Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-02-24
7IS. S.STANDARDIZES
Z NATIONS DEFENSE
plants offered Government
for War Emergency Use
Now Districted
cOMPLETING SCHEDULES
official Announcement Made of
Progress in Work of Ma
tional Council

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24.-The official
announcement came today that the work of
sstandardlzing" the industrial plants all.
,sady offered for use TO the Government in
ease Of war is nearing completion Details
Al these plans must be withheld But the
oa1cials of the National Council of Defense
and its several auxiliaries frankly assert
,bat the result. when the need becomes i'm
perative, will be amazing to the people Of
the country.
The work now going on takes advantage
NJ the mistakes made by all OF the warning
European Powers. Probably the greatest Of
the national Industries TO be taken over
will be the 400 automobile factories and
auxiliary manufacturing establishments
throughout the country. When England
and France took over their auto plants
many months OF valuable time was lost in
determining what each could best be used
for Today the experts of the Government
are putting final touches on the exact statis-
tics covering each plant. What is being
done in this industry is being accomplished
IN every other.
, MENACE FROM THE AIR
The fact that virtually all of the NUM-
ton plants of the country are located on
the Atlantic coast where they would be sub
ject TO aerial attack has been recognized az
the greatest single menace to this country's
Preparedness plans Many of these plants
VIII De UnONtu at once IN Tne event that
the United States should be forced into the
war. Their places will be taken by other
lines Of industry whose plants will be taken
over and which will be moved from tho
great Middle West. These latter will pro
duce commodities which would not of neces-
sty be subject to attack by an enemy and
whose products are not necessarily vital to
the continuation of the national existence
Munitions plants. factories furnishing food
ltnC Il
forms and the like already have been dis
trcted by the experts of the council. Elab
crate transportation plans for their product
have been worked out. They will be re-
located at selected supply points and rail
road routes arranged so that one shipment
cannot interfere with another. The failure
OF the National Guard mobilization along
the Mexican border was due more than any
thing else to the fact that the auartermas-
ter depots of the army were located through
political pull instead of through efficiency
methods But the lesson learned in this
way has been taken advantage of. and the
score of cities on the Atlantic seaboard and
in the second line in the interior are so
located that supplies stored in them can
De moved anywhere at a moments notice.
ARMS PLANTS INLAND
Whether war comes or is avoided, it has
definitely been decided by the powerful
Council of Defense that the muntion fac
tories of the country must be moved in
land. In addition, they must be decen-
tralzed. At present the chief ones are
located at less than a score of places and
oil could be made the objects of a single
aerial attack by a squadron of seapanes
from point off the coast midway between
New York and Philadelphia. In shifting
them westward opposition is expected to be
encountered. But so far as the Govern
ment is concerned it will solve the problem
by simply providing for reserve plants
through giving annual small orders to plants
In other lines which will be sufficient to
educate their workers and whose plants
are not less than 450 miles inland. And
the munition companies are certain quickly
to take the hint. OF course. in case actual
war should come at the present time the
movement westward would have no opbo-
sition and would be aided by the corpora
tons affected themselves.
The plans of the Council of Defense. as
outlined by Howard Coffin. who Is one of
the influential members of the advisory
board, are summarized by hn in the fol-
lowing language:
Everything must be so provided for that
not a single thing needed by the army and
the navy from shoe laces to sixteen-inch
guns shall be left to chance, but shall be
turned out in uninterrupted quantities suf
fclent for any emergency confronting the
country"