The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-27
PRESIDENT ASKS
 COOPERATION ON PREPAREDNESS"

New York April 27-The Commit. tee on Industrial Preparedness of the Naval Consulting Board, made public yesterday letter from President Will. son, addressed to the business mer of the country, in which the President asks theAbusiness men to cooperate with the Consulting Board flor public service in national defense.'' The Committee on Industrial Prepared ness is now organizing the industries of the country for use in case o1 war, and it is in support of that work that the President addresses the bus mess men of the nation.
 The Presidents letter is as fol lows:
 The White House,
 Washington. April 21, 1916
 To the Business Men of Ameri-
 ca: I bespeak your cordial CO.,
 operation in the patriotic service < undertaken by the engineers and
 chemists of this country under the
 direction of the Industrial Pre-
 paredness Committee of the Ma wal Consulting Board of the Unit ed States.
 The confidential industrial in-
 ventory you are asked to supply is
 intended for the exclusive benefit
 of the War and Navy Depart
 ments, and will be used in organ ing the industrial resources for
 the public service in national de-
 fense.
 At my request the American Society of Civil Engineers, the
 American Institute of Mining
 Engineers. the American Society
 of Mechanical Engineers, the
 American Institute of Electrical
 Engineers, and the American Chemical Society are gratuitously
 
 Board in the work of collecting
 this data, and confidently ask } your earnest support in the in
 terest of the people and govern
 ment of the United States.
 Faithfully yours.
 WOODROW WILSON.
 The Industrial Preparedness Com mittee, of which Howard E. Coffin is chairman and w. s. Clifford supervis- field organization of more than 3O,- 900 trained engineers, members of the American Society of Civil Engineers thet American Institute of Mining Engineers. the American Society o1 Mechanical Engineers. the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and the American Chemical Society sweeping inventory of American In dustry. The purpose of the inven- tory is to find out just what the factories, mills and mines of the na- ton can produce in time of war.
 The second step in the plans o1 the committee is to apply in a prac- tica1 way the knowledge gained and to establish a system of annual, edu. cationaI orders in small quantities tc manufacturers of the thousand and one commodities necessary for modern warfare which they do not know how to produce.
 A well equipped motor car plant, fo1 instance, will in days of peace pro- duce ten three-inch shell castings 9 year, and even this small production will teach the manufacturer and the la;borer the various intricate meth ods of production and the details o1 shipping and delivery with which they were totally unacQuainted. It is known that many high-class Ameri- can plants that accepted war orders eighteen months ago have not yet made delivery because of lack of ex- zperience in turning out munitions of war.
 The third. step is to keep skilled workmen on the job in times of war by the formation of an industrial re- serve in time of peace.
 The engineers, who will take the field on May 1, will be under the di- rection of state boards of five men SACA III every SLdCe, A1aSf&a ana the District of Colum bia. These boards in turn are directed by MT. Clifford who is chief Statistician of the Amer jean Telephone and Telegraph Co. who has been made footIoose by his company for this work.
 The work of the Committee on In- dustrial Preparedness is receiving the support of the President, the naval and military heads at Washington and the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. In addition, the Asso- ciated Advertising Clubs of the World have undertaken, without cost to the government, a nationwide adVertis- ing campaign in support of the com mittee's plans. The German-American Bank at