Evening star., 1941-03-24
DefensetoMake
More
Jobs BeforeFa||
Knudsen Testifies
Half Will Be for
UnskiIIed Men
By ]. A. OLEARY.

the END OF the summer, Wlllldm >.
Knudsen, director of the Office of
Production Management, told the
Senate Appropriations Committee in
testimony released today.
In response to a question from
Senator OVerton of Louisiana, Mr..
Knudsen estimated more than half
of the 100000 new workers would
be unskilled. The number of skilled
men employed, he said. will depend
on how many can be found out of
work.
These new Jobs, Mr. Knudsen said,
will be in addition to 100000 created
since September.
When Senator Adams of Colorado,
in charge of the bill, pressed for
further information, Mr.. knudSen
continued:
1T Will even take more than that.
sir. We are going to put 100000
men TO work as fast as We can, be-
cause they are idle men at the mo-
ment. and we have a program We
are trying to make skilled men out
of unSkilled men and SemlSkilled
men, and when you hear about the
amount of tooling We require. that
is simply due to the fact that when
you fit man with tools you do not
need skilled man, an all-arOund
mechanic to operate that machine.
You can have fixture set and have
some skilled men set the machine
up and an operator will run it. That
is the only answer to quantity pro-
duCtion. In fact. the industry that
l came from was founded on that"
Spreading of Factories.
The hearings revealed a keen in
terest among Senators in spreading
new defense factories inland. and
Mr.. Knudsen told of efforts to ac-
complish that.
Asked by Senator Overton if un-
skilled labor will have to be trans
ported TO the defense plants, or
plants placed where labor is
available, Mr.. KnudSen said: What
you hear about mostly is the Ship
yards, located on the coasts. into
which some workers have had to
be transported. But in the latest
program. where standard ships are
to be built, the plan is to have
much of the propulsion equip
ment' built at inland machine shops.
We will then snip the parts
down to the shipvards and have
them assembled in the ships" he eX-
planned
Gen. Marshall Tells of Buying.
Gen. George C. Marshall. Army
chief of staff, told the committee
that all future buying for Britain
would be done by this Government
under the lease lend program. This.
he said. would make procurement
of defense articles more expeditions
and efficient.
Senator ByrneS of South Carolina
asked at one point what effect the
lease-lend program would have on
Latin American nations.
They are looking at this with
great deal of interest from two
points of view" Gen. Marshall re-
piled. "One is they are hopeful that
they can obtain some munitions as
we get the larger program under
way. The other is that they accept
this as a definite indication that
We mean business"
Greeks Needs Were Included.
The committee learned from Sec
retary Stimson that needs of other
nations. notably the Greek gov
eminent" were included when the
$1,000, 100000 total of the bill was
calculated
Secretary Stimson testified that 95
per cent of the weapons and NUM-
tions to be purchased under the
bill were of kind which could be
used by the United States in case
we were ever left alone to defend the
Western Hemisphere
Standardization of British and
American armaments, the Secretary
added, had resulted in acquisition by
this country of number of British
inventions, such as a new type of
tanks
In response to assertions by some
members that defense contracts had
not been distributed equitably among
various localities, Secretary Stimson
pledged every effort TO "decentral-
ize' the defense program so far as
possible.
Quizzed on Contracts.
Senator OMahoney of wyoming
asked Mr.. Stimson about a state
ment by Chester Davis of the Ma
tional Defense Advisory Council that
contracts amounting to $7,500,000,-
900 had been let between June l
and February /, and that 40 to 45
per cent of these contracts had
been given to six groups and their
affliates.
Eighty per cent, Senator O'Ma-
honey quoted Mr.. Davis as saying,
(see KNUDSEN, Page A-3)