Milford chronicle., 1941-03-28
America AT The
Edge Of War
Ship Construction Is At Post
War Peak With 594 Mer-
chant Vessels Now Under
Construction Or Contract.
by R. z. JONES


has been making history in recen
weeks and the authority and right
Of President Roosevelt have bee
settled by the acts of Congress.
The President has declared that tn
United States will oppose the wa
aims of Germany, Japan and Italy
and that 1--WE, the American peopl
are writing new history today,
and will carry on as the arsena
for democracy, and when (not if)
the Dictators are defeated, "thel
our country must continue to pla,
its great part in the period o
world reconstruction" Today, tn
United States is on the edge o
war, and the appropriation of $
billion is only the beginning of th'
cost of this tremendous undertak
ing
It seems proper that this Letter
should report to the leading lOca
newspapers in all parts of the ma
tion a few facts regarding the pro
gress of national defense.
The United States turned ovel
to the British, in addition to Tho
so over-age destroyers, up to Jan
uary, 1941, 1886 merchant ships
600, 900 rides, $4,000 machine guns
81, 900 anti-craft machine guns, 23(
tanks, IL million pounds of r. N
T., and tremendous quantities ol
other materials. Except for the de-
stIoyers, the British paid for ev-
erything in dollars.
In our swift beginnings the Uni
ted States has awarded $11 $780,
100000 of contracts for war mate
rials in the past months, and the
first so per cent were placed with
62 groups of companies, because
they were the only firms that could
make quick deliveries in eXcep-
tional quantities. Automobile man
ufacturers, airplane companies,
steel mills, shipbuilders, munition
manufacturers, tool companies,
lumber mills, mine owners, oil COM
panies, rubber producers and build
ers and contractors in a thousand
fields, turned their operations from
business as usual and cut-loOse
for national defense.
The Labor Division of the Ma
tional Defense Advisory Commits
sion says that million men and
women went back to work in 1910,
and that nearly 4 million more of
the country's unemployed will be
absorbed i'm defense endeavOrs.
There is always a lot of loose
talk during times of emergency like
the present to the effect that inter-
bankers and the big man
ufacturers are being favored by the
Government. An equally fictitious
alarm concerns the claim that the
United States is parting with the
of war and giving away
its ships, planes, and bOmbers to
Great Britain. 1t is very important
for the people to know that the
Army, Navy, Air Corps, and civil
ian officials who are directing poll
cies and creating speed and pro-
duction. are solidly back of Presi-
dent ROOsevelt's statement that the
machines and implements of war
ARE not for storage but for active
The spread of business in ma
tional defense is indicated by a
report that shows how
500 firms in the Ohio river region
we're able to turn manufacturing
plants that were partly idle in is
cities into full production. In an
Jther instance three counties in
he Shenandoah Valley of Virginia
)ooled the facilities of their manu-
acturing plants, which were 80 per
.ent idle, and landed enough sub
contracts to give every worker in
he region a job.
Seven Government agencies are
citing as a clearing house for
and other methods lin the |
elds of defense, labor supply and /
raining" In addition to a nation
vide Government employment SER
ice and vocational instruction in
chools, there is "on-the-job" train
ng to maintain a steady flow of
labor.
The War and Navy Departments
ave called for $50 new plants, or
liant expansions, in all parts of
be United States. Economic aid to
ghost towns" for small businesses
re provided in the Government
Ian of farming out" defense or
trs among thousands of smaller
hops.
Ship construction is at postwar
eak with 594 merchant vessels
ow under construction or con-
act, including six vessels ordered
Y the British.
The Federal Government declar- =
in the beginning that the un-
srlying labor policy must be
.rong enough to maintain "the ,
orale of our people" because that
a defense asset at least as vital ,
I'd significant as guns, tanks and
ane5.
The National Defense Advisory
reports: 1.-THE, Decem- {
# 1910 index of factory employ
ent alone reached the highest :
lint of any month in the proceed
q 21 years.