Evening star., 1938-12-18
u. 5. Defense Program
Will Provide Jobs
For Thousands
Steel and Allied Industries
Chief Beneficiuries
Of Supply Orders
By the Associated Press.

Several hundred thousand Jobs
may develop from Administration
efforts to strengthen national de-
fenses. informed military officials
estimated yesterday, although Pres
ident Roosevelt says business
pump printing" is not the purpose
of the program.
Increased orders for war planes,
guns and Army munitions, and an
increase in the pace of Warship
construction promise to give some
of the same stimulus to American
industry that has been provided by
rearmament in Europe
The principal direct beneficiarieS,
by all indications. will be the steel
and other industries closely con-
cerned. with shipbuilding and the
aircraft and allied plants.
Preliminary Effects.
Here are some preliminary ef-
fects, together with estimates from
official and semi Official sources as
to results of the program later:
/. A $150,000,0 900 increase in the
Navy's funds for Shipbuilding-
which Mr.. Roosevelt has forecast
would mean new work for a year
for 81 900 persons, on the basis of a
Labor Department estimate.
2. Administration plans for Suffi-
cient war plane orders to assure top
speed operation of aircraft factories
involve an early expansion of en-
ployment in this industry from some
$4,000 to $4,000 or more.
g. This years War Department
appropriations already have brought
f1vefold increase in Army ord
nance orders to steel and other
manufacturing plants. Further
more, the President is expected by
some advisers to ask Congress to
accelerate still more the production
Of anti-aircraft guns, semi-auto-
matte rifles and other weapons. In
addition to orders to factories, the
Army is contributing to employ
ment by construction of new bar
racks, hangers and other buildings
200 Civilian Pilots.
4. First steps have been taken to-
ward training an eventual 100000
civilian pilots and $4,000 aviation
mechanics as defense backlog.
Two naval establishments idle for
nearly two decades have been or
dered reopened for the purpose.
5. The fact the National Youth
Administration will direct the
training at the Charleston wv. Va
Naval Ordnance Plant and the New
Orleans Navy Yard, and numerous
proposals that the Civilian Con-
servation Corps be "militarized. !"
suggest at least some relief funds
may go to defense purposes.
The far-reaching ramifications of
Army and Navy purchases permit
only an approximation of their ef-
fects.
Warship construction is shared
about equally by commercial plants
and navy yards.
Call for Apprentices.
The Navy last week forecast its
construction would require increas-
ing the number of its civilian en-
ployes from the present level of
72,OOO to 100000 by mid-l941. A call
went out for more apprentices for
the skilled trades.
The Navy reported that at its
yartls new warship construction
has swelled employment already to
these figures:
Portsmouth, 3.3l1: Boston, 3,503:
New York. 6,702: Philadelphia, g.
25s; Norfolk, 6,l20; Charleston, a.
003; Mare Island, 5,323, and Puget
Sound, 3,811.
In addition, 1,764 were at work on
November l at the Naval Aircraft
Factory, Philadelphia, and other
thousands were employed at the
Washington Navy Yard, where biz
guns are cast, and in Hawaii, the
Philippines and elsewhere, where
repairs are made.