[Defense : Official Bulletin of the National Defense Advisory Commission. Vol. 2, No. 6]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
DEFENSE
★ OFFICIAL BULLETIN
* of the NATIONAL DEFENSE ADVISORY COMMISSION
Washington, D. C. Issued Weekly
FEB. 11, 1941 . VOL 2, NO. 6
INDEX
Page
Statement that the Office of Production Management considers the Santee-Cooper hydroelectric power project necessary to defense__________________________ 2
List of 51 corporations to which Certificates of Necessity for plant expansion were issued from January 16 through January 31________________________ 3
Two general recommendations to relieve the tight situation in the production and industrial utilization of zinc_________________ 3
Outline by Mr. Rockefeller of two projects for increasing trade of the Americas_____________________ 4
Creation of a Committee for Coor-dination of Inter-American
Shipping________________________ 4
Compilation of defense contracts cleared and awarded, January 30 through February 5____________ 5
Release of a part of the Government-held tungsten stockpile___ 5
Savings in time, money, and space through packaging Army clothing in cardboard and fiber boxes____,_____________________ 5
Discussion at two meetings of the problem of hoarding scrap aluminum__________________________ 6
Transfer and expansion of the Office of Small Business Activities—to be known as the Defense Contract Service_________ 7
Consumer Division______________8 and 9
Housing_____________________10 and 11
Suggestions to guide prime contractors in farming out work to , subcontractors__________________ 12
Plans for training 57,853 .students in general engineering courses— 13
State and local cooperation_14 and 15
Report on preemployment defense training courses from the Office of Education____________________ 16
291688—41
Report by Mr. Hillman on time lost because of strikes during 1940; less than two hours per worker
Of the total working time for the entire year 1940, less than 2 hours per worker were lost because of strikes. This is less than one-quarter of the loss due to industrial accidents, Sidney Hillman, Associate Director General of the Office of Production Management, said February 7 in making public the results of a special study on the current status of industrial relations.
The study had been made at his request by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor.
“This figure shows beyond question that, generally, harmony prevails in employer-employee relations,” Mr. Hillman declared..
300 threatened disputes
Out of approximately 300 threatened disputes arising since the beginning of the defense program, in which experts of the Conciliation Service and the Labor Division of the National Defense Advisory Commission intervened, only a handful resulted in appreciable stoppages, and these were of short duration.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics study shows, Mr. Hillman added, that the first half-year of the defense program witnessed a drop of nearly 50 percent in man-days idle due to strikes, over the corresponding months of the previous years.
“This is truly a remarkable record,” he said. “It is all the more remarkable in view of the fact that the period has been one of vastly quickened industrial activity accompanied by a tremendous expansion of employment and an increase in the stresses and strains which always go with adjustments to new personnel.
“Industrial history shows that periods of industrial expansion are marked by
an increase rather than a decrease in the number of strikes.’*
Average loss
These studies by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show, he said:
(1) Work stoppages due to strikes in American industry during the year of 1940 accounted for an average loss of less than a quarter of a day per year per worker.
(2) This figure is put in perspective when compared with the time lost through industrial accidents. On-the-job accidents accounted for an average idleness of more than 1 day per worker, or upwards of four times that due to strikes. And the figure for accidents does not include the tremendous loss resulting from more than 11,000 deaths.
(3) The number of man-days idle due to strikes was only half as great during the first 6 months of the defense program as in the corresponding period for 1939.
47 percent less
(4) The number of men involved in strikes was 47 percent less during the first 6 months of the defense program than when the United States was actually at war 24 years ago. This is all the more significant when it is realized that total nonagricultural employment is 22 percent greater today than in 1917.
“Chief credit for this remarkable record,” said Mr. Hillman, “should go to the patriotism of organized labor and to that vast majority of responsible industrialists who have accepted the orderly processes of collective bargaining.”
We had to face our last great task of rearmament twenty-odd years ago, he pointed out, without the help of collec-(Continued on page 13)
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★ DEFENSE ★
February 11, 1941
DEFENSE
OFFICIAL BULLETIN published weekly by the Division of Information for the Advisory Commission to the Council of National Defense, and printed at the United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. Published with the approval of thè Bureau of the Budget (Rule 42, J. C. P.).
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75 cents for 52 Issues; 25 cents for 13 issues; single copies 5 cents, payable in advance Remit money order payable directly to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.
★
NATIONAL DEFENSE
ADVISORY COMMISSION
Ralph Budd, Transportation.
Chester Davis, Agriculture.
Harriet Elliott, Consumer Protection. Leon Henderson, Price Stabilization. Sidney Hillman, Labor.
William S. Knudsen, Industrial Production.
Edward R. Stettinius, Industrial Materials.
Frank Bane, State and Local Cooperation. Robert W. Horton, Information.
Stacy May, Research and Statistics.
Paul V. McNutt, Coordinator of Health, Welfare and Related Defense Activities.
William H. McReynolds, Secretary of the Commission.
Nelson Rockefeller, Coordinator of Commercial and Cultural Relations Between the American Republics.
Deferment for certain reservists of the Regular Army
Members of the Regular Army Reserve who are at present candidates for a degree at any college or university will be deferred from active duty until the end of this academic year. Provided the reservists apply for such deferment, they will be ordered to active duty on July 1, 1941, instead of on February 15, 1941, as now contemplated. Members of the Officers’ Reserve Corps and enlisted reservists are included.
Statement that the Office of Production Management considers the Santee-Cooper hydroelectric power project necessary to defense, thus making it possible for priority ratings to be issued
The Office of Production Management has informed the Federal Works Agency that it considers the Santee-Cooper hydroelectric power project in South Carolina to be a “necessity to the national defense,” it was announced February 4.
In a letter to John M. Carmody, Administrator of the Federal Works Agency, Director General William S. Knudsen urged him to “use every effort to have the Santee-Cooper project completed at the earliest possible date.”
The Santee-Cooper project, near Charleston, S. C., is being constructed by the South Carolina Public Service Authority with Federal Public Works Administration funds. Construction has reached the halfway mark and it is due for completion late this year. It will have a rated capacity of 133,000 kilowatts of electric power and is being built at a cost of $45,000,000.
Possibility of priorities
Determination by the Office; of Production Management that the project is a “necessity to the national defense” will make it possible for priority ratings to be issued where necessary for machinery or supplies needed for completion of the project.
Text of the letter:
Mr. John M. Carmody, Administrator,
Federal Works Agency, Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir: We are advised that active negotiations are in progress for the sale of 30,000 kilowatts of electric power by the Santee-Cooper hydroelectric project upon its completion to the Aluminum Co. of America.
The Commonwealth & Southern System is also desirous of taking on to its lines from the Santee-Cooper project 50,000 kilowatts of power for serving national defense projects that are’now, or are about to come on to their lines.
We are advised that the Santee-Cooper project is negotiating also with a Pittsburgh concern for the sale of part of its power for the production of ferro alloys at Charleston, S. C. All of these represent materials needed in the national defense program.
In view of the foregoing, and of the desire to expedite as much as possible the production of an additional supply of aluminum, and other defense needs, I wish to advise you that the Office of Production Management considers the Santee-Cooper hydroelectric project to be a necessity to the national defense.
We trust you will use every effort to have the Santee-Cooper project completed at the earliest feasible date.
Yours very truly,
William S. Knudsen, Director General.
Appointment of Ralph E. Flanders as group administrator of tools and equipment section of the Division of Priorities
Ralph E. Flanders, president of the Jones & Lamson Machine Co., Springfield, Vt., has been appointed group administrator of the tools and equipment section of the Division of Priorities, E. R. Stettinius, Jr., Director of Priorities for the Office of Production Management, announced February 6.
As administrator of the tools and equipment group, he will work in close cooperation with D. S. Kimball, tools and equipment priority executive, who is in charge of all operations of this section. Dr. Kimball was formerly dean of engineering of Cornell University.
Mr. Flanders has had broad experience in the machine-tools field. He was a member of the Industrial Advisory Board of NRA. He is a member of the corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a past president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the author of a number of books.
It was also announced that W. E. Wick-enden, president of the Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, arrived in Washington, February 10, to take up his duties as general products priority executive’.
February 11, 1941
* DEFENSE *
3
51 corporations to which Certificates of Necessity for plant expansion were issued from January 16 through January 31
Certificates of Necessity for plant expansion under the national defense program were issued to 51 corporations from January 16 through January 31, the National Defense Advisory Commission has announced.
» The approximate cost of facilities represented was estimated at $71,864,000.
This compares with 67 corporations which received certificates during the first half of January, and covered facilities the estimated cost of which was more than $120,188,000. The average per certificate was $1,793,851 in the first period compared with $1,409,098 in the second.
Income-tax amortization
These certificates are issued to permit manufacturers to take advantage of the special 60-month income tax amortization of plant cost provided for under section 124 of the Internal Revenue Code. All estimates are subject to audit by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for determination of the proper cost, or other basis, of amortization.
Twenty of the certificates cover pro- -posed factories for the manufacture of machine tools.
The largest item is a certificate covering an operation of the Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Mich., for construction of a $23,212,000 plant to manufacture aircraft engines and parts.
List of manufacturers
The list of manufacturers who received certificates during the period follows:
Charles G. Allen Co., Barre Mass.; machine tools; $66,000.
American Steel Foundries, Chicago, Ill.; tank components; $832,000.
The Avey Drilling Machine Co., Covington, Ky.; machine tools; $23,000.
The Babcock & Wilcox Co., New York, N. Y.; boiler parts; $1,573,000.
Bardons & Oliver, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio; turret lathes; $155,000.
Baush Machine Tool Co., Springfield, Mass.; machine tools; $46,000.
Bethlehem Steel Co., Bethlehem, Pa.; steel products, coke, ammunition components, armor plate, naval vessels, forgings, etc.; $18,404,000.
Cincinnati, Bickford Tool Co., Cincinnati, Ohio; machine tools; $459,000.
Clearing Machine Corporation, Chicago, Ill.; metal-working machinery; $257,000.
Cramerton Mills, Inc., Cramerton, N. Dak.; uniform cloth; $283,000.
Dallas Cotton Mills Co., Dallas, Tex., yarn; $32,000.
Danly Machine Specialties, Inc., Cicero, Ill.; gun components; $1,154,000.
Defiance Machine Works, Inc., Defiance, Ohio; boring, milling and drilling machines; $112,000.
Ducommun Metals & Supply Co., Los Angeles, Calif.; aircraft parts; $450,000.
East Dayton Tool & Die Co., Dayton, Ohio; machine tools; $37,000.
Elastic Stop Nut Corporation, Union, N. J.; elastic stop nuts; $962,000.
Fairfield Manufacturing Co., Lafayette, Ind.; gears, parts for gun mounts; $193,000.
Ferracute Machine Co., Bridgeton, N. J.; ordnance machinery; $55,000.
Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Mich.; aircraft engines and parts; $23,212,000.
Gallmeyer & Livingston Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.; machine tools; $107,000.
Goddard & Goddard Co., Inc., Detroit, Mich; machine tools; $60,000.
Goodyear Aircraft Corporation, Akron, Ohio; nonrigid airships; $64,000.
The G. A. Gray Co., Cincinnati, Ohio; machine tools; $120,000.
The Hanson-Whitney Machine Co., Hartford, Conn.; machine tools; $91,000.
Hercules Powder Co., Wilmington, Del.; smokeless powder; $1,151,000.
Jackson Iron & Steel Co., Jackson, Ohio; pig iron and manganese; $352,000.
Jacobs Mfg. Co., Hartford, Conn.; machiné tool parts; $397,000.
Kaukauna Machine Corporation, Kaukauna, Wis.; machine tools; $290,000.
The Kendall Co., Chicago, Ill.; kits; first aid; $8,000.
Lear Avia,-Inc., Dayton, Ohio; remote-control devices for airplanes and fields; $335,000.
The R. K. LeBond Machine Tool Co., Norwood, Ohio; machine tools, lathes, grinders, etc.; $770,000.
Michigan Steel Casting Co., Detroit, Mich.; steel castings; $29,000.
Michigan Tool Co., Detroit, Mich.; motor parts; $275,000.
Micromatic Hone Corporation, Detroit, Mich.; machine tools; $123,000.
National Forge & Ordnance Co., Irvine, Pa.; forgings for ships and airplane shafts; $1,036,-000.
New Britain Machine Co., New Britain, Conn.; aircraft engine parts; $409,000.
New Jersey Zinc Co., New York, N. Y.; slab zinc; $1,258,000.
Niles-Bement-Pond Co., West Hartford, Conn.; machine tools; $1,883,000.
The Producto Machine Co., Bridgeport, Conn.; machine tools and accessories; $32,000.
Reynolds Metals Co., Richmond, Va., aluminum; $7,453,000.
Standard Steel Specialty Co., Beaver Falls, Pa.; machine tools; $100,000.
Standard Tool Manufacturing Co., Arlington, N. J.; machine tools; $235,000.
The L. S. Starrett Co., Athol, Mass.; measuring instruments; $163,000.
Sterling Foundry Co., Wellington, Ohio; machine tool castings; $189,000.
U. S. Tool Co., Inc., East Orange, N. J.; machine tools; $264)00.
United States Vanadium Corporation, New York, N. Y.; tungsten ore concentrates; $1,-613,000.
Universal Boring Machine Co., Hudson, Mass., universal boring machines; $91,000.
Van Norman Machine Tool Co., Springfield, Mass.; milling machines and grinders; $401,-000.
Watson-Flagg Machine Co., Paterson, N. J.; gears; $147,000.
Western Cartridge Co., East Alton, Ill.; brass; $4,173,000.
White Motor Co., Cleveland, Ohio; armored trucks; $178,000. _
★ ★ ★
Two general recommendations to relieve a tight situation in the production and industrial utilization of zinc
Steps designed to relieve a tight situation in the production and industrial utilization of zinc have been inaugurated by the Minerals and Metals Priority Section of the Priorities Division, E. R. Stettinius, Jr., Director of Priorities for the Office of Production Management, announced February 8.
The Non-ferrous Metals and Minerals Priority Committee, an advisory body to Dr. E. M. Hopkins, Minerals and Metals Priority Executive, has formulated two general recommendations.
These are:
1. That an effort be made at once through the cooperation of zinc producers to facilitate the prompt flow of zinc into brass used for the manufacture of cartridges.
2. That industrial users of zinc, producing items not in the vital defense sphere, be urged to cooperate voluntarily, and economize on the use of this metal.
Major problem
The shortage of zinc used in cartridge brass has become a major problem during the past few weeks, it was explained, and it is desirable to see that deliveries of the metal to cartridge makers are arranged for promptly.
It is felt that the producers themselves may be able to help greatly in this situation by some rearrangement of orders. In connection with the need to economize on zinc uses in nondefense production, it is pointed out that certain industries through their trade associations have already launched investigations to learn how and to what extent other metals may be used as substitutes on a temporary basis.
Such an investigation has been started by leaders in the automobile industry. It is believed that sufficient zinc may be freed for defense purposes, and substantial economies can be made by nondefense users, so that the situation will be relieved and the imposition of formal priorities in zinc can be avoided for the time being.
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★ DEFENSE ★
February 11, 1941
Outline by Mr. Rockefeller of two projects for increasing trade of the Americas
Addressing the New York City League of Women Voters, February 8, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Coordinator of Commercial and Cultural Relations between the American Republics, outlined two new projects for increasing trade and strengthening the economic defense of the Americas.
The projects are:
1. Creation of a Merchandising Advisory Service to be operated by the InterAmerican Development Commission for the benefit of the producers and exporters of the other American Republics.
2. Inauguration of a series of merchandising studies in Central and South America to provide information about the needs, tastes, and habits of living of our neighbors.
The first project is a new undertaking for the Inter-American Development Commission. This Commission is now in process of establishing in each Central and South American Capital representative councils of leading business, financial, and technical men. These councils will advise the Commission and will supervise the execution of developmental projects.
New York headquarters
The Commission will create a Merchandising Advisory Service with headquarters in New York, which will be staffed to provide the necessary assistance to exporters from the neighboring Republics. The advice and recommendations will be carried back to the producing countries through the local country units of the Development Commission.
In the United States closer relations will be promoted between exporters of the other Republics and such organizations as our National Retail Dry Goods Association, grocery, pharmaceutical, and other trade groups. Mr. Rockefeller expressed confidence that this service will help to broaden the United States market for products from these nations and cause the introduction of items with which the consumer market in the United States is not.now familiar.
Market studies
In addition, an invitation has been issued to the American Association of Advertising Agencies to -undertake through its Export Service Bureau a series of extensive studies of markets and advertising media in each of the neighboring
republics, Mr. Rockefeller announced. The results of these studies are to be made available to all American exporters and advertisers through the Association and through the Department of Commerce.
It should be recognized that American exporters spend millions of dollars each year through various advertising media— newspapers, radio, magazines, store displays, motion pictures—designed to promote sale of consumer goods in Central and South America, Mr. Rockefeller pointed out.
Many exporters feel that their advertising budgets in these countries would undoubtedly be increased if there were available greater information on the needs, tastes, and habits of living of the citizens of our neighboring republics, he said. The Bureau plans to train nationals of the various countries in the research techniques employed in gathering information so that in the near future nationals will carry on the study.
Language barrier
Mr. Rockefeller said that it is hoped the projects can be extended to render service to each of the Republics in its dealings with all of the others. Such an extension is called for by studies which reveal that there is not now available in any one of the American Republics a sufficient amount of information concerning the markets of the others.
He called upon the League of Women Voters to assist in overcoming the barrier of language in the Western Hemisphere by supporting efforts to introduce additional courses in United States schools for the teaching of Spanish and Portuguese; by increased travel to the countries south of the Rio Grande; by promotion of lecture and study courses; and by encouragement of creative American work in art, music, and literature.
Reemphasizing that the task of fulfilling a good neighbor obligation is more than an emergency undertaking, Mr. Rockefeller said: “The task is one not only for our generation, but for generations to come. The problem will never be solved by diplomatic pronouncements or unilateral action. It requires that the peoples of the Western Hemisphere know one another. Through knowledge will come sympathetic understanding, and understanding will bring trust and mu
tual respect. Only in this way can we approach the time when all the people of the Americas may in a common prosperity develop and defend the freedom and dignity of man.”
★ ★ ★
Creation of a Committee for Coordination of Inter-American Shipping
With a view to assuring adequate tonnage for continued movement of interAmerican products, there has been created, with the approval of the President, a Committee for Coordination of inter-American Shipping, composed of James V. Forrestal, Under Secretary of the Navy, Rear Admiral Emory S. Land, Chairman of the Maritime Commission, and Nelson A. Rockefeller, Coordinator of Commercial and Cultural Relations between the American Republics.
The Committee will seek to coordinate the shipping requirements of the Central and South American trades with the supply of vessel tonnage under the jurisdiction of the Maritime Commission and with the needs of the military branches of the Government.
Adequate through 1941
The Committee proposes, through cooperation with the shipping companies, "to plan use of available tonnage in an effort to insure adequate transportation for cargoes to be moved in both directions during 1941.
Estimates of the Maritime Commission indicate that adequate shipping will be available to handle the requirements of inter-American trade in 1941 if the vessels now operating are retained in this service and with the addition of certain vessels now intended for the trade. The Maritime Commission estimates that at present there are approximately 119 vessels regularly serving the east and west coasts of South America.
54 U. S. ships
Fifty-four of these fly the flag of the United States, 22 are of Norwegian ownership, and the balance are operated under other flags, including those of Central and South America.
In establishing this Committee, the Government does so with the recognition that the uninterrupted flow of commerce between the United States and Central and South American Nations is directly related to the national defense prognm and to the economic welfare of the American Republics.
February 11, 1941
★ DEFENSE ★
5
Savings in time, money, and space through packaging of the Army’s clothing in cardboard and fiber boxes; high lumber prices led to change in specifications
High lumber prices have led the Quartermaster Corps to change specifications for packaging clothing and other equipment now being bought for the Army. .
The changes will substitute corrugated cardboard and solid-fiber boxes for the wooden containers previously used on Army shipments of shirts, work clothing, socks, underwear, mosquito bars, field caps, and gloves.
It is probable that similar changes will be ordered for other types of clothing later.
They were ordered by Brigadier General C. L. Corbin, Assistant Quartermaster General of the Army, so that substantial savings in money, time, and storage space may be made. His orders were issued after a thorough study of the situation had been made by officers of the Quartermaster Corps working in conjunction with civilian experts from the Division of Purchases of the Office of Production Management.
This study indicated that the shift to corrugated and fiber containers would save 8% percent in Army warehouse space; that substantial savings in weight on bulk train shipments would result, and that cash savings due to the lower prices of the new containers would be substantial.
Among the cash savings forecast, for example, were a saving of 8 cents on each blanket purchased, and a saving of $57,750 on a shipment of a million Army overcoats.
The study also showed that only 22 percent of the potential corrugated and fiber-box manufacturing capacity of the country is being used today, indicating that ample supplies of the containers could be obtained without delay.
★ ★ ★
SHIP CONSTRUCTION
President Roosevelt last week signed emergency legislation authorizing the Navy to spend $909,000,000 to build 400 auxiliary vessels and to expand shipyard, gun, and armor production facilities.
The President also signed a $313,500,-000 appropriation bill to finance the immediate construction of 200 cargo ships.
Release of a part of the Government-held tungsten stock pile to relieve temporary stringency in the spot supply
Release of part of the Government-held stock pile of tungsten will relieve a temporary stringency in spot supply of this metal and will assure adequate future deliveries to industry, it was announced February 8 by W. A. Harriman, Chief of the Materials Branch, Division of Production, Office of Production Management.
Authority to sell Government stocks to industry was granted to the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department under an Executive order signed February 4. The order authorizes the Procurement Division to sell or otherwise dispose of its tungsten stocks for defense production “to such buyers or users and in such amounts as may be requested from time to time by the Office of Production Management.”
Temporary situation
A temporarily tight situation developed in the available supply of tungsten as a result of the closing of the Burma Road last fall. Reopening of the road again makes Chinese tungsten available to this country and large quantities are
Compilation of defense contracts cleared and awarded, January 30 through February 5
The following is a compilation of contracts cleared and awarded during the period January 30 to February 5, inclusive. These contracts were cleared by the National Defense Advisory Commission and awarded by the War and Navy Departments in the approximate amount of $21,204,000.
« Contracts of $500,000 or more are cleared by the Production Division of the National Defense Advisory Commission.
ORDNANCE
American Brass Co., small arms ammunition components; Waterbury, Conn., $676,-850.40.
Chase Brass & Copper Co., Inc., small arrqs ammunition components; Waterbury, Conn., $547,018.
Revere Brass & Copper Co., brass; Baltimore, Md., $789,770.
Navy
General Machinery Ordnance Corporation; rehabilitation and equipment of certain parts
afloat to the United States from the Far East.
Applications from industrial users for purchase of Government stocks of this ore will be made to the Procurement Division and granted upon approval of the Office of Production Management. Sale price will be the same as the cost of acquisition to the Government.
Only part needed
It is expected that only part of the Government stock need be released to assure supplies for refiners until such time as new imports are available. Release of stocks held by the Procurement Division also will minimize the possibility of price fluctuations in tungsten which might have resulted if this ore had not been made available to industry.
Tungsten, an element required to give alloy steels high tension characteristics, is important to defense production. It is particularly in demand for use in highspeed tool steel. The United States is the second largest producer of tungsten in the world but normally imports about 50 percent more than it produces.
of the United States Naval Ordnance Plant, South Charleston, W. Va., for machining of ordnance equipment; $1,645,000.
Norris Stamping & Mfg. Co., boxes, ammunition; Los Angeles, Calif, $664,240.
EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES
War Department
Diamond T. Motor Car Co., trucks, 4-ton; Washington, D. C., $737,154.
Fraehauff Trailer Co., trailers; Kansas City, Mo., $4,465,040.
General Motors Corporation, Chevrolet division, trucks, 1 % -ton; Washington, D. C.; $8,296,493.59.
War Department
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., wheel arid brake assemblies; Akron, Ohio; $923,504.
Lavine Gear Co., trailers, 1-ton; Milwaukee, Wis., $703,500.
Lights, Inc. & Fritz Ziebarth; field lighting sets; Alhambra, Calif., $613,605.
Navy
General Cable Corporation, cable, electric; Washington, D. C„ $538,521.
Snow Shipyards, Inc., sweepers, mine, coastal; Rockland, Maine, $604,000.
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★ DEFENSE ★
February 11, 1941
Discussion at two meetings of the problem of hoarding scrap aluminum; statement by Mr. Bishop that secondary aluminum is now selling for more than virgin ingot
Broad problems concerning production and utilization of aluminum, in defense and commercial spheres, have been taken up by the Aluminum and Magnesium Priority Committee, E. R. Stettinius, Jr., Director of Priorities, Office of Production Management, announced February 4.
A meeting of the committee, an advisory body to E. M. Hopkins, minerals and metals priority executive, has been held.
One problem to which'immediate attention has been directed is the difficulty caused by the hoarding of scrap aluminum, either for speculation or for inventory purposes. Because of its effect on prices, the hoarding of scrap has already been condemned by executives of the Price Stabilization Division of the National Defense Advisory Commission.
Discussion of plastics
The extent to which plastics might take the place of aluminum in some manufacturing processes was discussed. Closely allied to this is the question of making as much aluminum as possible available to ordinary, civilian commercial users.
Other questions which the advisory committee took up included the needs of the armed forces of this country and Great Britain, the requirements of those concerns which are producing items indirectly intended for defense purposes, and the possibility of using differing grades of the metal in some nondefense manufacturing processes.
Artificial scarcity
One reason for development of what appears to be a temporary tight situation in aluminum is the artificial scarcity caused by the hoarding of scrap. This means that scrap is actually more plentiful than would appear, but that it is being withheld from the market.
The Aluminum and Magnesium Priority Committee, which has taken up these problems in an effort to work out a solution, is purely an advisory body to the Minerals and Metals section of the Priorities Division. Dr. Hopkins, as priority executive for this division, is also chairman of the advisory group.
Anomalous situation
Hoarding of scrap and secondary aluminum was condemned by C. A.
Bishop, member of the Price Stabilization Division.
Such hoarding, Mr. Bishop stated, already has led to an anomalous situation in which secondary aluminum is selling for more than virgin ingot, which is currently priced at 17 cents a pound. Unless this situation is rectified, drastic action will be necessary to prevent an upward price spiral.
This matter was discussed at a meeting February 4 between officials of the Price Stabilization Division and representatives of smelters of secondary aluminum and large consumers of aluminum scrap and ingot.
According to .available figures there is sufficient scrap aluminum to satisfy needs of the next few months, but two groups have accumulated very substantial quantities of scrap metal. One group consists of manufacturers who, instead of selling scrap, hold it with the intention of having it reprocessed for their own consumption if aluminum becomes scarce. The other group consists of those holding it for speculative profit only.
“Those in the latter group are doing a distinct disservice to the defense program and for a motive that is not to their credit,” Mr. Bishop stated. “The former group,” he added “is doing an equal disservice but with a motive which may not be criticized to the same degree.”
Buying more than needs
According to reports reaching the Price Stabilization Division certain consumers also are buying moré than their current needs of scrap aluminum in order to accumulate surplus inventories. Practices such as hoarding and excess inventory accumulation tend to create artificial shortages and price rises—the exact situation that the Price Stabilization Division is seeking to avoid.
The policy of the Price Stabilization Division is to defer drastic measures in ail , such cases until it has been demonstrated that no other method will be effective, Mr. Bishop stated.
He pointed out, however, that legislation already in effect authorizes • the President, by Executive order, to requi
sition and dispose of all available supplies of aluminum and aluminum scrap. Such action would seriously disturb the normal operation of industry, a result which the Price Stabilization Division desires to avoid.
Officials of the division, Mr. Bishop stated, are convinced that if supplies now being hoarded are made available to the market and if the prices of scrap and secondary aluminum come down promptly, such action can be averted? If these results do not ensue, however, the Price Stabilization Division is prepared to recommend necessary action to insure reasonable prices for scrap and secondary aluminum.
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Announcement by the Administrator of Export Control of the opening of a New York City office
Col. Russell L. Maxwell, Administrator of Export Control, announced on February 5 the opening of a New York office, under the supervision of Lt. Comdr. Karl E. Hintze, United States Navy, Assistant Administrator.
Located at 602 Federal Office Building, New York, this office will serve as a source of information and aid to manufacturers and exporters in the New York area, and it will also collect and transmit pertinent information to Colonel Maxwell.
Colonel Maxwell, in announcing the opening of this office, stressed the point that applications for export licenses will continue to be filed with the Division of Controls, Department of State, Washington, D. C.
★ ★ ★
Purchase by the Metals Reserve Co. of 100,000 more tons of Latin-American copper
Federal Loan Administrator Jesse Jones announces that the Metals Reserve Co. has purchased 100,000 more tons of Latin American copper for $19,130,000.
The new commitments increase total purchases of Latin-American copper by the Metals Reserve Co. to 200,000 tons.
Deliveries are expected to begin in March, at a rate of approximately 25,000 tons per month.
February 11, 1941
* DEFENSE ★
7
Transfer and expansion of the Office of Small Business Activities—to be known as Defense Contract Service
The Office of Production Management announced on February 3 the transfer and expansion of the Office of Small Business Activities and addition of personnel to its 36 field offices.
This unit will be known hereafter as Defense Contract Service.
For administrative purposes the Office of Small Business Activities is being transferred from the Division of Purchases tOxthe Division of Production, with the approval of the Office of Production Management.
The’ Defense Contract Service will be headed by Robert L. Mehornay. For the past 3 months he has been directing the Office of Small Business Activities under Donald M. Nelson, who is now Director of the Division of Purchases.
Mr. Mehornay is on leave from his position as president of the North-Me-hornay Companies of Kansas City, Mo.
Federal Reserve nucleus
The Federal Reserve System, under the direction of Gov. Ernest G. Draper, member of the Board of Governors, will provide the nucleus of personnel for regional offices. Senior officers in each of the 12 Federal Reserve banks and their 24 branches have been serving as field agents for the Office of Small Business Activities and will continue this function under the new organization.
These field offices will be expanded and adequately staffed with business, financial, contract, and engineering experts to provide decentralized advisory services to all business enterprises, particularly smaller units, holding or seeking defense contracts or eligible for subcontracting work. Thus, all owners of manufacturing facilities, however large or small, will be able to find in their own geographical regions complete information and advice on all problems pertaining to the defense program.
Representatives of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks met February 7 with officials of the Defense Contract Service for the purpose of preliminary organization of the 36 regional offices, a
The meeting was called by Governor Draper at the suggestion of Mr. Mehornay and was attended by presidents and representatives of presidents of the 12 Reserve Banks.
Governor Draper pledged the wholehearted cooperation of the Reserve System in support of the work of the Defense Contract Service.
Mr. Mehornay said that the Washington organization will have five sections as follows:
Assignments
Business section, headed by C. J. Myers, of Oklahoma City, the main function of which will be to channel to the field offices complete information on where, when, and how to bid on Army and Navy contracts;
Financial section, headed by Charles S. Garland, formerly connected with the Office of Small Business Activities, the main function of which will be to supply to the regional offices complete information on all financial matters connected with prime and subcontracts for equipment and materials;
Subcontracting and engineering section, headed by Joseph E. Trecker and Francis L. Trecker, former consultants to the War Department, who have been assigned to the Defense Contract Service to supervise the extension of subcontracting work;.
Contract section, headed by Joseph P. Cotton, formerly with the Office of Small Business Activities, the main function of which will be to explain through the regional offices the terms of various types of contracts in use by the War and Navy Departments, tax depreciation, etc.
Peter R. Nehemkis, Jr., formerly with the Office of Small Business Activities, will serve on special assignments. .
Organization
Generally speaking, Mr. Mehornay explained, regional offices will be organized and staffed in the following manner.
A District Coordinator will be chosen from among prominent industrialists and businessmen and will serve without compensation. He will have general supervision over the activities of his district office.
Working under the supervision of the District Coordinator will be a District Manager, chosen for his knowledge of production problems and particularly charged with supervision of subcontracting phases of the work, analyses of facilities studies, and coordination with
local procurement offices of the armed services. District Managers will serve in a full-time capacity and will have technical experts on their staffs.
Special technical advice will be available to the regional offices from representatives of each of the five engineering groups—civil, electrical, mechanical chemical, and mining—and such other consultants as may be needed from time to time for specific projects. Such advisers will not serve as a committee but will be on call as consultants on special problems. Officials of the national organizations of each of the five engineering societies have agreed to appoint such consultants.
Civilian committees
Civilian advisory committees already working with district offices of the Ordnance Branch, War Department, will be asked to cooperate with the district offices of the Defense Contract Service, Mr. Mehornay announced at the meeting. Such cooperation has been suggested by the War Department.
Col. Ray M. Hare, Chief of the Facilities Division, Army and Navy Munitions Board, and Capt. C. W. Fisher, Director of Shore Establishments, United States Navy, addressed the meeting and ex-feressed approval of the aims of the new organization and offered the cooperation of the two services in fulfillment of the program.
Joseph Trecker outlined the advantages of subcontracting as opposed to complete reliance on new industrial facilities from the standpoints of speeding production, minimizing industrial dislocation, and spreading business and employment.
Mr. Biggers
At an afternoon session the group was addressed by John D. Biggers, Director of the Division of Production. Mr. Biggers stressed the importance of the program being, undertaken by the Defense Contract Service and said: “The future of America as we have known it may depend to a large degree on the way in which we distribute the defense load. This organization provides the best medium for accomplishing this task * * *
“If you succeed in spreading out defense orders from the larger to the smaller companies and from the larger to the smaller communities you will be doing much to insure the future of America.”
It is expected that District Coordinators will be appointed and that full gional staffs will be actively at work in the near future.
8
* DEFENSE ★
February 11, 1941
CONSUMER DIVISION ...
Responsibility of communities where rents are rising to make certain that local conditions do not create national problem
Rising rents in a few localities mqst not be permitted to start a price spiral which will increase living costs and hamper the defense program, Miss Harriet Elliott, Consumer Commissioner of the National Defense Advisory Commission, stated last week in a letter to the Defense Councils of States in which defense activity is centered.
“Communities where rents are rising have a responsibility to see that local conditions do not create a national problem,” Miss Elliott said.
She explained that local action is recommended because marked rent increases do not appear to be general over the Nation, but appear to be confined to certain localities where military activities have brought an influx of new families, or where the defense program has expanded industrial production.
Defense areas
The statement on rents was based on reports from a number of defense centers and on special studies made by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics at the request of the Defense Commission in a dozen areas selected because they are experiencing intensified defense activity.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys, rent increases occurred between October 1939 and November 1940 for a substantial proportion of the dwellings in each of the cities studied. Average increases to tenants whose rents were raised ranged from 6 percent in some cities to as much as 29 percent in others and usually were greatest in the lower rent brackets, the surveys showed.
“The defense effort will be hampered and all groups will suffer if a price spiral of rising living costs, rising wages, rising prices, and still higher living costs once starts,” Miss Elliott’s letter said.
Costs maintained
“Any major item of living costs can start such a spiral. Next to food, rent is the largest item in the consumer’s budget. Rents; therefore, are the items which should now be most closely watched.”
“Up to the present time, the cdst of living for the country as a whole has been maintained approximately at predefense levels,” Miss Elliott pointed out.
“Rents for large cities as a whole and other major items in the consumer’s budget, are not averaging substantially higher than before the defense program started. The one serious threat of rising living costs is in the particular localities where rents have risen.”
New families
“The rent increases which are occurring grow quite naturally out of situations where the influx of new families causes the demand for housing to increase much more rapidly than new dwellings can be supplied.
“The tendency for rents to rise will be intensified as more new people enter these communities, as leases expire, and as available space in private homes is occupied,” Miss Elliott said. “But individual advantage in this situation, as in all others, must not be allowed to interfere with national defense.”
Outlining some of the kinds of local action which could help meet the situation, Miss Elliott reported that local realestate boards in some communities have already gone on record against unjustified rent increases.
“A sound rent policy,” she continued, “must apply not only to previously rented properties, but to rooms, apartments, and other dwellings offered for rent to meet emergency demands. Where home-registration bureaus are set up, the rents for listed properties should be kept as close as possible to the predefense rents for similar properties. The experience of the World War period shows that local publicity can be an effective instrument for keeping rents in line.”
Legal measures
Only as a last necessity should a community resort to legal measures to deal with rents, Miss Elliott emphasized.
Since some rent situations may become sufficiently serious to require legal measures, she said, a proposed bill is now being drafted to provide a sound basis
for such measures. This bill will be available shortly for the use of State and local governments which may feel the need to take legal steps.
Summarizing actions being taken to keep consumer prices steady, Commissioner Elliott said:
“Immediate individual advantage from increasing prices of products and services must be subordinated to the needs of national defense and the longer-run interests of all groups in the population. Retailers, wholesalers, producers, and others have gone on record against unjustifiable price increases and have offered their cooperation in the maintenance of price stability.
“Certain groups of manufacturers have adopted the policy of low prices and large sales volume rather than high prices as a source of profits. Better Business Bureaus, newspapers, and broadcasting stations have given their assistance in checking scare advertising which might panic consumer buying and lead to rising prices.
“National defense requires similar cooperation in keeping rents in line.”
In this connection, Miss Elliott made public a recent letter from the National Association of Real EState Boards which said:
“Our president and other officers of the association have urged upon the 466 local real estate boards which constitute our membership that they suggest to all realtors and to property owners that rentals be fair and that every possible effort be made to avoid critical conditions and the criticisms arising from any effort at profiteering.”
★ ★ ★
EXEMPTION OF LAY BROTHERS
Lay brothers of the Catholic Church are exempt from training and service under the Selective Service Act as “regular ministers of religion,” it is announced by National Headquarters, Selective Service System. This ruling was based on an opinion by the legal division of National Headquarters, pointing out that it was the intention of Congress that such religious brothers “were included in the purview of the statutory exemption of regular ministers of religion from training and service.” It was pointed out, however, that nothing would prevent such a lay brother from waiving his status as a regular minister of religion.
February 11, 1941
★ DEFENSE ★
9
Statement by the Consumer Division that consumer resistance against the rise in meat prices is well-founded
Meat prices have gone up to the point where consumer resistance is well-: founded. Miss Harriet Elliott, Consumer Commissioner of the National Defense Advisory Commission, reported last week.
The statement was made in a letter replying to the Greater New York Hospital Association’s request for information on the meat situation. The hospital association had reported that rising meat prices were completely dislocating hospital food budgets.
The text of Commissioner Elliott’s letter follows:
“This is in further reply to your recent telegram expressing concern over increases in meat prices..
Should be reluctant
“Consumer resistance to higher meat prices is developing rapidly, and on a considerable scale. We are of the opinion that, under existing conditions, this resistance is well-founded. Consumers should be reluctant to accept price increases attributed to the defense program.
“Army purchases of meat are not lafge enough to affect prices significantly, and explanations which attribute price increases to growing demand are only partially correct. It is true that national income has been increasing, but millions of consumers are not receiving larger incomes, and are in no better position to increase their expenditures on meat than they were a year ago.
“Failure of producers, processors, and distributors of meat to realize this fact may lead to unwise price speculation.
Complex factors
“Highly complex demand and supply factors underlie the recent price changes. Employment has been growing and at least some consumers would like to buy more meat. On the supply side, marketings of hogs have declined sharply since December, and it is expected that less pork will be available in 1941 than in 1940.
“Supplies of domestic beef and lamb will be somewhat larger in 1941, but in view of growing purchasing power even larger supplies will be needed if prices are to be kept stable.
‘ “The Department of Agriculture has recently advised farmers to increase hog production and to increase the slaughter
of cattle in 1941. The Consumer Division is in full accord with this proposal since increased supplies of meat animals offer the best solution of the meat problem.
“However, changes in supply come rather slowly and it may become advisable to seek additional supplies from other than domestic producing areas.
Cheaper cuts
“If prices continue to advance consumers will do well to look for cheaper cuts and for meat substitutes. The Bureau of Home Economics can supply much valuable information on the preparation of low-cost meat dishes or of well-balanced meatless meals, and our own Division is pointing out from time to time the possibilities for substitution under existing market conditions. Your dieticians, of course, are familiar with the possibilities of this kind.
“In addition, the investigation of food prices by the Department of Justice is expected to include meat, and may produce results of significance to consumers.”
★ ★ ★
“Scare” advertising defined by Miss Harriet Elliott
“Scare” advertising has been defined by Miss Harriet Elliott, Consumer Commissioner of the National Defense Advisory Commission, as “advertising which tends, through fear of price increases or shortages, to induce the consumer to make speculative advance purchases.”
“This definition of ‘scare’ advertising should be of material assistance to business organizations which are working so effectively towards keeping prices of consumer goods at "reasonable levels,” Miss Elliott said, following a conference between representatives of the Consumer Division; Walter Morrow, secretary of the Retailers’ Advisory Committee, and Kenneth Barnard, general manager of the Chicago Better Business Bureau.
Past success in discouraging such practices, and methods for further curtailing them were discussed at the meeting. Miss Elliott pointed out that every effort made to discourage scare advertising is an essential measure for consumer protection in the defense program.
“Enriched” bread and flour— value to defense is stressed by National Research Council
Emphasized as a vital need in the defense emergency, the production of enriched bread, which was urged upon millers and bakers of the Nation by the National Research Council’s Committee on Food and Nutrition, has already begun.
Some of the new product is near the market and it is expected that it will be available throughout the country in the near future, as will also an enriched flour for home bread-making.
Standards set
Especially important for those who depend on bread for a large part of their energy food, the new products, both the bread and the flour, are being made according to standards of production established by conferences of national nutrition authorities.
Following regulations of the United States Food and Drug Administration, “enriched flour” can be made in either of two ways. One involves a change in milling processes, the other, the addition in proper amounts of thiamin, iron, and the pellagran-preventing factor, nicotinic acid, to white flour.
Defense strains
To produce a pound loaf of “enriched bread” will cost less than two-tenths of a cent more than to produce ordinary white bread, and it is believed in the end will involve no extra cost to the consumer.
The National Research Council stresses the value of a nutritive diet for a population laboring on defense construction, with its various stresses and strains.
★ ★ ★
Need for 325 additional Army nurses by February 15
The War Department announced January 29 that 325 nurses will be required by February i5f/1941, for immediate assignment to duty in staff hospitals at the following Training Centers which will be occupied by troops by the early part of March:
Fort Devens, Mass., 120 nurses; Indiantown Gap, Pa., 85 nurses; and Camp Forrest, Tenn., 120 nurses.
Full information concerning eligibility for appointment to and assignment in the Army Nurse Corps as a Regular or Reserve nurse may be obtained by writing to the Surgeon General, United States Army, Washington, D. C.
10
★ DEFENSE ★
February 11, 1941
DEFENSE HOUSING ...
Announcement by Mr. C. F. Palmer of three measures which Congress will be asked to enact to alleviate shortages of housing for defense workers and enlisted personnel
In a three-pronged drive toward alleviating shortages in housing for the families of industrial workers and enlisted personnel in defense areas, C. F. Palmer, Defense Housing Coordinator, announced February 5 that Congress would be asked to enact three measures.
The new legislation would include thé following:
1. An amendment to the National Housing Act which would set up a separate defense housing insurance fund of $10,000,000 to be used to underwrite $100,000,000 in mortgages on one- to four-family dwelling units in defense areas. This action would be designed to expedite participation by private industry in the Defense Housing Program.
2. A request for a $150,000,000 appropriation. These funds would be allocated by thè President to any agency he might determine for direct Federal construction of dwelling units for families of defense workers and enlisted personnel. Such allocations would correspond to those made under the Lanham and the Army and Navy Appropriation Acts.
3. An appropriation of $6,750,000 to provide temporary shelter either by construction of buildings or otherwise in areas where the acuteness of the need will not wait upon ordinary construction procedure. These would serve a shortterm need only.
Could be rented
Under the FHA amendment, loans to builders would be insured up to 90 percent of the Federal Housing Administrator’s appraised value of the property where the value of such dwellings ranged from $4,000 on a single family residence to $10,500 on the four-family apartment building.
Such homes could be sold with no down payments or could be offered for rent. At present, mortgages up to 90 percent of the appraised value can be insured only in cases where the builder is the owner occupant and is able to provide 10 percent equity in cash.
In explaining his reasons for requesting an amendment to the National Housing Act, Mr. Palmer declared that the magnitude of the defense housing program is such as to require the utmost speed in the production of dwelling accommodations at low cost. This can be accoihplished best, he said, by the maximum use of the numerous builders of low cost homes who are accustomed to operating in all sections of the country with insured mortgage financing.
“Flexible methods”
“The use of these normal processes, and the adaptation of normal methods of financing to the present situation, will provide an expeditious and flexible method of producing the required housing with a minimum of dislocation to the community, the private construction industry, and the system of residential financing.
“At the same time it will greatly reduce the present burden upon the facilities of Federal agencies engaged in the direct construction of publicly financed defense housing.”
Mr. Palmer said the $150,000,000 direct appropriation was to enable the President, through such agencies of the Government as he might designate, to take care of housing emergencies affecting the national security and defense.
Funds allocated
The appropriation of $6,750,000 to provide temporary shelter either by construction of buildings or otherwise would be expanded, if authorized, where it is not practicable to meet the immediate needs for emergency housing through private enterprise or under the Lanham and Army and Navy Appropriation Acts.
Mr. Palmer announced that substantially all of the funds made available under the Army and Navy Appropriation and the Lanham Acts, passed last September and October, respectively, had now been allocated. Thus far, he said, allocations have been made for approximately 70,000 defense housing units to
be built with public funds; one-half of this number are either under construction or completed.
“Much more to be done”
“Although we have gone far toward alleviating the shortage of living accommodations which existed in certain vital defense areas, there is much more that needs to be done if we are to assure ourselves of an uninterrupted flow from our defense production lines,” Mr. Palmer stated.
“It is the duty of the Defense Housing Coordinator to see that no wheel of industry fails to turn because some worker who should have been at that post was absent due to his inability to find proper housing for himself and his family.”
★ ★ ★
Warning to Selective Service registrants to inform local boards of changes of address
Warning all registrants for Selective Service training of penalties provided for failure to respond to summons from their local boards, C. A. Dykstra, director of Selective Service, urges those who change their addresses to advise their local poards promptly.
Selective Service Regulations provide:
“It shall be the duty of each registrant to keep his local board advised at all times of the address where mail will reach him. The mailing of any order, notice, or blank form by the local board to a registrant at the address last reported by him to the local board: shall constitute notice to him of the contents of the communication, whether he actually receives it or not” (par. 159}.
“If a registrant or a person required to present himself for and submit to registration fails to perform any duty prescribed by the selective service law, or directions given pursuant thereto, within the required time, he shall be liable to fine and imprisonment under section II of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940” (par. 159).
Director Dykstra pointed out that it has been the consistent policy of the entire Selective Service System to be as considerate as possible of the men who are subject to the provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act. His warning concerning the duty of a registrant to inform liis local board of any change in his address, he said, is in continuation of that policy and is intended to help registrants avoid subjecting themselves unnecessarily to the penalties provided in the'Act.
February 11, 1941
★ DEFENSE ★
11
Letter from the President approving the housing programs recommended by Mr. Palmer
President Roosevelt on February 4 sent the following letter to Mr. C. F. Palmer, Defense Housing Coordinator, approving the program of 14,925 housing units which had been recommended by the Coordinator:
My dear Mr. Palmer: I hereby approve the defense housing programs recommended by you pursuant to Executive Order No. 8632, dated January 11, 1941, in Locality Program Reports for the following places, as summarized in your letter of January 30, 1941 (Defense, Feb. 4). Allocation of funds within the meaning of Public, No. 781, Seventysixth Congress, has been made for the following localities:
Kodiak, Alaska.
Rantoul, Hl.
Ponce, P. R.
In addition, appropriate findings of housing shortages within the meaning of Public, No. 849, Seventy-sixth Congress, have been forwarded to the Federal Works Administrator for the following localities:
Birmingham, Ala.
Gadsden, Ala.
Mobile, Ala.
Muscle Shoals, Ala., locality (including Florence, Sheffield, Tuscum-
₍ bia, Muscle Shoals, Ala.).
Bridgeport, Conn.
New Britain, Conn.
Waterbury, Conn.
District of Columbia.
Alton, Ill. (including East Alton, Ill.).
Charlestown, Ind. (including Louisville, Ky.).
South Bend, Ind.
Wichita, Kans.
Baltimore, Md.
Buffalo, N. Y Elmira, N. Y.
Kearny, N. J. (including Harrison, N. J.).
Note.—The Division of Coordination * of National Defense Housing is now, by Executive order, in the Office for Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President.
Paterson, N. J. (including Passaic, N. J.).
Pedricktown, N. J.
Akron, Ohio.
Canton, Ohio.
Cincinnati, Ohio.
Ravenna, Ohio (including Warren, Ohio).
Allentown, Pa. (including Bethlehem, Pa.).
Beaver Co., Pa.
Ellwood City, Pa.
Philadelphia, Pa.
Titusville, Pa.
Williamsport, Pa.
Nashville, Tenn.
Dallas, Texas (including Grand Prairie).
Dumas, Tex.
Ogden, Utah.
Manitowoc, Wis.
I also approve the defense housing programs for:
Annapolis, Md.
Morgantown, W. Va.
You will please advise each Federal housing agency of its part in each proposed program and you will please facilitate the execution of these programs. No further action on my part will be required with respect to any revisions therein which you may find it necessary to authorize except that changes which substantially alter the scope and character of projects to be financed in whole or in part with Federal funds shall be submitted for my approval.
Very sincerely yours,
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
★ ★ ★
70,000 NAVY HOUSING UNITS
Enough living units to accommodate more than 70,000 people are now being constructed by the Navy as a part of the Coordinated Defense Housing Program, C. F. Palmer, Defense Housing Coordinator, reported February 5. This construction is included in 46 different projects in 42 localities of 23 States and will provide 16,000 dwelling units. Total cost of the projects amount to $47,112,878.
This construction by the Navy is for families of enlisted personnel and civilian workers, and does not represent cantonments or barracks.
Threefold policy for attaining the objectives of the Division of Transportation
Ralph Budd, Commissioner in charge of the Transportation Division of the National Defense Advisory Commission, reports that the Division is prepared to meet greatly expanded demands upon the Nation’s transportation facilities.
Mr. Budd further stated:
Established primarily as an agency for bringing about unification of effort, the Division has attempted a threefold policy for obtaining its objectives:
(1) To anticipate all further transportation needs.
(2) To provide all facilities necessary to meet any further requirements.
(3) To insure that adequate service will be available through all types o£ transportation.
Five distinct agencies
Instead of the one chief agency of transportation of 1917, America now possesses a huge transportation system comprising five distinct agencies.
More than 1,000,000 miles of surfaced highways form a complete network extending to all parts of the country, on which more than 26,000,000 automobiles and 5,500,000 trucks and trailer units ordinarily handle about 90 percent of our passenger traffic and about 9 percent of our freight traffic.
Pipe lines
More than 100,000 miles of pipe lines are in regular service carrying petroleum products and natural gas, and account for the transportation of 14 percent of our national freight traffic.
Our inland waterways, especially the Great Lakes, have been developed to the point where about 14 percent of our freight is carried on them.
During the 1940 season, more than 63,000,000 tons of iron ore were carried on the Great Lakes.
And while the airways are not essential to the transportation of freight, they are of inestimable value in the rapid delivery of important mail and express.
Moreover, their service in passenger transport and their contribution ^to national defense mark an outstanding development in the present crisis, for of all transportation agencies the airways have the most to gain through technical development during the preparedness program which involves the manufacture of so many thousands of aircraft of many different types.
1Z
★ DEFENSE ★
February 11, 1941
LABOR DIVISION ...
Suggestions to guide prime contractors in farming out work to subcontractors; “Farming Out Bulletin No. 4”
Recommending establishment in local areas of clearing houses for information regarding available subcontracting work and available plant facilities, the Labor Division of the National Defense Advisory Commission, in Farming Out Bulletin No. 4, has compiled suggestions to guide prime contractors in farming out some of their work.
Although several agencies, notably the War Department, the Federal Reserve Banks, the National Association of Manufacturers, and several trade associations have compiled, or are in the process of compiling, lists of the Nation’s plant facilities, the detailed, localized information must of necessity be made available by the various local areas. *
Industrial community
For purposes of the survey and effective dissemination of information, these local areas should be composed of a city or county, or several nearby cities or counties which together form one industrial community, the bulletin states.
Such local organization will expedite the farming-out procedure, which is an important factor in the defense program, officials said.
Farming out, by bringing “the work to the men rather than the men to the work,” avoids disruption of community life in some places and congestion in others, they pointed out.
This tends to save the Government the cost and time required to provide new housing and community facilities and to keep labor conditions stable. In addition, as the defense emergency passes, there should be a much lighter problem of economic, social, and governmental adjustment. ₓ
Full defense productivity
The farming-out procedure is necessary to bring into “fun defense productivity the depressed areas of the United States; the thousands of shops, small and large, which even in generally active regions are still working only sporadically; and the tens of thousands of machines, some of them in the busiest plants, which individually are operated
far short of full time,” according to the bulletin.
Besides promoting efficiency, it is believed that the farming-out procedure contributes to national morale and national unity by making it possible for all citizens to make what contribution they can to national defense, even in those places where the contribution would necessarily be small.
Sfeps
The bulletin urges on prime contractors the following steps in seeking out subcontractors:
1. Make it known that work of a given kind is available.
2. Disseminate descriptions of this work, the most realistic descriptions possible.
3. Place exhibits illustrating those parts of ordnance and other defense equipment which it is desired to farm out to the small manufacturer, as well as to the large one who is seeking defense work.
4. Keep alert to suggestions that may come from all sorts of miscellaneous sources.
5. Ask your buying and selling agents in distant cities to look for suitable subcontractors.
6. Possibly send scouting agents through the area adjacent to your plant.
7. The builders of machine tools, because of their knowledge of where machines have been placed and their continuing contacts with clients, have often been of exceptional assistance.
8. In some areas State defense councils have rendered a valued service.
9. A State agency might publish, perhaps in booklet form (as was done by the Rhode Island Industrial Commission) information showing, for each of many manufacturing establishments in the State, their present products and services; the general class of work which they are equipped to do; the number of employees “now” and at capacity; and the tolerances to which they were accustomed to conform.
10. Often this information can be published in local newspapers, as in the
case of Rhode Island, where the Providence Journal devotes space to such information once a week.
11. Consult brokers regarding unused industrial capacity, especially of small shops.
12. When possible, cooperate with those companies with which you have previously worked on nondefense orders.
The bulletin suggests that the farming-out procedure might be expedited further by the Government and prime contractors making a detailed examination of every defense job with a view to determining just what part of the work could be done by ordinary foundries and machine shops.
As a variation of this principle, plants having capacity especially well fitted for defense business, could greatly increase their contribution to the national defense by farming out their peacetime operations to concerns having only the more usual types of equipment, the bulletin said.
For further information on this subject, apply to Morris L. Cooke, Labor Division, National Defense Advisory Commission, Federal Reserve Building, Washington, D. C.
★ ★ ★
Survey of British .vocational training methods; Dr. Hambrook to be abroad 3 months
Dr. Robert W. Hambrook, senior specialist of the Office of Education, and aircraft training expert of 15 years’ standing, was to take off by Clipper from New York February 11 for three months in England to study vocational-training methods.
Dr. Hambrook’s orders call primarily for surveys of training methods in. the fields of aircraft manufacturing, shipbuilding, and machine-tool building.
In addition, he will study Britain’s wartime methods of recruiting new workers to fill the places of those inducted into the armed forces, as well as persons to operate the public services in such fields as fire-fighting and rehabilitation of bombed areas.
Another aspect of Dr. Hambrook’s program calls for a report on health and morale building in Britain—physical training in the schools and recreational guidance.
February 11, 1941
★ DEFENSE ★
13
Labor. ..
(.Continued from page five agreements in the basic mass production industries—steel, automobiles, textiles, rubber, glass, shipbuilding, electrical equipment, public utilities, and others vital to the defense program. By and large, contracts between employers and representatives of organized labor did not make their appearance in these key industries until after 1933.
Renewal of agreements
That these pacts are working toward the permanent establishment of more amicable and constructive employeremployee relations has been demonstrated recently by the renewal of many agreements by such large manufacturers as Boeing, Briggs, Chrysler, Hudson, Fairchild, Brewster, several steel companies, and various other concerns.
“Special praise,’’ Mr. Hillman commented, “is also due to the statesmanlike stand taken by the 16 members of the Division’s Labor Policy Advisory Committee, composed of spokesmen of the A. F. of L., the C. I. O., and the Railroad Brotherhoods. They represent the continuing determination of America’s great organizations of labor to cooperate fully in guaranteeing the success of the defense program.”
The Labor Policy Advisory Committee, appointed by Mr. Hillman shortly after he took over his duties as Commissioner, pledged the support of organized labor to the defense program and undertook to do everything in their power to maintain regular output in the defense industries.
Collaboration
A group of industrial relations experts from both the A. F. of L. and the C. I. O. attached to the Labor Division’s staff assist the Conciliation Service of tha Labor Department and collaborate with the members of the Labor Policy Advisory Committee in carrying out this pledge.
Over and above everything else, it should be realized that this achievement in industrial peace belongs in great measure to those agencies of Government, such as the Labor Department’s Conciliation Service, which have done a » most efficient mediation job, and to those which are enforcing such social and labor laws as the National Labor Relations Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Walsh-Healey Act, and the Davis-Bacon Act.
Completion of arrangements for training 57,853 students in general engineering fields; approval of a new list of 331 engineering courses to begin at once
. *
Federal Security Administrator Paul V. McNutt reported to Associate Director General Sidney Hillman, Office of Production Management, on February 10 that full arrangements have been completed for training 57,853 students in general engineering fields in connection with the national defense program.
The Administrator said he had approved a new list of 331 engineering defense training courses to be started at once under the general supervision of the United States Office of Education, a constituent member of the Federal Security Agency.
This addition brings the total number of courses to 775 given by 119 engineering colleges located in 47 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
$9,000,000 appropriation
Mr. McNutt explained that the engineering defense training program, for which Congress recently appropriated $9,000,000, has been set up to meet shortages in engineering personnel with specialized training in fields essential to the defense program.
Short, intensive training courses utilizing the faculties of the Nation’s engineering colleges are preparing engineers and others with the necessary basic education and experience for service as designers, inspectors, and supervisors of production in private industries and Government agencies actively concerned with defense.
Engineering training is one phase of the Office of Education’s vocational training program being carried on in cooperation with the Labor Division of the National Defense Advisory Commissiop.
Under the program set up by Commissioner of Education John W. Studebaker, guidance on policies will be furnished by an advisory committee of 11 engineering educators headed by A. A. Potter, Dean of the School of Engineering, Purdue University.
R. A. Seaton, on leave as Dean of Engineering at Kansas State College, is in charge of a small administrative staff in the Division of Higher Education, of which Dr. F. J. Kelly is Chief. Contacts with engineering schools and defense industries throughout the country are be
ing facilitated by 22 volunteer regional advisers drawn from college faculties.
Commissioner Studebaker explained that the Engineering Defense Training Program is in no sense a substitute for regular engineering courses leading to a degree. The purpose of the latter is to give a broad education in the principles and practices of engineering, requiring at least 4 years of hard study.
Typical Engineering Defense Training Courses, on the other hand, give intensive instruction in a narrow field to prepare the trainee for specific duties in as short a time as possible—normally between 2 and 6 months of full-time or part-time study.
Admission requirements
Requirements for admission to the defense courses vary with the difficulty of the subject. While some are open to high-school graduates, others require from 2 to 4 years of engineering education. There are no age limits, but applicants will not be accepted unless they are employable in defense work.
Selection of students is entirely in the hands of the engineering schools, and requests for information about, or admission to, any course should be sent directly to the institution concerned. Accepted students will have the cost of their instruction paid by the Federal Government, but will be required to maintain themselves and buy needed textbooks.
General engineering fields in which instruction is to be given to the 57,853 students for which provision has already been made are shown in the,following table:
Maximum number of students Aeronautical engineering____________ 4,227
Basic courses (mathematics, etc.) __ 3,065
Chemical engineering—Explosives.____ 370
Chemical engineering—Other___ 1,026 Civil engineering___________________ 3,196
Electrical engineering______________ 2, 722
Industrial engineering______________14, 075
Marine engineering and naval archi-tecture__________________________ 1,382
Mechanical engineering—Drawing— 9,166 Mechanical engineering—Inspection 4,826 Mechanical engineering—Machine de-
sign ______________________________ 3, 527
Mechanical engineering—Tools and
dies_______________________________ 2, 927
Mechanical engineering—mother_______ 1, 313 Mining and metallurgical engineer-
ing ------------------------------- 4,477
Miscellaneous_______________________1,554
14
★ DEFENSE ★
February 11, 1941
STATE AND LOCAL COOPERATION ...
Michigan State Defense Council’s report of action on its 10-point program
Activities and problems of the Michigan defense council since its organization on July 3, 1940, are summarized in a report recently submitted to Gov. Murray D. Van Wagoner and the members of the 1941 legislature. The report was prepared by Wilber M. Brucker, former Governor and chairman of the council, with the assistance of Mr. Everett De Ryke, executive secretary, and Mrs.’ Bettie W. Allie, secretary.
10-point program
At the organization meeting of the council, the following 10-point program was adopted:
(1) To promote and secure unity in the patriotic effort for national defense by the people of the State of Michigan.
(2) To accept leadership in endeavoring to raise public morale to the point where American tendencies and activities will be encouraged.
(3) To secure from and disseminate to accredited agencies useful information concerning unity for national defense.
(4) To mobilize full public support behind military, social, and economic preparedness activities, and to this end to cooperate with all Federal and State agencies.
(5) To survey the economic field, including labor, industry, agriculture, transportation, communication, highways, housing, and other interests so as to counsel with reference to the distribution of various services of supply for national defense.
(6) To encourage and assist in furnishing our State’s full quota for Military and Naval Establishment.
(7) To discourage and prevent profiteering or the taking of unfair advantage of the national defense program by private or public interests.
(8) To foster and secure universal cooperation toward the required readjustment of peacetime activities to the defense program.
(9) To inspire and coordinate all lawful efforts to expose, counteract, and prevent subversive activities of every kind including “fifth column” and sabotage, but likewise to prevent hysteria and to
protect innocently suspected or accused persons from possible injustices.
(10) To organize, in due time, the civic energy through the enlistment of local support throughout Michigan for the national defense program.
Committees named
To facilitate work of the Michigan council, several committees were appointed to make studies of situations arising from the concentration of population due to industrial and military concentrations; to make recommendations to the council, establishing the policies and methods of procedure in solving defense problems; and to recommend such legislation as might be needed.
The Governor allotted funds from the executive budget to carry on the work until the Sixty-first Legislature could meet and handle the situation, according to the council’s report. Council meetings were held monthly and committee meetings in addition, the members attending without compensation for their time or actual expenses.
Some 14 committees have been appointed to carry out the various general duties of the council.
★ ★ ★
27 LOCAL DEFENSE COUNCILS IN CONNECTICUT
A report from the Connecticut Council for National Defense, of which Gen. S. H. Wadhams of Hartford is chairman, announces the establishment of 27 local defense councils.
These councils are in the following communities:
Avon. New Haven. >
Beacon Falls. Newtown.
Bethel. Pomfret.
Bridgewater. Portland.
Bristol. Rocky Hill.
Cheshire. Roxbury.
Cromwell. Seymour.
East Lyme. Southbury.
Ellington. Stonington.
Farmington. Trumbull.
Madison. Waterbury.
Middletown. Westport.
New Canaan. Wethersfield.
New Fairfield.
Defense council at Radford, Va., set up on a regional basis
In accordance with the policy of the Virginia defense council, of which Dr. ■ Douglas Freeman of Richmond is chairman, a regional council has been set up at Radford, Va. Several other regional councils have been established in response to critical problems arising in some sections of the Commonwealth.
Defense establishments in the Radford area include ordnance works, a large powder plant near Radford, a bag-loading plant near Dublin, and an airport near Blacksburg.
At the time of organization, the Radford region was defined as consisting of the following six counties: Montgomery, Pulaski, Giles, Floyd, Craig, and Roanoke as far as the western boundary of Roanoke City.
Chairman of the Radford regional defense council is Mr. John R. Hutcheson qf Blacksburg. Gov. James H. Price has appointed citizens and representatives of local governmental agencies in the area to membership on the council. Mr. R. Lee Humbert of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute has been designated by the Governor to act as executive officer.
A manual of procedure for the Radford defense council is being prepared as a guide for executive officers. This manual will discuss briefly such problems as transportation, housing, education, recreation,* utilities, and other matters of vital importance.
Following surveys of existing housing, health, and other facilities, steps have been taken to meet present and anticipated needs of the greatly increased population. For example, announcement was made in January that construction of 200 homes for workers had been authorized.
According to reports, some 13,000 persons were employed at the powder plant by late January. Additional thousands are to be employed in construction of the bag-loading plant.
Highway and traffic problems led to appointment of a transportation committee of the Radford defense council. This committee, like others, has been working with State and Federal authorities toward solution of its problems.
February 11, 1941
★ DEFENSE ★
15
Industrial and community surveys by the Wisconsin council; small plants furnishing information concerning their facilities
The Wisconsin Council of National Defense, of which Mr. R. S. Kingsley of Kenosha is chairman, reports that the 28 local defense councils are participating in two surveys, one of local industries, the other of community characteristics and resources.
The local defense councils organized thus far are all in cities of 10,000 or more population. They are appointed by the State defense council chairman. Plans,have been made for defense groups in the remaining 48 counties, where organization will be worked out through the chairmen of the county boards of supervisors.
Small plants surveyed
The industrial survey is to amplify and bring up-to-date the State council’s earlier survey of available buildings and sites. Smaller plants that did not furnish information previously may now do so.
Points covered: (1) Name and location; (2) production facilities—plant, equipment, space for expansion, whether the owner has capital for plant expansion, etc.; (3) information as to whether the plant now has defense work as a primary or a subcontractor, whether it produced defense articles in World War I, etc.; (4) types of manufacturing (tq be answered by metal-working establishments only) ; (5) raw materials used and source of supply; (6) type of products and industrial services; (7) transportation and storage facilities; (8) labor—number of employees, major types of skills, number of shifts, training programs, occupations likely to be bottlenecks if production were expanded.
Community survey
A comprehensive community survey is also being made through the local defense councils. This covers:
(1) Population; (2) local government, police and fire department personnel and financial condition; (3) labor—estimated supply, average wage scale, local labor organizations, open or closed shop, labor attitude, what industries could best use available labor, outside labor supply; (4) natural resources—all available raw materials, and resources now used; (5) industrial facilities—types of transportation, rail distances to specified major cities, water supply, electric power, gas, banking, building and loan facilities, hos
pitals, housing, schools, hotels, recreational facilities; (6) industries—name, major products, average number of employees, available buildings, floor space, sites; (7) agricultural resources—principal crops, commercial gardening, if any, and what industry using farm products could logically locate in the community, with reasons.
★ ★ ★•
Completion of arrangements for construction of a steel plant at Houston, Tex.
William S. Knudsen, Director General of the Office of Production Management, announced February 8 that, in connection with plans for the expansion of the steel industry to meet defense needs, the American Rolling Mill Co., Middletown, Ohio, through its President, Charles R. Hook, has completed arrangements for construction of a steel plant at Houston, Tex., to be located on the Houston Ship Channel.
The Houston steel mill will have a capacity of 200,000 ingot tons per year, and will operate principally on scrap iron, manufacturing billets for shell forgings, structural steel, wire rods and wire products, light plates used in shipbuilding, and various other similar products necessary to national defense.
The plant is being financed by the RFC, in cooperation with the American Rolling Mill Co., and will be a permanent industry.
★ ★ ★
List of procurement agencies for Chemical Warfare Service
In the January 28 issue of Defense it was stated that Edgewood Arsenal, Md., is a principal procurement agency for the Chemical Warfare Service. Edgewood Arsenal is no longer a procurement agency, but strictly on an arsenal and manufacturing status.
In the decentralization of the procurement program, the following offices are now responsible:
Office, Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service, Washington, D. C.; the Boston Chemical Warfare Procurement District, Boston, Mass.; the New York Chemical Warfare Procurement District, New York City; the Pittsburgh Chemical Warfare Procurement District, Pittsburgh, Pa.; the Chicago Chemical Warfare Procurement District, Chicago, Hl.; and the San Francisco Chemical Warfare Procurement District, San Francisco, Calif.
Quantity production of the new field jackets for U. S. troops
The War Department has announced that the new field jacket, designed for light weight, warmth, and utmost freedom of action, is now in quantity production, and is being issued to military units in the field.
Organizations which have already received the new field jacket include: Troops in Alaska (issued in fall of 1940); troops ip Newfoundland; and the Fifth Division (issued in December 1940).
The armored force is now being provided with this jacket and issue will be made at an early date to troops in the First and Second Corps Areas to be followed, over a period of months, by issue to all other troops on the authorized basis of one field jacket to each enlisted man in the continental United States.
The field jacket is designed for and will be worn in winter, spring, and fall in lieu of the wool coat or blouse. In design and cut, the garment is designed to be loose and easy fitting, with a pleated, single panel bellows back permitting maximum use of the arms and shoulders.
Approved specifications require the outer material to be a wind-resistant cotton cloth of high texture, fine woven, light in weight, strong, and very similar to Byrd cloth, with which this material is popularly but erroneously confused.
A special treatment gives this cloth water-repellant properties. In order to permit early quantity production, it was pointed out, suitable substitute inner and outer materials were employed in initial production.
For warmth, there is a permanent lining of 10%-ounce shirting flannel. The jacket has an open front with double closure—buttons and zipper—with an overlap to shut out the air.
A collar which can be turned up and fastened close around the neck by means of a tab, straps on the wrists to keep out wind and moisture, and two adjustable straps at the hip line complete the comfort features of the jacket. There are two pockets in the garment.
One of the many advantages of the field jacket, from the viewpoint of maintaining stocks of this garment, is the fact that the jacket is issued in only 7 sizes from 34 to 46, in contrast to the wool coat or blouse which is issued in 34 different sizes—33 regular to 44 regular, besides different lengths. The cost of the field jacket is about $6 each.
16
★ DEFENSE ★
February 11, 1941
Report on preemployment defense training courses; more than 300,000 persons have taken them—Office of Education statement
In a report dated January 21, the United States Office of Education, Federal Security Agency, reports that 107,092 persons throughout the Nation were enrolled in preemployment-refresher and supplementary courses as of November 30.
As of the same date, a total of more than 300,000 persons had taken these courses during the period in which the program had been in operation.
The preemployment-refresher training is divided into 16 general types of courses. During October, about one-third of all enrollments were in machine shop; about one-seventh in aviation services; about one-tenth in automotive services; and another one-tenth in welding. Drafting, blueprinting, and electrical services account for another seventh of all courses.
Regular vocational schools and defense training
A preliminary tabulation of enrollees in the regular vocational education program maintained under the Federal Smith-Hughes and George-Deen Acts, together with State and local funds, indicates a tremendous reservoir of new labor supply which is being provided by vocational education in addition to the special defense training.
Of primary significance to occupations essential to national defense are the 758,505 persons enrolled in trade and industrial schools. Of this number over 200,000 are enrollments in regular day classes, from which graduates may be employed in industry. Approximately 168,000 are in evening classes and some 384,000 in part-time classes.
In addition to these enrollments, there have been 584,000 persons enrolled in agricultural schools, 820,000 in home economics schools, and 130,000 in distributive education schools. Of these numbers a large proportion is being trained for industries essential to national defense.
School program
It has beten estimated that more than 2,000,000 persons are being trained by the regular school program in skills contributing to national defense.
All of this work is in addition to the
special defense-training courses and does not include an estimated 285,000 trainees in CCC camps, many of whom are also enrolled in specific defense-training courses, and instruction of an estimated 145,000 students in regular college and university engineering courses. There is in addition vocational and technical training in private trade and technical schools.
Also to be considered are the many industrial arts classes, many of which are giving foundation training of value for defense occupations.
★ ★ ★
Establishment of an Information Exchange on “Education and National Defense”
Commissioner of Education John W. Studebaker has announced establishment in the United States Office of Education of an Information Exchange on “Education and National Defense.”
“Democracy’s strength lies in encouraging new ideas. A good idea in Maine may be useful in California. The Information Exchange will make available throughout the country the thinking and experience of educational leaders,” Commissioner Studebaker stated.
Schools are asked to cooperate with the Exchange in three ways:
1. Send in materials.
2. Tell about new or revised courses, training programs, or community educational activities which schools consider valuable in connection with defense.
3. Tell what kinds of help are most needed from the Exchange.
Materials have already been received from public schools of New York City, Seattle, Rochester, Detroit, and Los Angeles, from the States of Connecticut, Michigan, and Wisconsin, the New York State Educational Association, and scores of other educational sources. A preliminary catalog will be issued soon.
Commissioner Studebaker has delegated supervision of the Information Exchange to Bess Goodykoontz.
Appointment of Samuel E. Hackett as consultant to the Steel Unit of the Materials Branch, Division of Production; transfer of Walter Tower to Steel Priority Committee
Appointment of Samuel E. Hackett, of Pittsburgh, as consultant to the Steel Unit of the Materials Branch, Division of Production, was announced February 4 by W. A. Harriman, Chief of the Materials Branch.
Mr. Hackett replaces Walter S. Tower, who has been transferred from the Steel Unit to the Steel Priority Committee, Division of Priorities.
Mr. Hackett was connected with the steel industry for many years. After association with J. T. Ryerson & Son, iron and steel jobbers, he became connected with the Jones & Laughlin Steel Co. in 1916 as general manager. He became president of the company in 1934 and resigned this position in 1936.
★ ★ ★
John Lord O’Brian’s appointment as general counsel of OPM
The Office of Production Management announces appointment of John Lord O’Brian of Buffalo, a nationally known lawyer, as its general counsel.
Mr. O’Brian has actively engaged in law practice in Buffalo, N. Y., for many years and in accepting the assignment in the OPM has severed his connection with the law firm of O’Brian, Hellings, Ulsh, and Morey, of which he was the senior partner.
★ ★ ★
RESIGNATION OF MR. FOLSOM
Resignation of Marion Folsom as head of the Mining and Mineral Products Section of the Materials Branch, Division of Production, Office of Production Management, was announced February 8 by W. A. Harriman, chief of the Materials Branch.
Mr. Folsom joined the staff of the National Defense Advisory Commission at the time of its formation, agreeing to serve for 3 months.
Mr. Folsom’s place in the Materials Branch is being taken by G. M. Moffett, formerly Director of the Food Products Section, Production Division, National Defense Advisory Commission.