The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-10-15

pI1VdtCly IldS DceI1 argued
 a long time. Also, you cal
 The need for reorganization is daily becoming more insistent. With the preliminary tasks of set- ting up staffs, securing appropria- tions, and clearing up contract problems out of the way, the Commission now comes to grips with its real job-mobilizing the nations industry for turning out arms, munitions, planes, tanks, ships on a mass production basis, the key to Nazi military might.
 Judging from the tenor of be- hind-the-Scenes deliberations, the reorganization plan favored is not along the lines recently rumored. These were that the President was about to place the Commission un- der chairman to boss all its op- erations. One story had Leon Henderson, price control commis- sioner, slated for this place.
 This report is unfounded. Neith- CT Henderson nor anyone else is being considered for chairman be- cause the creation of chairman is not contemplated. An entirely different plan is being discussed. COORDINATOR NELSON
 As the Defense Commission is now set up, each of the seven commissioners acts more or less independently in his own field. The only tie-up among them is in- formal and confined chiefly to matters of general policy. There is no organized machinery to CO., ordinate the agency,s flung operations.
 Under the proposed revamping, the members would continue to hold equal rank and be responsi- ble for their individual spheres. But their activities would be CO., ordinated through two major changes.
 William Knudsen, soft-talking production wizard, would be re- lieved of all administrative bur- dens so as to concentrate his great talents on securing mass produc- ton. Functioning as Chief of Staff, he would be in charge of deciding what models, types, plants, etc., were to be produced to make possible the mass produc- tion needed for modern military effectiveness.
 The job of providing the in-
 gradients of this mass pr0duc-
 tion-raw materials, labor, trans
 pOrtation-w0uld be up to the
 other commissioners. And to
 keep this machinery running
 smoothly, Procurement Director
 Donald Nelson, bespectacIed managerial genius of Sears, Roe
 buck & Co.,, would be installed
 as Coordinator.
 He would act as the link be- tween Knudsen, mapping out the production blue-prints, and the other commissioners putting them into effect. Nelson would be the tie that is now missing and so ur- gently needed.
 NAZI LIFE PRESERVERS
 The thoroughness of Nazi prep arations for an invasion of the British Isles is revealed in a con- fidential report from military in- telligence sources in Surabaya. Java.
 Several months before the att tack on Holland, Germany pur- chased 5000 tons of kapok in the Dutch East Indies. The shipment went via Vladivostok to avoid British capture, and reached its destination during the summer.
 Lighter and more buoyant than cork, kap0k is used in life preservers; Is essential to their manufacture. Military experts estimate that on the basis of two pounds per preserver, the Nazis had enough kap0k tO equip an army of 3,O00.000 for crossing the English Channel.
 The sale, made ct e time when Holland was trying desperately to appease the Nazis, was through the Netherlands India Association Df Kapok Growers, which controls DO per cent of the worlds supply of the pod that grows on tree native to Java. At the time Of Ihe 3,000,ton purchase there was approximately ib.0O0 tons Of kapok available for export.
 ABSENTEE SENATE
 If the Congressional Record told Tho whole story, it would reveal hat Congress, during the past month, has been fed up with ils ,Wn feenions. Interest lhas been oW, attendance alaek, and mem- !