Omaha daily bee., 1918-12-22
PUTTING AUTO
BUSINESS BACK
TO PEACE BASIS
Reimbursement from War Work
Totaling More Than Billion
Dollars Requires Months
OF Effort.

ceived here show that automobile
manufacturers are bending every
energy to readjustment of their
affairs for production of their reg
ular lines as speedily as possible,
A This involves restocking with mate
y rails and parts, Encouragement and
retooling of machinery, the refinan-
cling OF car and parts makers making
contracts with new distributors and
dealers, getting out new trade litera-
ture and advertising matter and a
clearing out of their plants of fin
ished and partly finished war prod
uets and materials to make room
Tor civilian passenger car and truck
stock and work,
The industry cannot resume work
where it was stopped, Just as the
plants were filled with passenger car
and truck parts and GLASSES in all
stages Of manufacture, from raw
stock to completely assembled, up
holstered and painted cars, and re-
CURED many months to get into
production of various war articles,
so reconversion means a great deal
of physical effort to prepare for and
get into prewar production,
Must Restock Quickly.
The process will be greatly facil.
ilated ii there is prompt settlement
by the government under the war
contracts and procurement orders
which have been and will be can
!, eelled, so that the manufacturers
will have the necessary money and
credit to restock quickly with ma
terials and parts and thereby hold
their workmen during the transition
period, but it there is any consider
able interval of uncertainty and de-
lay in making settlements, complete
resumption will be greatly hindered. |
Those companies whose war Or
ders were for their regular models,
such as some of the truck manufac-
turers, will have little, if any, diff
Guilty in getting into production on
orders for civilian use, except some
unavoidable loss of time in securing |
delivery of certain engines, trans
missions. axles, springs and few
other parts the manufacturers of
which were heavily engaged ON war
orders.
Others To Take Longer
Other truck makers who had large
contracts for the standardized B
truck or one or two models of their
own trucks, will have more trouble
getting into full production of their
regular models and the sizes that
were suspended to make way for
those needed for military use.
Greatest difficulty will be expe-
rienced by those passenger car COM
panies which endeavored patriotical-
ly to comply with the request of
the war industries board to liquidate
their stocks of parts and materials !
and get on 100 per cent war basis
by January |. The facilities of
number were already fully absorbed
lin war work entirely apart from
passenger car production, while
many others were fast approaching
that condition.
Working Day and Night.
Such plants were working day and |
night shifts on a long list of army
and navy materials which required
special machinery and a readjust-
ment of the whole plant. This list
includes airplane engines, tractors,
tank parts, IS m. m. and is m. m.
shells, adapters for shell fuses, gun
carriages. naval gun mounts, gun
recoil mechanisms, artillery wheels,
water carts and escort wagons, mine
anchors, depth bombs, airplane
bombs. grenades, balloon winches,
torpedo directors, submarine
chasers, filters, handling trucks for
seaplanes, and so on,
These we're in addition many thou
sand motor trucks, ambulances, Of
fcers' cars, trailers and electric in
dustrial trucks, orders for which ran
into many millions of dollars. Nearly
AYSruck companies have built and
delivered motor trucks for the army |
and navy, aggregating upward of
10000, most of which have gone
overseas.
Fifty Per Cent Basis.
Automobile and truck companies
that were engaged from 50 to 100
per cent of their capacity on war or
ders when the armistice was signed,
November II, include Mitchell, ,
Buick, Ford, General Motors Truck,
International Motor, Interstate,
Locomobile. Nordyke & Marmon,
Overland, Packard, Paige. Pierce,
Root & Vandervoort (Moline), Sim
plex. Studebaker, Velie. White and
number of others. More than ~
companies holding membership in
the National Automobile Chamber
Of Commerce were at work on gov
eminent orders, the total value of
which amounted to more than
S1.O00000,00 0-equivalent TO W per
cent OF the whole value OF the output
OF motor vehicles by the industry in
|. ol7. .,..
~ Increased efficiency and facilities
and experience gained in war work,
such as manufacture of airplane en-
gines and shells, requiring a high !
degree of engineering skill and &C
curate machine work, will be OF value
to the industry after the transition
period and should result in improve
ment of cars and trucks and in
creased production of both. Thus
while the industry may suffer tempo
rarily because of its patriotic efforts
to help win the war in the shortest |
possible time and with the smallest !
sacrifice of lives, in the end both it
and the general public will derive
benefits therefrom. The best thought
is that there soon win be large pro-
duction and full employment of la
al t;prs with consequent |