Evening star., 1927-10-09

from that procurement work and allow them to
take their place in the circle of operations Under
such plan it will not be necessary for half Of
the Army to be far away from the fighting, trying
to keep the other half supplied.
AS an illustration of the care with which civil
ians have been recruited for Reserve officers in
these procurement areas for two years the Amer
lean Engineering Council has been working with
the War Department to get men Of proper train
ing experience, background attitude and spirit
who would recognize this as a patriotic oppor-
tunity. In each large center committees of recog-
nized engineers were organized to recommend
those who would make high grade Ordnance Re.
serve officers These committees were given care
full instruction to the type of men wanted, the
War Department wrote its specification for the
sort of it needed. and the engineers. who
knew all about them, picked the best men for the
jobs.
Each one of the more than zoo, 900 different
items which the Army used in the World War
and many others which included in the re-
uurements for a future have been traced
back to their source of raw material. Through
these IA procurement areas the peace-time manu-
featuring plants Of the land being prepared
to produce all of these articles promptly, in what
ever quantity may be needed, with the load care
fully distributed not to any economic
disturbance. shift of labor steady flow Of sup
plies to the civilian population The big thought
is to let American industry know just what it's
wartime task will be and to be prepared to do it,
Heretofore it has had to make it's plans in the
dark if at all.
Surveys of all the plans in each of the II areas
are being constantly made. The general staff Of
the Army tells what their requirements will be-
These chiefs and executive officers of the several
supply services in these IA areas know what the
plants can produce, and the order is allocated
in consonance with the facilities.
In this program of having the thousands OF
units that make up the industrial life of the Ma.
tion-each individual factory-always ready to
take up it's share of the load, there is no
thought of governmental interference to the point
of telling business how to run its own affairs
Business recognizes this and is cooperating 100
per cent. 1t wants to be free of the fear of what
might happen, did happen in the World War.
when some bumptious officer ruthlessly dictated
changes that ruined many industrial plants. It
wants gradually to make whatever changes are
necessary for a smooth shift to a war basis So
factory plans for war time are being made by the
factory executives in order to be ready to obtain
the right type of machinery and trained help to
make the particular product that will be aocated
to that plant.
And all this is done with one emphatic under.
standng-that in America is not money.
making proposition, and that the plants that fur.
nish the Nation in times of peace must do it
also in time of war, and that there will be no
"bootleggng" interlopers. no "shoestrng" con.
tractors, no cost plus" favorites
X X X
Now across this industrial map OF the United
States there are four general and essential sup
plies for industry that must be provided for ana
distributed just as carefully the procurement
needs of the Army aocated-raw materials.
labor power and transportation.
Studies have been made by the War Depart
ment with the cooperation of industrial experts
and with the advice of all Government agencies, to
see how the raw materials should be allocated
For example, with regard to minerals OF major
importance in national defense, recommendations
prepared by the American Institute of Mining and
Metallurgical Engineers have been incorporated
bodily into the raw-materials program.
Surveys are being made to see if there is the
necessary labor in each of the procurement dis
tricts. For example, there may be talcum
powder plant in Springfield Mass. This is not a
war necessity. But the same machinery and the
same personnel be used just well to pro-
duca some ordnance requirement-so perhaps half
of the force will be thus reassigned. Also in the
same locality there is doubtless great deal Of
retired labor that will be glad to do it's Bit in an