Evening star., 1936-04-20
SENATORS FAVOR
j. s. TAKING OVER
ARMS FACTORIES
Munitions Group Majority
Urge Federal Supply of
Own Needs.
MINORITY is OPPOSED
TO NATURALIZATION
Supplemental Report Fears Local
Political Pressure for Full
Capacity Production.
BACKGROUND

BACKGROUND
For nearly tWo years, Senate
committee probed financial Set-up
OF munitions manufacturers and
maritime operations of American
fnlnciers
Last Winter, political tempest
broke oUer investigation as Senate
Democrats bitterly assailed Chair
man Nye for introducing evidence
rejecting on maritime President
Wilson. Peace Das made subse-
Quently, but the committee cur
tailed activities from then on.
BY the Associated Press
The Senate Munitions Committee
recommended in majority report to-
day the naturalization of enough in
dustrial plants to produce warships.
guns and powder for the peacetime
needs Of the Army and Navy.
1t was a split committee that
handed in the report. however. for a
minority protested that naturalization
was not desirable.
Supporting the majority views were
Chairman Nye and Senators Clark,
Democrat, of Missouri; Pope, Demo-
crat, of Idaho, and Bone, Democrat,
Of Washington. The minority view
was presented by Senators Vanden-
berg, Republican, of Michigan; George,
Democrat, of Georgia and Barbour,
Republican, Of New Jersey.
THE committee majority" the re-
port said, recommends Government
ownership of facilities adequate for
the construction of all warships by the
Navy Department, also all gun forg-
ings, projectiles and armor plate and
of facilities adequate for the produc-
ton of powder, rifles, pistols and
machine guns necessary for the War
Department.
Political Pressure Feared.
THE majority believes that the War
and Navy Departments can produce
from their own ranks or employ sufd-
cient able technicians to operate these
plants successfully"
The minority said that if large Gov
ernment plants are erected there will
be inevitable local political pressure to
maintain these plants at full capacity
production regardless of actual defense
needs, and the result will be to en-
courage armament rather than dis
armament.
"The minority believes" it con-
tinued. that if all production be thus
concentrated in Government plants,
furthermore, there will be no adequate
corollary reliance, through private
manufacture, in the event of a war
emergency unless the nationalized
facilities are maintained at a needleSSly
extravagant and dangerous rate dur
ing peace time.
The minority believes, on the other
hand, that unless these facilities are
kept on a full-time production basis
during peace years the unit cost of
production will increase to a point
which will create higher costs to the
Government than would be available
through normal, private purchase. -.
Minority Favors Control
"In other words, the committee
minority believes that the public well
fare, from the standpoint Of peace,
defense and economy, can be better
served by rigid and conclusive NUM-
tons control than by naturalization
except in few isolated instances"
The report was the third in series
of eight projected by the committee as
a result of nearly two years Of investi-
cation.
Accompanying the recommendations
was a lengthy condemnation of the
methods of the munitions industry In
supporting a foreign market for its
output. In this, both majority and
minority groups united. Most Of the
findings in this section had been made
public previously.
Particularly the committee con-
demned sales methods employed in
South America, where, it was contecd-
ed, national interests and fears were
played against each other among the
republics with a view to increasing
sales of munitions by inciting war
scares.
While proposing naturalization Of
part of the munitions industry, the
majority decided against taking over
facilities for airplane manufacture
(See ARMS, Page A-2.)