in a sunken condition are now in full service, but certain others, which required extensive machinery and intricate electrical overhauling as well as refloating and hull repairing, are not yet ready for battle action. Naval repair yards are taking advantage of these inherent delays to install numerous modernization features and improvements. To designate these vessels by name now would give the enemy information vital to his war plans; similar information regarding enemy ships which our forces have subsequently damaged but not destroyed is denied to us.
On December 15,1941, only 8 days after the Japanese attack and at a time when there was an immediate possibility of the enemy’s coming back, the Secretary of the Navy announced that the Arizona, Shaw, Cassin, Downes, Utah and Oglala had been lost, that the Oklahoma had
{Continued on page 28)
1942 output below goal in numbers,' greater in power a
American production will fall behind 1942 numerical goals in the major categories except for merchant shipping, OWI revealed December 6, but the weapons produced are far heavier, harder-hitting instruments of war than those originally planned.
The first year of war was the year of the production race—the race to catch up with the advantage which long preparation had given to our enemies, and to surpass that advantage, OWI stated. We have caught up, and we are beginning to pass our adversaries. But the race is still a long way from the finish line, and many hurdles remain to be cleared.
In that year, these things had to be done: Raising, equipping, training, and transporting an army; producing a huge volume of weapons, materials and food for our own fighting forces and those of our Allies; and refashioning our civilian economy to permit it to function with maximum efficiency.
Viewed in this fight, the over-all accomplishments of the past year have been considerable, OWI maintained, despite mistakes and shortcomings in details.
Measured against the yardstick of the President’s production goals of last January, we produced a great deal, but not enough in every category.
In the year 1942 we shall have produced approximately: 49,000 planes, 32,000 tanks and self-propelled artillery, 17,000 antiaircraft guns larger than 20 mm., and 8,200,000 tons of merchant shipping.
While we have reached the goal in merchant shipping, we have fallen behind in other categories. Yet there are compensating factors. An increasing proportion of our planes are heavy bombers. In addition to the tanks and self-propelled artillery, many thousands of scout cars and half- and full-track carriers have been produced which are an essential to a well rounded mechanized force as are tanks themselves. Many, many thousands of antiaircraft machine guns have been turned out.
U. S. S. ARIZONA “will be the only One permanently and totally lost” as a result of the Japanese attack December 7, 1941, according to Navy’s press release. Picture shows the battleship burning at Pearl Harbor. (Official U. S. Navy photograph.)