The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-03-21

for increasing
 Edson factory output In the defense preparedness drive.
 If the plan works, 1t may do o lot to spread defense money all over the country instead of concentrating it in the old, established factory areas from Worcester to Bridgeport, from New York to Baltimore, the steel and tool triangle from Pitts burgh to Cleveland to Cincinnati, the automotive area west of Detroit. Furthermore, If 1t works, 1t will save a lot of post-war grief, for labor will not have been concentrated in these small factory centers while this defense job is being done, then left to find It's way back to the small towns when It's all over.'
 Chester l.. Davis, who is agri- cultures representative on the de- tenSe commission. is one of the prime believers in this idea of spreading out the industrial area. Breaking ground for a new air- plane assembly plant In the mit- de west, Davis spelled out the idea behind putting such plants In Dal- las, Tulsa, Omaha and Kansas City. With farm production in excess of demand, there is available In this farm belt Q potential labor supply that has not ben tapped. Farm mechanics, with their knowledge of tractors and combines, make good shop mechanics now, with a mini- mum of training. And If these men can be put to work in their own areas, without mass labor migra- tons such as there were to Detroit In the boom times of the roaring POS, the sad spectaclcs of mass cX- otlus may Dc avoided when war pro- duction stops, e
 Housing facilities in the old h. dustrial areas will not be overtaxed and with new factories established In farm areas, they can be used for post war production on Q part time basis, permitting labor to con. tinue farm production on part.time basis. This Is long-range wishful planning, but 1t has It's merits. WILL COUNT
 EVERY DRILL
 The second phase of the program, finding more Idle machinery to do the defense job, involves making q new industrial survey of practically every machine in the country. Army tackled this Job in the '20s and '30s, and compiled q tremendous list of 10000 plants capable of being col,- verted to war supply production.
 The army, however. was inter. eSted only in prime manufacturers, firms with plants capable of making an entire line of products, or at least one complete product. When army or navy let a contract now, they sign with prime contractor and let him find his own ways and means to get the job done, but the facilities of these prime contractors have proved inadequate. Tho job Is 50 much bigger than the original army munitions board survey con- templated, that the survey Itself Is out of date. So 1t must be done again
 John D. Biggers, head of pro- ruction in O. P. M., has given that restrvey job to Robert L. Mehor- nay of Kansas City. With a staff of nearly 200 engineers spread through the country, the Mehor- nay organization will furnish a de- fense contract information service. If prime contractor in any one district hasn't the machines--if he has q bottleneck within his own plant, 1t will be the job of defense contract service to dig up sub-con- tractors with equipment to perform one operation, or to mae one com- plete part which can be shipped to the main plant for assembly.
 The service will involve a little spurring of prime contractors. If production isn't moving fast enough, the word will be passed on as to what sub-contractors should be used for parts service.
 Mehornay is right now in the middle of organization. Most of his l3 district managers have been named. Meetings are being held in various areas to acquaint local manufacturers with the scope of the service. Surveys already made Munitions Board. National Assoct- ation of Manufacturers, state, chamber of commerce, railroad and public utility statistics on industries in each areas--are being used. An- other month and the service will be functioning fully.
 REvIvEs j. GHOST TOWNS
 The labor end of this machine and factory mobilization Is to a certain extent duplication of the efforts of the defense contract ser- vice, or vice versa. But statistics gathered by Morris L. Cooke, an ir- dustrial engineer heading defense Farming Out" service of Sidney Hillman's labor division in the Na- tional Defense Council. show that out of the 5000 or more defense con- tracts let so far. totaling $il billion, il4 firms got s65 billion.
 As result of this concentration. there began a big raid on small shops for men and for machines. A prime contractor naturally would prefer to do all the job under his own roof, but if in so doing he dis- rupts all the rest of the national economy, then there is labor prob- lem involved.
 Bringing industrial ghost towns back to life, getting the unused 50 per cent of America's men and