The Daily Alaska empire., 1941-01-09

that the country was failing to translate available money and on paper" plans into the actual imple- ments Of defense
 20 Per Cent Less
 Knudsen pointed to airplane pro duction, where plans called for an output of 1000 planes monthly by January. He said cnly 700 would be produced. Production of small arms. he said. was mo more than before the program started" because need ed tcols were not available.
 Ccincident with Knudsen's gloomy report, the army admitted the can l tcnment construction program was behind schedule, that it would be necessary to postpone planned in- duction of year-end draft contin- i gets
 Work Harder
 Knudsen said the FridaJ-to-M day "blackouts" in many key de- fense plants caused 20 per cent weekly loss in production and urg ed labor and industry to unite in some compromise to permit around he clock production seven day a week.
 Nelson was even more frank. He said: Labor must work harder and longer when necessary, capital must threw its resources into the fight.
 The "cn order"-but unbuilt- arms authorized by Congress has given the U. s. vast blueprint de- fense. Some 39.O00 planes were on order in December, but at the 700- a-month rate it would require all most five years to fill the order, making no provision for the plane aid pledged to Britain
 There were about 5000 tanks on order-but Knudsen said only four day were coming off production lines.
 29t Ships
 The two-ocean navy building pro gram authorized in 1940 called for construction Of 294 ships by 1945 to give the U. s. fleet of 70l fighting vessels. But the program caught U. | ,. shipyards shcrt of facilities. There were available only 80 shipways suit- able for naval construction. The pro- gram would require 300, so the navy had to spend $120,00O,000 to expand yard facilities before the two-ocean program could get under way. The peacetime draft was ma 1 jor precedent set in 1940. Despite scattered opposition, it went quickly through Congress. Five months af- ter France fell, citizen soldiers were going into training camps. l Original army plans called for l. 5c9,4 Al men in uniform by next July | 1. Whether training camp construc- tion delays will prevent reaching this goal was not known.
 President Roosevelt's trade with Britain of 50 average destroyers for Atlantic and Caribbean naval bases was another major defense act of | the year. Preliminary surveys were made and sites chosen. The Presi- dent, however, announced he was dissatisfied with at least one site. Majcr construction on the sites did not begin in 1940. s,
 Build Air F0rce tY a Other on-paper plans would ex- pand the air force to 350,000 men. Five hundred major air fields and $500 subsidiary fields were envision- ed in the army air program. At the end of the year work was barely un- der way
 Laws to permit the defense com mission to enforce priorities in man. ufacture of defense goods went on books in 194O. Many industries went on voluntary priorities basis, giv- ing the green light to all defense orders Civilian airlines were asked to yield engine production to arms needs.
 1. Rep. Howard Smith (D.-Va) sug- gested strike-curb laws to prevent defense work stoppages. William Green, AFL President, protested any abridgement of labors right to strike" and there was much pro and con argument whether social gains should be subordinated to defense.