The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1940-05-31

Mr.. Roosevelt In effect, is dele
eating major powers TO two indus
trialists OF proven ability - General
Motors Corporation president, VII
liam s. Knudsen, and United States
Steel Corporation chairman, Ed
ward r. Stettinius, Jr. But Mr.
Roosevelt stu held the guide rains
firmly.
That fact was made clear dur
ing the 85-minute initial confer
ence yesterday when Mr.. Roosevelt
assigned the defense commissioners
to their new jobs.
Knudsen, hard-headed genius In
mass production, asked Mr.. Roose-
welt directly, who Is TO be the boss
OF this commission"
Mr.. Roosevelt replied, Il am"
Knudsen, 1t was understood had
indicated clearly In advance that
he would not accept the job II the
commission were 10 become an ad-
visory council without the power TO
cut red tape. After receiving MI
Roosevelt's assurances that he was
establishing the defense commits
sion for results, not stage-dressing
Knudscn repeatedly pledged his CO.
operation and signed up for the
duration"
Mr.. Roosevelt gave assurance that
"in effect" at least, the industrial
coordinators will have strong adj
ministrative powers, He said at his
press conference later that In re-
arming America the commission will
not have to depend on voluntary
cooperation alone, but "in effect
will have powers to cut red tape,
iron out kinks In vital industries
and eliminate bottle-necks TO speed
up production.
After their initial meeting with
Mr.. Roosevelt, the defense coordln-
ators spent an hour with one OF his
executive assistants, w. II. Mercy
nods, and decided TO meet here
again next Thursday. Several Of
them. including Knudsen, returned
to their private businesses, while
Stettinius stayed here to begin
work. They will have Offices In the
Federal Reserve Board building.
Following, Mr. Roosevelt said, Is
how the defense coordination pro-
gram will work.
RAW MATERIALS, PRODUCTION
stettinius, the steel-man, will
hare full charge OF raw materials;
Knudsen OF fabricaling them into
fighting planes, motors, machine
guns, tanks, gun powder vehicles
for transporting troops and guns,
ana all the other implements OF
modern mechanical warfare,
sitettinius will control the speed
up OF mining Of iron ore, It's con-
veyance to shelters, It's processing
into iron ingots or steel plates, His
rules will apply 10 other raw ma
tei1als such as cotton, coal, man.
ganeze, rubber.
Once the raw materials are ready
for processing, Knudsen assumes
control. His assignment envisages
assembly lines TO produce fighting
planes, for example, on the same
big scale that has made possible the
building OF 10000 automobiles daily
Their first problem Is TO ascertain
priority requirements OF the armed
forces In Mr.. Roosevelts SIS 900 000,-
600 OBJ re-armament program
From army, navy and marine corps
specialists, they will receive speci-
flcations for tanks, planes, guns and
other implements. Knudsen then
must locate spare production faclli-
ties capable OF fabrIcating the items
or, II such facilities do not exist,
mako ARRANGEMENTS To build new
plants.
Knudsen's big job will be sched-
uling: Planning so that parts OF
planes tanks, guns and similar
Items arrive at the assembly line In
the order of their assembly BY this
plan fabricator OF troop vehicles