The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1918-08-23
JOHN RUHM, JR.
WAR INDUSTRY
DIRECTOR HERE
MAURY COUNTY AND OTHERS IN
THIS VICINITY UNDER HIS
SUPERVISION.
EDGERTON STATE CHAIRMAN
Organization Is Means by Which Gov
eminent viii Distribute It's Orders
Among the Business Men of .hc
Country.

The Resources and Conversion Sec
ton of the War Industries Board has
been created under the authority of
the government, and Charles A. Otis,
former business man of Cleveland,
Ohio, has been made the Chief of the
section Mr.. Otis has divided the en-
tire country territorially into twenty
regions, and appointed a representa-
tive of the government in each region
who is to be known as the Reginal Ad-
visor. The region of which Tennes-
see is part with Alabama, Mississip.
pi, Louisiana and Florida, is Number
Thirteen, and the Reginal Advisor is
7. II. Aldrich of Birmingham, Ala.
Each state of the region has Chair
man, and the Chairmen of the five
states in Region Thirteen form the
Executive Committee for the region
j. T.. Edgerton of Lebanon is State
Chairman for Tennessee. Mr.. Edser-
ton has divided Tennessee into six
teen territorial zones, and appointed
Chairman for each of these zones
These Chairmen will in turn appoint
subj hairmen as they find necessary
for carrying on their work Each
unit of the organization Is self-sustain-
ing, and no man connected with it re-
ceives any compensation for his ser
vices.
Whatever any manufacturer or busi-
ness man may think of the plan, it
is established under the authority of
the government, and every business
man and manufacturer is expected to
give his hearty cooperation to the
work of the organization.
This organization is to be the ma
chinery by means of which the gov
eminent will distribute it's orders
among the business men of the coun-
try. The governments needs are
great, and will be constant Ninety
per cent of the war orders up to
this time have gone to manufactur srs
along the Atlantic seaboard, and in
the New England states. That has
been due largely to the fact that the
manufacturing establishments in
those states are large for the most
part, and were prepared to handle
large orders quickly when our nation
first went into the war and were To-
Gated near the seat of government,
where they were easy of access. Real
izing the inequity of this situation,
and the fact that this concentration of
orders resulted in the clogging of our
transportation system, the govern
ment has resolved to distribute its
orders in the future so that the peo-
pie Of all states will have an equal
chance. Furthermore, it is the pur-
pose of the government to try to dis
" ibu'C 10 OauClc 81 Llldl lIC SnbIl1Sl
hauls will be required for raw mater
ials and finished product.
Then too, the government is insist
ing that those manufacturing plants
that are not producing things directly
essential to the winning of the war
should put themselves on a war basis
so that they will not be forced out of
business by discrimination against
them in the matter of Transportation.
coal and raw materials.
1t is not yet clearly stated how
largely this new organization will be
used to serve these ends of the gov.
eminent, but each state organization
will be used as far as it's efficiency
will permit. In other words, it de-
wolves upon each state organization
to determine by its open efficiency
and spirit of cooperation the extent to
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