Evening star., 1941-12-13
Intensive Speedup
OF Anti-Aircraft
Production Ordered
Industry Requested
To Waste No Time
During Holiday Season
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
The Office of Production Manage
ment has ordered an intensive |
speedup in production Of anti-air-
craft weapons. it was disclosed yes
terday, and has requested the in
dustry to avoid wasting IAN hour Of
machine or assembly time" during
the holiday season.
w. H. Harrison, o. P. M. produc-
ton chief, told a press conference
the anti-aircraft manufacturers at
tended conference earlier this
week on the speedup program. In
a supplementary letter, Mr.. Har-
rison told the manufacturers that
these guns are essential now and
each gun or part produced in your
plant today can be mounted tomor-
row"
The appeal held good, he asserted,
for all war industries.
Outbreak of the war and the pos
sibility of air raids on this country
served to place increasing emphasis
on anti-aircraft gun production, Mr..
Harrison said, although o. P. M. be-
gan on Monday concentrated drive
to speed up defense schedules on
virtually all military and naval
items, particularly combat SHIPS
and airplanes, explosives and ma
chine tools.
1000 Planes a Month.
Mr.. Harrison forecast that Britain
and the United States together
would surpass Germany in warpiane
production by next summer. This
fall, he said, more than 1000 planes
month were rolling of assembly
lines at 26 plants in this country.
Reviewing the Nations production
situation as of its entry into the war,
he recalled that during the first II
months of this year the Navy COM
missioned 27 major combat vessels,
| launched Al and laid the keelS for
! 1913 others.
Included in these figures were 2
battleships, aircraft carrier, IA de-
stroyers and 10 submarines actually
commissioned. and battleships,
cruisers, 10 destroyers and l3 sub
marines launched. Keels were laid
for 2 more battleships, 3 carriers.
80 destroyers and 25 submarines.
Although actual ordnance produc-
I ton figures are military secrets, he
said rifles and machine guns now
were being produced at the rate OF
thousands daily.
At the end of November, it was
learned, the Nations tank produc-
tion-including all types-ranged
around the 600-a-month level.
Meanwhile the Supply Priority
and ALLEGATIONS Board said that it
had developed a program which
would insure adequate supplies for
military needs of those raw ma
terials imported from the Pacific
area even if American access to
overseas sources of supply is cut OF
entirely
| At four meetings this week. the
agency disclosed. it reviewed stock
piles of tin, rubber. chromite, and
other vital materials normally
brought in through Pacific trade
routes. Within a few days, the an
nouncement said, detailed sum-
mary of this program will be made
public"
S. p. A. B. urged Congress to au-
| thorize immediate construction OF
! the Douglas Dam in Tennessee, or
dered a new effort to arrive at sat-
isfactory policy of aiding small, bus
mess, and announced that previously
! planned public hearings on copper
production would not be held be-
cause of war pressure on Govern
ment officials.
Project Called Vital.
| In officially backing the s30000,-
900 Douglas Dam. S. P. A. B. de-
clared that the power project lis
vital to the war effort and the new
bomber program now being under
taken will be seriously hampered
without it."
Experts have agreed unanimously,
S. P. A. B. continued. that this dam
is the only means whereby large
new source of electric power can be
made available as early as the spring
of 1943.
The Senate, however, declined yes
terday to approve the project. 1t
recommended four smaller dams in
stead
The announcement of a new effort
to assist small business, suffering
under material shortages. indicated
for the first time that proposal
for fiat ALLEGATIONS to non-defense.
industries had been turned down
Such a plan, contemplating estab-