Evening star., 1941-09-10
President Is Expected
To ToGiveS.P.A.B. Brief
Time 10 Prove Worth
New Shift Foreseen
Unless New Bourd
Succeeds at Once
BY RICHARD L. STOKES.

Priorities and Alloca tons Board.
President Roosevelt is believed to
have served final notice on the
warning chieftains to get down to
production at once and stop fighting
among themselves for personal
power or the victory of one theology
over another
Otherwise, it is predicted, the Pres
ident will appoint commander in
chief of the program to function as
total boss, with power to crack down
on politicians and selfish industrial
lists. and notify defense executives
to deliver war manufactures or get
out.
Mr.. Roosevelt is said recently to
have expressed keen impatience with
high officials of the program because
of their refusal to assume authority
and their custom of haunting the
White House to obtain his decision
as to minor items. like priorities on
freight cars. He is reported to have
complained that "Baruch never went
to President Wilson and bothered
him about trifles" The reference is
to Bernard M. Baruch, chairman of
the War Industries Board during the
first World War.
Nelson Stepped Up.
In the latest reorganization. il is
noted, William S. Knudsen, director
general of the Office of Production
Management, was stripped of policy
making functions except insofar
as he is one among seven men on
the Supply Priorities and Alloca-
tions Board, and that the admin
istration of priorities, chief weapon
OF the defense arsenal. was taken
from Edward r. Stettinius, jr., and
| transferred to Donald M. Nelson,
executive director of S. p. A. B..
Whether this body proves to be a
permanent solution of the pro-
duction muddle or merely another
expedient depends, by general agree
ment, on MIR. Nelson's toughness of
mind. S. P. A. BIS chairman, Vice
President Wallace, is likely to func-
ton chiefly as New Deal window
| dressing. Mr.. Nelson has been
warned that he must learn to stand
up to politicians and industrialiSts
alike; to say yes" or mo" accord
ing TO his own judgment and con-
| science: to make his decisions not
| tomorrow or next week, but i'm
medlately, and to stick to them
| once they are spoken. According to
report, Mr.. Nelson has undertaken
to fulfill these responsibilities, or
else resign.
His admirers. who are legion, de-
clare that as o. P. Ms director of
purchasers he became the ablest ex-
ecutive In the defense organization.
They point to his long and success
full experience as businessman. on
the Sears, Roebuck staff, and declare
that his mind has been equipped by
nature and training for precise and
resolute operation. On the other
hand, some critics are asking wheth-
er there is not ground for skepticism
in the fact that he is at once the
darling of the business world and
the New Deals favorite industrialist,
and whether this dual repute does
not betray tendency to wobble.
Backed by Baruch.
One of those hoping most fervent-
ly that Mr.. Nelson will succeed is,
strangely enough, Mr.. Baruch him.
self, whose recent pronouncement
that S. P. A. B. is only "a faltering
| step forward" threw a bombshell
into official Washington. If events
prove him to have been a fool in
making that attack, Mr.. Baruchs
friends quote him as saying, then he
will be the happiest fool in Amer
lea"
These informants state that Mr..
Baruch dislikes intensely the role
of critic which circumstances have
forced upon him. and that consti-
tutionally he prefers to praise rather
than blame. His outburst. on leav-
ing the White House last week. broke
a silence of many months. But he is
said to be convinced that the fate
of the world may depend on Amer
lean production, not year from
now. but today Therefore he is ex-
pected to pull no punches when he
appears soon as witness before
congressional committee.
The prediction is made that this
time the President will find 1t i'm
| possible to wait for months to find
| out whether S. P. A. B. will work, as
he did in the case of its two prede-
cessors. the National Advisory De-
fense Commission and o. P. M.
Depends on Production.
| Whether Hitlers invasion of Rus
| sia can be turned into his battle of
the Marne, opinion here is, hinges
essentially on the output of Ameri-
can factories. Should Russia be able
to hold out through the winter. the
task of American industry would be
| first to provide the British with
| tanks. planes and munitions for
| withstanding German thrust in
Africa and the Near East, which is
expected in the imminent future,
and second. to help replace by
spring the colossal losses of material
which have been suffered by the
Soviet Union. 1t is now recognized
that the last hope of the United
States to avoid a shooting war lies
in multiplying its production of
munitions for the governments re-
sisting aggression.
Should the President become con-
vinced in the next four or five
weeks that s. P. A. B. Is not likely
to do the Job and that he must
appoint a commander in chief of
the defense program, then there are
two names prominently before him
for choice as the "the Baruch Of
1941" The second is that of Judge
Robert P. Patterson, Undersecretary
af War, who has made flne record
as the Army's procurement chief.
The first name is unknown, except
it is said to be that of leading
| industrialist not connected as yet
with the rearmament effort. Popu-
lar surmise is that it may be either
Owen D. Young, Eugene M. Grace or
Alfred P. Sloane
Printed by special permission of the
| Post-Dispstch.)