The Washington times., 1916-01-17
New Mobilization System to En-
list Every Factory That Can
Make War Supplies.
RAILROADS ALSO A FACTOR
Scientific Engineers to Unite in
Gigantic System Like That
of Germany.

The Secretary of the Navy has Just
made public details of the plans OF
President Wilson and himself for
mobilizing the industrial resources or
the country. including transportation,
in time of war. That these plans were
to be formulated was announced yes
terday through the medium of a letter
from President Wilson to w. L. Saun-
ders, of New York. president of ttSs
American Institute of Mining E..
'gineers, in which the society was ask
ed to nominate a representative from
it's membership for each State of the
Union to act in conjunction with rep
resentatives from four other technical
societies to assist the naval consult
ing board In the work of collecting
data for use in organizing the manu-
featuring resources of The country
for the public service in case of EN-
ergency. The four other technical
organizations which are asked to CO.
operate are the American Society OF
Mechanical Engineers. the American
Society of Civil Engineers, the Ameri-
can Institute of Electrical Engineers.
and the American Chemical Society.
In iffs annual address to Congress on
December President Wilson indi-
Gated that he might ask for small
appropriation to carry into effect the
suggestion he made for arranging to
mobilize the economic resources Of
the country in any. time OF national
necessity. The invitation to the five
technical societies to cooperate with
the Government to that end Is the
outcome Of recent consideration given
to the best means of adopting the plan
which the President had in mind when
he prepared his address.
Plan In Operation.
The details OF the plans for industrial
mobilization show that the movement
| has already been put into operation in
| part through the committee on pro-
duction. organization. manufacture and
! Standardization Of the naval consulting
| Board. Members Of the five technical
| societies are serving on the naval con-
sulting board. and a representative OF
each society is a member of this COM
mittee. The committee has had several
! meetings. and after consulting with Sec
| retary Daniels outlined the plans which
were stated in President Wilson's letter
to President Saunders. and the presi-
dents OF other technical organizations.
| Briefly, the plans contemplate the
gathering of information that will en-
able the Government to know instantly
| in case of war Just where 1t can obtain
all the additional supplies that it will
| need to provide for its military, and ma
val forces the sinews OF waI<-munitions.
| clothing. foods. and the host of other
things that would be required to equip an
army. In addition. the number of loco
1 Il
|ger and freight, will be ascertained from
the railroads. and to a certain extent
the Government will have at hand In
formation that will enable it to know
lin advance how 1t will be able to
transport troops and supplies.
Like German System.
The plans approximate those which
Germany has had in operation for many
years. In his statement Secretary Dan
iels said that "one of the belligerent coun-
tries now engaged in war" an appar-
ent reference to Germany. ''is utilizing
about SO per cent of its industries in
producing material for the army and
navy" The United States Government.
he said. would seek to do the same
thing.
The plans provide for fulfilling. in
part at least. the dream of military
and naval officers in this country who
were impressed for a long time prior
to the European conflict with the ad-
vantage of the German system of max
ing industrial resources capable OF i'm
mediate mobilization in the event OF
hostilities.