Evening star., 1941-11-24

work of all the other agencies.
The o. p. M. has the central job
of directing American industrial
genius into the channels of defense
production and of preserving as
much as possible the economic life
of all industry in this period OF
| stress.
1t is such a large organization, so
divided and subdivided into bureaus
and offices, that a statistician in the
o. P. M. headquarters spent two
days obtaining the figures on the
personnel and budget of the va
rious divisions for this reporter.
At length a set Of figures was pro-
duced by a willing public servant
who gave up holiday to the task,
but the initial request for the in
formation brought the observation
at the outset that it was dificult to
keep abreast Of those matters.
Spirit of Determination.
The seat of the o. P. M. is the
Social Security Building at Fourth
street and Independence avenue
S.W. 1t is busy place, where the
corridors are alive with hurrying
clerks and visiting businessmen.
The whole atmosphere Is one of
intense determination to get big
job done, but Washington is filled
with stories about the red tape en-
countered by businessmen who find,
on arriving here, that nothing can
be done as quickly as they hoped it
would be-
Some of hte o. P. M. spills over
into Temporary Building E on the
Mall and some of it is located at 426
Indiana avenue NV. On Indiana
avenue is the Division of Defense
Contract Distribution headed by
Floyd B. Odlum. This is the 0. P.
M. subdivision created in order to
protect the interests of the little
business man." who feared extermi-
nation by the emergency.
Mr.. Odlum has an Office of SO
men and women to defend little
business, whereas 10 times this
number work in the Division of Ad-
ministrative Services. which for o.
P. M. manages personnel, keeps the
accounts. supervises service en-
ployes, distributes typewriters and
other Office supplies and oversees the
| telephone service.
All of ". " NJ. operates with a
personnel of 5000 Ind on budget
of $4,000, 900 a year, and more than
81 10000 of this is allotted to the
Division of Administrative Services,
with $50 workers. 1t spends 81 ,000,-
900, in other words, to help a $10,-
100000 agency perform its share of
the task of spending the $4,000, ,000,-
900 which has been appropriated for
defense purposes since May, 1910.
o. E. M, too, has an Office of Gen.
tral Administrative Services, which
performs a job much like o. P. M.
Administrative Services function for
all the o. E. M. bureaus except o. P.
M. Its budget is s3,000,000. This
was the duplicate arrangement
evolved by the functionary officials
of o. E. NJ, chief of whom is Wayne
Coy, liaison man to the President,
| ouO Az 40 SOliVllldSu Will dp.
proval of Congress. Sidney Sher-
wood, director of Central Adminis-
trative Services, told the House Ap-
preparations Committee he thought
a merger of the two similar Offices
would be worthwhile, but Congress
ordered no change.
During the hearings last summer
on the o. E. M. appropriation, Rep
resentative Woodrum. Democrat, of
Virginia, asked Mr.. Sherwood:
I'm view of the fact that there
appears to be some duplication, can
you give us any information on that
point?"
Mr.. Sherwood: "Mr. Chairman, I
do know that considerable funds
could be saved by consolidation
Representative Taber: Would
there be any loss of eff1ciency?"
Mr.. Sherwood: mo, sir. There
cannot be, Mr.. Taber. Every dupli-
cation that you eliminate should IN
crease efficiency"
But nothing came of 1t.
O.P. Ms Major Divisions.
The major divisions of o. p. M.
are the Office of Director General
william. Knudsen), 6 employees,
$l4,760 a year; Office Of Associate
Director General (Sidney Hillman)
8 employees, $25,600 year; ONCE Of
the Secretary Herbert Emmerich)
% employees, $64,440 a year; Legal
Division, Priorities Division, 406 en-
ployes; Production Division, 507
employees; Bureau of Research and
Statistics, Materials Division and
Division of Civilian Supply.
A few other units have long names
but brief duties, like the Bureau OF
Clearance of Defense Industry Ad-
visory Committee and the Bureau of
Industrial Conservation. o. p. M.
also is the homqof the Presidents
Committee on tFSir Employment