The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-08-12

oAAA4OAAA6 SOeA40s. Then, along came the defense eff fort, and when MT. Penpoint Manu- facturer put in an order for ton of stainless steel - one lousy ton, mind you-to make his scribbers for export, the defense people cracked down on him, said he was running a non- essential industry, and to go make pens out of old tin cans or any other kind of scrap he could find.
 MT. Penpoint Manufacturer start ed telling his story, not in those precise words, but to that general lefect. Finally he found someone who would listen and who took his South America seriously, realizing that Made-in-U. s. A. penpoints were important in waging economic war fare. This party knew the right wires to pull and-P. S.-the manu- facturer got the necessary prefer ence rating and order for delivery of the ton of steel.
 This parable of the penpoint priorities is mentioned as an ex- ample of the kind of thing that isn't going to be allowed to happen in the future, by reason of the setting up of new machinery which will take care of just such cases. The job of seeing that the South Americans and all friendly, foreign nations get what's coming to them, i and that U. s. importers and ex- porters have no difficulty in getting the necessary priorities on supplies and shipping space has been given to the Division of Export Control, which is administered by General Russell L., Maxwell. Within the division, new clearance section has been created, and it will be the duty of this section to see that justice is done, and in hurry. < LOTS OF FINGERS
 IN THIS PIE
 AS matters stood before, half a dozen government agercies have their say-so on nearly every aspect of foregin commerce. The Depart ment of State must determine if the exports or imports are in agreement with trade treaties, blacklists and embargoes Army and Navy Muni- tionS broad must know if the deal complicates any defense work. Treasury must see that there is no violation of the frozen funds regu- lationS. Maritime Commission must determine whether shipping space is available. Office of Production Management must make sure that priorities are not interfered with, and the Office of Price Administra- tion and Civilian Supply must know the effect on U. s. military life. Department of Commerce must know all about foreign trade, and the Rockefeller Office of Inter American Affairs is the friend in court of all the South American republics. Under the old setup, an exporter or importer wanting to get clear ance had to sell all these depart ments separately. To say that what was left of U. s. foreign trade was rapidly being abondaned in the barbed-wire entanglements of all this read tape puts it mildly.
 Under the new setup, all of these organizations will have a represen- tative-a liaison officer-in General Maxwell's office. The eight agencies will then be able to put their OK or their NC on any of this busi- ness.
 DROP A LETTER
 The relief of this sinplified pro cedure to importers and exporters will obviously be tremendous. Talk ing the specific case of the penpoint manufacturer, all he will have to do when he wants his next ton of stainless steel is write to the clear ance section, Division of Export Control, Washington, D. c. He will get back an instruction sheet and the necessary forms. Pro- lperly filled out, these papers will go back to the Administrator of Export Control, and so fast are the wheels of the clearance section expected to ibe geared that the approvals and disapprovals will probably be ground out in a few days, instead of the weeks previously required.
 Getting all this red tape smooth ed out, by the way, is another one of the growing list of achievements of young Nelson Rockefeller. His division has been working on this problem for months, and finally put it over.