The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-07-29

branches of a
 -.- family tree to q O connect up with other little boxes wherein are the second vice presidents and other stocges, each Of whose boxes have other little lines running out for departments, functions, assistant stooges and so on.
 Some of the diagrams are fairly simple, even in government, and each little rectangle is supposed to show at 8 glance what everybody does or is supposed to do., Others are so complicated they look like the wiring diagram for a super hterodyne radio set.
 Oflce of Production Manage ment, the Knudsen- -Hillman de- fense mechanism known as OPM, having seen recently, reorganized from 8 horizontal to a vertical basis, has just put out one of these new maps, and 1t is a dandy. This is what the country has been waiting for. This solves all the difficulties of defense. From here on, watch us go
 EVERY MAN IN HIS
 OWN PIGEON-HOLE
 The new OPM diagram isn't un- fortunately, a map of where every body's office is. 'You'll still have to ask at the information desk or get a wrong number or two in case you're looking for anyone in partic- ular. But 1t does show, down at the bottom, that the industrial world has been divided off into five main ub-divisions, from A to E, and 23 sub-sub- divisions, from aluminium to zinc, and miscellaneous mineral thrown in as the 23rd pigeon-hole, So if your troubles with defense production can be classified in any of these five main subdivisions, or any of the g sub-sub-divisions, you will find that there's 8 man in charge of each one.
 By and large, the new OPM or- ganization table is made up of pret- ty much the same gents you've been hearing about all year. Tn case you have had any doubt about it, the President is still No. l head man, in little box all by himself at the top of the chart.
 Next to the President, however, is a new outfit, the OpM council. This is made up of Secretary of War Stirnson, Secrtary of Navy Knox, Director Knudsen and Associate Di- rector Hillrnan. This is a little sirn- pler than the old defense council setup, and it is a little closer to what Bernard Baruch&h &has been con- tending ever since the Hast war, that there should be a War Industries Board directing the whole defense effort.
 DIVISIONS
 WITHIN DIVISIONS
 In the next step, however, the new OPM organization gees right back to what 1t has always been, with Knudsen and Hillman in charge, and under them the same old four divisions of Production, Purchases, Priorities and Labor under Biggers, Nelson and Stettinus and Hillman respectively. The old horizontal organization has been. preserved, in other words, and the vertical organization has been drop ped in its lap.
 Biggers, in addition to production, the contract service, conservation and taxes, is in charge of the new division B. Sub-diviSion A under w. L Bait. ST., takes in aluminium, magnesium, paper and pulp, chem icals, heat, light and power, and iron and steel.
 Subdivision B (Biggers) takes in aircraft, ordnance, motors and tools. Subdivision o, under w. H. Harri- son, takes in shipbuilding and con- struction.
 Donald Nelson, in addition to running purchases, the plant site board, contract clearance, specif1- cations and cost accounting, is in charge of the new subdivision D, with Douglas MacKeachie as deputy which takes in subsistence, clothing and equipment, drugs, and supply.
 Stettinus, in addition to running priorities, compliance and liaison, with Philip D. Reed as deputy is in charge of subdivision E, which takes in rubbers and cork, mica, gypsum, graphite and all the metals.
 Now this breakdown into com modity sections is 8 little closer to the Baruch plan, but where 1t misses the Baruch idea by 5000 miles is that there is still no one general boss of the whole defense effort, a chairman Sin whom is vested the complete and final au- thority and responsibility, subject to appeal to the President"
 Furthermore, the new reorgan- ization still leaves outside the OPM jurisdiction the matter of price fix ing and civilian supply, which re- mains as a separate body under Leon Henderson, equal in power and authority to OPM, and with only the President to appeal >to when there is conflict of authority, as there certainly must be.