Norwich bulletin., 1917-10-18
STATE COUNCIL READY TO AID MANUFACTURER
In Complying With Rules Laid Down
 by National Priority Board.

The government at Washington, through the council of national defense has established rules of priority in iron and steel products closely affect ing the industries of this state, and the Connecticut state council of de- fense announced Wednesday that 1t Is ready to aid the manufacturers of the state with information and advice con corning the new arrangements. The Connecticut council has been closely interested in the question of establish ing a priority system and was the first of the various state councils Of the country to urge the council of na- tional defense to establish a priority board.
 The new priority rules in steel and iron provide, in effect, that all work done by industrial concerns through out the country be classified into three general groups known as Classes A, B and c. All orders for war materials, munitions and other implements of warfare are listed under Class A. Or ders for work of public interest that are not necessarily concerned with the conduct of the war are listed in Class B. and everything else is listed in Class their subdivided into Classes Al, AZ, B1, B2, etc.
 The classifcations are determined by the priorities committee of the war industries board of the council of na- tional defense at Washington on appli- cation by the manufacturers concern ed, who must state the nature of the material they need and of the order or orders to be filled. The war industries board then sees to it that the various orders take rank and precedence ac- cording to their listed order. orders in Class Al, for example. taking prece- dence over all others and materials needed for the filling of such orders taking precedence over material of the same kind required for any other work.
 Connecticut, on account of the num- Der of it's industries which are closely related to the conduct of the war is laid down at Washington. A very large proportion of it's industries are -di- rectly interested in the priority rules laid down, although steel and iron products are the only ones regarding which rules have yet been made. be- cause of the number of factories in this state which fabricate steel and iron into munitions and other material of warfare.
 The views of the state council of defense were expressed to the national council early in July in a resolution strongly urging the establishment of a national priority board and pointing out that such 3 board. to be highly successful should have wide duties and wide powers. The esta blishment of the board, it was urged, would aid the manufacturers of the state greatly in securing final authoritative infor- nation on the kinds and quantities of production which the federal govern r,ent will want of Connecticut" The statement also pointed out the diff culties facing Connecticut in the mat ter of obtaining and distributing the skilled labor required for munitions and other manufactures so that vital industries could be cared for without necessarily crippling those which are only indirectly essential to the nations welfare.
 The Connecticut state council of de- fense is willing and ready to do all in it's power, it announces to aid manu- facturers in complying with the rules laid down by the national priority board by giving what information it has at hand or is able to procure and by helping concerns to get the priority to which they may be entitled