The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-12-01
Special to The Dcmocrat)

Portland, Nov. 2s,-New England manufacturers must take the initla- tive in obtaining defense contracts or run the risk of going without Henry J. Nichols, chairman of the Massachusetts division of the New England Council and vlee-presIdent of the National Shawmut Bank, warned here Friday night.
 Those who wait for the Great White Father to find them and as- sgn them assign them e choice bit of dedfease work" he told inanu- fa:turers assembled from all parts Of the state in the annual meeting of the Associated Industries Of Maine at the Hotel Eastland, may And themselves up against 1t for business Of any kind"
 The Supply Priorltles and Alloca- tons Board, he said Is steadily working to develop full control of all critical materials. "The pinch of priorltles is being felt in all Of our non-defense industries, and allocations of raw materials are cer- tain to become more and more difll- cult" Manufacturers who are us- Ing strategic materials and who are not yet working on defense con- tracts' may soon face Q shutdown or serious curtallment of business" because of materials GllocationS elsewhere.
 "rhe best way out for such manu- facturerg," MT. Nichols declared, lis to begin now to find out what if any defense goods they can make, and not to sit back and walt until gome- one offers them Q defense contract. such an offer may come too late, Uncle Sam is now indu9,ry's largest customer, and competition for his business Is keen. It is Up to those who want defense work from him to compete for 1t as diligently as they ever worked, for private bud- ness"
 Navy Contracts
 Total defense contracts let In New England through October |, MT Nichols reported, amounted to S2, ,235 200, or which 60 per cent is In navy contracts, about 30 per cent In army contracts and the remain der in defense contracts by miscel- laneous federal agencies.
 However, when we realize that barely one-sixth of New Engiand's l6000 manufacturing plants are at present working, directly or indi- rectly, in defense production, 1t is apparent that we still have a tre- mendous amount Of unused capac- ity, Furthermore, many of our plants now on defense work are not yet running three shifts, and quite a few have yet to put on second shift. This means still further capacity for production when the pressure becomes great enough" At present the major problems appear to be those of getting the contracts that defense agencies wish to award, ard then finding enough skilled workers to complete the contracts, the speaker said. The New Eng land Council, the Maine Develop ment Commission, manufacturers associations and chambers of com merce are collaborating with federal agencies for the solution of these problems.
 Now if the administration dem- orstrates Its earnesJneSS for greater defense output by suhmerging strikes as usual at least for the duration of the emergency,-we can hope that the production time now lost by disputes will be applied to producing the tools that Churchill so e.oquently pied for when he said: Give us the tools and we'll finish the job
 That the American temper was rapidly rising was evidently realized by John l.. Lewis when he so sud- denly agreed last Saturday to re- spond to the Presidents request to submit his case to arbitration.
 Threat of Strikes
 However, for one do not be- lieve the danger has passed and I am in favor of our citizens continu- ing to urge the New England sena- tors and representatives to enact legislation that will eliminate the threat of both strikes and lockouts, pending the achievement of the ob- jectives to which this nation stands committed by its defense program.
 'No one group can long profit at the expense of the other groups in- volved in the great economic pro- cesses Of production and distribu- ton. The consumer always pays the bill and we, each and every one Of us. are consumers. When we are compelled to cut down our pur- chases for the lack of money with which to buy - then the whole economic process slows down and uncontrolled imitation can and will bring that process to a stop.
 "A vigorous policy and program of economy in high places to the end that all necessary expenditures will be directed to the success of