The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-12-14
WILL BE NO NON
ESSENTIALLIST
Manufacturers Need Have
No Fear at the
Present
LIMIT OF FACILITIES
FOR WAR WORK
Not Yet Reached-Difficult
to Know What Is Non
Essential

Washington, Dec. a. Manufacturers
who have. been depressed lest the govern
ment close their plants because they are
not making articles essential to war may
rest assured upon the highest authority
that no immediate interference with
them is contemplated. They had reason
to be frightened, for one of the numer-
Gus press agencies of the government
made public announcement that the war
industries board had compiled list of
some 500 non essential Industries and
that Fuel Commissioner Garfield had
listed about forty more. Immediately
hundreds of manufacturers, large and
small, were throw into panic and
Washington has been deluged with in
auiries and visitors to learn whether the
government contemplated putting any
concerns out of business. Not only were
the manufacturers disturbed but the an
nouncement affected them even more Sc
riously, for the war industries board has
learned that in several cases the banks
had begun to reduce the credit of manu-
! facturers in the belief that sooner or
later they would be closed out by order
of the government. Rumor piled upon
rumor as the story Travelled, sometimes
taking concrete form, as when word
reached the war industries board from
some unknown source that the state
council of national defense OF Connecti |
cut, acting under authority of the ma
tional council, was about TO order the
closing down of all non-essential plants
in the state.
IF list of non essentials ever has been
compiled, no one in Washington has been
able to see it. Even il there We're such
a list it may well be agreed that it would
be unwise to make it public, for several
reasons. First, no one is yet in posi-
tion to say authoritatively what is
non essential ad what is not. Candy, for
example. is regarded as a luxury, vet
sweets in some form are held TO DE a
necessity for the soldier 1t may be
conceded without argument that the
making up of feathers for womens hats
could be dispensed with during the war,
but that is not saying that feather es-
Establishments should be closed and the
trained fingers OF the workers lost to use-
full service Again. a list of so-called
non essential industries would include a
great many which, although perhaps not
dTIlCies OI use, HtF |
ertheless are serving a national purpose
in giving employment to persons whose I
service could be used in no other ca !
pacity. Moreover, if il were possible to /,
classify accurately and Justly every shop =
or mill which is producing articles, like )
toys or certain lines of iewelry, not nc =
tually necessary to life or TO military ;,
operations. the question would still re- !.
i'm mn date mad What ar fhana nr
Of them should be closed down
In any event, the government does not i
at present any disturbance =
If the so.called non.essental trades - =
lnless eventually t6 change the charac u
er of the work some of them are doing !,
md to use their skill and machinery =
ipon material which contributes directly n n
o the prosecution of the war The !,
whole subject has been taken up this !.
week by the council of national defense .
which has selected George y. Peck, rice
PRESIDENT of Deere g. Co. of Moline, Ill, 7.
is its industrial representative to meet !,
who have facilities which :,
nay be devoted to the production of mu 81 -
itions or other material required by the ~
government or the allies and TO consider -
o what extent such plants may or
hould be utilized for such purposes. Mr.. VI
eek will organize committee OF his =
wn to undertake this work and viii 4
elect his own assistant. Officially the 70
ommittee probably will be known as the
ureau of manufacturing resources.
With a few noteworthy exceptions, the
Dnduct of business in behalf of the gov
since the United States entered
he war has been marveously efficient
mt, of some $4,000 manufacturing plants
it'll production of more than So 600 if
ear, more than $4,000 already have Of XII
red their facilities to the government nj;
Idustry not only has been patriotic, but DO
has been so managed, both in its own CHI
fees and in those established in Wash me
gton by the government, that in many tai
mes the United States has accomplished ag
few months what it took England ba
I'd France years to do. There is still nv,
enty of ground for eriticism-and this mir
has not hesitated TO in cal
cate certai points where investigation liv
ould seem to be dvisable-neverthe- lea
IS, ii is a little diseouraging to business ves
EN- who have been trying to aid the ed
find in the PRESIDENTS an of
Ial message to Congress not one word ma
commentator of their efforts. but in We,
cad subtle appeal to the farming in Dir,
rests to support a program of general kid
ce-n&lngs ana lhe uhSraclous DECLARE twi
IN that 'the law OF supply and demand car
: been replaced by the law of unre- dea
rained selfishness.' III