Evening star., 1940-06-19


Charles G. Ross. re created
Council of National Defense, consist
ing of six cabinet members, the pre-
diction was made in some quarters
that the commission would be a
mere stooge to the cabinet. That
apprehension should have been al
layed by the inclusion in the COM
mission of such members as William
S. Knudsen, Edward r. Stettinius,
continued to be voiced here and
there that Messrs. Knudsen, Stet-
tinius, Budd, ct al would soon feel
the hamstringing effects of cabinet
interference.
Nothing of the sort has happened
| up to now. The council has not
even met, much less attempted to
tell the commission what to do. The
members of the commission regard
themselves as directly responsible to
the President and clothed with the
delegated authority of the presi-
Dental office. TIE commission itself
| has met only two or three times.
Each of the members has specific
job to do and each is doing it with
out any fuss or feathers. Such CO.
ordinating work as is necessary Is
done by the commissions secretary.
William H. McReynolds, one of the
| administrative assistants to the
President.
Knudsen Is Key Man.
The key man in the set-up is
| Knudsen, on full-time leave of alb
sence from his presidency of the
General Motors Corp. Knudsen has
charge of the vitally important pro-
duction end of the preparedness
/ program.
After the President had finished
outlining the program at his initial
meeting with the commission. Knud-
sen asked: Where do We head up?'
McReynolds, misunderstanding
| the question. began to explain that
the commission would have Offices in
the Federal Reserve Building.
II mean" said Knudsen, who is
| to be the boss?"
Il guess l am" said the President.
1t was on this specific under
standing of no cabinet intervention
between the commission and the
President that Knudsen and his
colleagues began work
Settling in at the Federal Reserve
Building, Knudsen in his habitual
soft-voiced manner said that he
wanted his four or five key subordi-
mates in offices close around him.
He wanted to be able to move from
one desk to another without waste
of time. That had been his way of
doing things, and he hoped he
would not have to change. He
didn't He turned down the swank
Office that had been assigned to him,
moved to plain and less commodi-
Gus Office, and thus got precisely the
layout he had in mind.
Enormous Energy Impresses.
Government officials who have
dealt with Knudsen in his new job
have been tremendously impressed
with his quickness at getting an
idea and his enormous energy.
Hes Viking, all right" said one,
referring to His Danish birth, and
another said. He goes around with
his coattails sticking out all the
time"
The notion seems to be prevalent
"a radio commentator put it out
the other day-that the need for
food abroad is going to require a
greatly increased farm acreage in
the United States. Nothing could
be further from the truth. The
condition is just the reverse of
what it was in 1914-15. The prob
lem then was to get new acres
into production to supply a vast
! export demand. Today, accord
ing to Government experts, the
farm plant is capable of meeting
all requirements. The problem
now is, and probably for a long
time to come will be. to find a use
and place for our farm products,
and to do this in way that will
support the parity-price farm pro-
gram. This, as it happens, is the
| particular task of one of the men,
bers of the defense commission
Chester c. Davis, former A. A. A.
administrator and now of the Board
of Governors of the Federal Re-
serve System.
No Food Shortage.
An official checkup now being
made from Washington to find out
the basic facts about all our farm
commodities has shown that in the
main our stocks are excessive rather
than scarce. The dollar exchange
of the Allies has been going not for
food but for airplanes and guns,
and there is no reason in the pre-
dictable future to expect an effec-
tive demand for food to be shipped
abroad except as purchases may be
made for this purpose by the
United States Government. The
problem, therefore. is not to stimu-
late production but to find ways to
move our products into consump-
tion-and that is problem to be
considered not alone in terms Of
foreign trade but also in terms Of
building up mass purchasing power
at home.
The problem, in fine, however
you look at 1t, Is one Of distribu-
ton. not Of production. There is
no shortage of food only an un-
even distribution Of food. No need
for expansion of the existing food
producing facilities is in sight. In
other words. say the experts, ignore
whatever advice you may have re-
ceived to bring the disused lower
40 or the front yard into produc-
ton on account of the war.