Evening star., 1941-06-28

guessed wrong David Lawrence.
on aluminium requirements because
it relied on figures furnished by the
Aluminium Co. of America. Yet not
a scintilla of evidence was intro
duced showing what estimates of
aluminium needed were made by the
War and Navy Departments which
in turn furnished figures to the
o. P. NJ.
The attack on the Office of Pro-
duction Management is unfair. The
fact is that the Army and Navy
officers were responsible for estimat-
ing military needs. The headlines
which blame the o. P. M do an
injustice. The Senate committee
could revealed all the facts very
easily by getting at War and Navy
Department records but for some
reason not easily explained there
seems to be a concerted movement
to attack the o. P. NJ. as in collu-
sion with the aluminium company
and. of course, the campaign to dis
creit the latter is getting to be one
of the major scandals of Washing
ton. Just what is behind the drive
Is not clear, but the persistent at
tempts to argue that the aluminium
producers are responsible for know
Inc 1i1ito ntNI
the President himself is not ex-
planned on the simple ground that
an attempt was allegedly made to
prevent new plants from being built
as competition for the major pro-
duCer.
What it begins to look like, is that
persons interested in new power
plants in different parts of the
country are agitating the aluminium
shortage in the hope of getting
public funds for more plants with
which to generate electricity.
Says Errors Are Glaring.
The Senate committee report has
In it some glaring errors. Thus the
statement is made that Germany is
producing both in her own territory
and that which she has occupied ap-
proXimately 915.OOO, 900 pounds of
aluminium annually. Yet the United
States Bureau of Mines, which is
the most reliable source of figures
on world production Of metals, saws
in It's review of metals for 1910 lust
issued week ago that Germany and
Austria combined had an aluminium
production of about 529,O00,0 900
pounds and that the subjugated ter
rltory has production of 242 2,000,-
600 pounds. This covers Norway,
France, Italy, Yugoslavia and Hun
gary, making grand total under
Nazi control of 771OOO.O0O pounds.
This is a serious disparity. The
Senate committee would appear to
be 145 100000 pounds wrong, or an
error of nearly 10 per cent.
Now the production of the United
States by the end of the present
year will be at least 80OO 100000
pounds as estimated by the Bureau
Of Mines. The Canadian production
in 1910 was about PAP 900 900 pounds,
so there is total aluminium capacity
of more than 1,00O000,00O pounds
available on the North American
continent as of the end of this
year.
Sees Another Error.
But the Senate committee report
errs in another particular. 1t does
not tell all of the story. merely con-
tenting itself with one side. 1t does
not tell the American people that
the total consumption in the United
States per annum from 1882 through
1888 was only about 161000,000
pounds for all purposes and that
the Roosevelt Administration which
was in power coincident with the
Hitler regime, did nothing about the
aluminium problem while Hitler was
building up his capacity for pro-
duction. Nor does the Senate COM
mittee eport-Which seems hardly
to have been examined carefully
by all its members-reveal that in
1899 the total American consumption
was about 329 100000 for civilian and
defense purposes.
Had these figures been revealed,
the public might have formed its
own conclusions as to whether the
aluminium company was stepping up
production in accordance with de-
mand, or was trying to discourage
competition as claimed.
Perhaps the most important piece
of information, which strangely
enough has been omitted from the
Senate committee report, is the
fact that last autumn the War and
Navy Departments estimated that
for the calendar year 1941 they
would need 100000 pounds of
aluminium per month inasmuch as
their defense orders for aluminium
In 1910 had averaged only 100000
pounds per month. 1t was not
recorded by the Senate committee
that the aluminium company nearly
doubled the War and Navy Depart
ment's estimates and planned its
production on the basis of 27,O00,000
pounds per month for defense for
the months of January, February,
March and April, 194l. Then came
the stepping up of the airplane pro-
gram by the President and the
actual orders placed averaged 40,-
100000 pounds per month or 480,-
100000 pounds per year.
Thought There Would Be Enough.
Naturally with orders for 48o,0o0,-
900 and an actual production Of
about 600,OO0,OOO pounds, the alumni
mum company officials and o. P. M
sxeoutivec all thoupht there would