[Defense, Friday, Sept. 20, 1940]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

PUBLISHED BY NATIONAL DEFENSE ADVISORY SOUMISSION
DEFENSE
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Friday, Sept. 20,1940
Buying for Defense
Establishment of the Office of Coordinator of Defense Purchases, headed by Donald Nelson, 'resulted from recognition of complexities encountered in supplying adequately military needs of an effective military program. The allegation frequently has been made that processes of organizing peacetime industrial activities into competent defense agencies often are likely to be cumbersome and inefficient. In addition, it is alleged that democracies do not protect needs of consuming publics, of labor organizations, of agricultural interests, etc.
The function of the Advisory Commission on National Defense is to prevent such allegations from becoming realities,., and the function of the Coordinator of Defense Purchases is to harmonize and synchronize the numerous, and sometimes opposed, objectives of the several members of the Advisory Commission and its related agencies in the purchases of the Army and Navy.
Several different types of ^coordination are called for. Perhaps the broadest problem in coordination is that of relating the military defense requirements of the Nation to our potential industrial productivity. This problem necessarily involves constant recognition of the welfare of the national political, social, and economic system in which we live. Military requirements are at many points limited by the capacity of industry to produce, and at the same time, capacity of industry to produce is in substantial part governed by the quantitative military requirements put upon it by the Defense Program.
Thcsc-military defense requirements are the bulk of the demand side of the problem. Throughout the Army and Navy there are many major procurement divisions, such as the Ordnancgand Quartermaster Corps of the Army, and the Bureau of Ships of the Navy. Altogether, there are many thousands of items to bjHpro-cured, ranging all the way from clinical thermometers to tanks, airplanes, and battleships.
Almost all ordinary raw materials of industrial production go into making these products. In addition, there are many rather specialized materials which ordinarily are used little or none in peacetime industrial Stivity.
In addition to these questions, there are various other characteristics of demand for military items which complicate the procurement process. For instance, Congress appropriates money to be used for defense purchases, but other agencies of the Government, such as the Comptroller General, the Treasury Department, and the Department of Justice have special interests in the methods to be used by the procurement officers, in the disbursement of funds for Government contracts, and in the methods of accounting for gains and losses incurred in the production called for by these contracts.
It is, of course, a matter of common knowledge that many military items, such as combat airplanes, machine guns, and optical instruments, present production bottlenecks. For such items, either the necessary plant and equipment do not exist at all, or do not exist on a sufficient
scale to permit immediate expansion of output. The office of the Coordinator must see to it that these bottleneck problems are uncovered and steps are taken to overcome them.
The Advisory Commission must continually deal with factors not easily reconcilable. For instance, one objectiva? of all defense procurement is to secure necessary supplies at lowest possible cost. At the same time, our national policy is to assure labor a fair and reasonable wage and houij standard, and to protect the welfare of the consuming public by guarding against rajoute shortages, high pricey, or adulterations of the necessities of life. Within the Commission are divisions responsible for understanding and protecting interests of these several .parties involved in the* defense program. Each commissioner consequently represents a definite and clear-cut point of view regarding the method of procurement to be employed in a particular case.
To arrive at the best possible compromise requires a procedure which will make possible mutual understanding and agreement concerning sacrifices which must be made in any particular direction in order to keep the defense program moving as closely as possible to schedule.
It is one of the major tasks of the Coordinator’s Office to provide such a procedure and to translate the conclusions thus reached into recommendations to be submitted to the military establishments which are responsible for the actual placing of contracts.
COVER ILLUSTRATION
“STEEL FOR AMERICA’S SINEWS”
Public Works Administration Photo
DEFENSE]
BULLETIN of the Advisory Commission to the Council of National Defense • Division of State and Local Cooperation.
Issued weekly to keep the members of the State and local defense councils advised as to progress of the defense program in Washington and in the States.	2oos7<>
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
The Selective Service Act—
The State and Local Job
With Adoption by House and Senate of a Selective Service and Training Bill, State and local authorities near completion of preparations to assume the greater share of the burden of administration.
While national headquarters will be set up in Washington, a policy of decentralization of operation makes it incumbent p upon governors and subordinate agencies to handle the vast majority of operation details.
It is estimated that not more than 200 administrative officials and employees will be at work at national headquarters which will serve primarily as a coordinating agency.
The Selective Servij^Act has for its specific purpose bolstering of United States armed forces and training of young men for service with the least possible disturbance to the nation’s economic and social structure. Consequently, governors are charged with execution of the law in their respective States, and local boards and agencies under their jurisdiction are responsible for effective operation.
Governors are required—
To set up State headquarters.
To maintain complete selective-service records.
To hire staff clerical personnel needed for administration of the Act.
In this connection, the Act provides that clerical assistance may be employed without regard to the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, and without regard to Civil Service laws.
Under the proposed program, Governors must recommend for appointment by the President persons for membership on local boards, agencies which will be responsible for actual classification and induction of the men affected by the Act.
These local boards, some 6,500 of which are to be set up throughout the country, are invested with almost autonomous power. The members will be men who
are not enrolled in public armed forces and who, as far as possible, are residents of the area in which they serve.
The Selective Service Law provides that on October 16 all men between the ages of 21 and 36 must register. Registration, it is generally expected, will be conducted by regular election officials in the various communities.
Following registration, the various election agencies will submit all cards of registrants to their county clerks who in turn will distribute them to the proper local boards.
The local boards will shuffle all cards in their possession, mark them in numerical sequence, and forward a report of totals to their State headquarters for transmission to Washington.
Upon receipt of complete reports from all county clerks, national headquarters will fix State quotas. National headquarters will then arrange a lottery to determine the order local boards are to use in calling up their registrants for classification. No local board is to consider the cases of more than 3,500 registrants.
Following the lottery and a call from national headquarters for a specified number of men for training and service, the local boards will submit questionnaires to the number of registrants required to fill their individual quotas.
On the basis of questionnaires, registrants will be classified in one of four groups:
Class I includes men available for general military service.
Class II includes men necessary in essential business and agriculture.
Class III, men with dependents.
Class IV includes those deferred by law, aliens, conscientious objectors, and those who are physically, mentally, or morally unfit for service.
In the majority of cases the local boards will determine what men are to be placed in each classification.
There will be, however, appeal boards for each area of 600,000 population, medical advisory boards which will be consulted when there is doubt about the physical condition of individual registrants, and in some instances appeals may be carried to even higher authority including the President, although these latter cases must of necessity be kept at a minimum.
When classifying individual registrants, local boards will have wide latitude.
Men who are now needed in industry and agriculture can have little expectation of being called for training, and in all probability married men who live with their wives or their children will be deferred on the assumption that they have dependents.
Local boards will be made up of persons of established reputation in their communities. It will not be unusual for a registrant to have his case considered by some man with whom he has been acquainted for years. Each local board will have a physician assigned to it, and in many cases these physicians will pass upon physical qualifications of registrants they have known from birth. No local board member or physician, however, may consider the case of a registrant who is closer in relationship by blood or marriage than a first cousin, or who is his employee or employer.
In view of the fact that most men actually inducted into the armed forces for training will make some sacrifice for the public benefit, persons who serve on local boards and other State agencies are expected to contribute their services voluntarily. While some stenographic and clerical help may be employed on a salary basis, there will be no pay for the-majority of workers. Administrative expenses required to carry out the provisions of the Act will be borne by the Federal Government.
At present, the principal concern of all persons connected with the operation of the Selective Service Law is the registration of every young man affected by its provisions.
Friday, Sept. 20, 1940 ★ DEFENSE ★ Page 3
Research — Off the Production Line
To:	MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE COMMISSION.
From:	BUREAU OF RESEARCH STATISTICS.
Subject: AIRCRAFT.
SITkA spruce.	file C-l
ECONOMIC STATUS.
This office has filed today for the use of you and members of your staff the confidential material described below.
The Defense Program is under way, and tanks, armored cars, airplanes, arc sliding oil the production lines. Defense research, too, has been geared to modern technology. The scholar in the cubicle has been replaced by a Bureau of Research and Statistics, a staff agency charged with collecting, tabulating, and analyzing the great masses of information needed by the several divisions pf the Advisory Commission as a basis for the formulation of policies.
The Bureau is manned largely from the ranks of key men who themselves have been directing research programs of Government agencies having most relevance to the Defense Program. Thus, when the Commission asks for information, the Bureau makes use not only of its own re-sourdjKÏbut of the great machinery of research which a democracy has built over the years, not only in Washington but in the field.
Consider the case of Sitka Spruce:
Sitka Spruce is sometimes called Airplane Spruce. It is found in this country along the coast of Oregon and Washington. The highest grades of this spruce are used in the manufacture of training planes, principally for spars, ribs, longerons, etc., the lower grades for general construction purposes and in the manufacture of boxes and crates. The stand of Sitka Spruce is a depleting national re
source, and the available supply must be jealously guarded for our own national defense.
England is building airplanes—swiftly, desperately. Her purchasing agencies come to the American market for spruce. Through the coordinated machinery of procurement, the query is phrased: Have we enough spruce to fill British orders and still be certain of an adequate reserve for our own needs?
The question goes to the Stettinius Division—the Raw Materials Division— where responsibility for deciding upon the policy point rests. The Raw Materials Division asks the^Bureau of Research and Statistics to collect the relevant facts, and the wheels commence to grind.
First, comes the analysis of the problem into statistically handleable terms:
W hat are the American requirements, military and civilian, immediate and potential?
What are the British requirements and other export demands?
What are the specifications for airplane spruce, and are the British and American specifications the same?
What percentage of spruce cut meets these specifications?
What are the stocks on hand? The mill capacities? The stands of living timber in Oregon, in Washington, in Alaska, in British Columbia?
The “Capacities Unit” of the Bureau
takes these questions and proceeds to marshal machinery for answering them.
Before answering the question, Dr. Piquet analyzes the problem. There were three factors involved : The available supply, our own military requirements, and the demand coming from abroad. The last was known, the other two factors must be explored.
Called into consultation are George Trayer of the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture ; Phillips Hayward, Chief oft the Forest Products Division, Department of Commerce; W. Leroy Newbrecht, lumber expert, Department of Commerce ; and Franklin H. Smith, Chief of the LumberPaper Division, United States Tariff Commission. What is the annual domestic production of Sitka Spruce? What is the potential production and for how long might it be sustained?
The Department of Commerce contacts the w5jt coast trade associations. The trade associations contact the individual lumbermen, the mill owners, and the information is secured. Memoranda are prepared for the Bureau, giving reliable estimates of production.
The next step is to ascertain what the military requirements of airplane spruce would be in meeting the demands of the Defense Program. Maj. James C. Browne, Chief of the Commodities Division, Office of the Assistant Secretary of War, and Maj. D. G. Lingle of the General Aeronautical Board supplied the information as to the number of training planes the military services contemplated buying to fulfill their demands.
Statistics on the amount of spruce required to construct this number of training planes was supplied by the manufacturers. The Bureau enlisted the aid of the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce. Telegrams were dispatched to more than a dozen different manufacturers, and in 24 hours the replies were in, giving the exact information wanted.
With all of these facts in its possession, it was possible for the Bureau to estimate what part of the production of Sitka
Friday, Sept. 20, 1940 * DEFENSE * Page 4
Spruce could be considered available for export, and the report which was submitted to the Stettinius Division formed the basis for the final determination of policy.
The Bureau, in finding the answer for
this routine inquiry, availed itself of the services of Government, the military, and industry. There were direct consultations with representatives from three Government departments, two Army officers, the representatives of two trade associations,
and one airplane manufacturer, in addition to the indirect contacts with a host of others.
And the total elapsed time between inquiry and final report was just one week.
Industrial Materials
America is looking to its reserves of raw material, reserves vital in time of war. A strong nation must be self-sufficient. America is not self-sufficient.
President Roosevelt emphasized this early in June when he said, “raw materials come first” in building for defense. Since the National Defense Advisory Commission was established the Industrial Materials Division has been building up stock piles of material reserves.
Edward R. Stcttinius, Jr., former chairman of United States Steel, is Commissioner of this Division. When Mr. Stettinius accepted appointment he was given the right to choose as his assistants people he knew had ability to get things done. This did not mean necessarily that he had to choose industrial leaders but men who knew their respective lines thoroughly.
One of the Division’s first acts was to determine needs of our largest peacetime military and naval forces. Aided by statisticians, the Commissioner compiled requirement charts of all vital materials. These charts serve as a guide for all defense purchasing.
Two-Fold Job
There are three main sections within the Division Mining and Mineral Production, Agricultural and Forest Production, and Chemical and Allied Production— directly responsible to the Commissioner.
The Industrial Materials Division devotes its major efforts to helping the Army and Navy. Its job is twofold: To build up stock piles of foreign and domestic materials, vital in time of war, and to bring industry and the military services together so that production schedules may be worked out to meet military demands.
No buying is actually done by the Defense Commission. The Industrial Ma
terials Division recommends purchases to build stock piles. The Army and Navy purchasing boards initiate purchase proceedings for all foreign and domestic materials which the services need.
The actual buying of such things as rubber, tin, and other strategic raw materials is done by corporations like the Rubber Reserve Company, the Petroleum Reserve Company, and the Metal Reserve Corporation. These companie^ were started with money provided by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, except that in the case of the Rubber Reserve Company the Government put up 50 percent of the capital stock and the rubber industry bought the other 50 percent.
Tungsten is a vital military material. It is used principally in making high-speed tool steel and lamp filaments. For military purposes it is used as an alloy in armor-piercing bullet cores. Chief sources of tungsten are China and Burma.
How It Works
To illustrate how the material requirement chart is used in buying tungsten, the following steps take place:
The Mining and Mineral Production Section learns that 2,000 short tons of tungsten can be obtained in Burma. The chart is read to determine the quantity needed to meet requirements. The Commissioner, after consulting Army and Navy officials, recommends purchase of the tungsten if the price is fair.
This recommendation, approved by Army and Navy purchasing boards, goes to the Metal Reserve Corporation. The Corporation makes an offer to the owner of the Burmese tungsten, and, if accepted, arrangements are made by the Maritime Commission for freighters to pick up the tungsten. In the United States the tungsten will be stored by the Metal Reserve
Corporation and used as war requirements demand.
All foreign critical materials are purchased in this manner by corporations controlled by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.
Although the Industrial Materials Division devotes most of its time to acquiring raw materials, it is concerned with production of all materials up to the cutting stage. For example, manufacture of aluminum is the problem of the Division until it is cut in making airplane wings. Then it becomes the responsibility of the Production Division, headed by William S. Knudsen.
No Guesswork
In building stock piles of domestic materials, the biggest problem is increased production. Efforts of the Industrial Materials Division in solving this problem are revealed by a recent Washington conference on armor-plate production. Before the meeting Mr. Stettinius wrote several armor-plate manufacturers, asking them to bring exact figures of their plant capacity. At the same time the Army and Navy were asked to send officers to tell exactly how many tons of armor plate were necessary.
There was no guesswork involved. The conference resulted in a long-range production program.
Another example of a domestic stock pile is aviation gasoline. Recently the Defense Supplies Corporation agreed to purchase large stocks of this fuel for reserve purposes to be stored mainly in underground tanks at strategic points throughout the United States and its possessions. The Industrial Materials Division worked out this purchase plan in such a manner as to minimize additional plant expansion of the petroleum industry.
Friday, Sept. 20,1940 * D E F E N S E * Page 5

The Week in Defense
Streamlining
The Machine Tool and Heavy Ordnance Section of the Production Division has completed an efeineering study of methods of manufacturing machine guns which will make possible thwjrelease of 2,000 machine tools for other critical needs and a saving of $10,000,000.
Negotiated Contracts
In line with one of its primary objectives, the National Defense Advisory Commission this week took action to facilitate obtaining an adequate supply of defense materials in the shortest possible time by recommending the Government take full advantage of its authority to negotiate defense contracts instead of relying entirely on competitive bidding.
This new policy means speed, better use of existing plans and existing labor, transportation and power resources, protection of labor standards, and better distribution of defense orders.
And all these, in turn, should result in reduction of expenditures for relief, increased local tax income, and revitalization of unemployed whose only opportunities for production have been through WPA.
In connection with President Roosevelt’s message on negotiated contracts, Sidney Hillman, in charge of the Labor Division of the National Defense Advisory Commission, said that he is “confident that this action is most far-reaching in our defense effort and should deal adequately with the problems which are properly of deep concern to labor.”
Contracts Jump
During the week there was a spectacular jump in defense orders from $2,400,000,000 in orders to $6,000,000,000. Orders to go ahead went to 21 aircraft companies, whiling for 14,394 airplanes and 28,282 engines. Work orders also went out for six new munitions plants, and contracts were signed for construction of 200 new Navy fighting ships.
Friday, Sept. 20, 1940 * DEFENSE * Page 6
The ships will include seven “super battleship^ eight aircraft carriers, 27 cruisers, 115 destroyers, and 43 submarines, designed to give the United States a force superior to the present combined fleets of the totalitarian powers. The Navy’s goal is 688 fighting ships and 15,000 aircraft. Keels of the first ships will be laid in 6 months, and most of the vessels will be completed by 1945. This construction will bring into use ship-building facilities which have not been used since the World War.
Collateral with letting of ship contracts is a statement of new naval policy approved by the Secretary of the Navy. Based on maintenance of a two-ocean Navy and development of naval aviation as an integral part of the naval forces, it aims “to uphold national policies and interests and guard the United States and its continental and overseas possessions.”
To supply material for aircraft and ship orders the Commission announced formulation of plans for a $40,000,000 plantexpansion program to provide heavy steel forgings needed for this huge program.
Aircraft Booming
For the first time in a number of years the aircraft industry passed the automotive industry in orders for machine tools thus far in 1940. Aircraft-industry orders, according to the Wall Street Journal, during the first half of 1940 accounted for more
LAW ENFORCEMENT
State and local law-enforcement officers are advised that the F. B. I. has made available to them and to responsible industrial-plant and public-utility executives its manual of protective measures to be taken against sabotage and espionage.
The book is confidential, each copy will be registered, must be kept intact, and remains Government property. The manual has hitherto been used only by Federal agents and military and naval intelligence officers in their surveys of more than 500 plants engaged in meeting defense contracts.
Requests for this manual should be addressed directly to J. Edgar Hoover, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington, D. C.
than one-quarter of the machine-tool industry’s domestic bookings.
No Lumber Price Rise Justified
The defense program does not justify any increase in lumber prices, and recent advances have been due to unfounded rumors of actual defense needs in the next year, according to Leon Henderson, in charge of the Price Stabilization Division of the National Defense Advisory Commission. Mr. Henderson said that, according to well-informed lumbermen, the fundamental lumber supply and production situation is favorable to ready procurement at reasonable prices of all lumber the defense agencies will need without jeopardizing expected civilian requirements.
Alien Registration
First two check-ups on national alien registration show that if the present daily average is maintained all the estimated 3,500,000 aliens will complete registration well before the December 26 deadline, according to Earl G. Harrison, Director of Registration.
A daily average of 47,092 alien registration forms, together with fingerprints, is being received in Washington. It had been estimated that only 36,000 daily would be needed to complete the registration on time.
News from the States
Vermont
Vermont reports organization of a State Council of Defense by Governor George D. Aiken. The Executive Vice Chairman is Albert M. Cree, of Rutland. Committees were appointed on Agricultural Resources and Production; Civil Protection; Health, Welfare, and Consumer Interest; Housing, Works, and Facilities (Transportation) ; Human Resources and Skills; and Industrial Resources and Production.
Virginia
Virginia’s defense program moved forward on two fronts this week. On Tuesday the State Council, of which Douglas S. Freeman is chairman, met with representatives of the Housing Coordinator and with Frank Bane and discussed the problems of the Hampton Roads area. Hous
ing needs and methods of securing immediate facilities and for building the units necessary to care for the defense workers were assigned to a committee. This committee will organize the local units to cooperate with the State and Federal officials. Health, welfare, and educational needs related to the expansion in the area were reviewed and will be analyzed by the State Committee and Miss Gay Shepperson, head of the Division of Health and Welfare of the Consumer Advisor’s office.
New England Council
The New England Council, holding its sixtieth quarterly meeting in Maine on September 13 and 14, heard discussion of the “State and Local Division,” by Hugh Gallagher; “Morale, an Essential of National Defense,” by Carl J. Friedrich; and “New England’s Foreign Language
Groups and National Defense,” by Anton Trulson.
At another session the Honorable Gordon Scott, Financial Advisor of the Canadian Department of Munitions and Supplies, discussed the impact of the war on Canada’s economy.
Connecticut
A committee from the Connecticut Council conferred in Washington this week with Mr. Palmer, Housing Coordinator.
Police Cooperation
Col. L^oy Hodges was appointed chairman of the State Committee on Civil Police Protection. The Committegj will prepare a plan for cooperation of all police units in the State for mobilization of police facilities in the event of an emergency.
Planning Boards in Defense
Governors and State defense councils are using planning boards in assembling information and for long-range defense studies of basic State resources for best peacetime use and are now interpreting this information on land and agricultural resources, transportation and power facilities, water and fuel supply, housing, industrial plants and equipment, labor skills, raw materials, and other resources.
New York and Kansas
The National Defense Council has suggested to the Governors that the State planning board be designated as the factfinding agency of the State defense council. This job involves compilation, correlation, and interpretation of data already available in national, State, or local agencies, as well as conducting studies and investigations.
In New York and Kansas, the planning boards are making surveys of idle plant facilities and production capacity^ as well
as a directory of manufacturing establishments which will aid those States’ industrial defense efforts. The California, Tennessee, and Virginia planning agencies are carrying forward special research and factfinding work for the State defense councils. The Arkansas State Planning Board has set up special defense committees to examine manpower, agricultural, forest, and mineral resources, manufacturing plants and equipment and transportation facilities.
The Job Ahead
Determining the State’s national defense resources is only part of the job. Putting them to work also requires careful planning. In this task the experience of the State planning boards will prove very useful in selecting possible sites for new defense establishments and planning housing, transportation, power, water, and other facilities in the area to place these establishments in operation as quickly as possible.
In announcing plans for State studies the councils of defense have issued statements which emphasize the importance of marshaling States’ resources during an emergency with an eye to long-range effects on State and local economy. Will the booming industrial defense areas become “ghost towns” after the'emergency passes? Can new developments be made to contribute to the future welfare of the area? These are questions which studies of the most effective use of resources will help to answer.
Future Gains
After the emergency has passed the States will want to carry forward gains and remedy losses made during that period. As permanent planning agencies, the State planning boards will be in a better position to profit from the experiences of the emergency period if their services have been effectively utilized. They can help smooth the transition back to normalcy.
Friday, Sept. 20, 1940 * DEFENSE ★ Page 7
AS I SEE IT
Expeditious attainment of necessary equipment for our armed forces involves the most efficient use of our human and physical resources. Fortunately, we have begun our program at a time when a significant portion of our industrial equipment is not being fully used. Also available is a large number of unemployed workers whose greatest ambition is to secure employment.
Our large unused resources, if wisely used, should make it possible to meet all of our needs for national defense and at the same time maintain our labor standards.
There is no reason why all of the labor requirements for the defense program should not be effectively met under conditions of employment which conform to recognized high standards. Our industrial history has proven that such standards are conducive to efficient production. Our experience during the past war and the experience of Great Britain during the present war are ample proof of the fact that excessive hours of employment are detrimental to efficiency.
Experience has further shown that a fundamental requirement of efficient production is wage rates which enable workers to maintain a high standard of living. Similarly, safe working conditions have been universally accepted as productive of maximum output. Finally,
the existence of equitable labor relations between employers and workers has been proven necessary to high efficiency in industry.
There is no reason why all of these essentials to high productivity cannot be maintained in defense industries.
In meeting labor needs we have two large reservoirs. The first is the army of unemployed. The second is the hundreds of thousands of skilled workers who are now employed at semiskilled and unskilled jobs. Inventories covering this group are being made by various trade unions.
Provision is also being made for training workers so that we can be assured that our future needs also will be met. Resources of the United States Bureau of Education, the National Youth Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the National Committee on Apprenticeship Training are being utilized.
American labor is fully aware that it can be free only under democratic institutions. Unstinted cooperation of various labor groups in the defense program is evidence of its readiness to do everything in its power to see to it that our freedom and rights are not impaired by enemies from within or outside the Nation.
SIDNEY HILLMAN,
Labor Commissioner.
Q. In World War 1, the slogan was “Food will win the war.” Should ike farmers of th^ Nation plan to raise more crops again as part of the defense program?
A. According to Chester C. Davis, in charge of the Agricultural Division of the National Defense Advisory Commission, “We havp an abundance of food and fiber to mMt normal civilian requirements and any military demand that may arise-; On
top of this abundance the surpluses are piling up which would have .moved into export if there had been no war in Europe. The big job is to maintain farm income and prices at a level which will keep the farm plant healthy in the defense front. American agriculture is one branch of our economy that doesn’t have to expand its plant or step up its production.”
Q. What action, if any, has been taken to house workers on defense projects where existing living accommodations are inadequate?
A. On September g, H. R. 10263, providing <$100,000,000 for defense housing projects, was signed by the President. These funds will be allocated by the President to the War and Navy Departments, which “may utilize such other agencies of
the United States as they may determine upon.” The Army and Navy already have plans for construction of homes in certain areas. ■ Additional construction is anticipated in a number of cities* in continental United Stated, in the Panama Canal Zone, and e®where.
Q. We note that over one-half the States have already set up some sort of defense council. Would it speed up the national defense program if ou,r State should do likewise?
A. Not necessarily. Each State should decide whether, and when, a council is* needed. Like the national council, a State council should advise and not execute. So far as practicable, all action on defense programs should be taken through existing agencies, public or private.
Friday, Sept. 20, 1940 * DEFENSE * Page 8