Evening star., 1941-05-19

v IL III Civ ny II
which S meant
the Army and David Lawrence.
Navy Munitions Board and the
o. P. M.-has worked out a fore
cast of machine tool requirements
for 194l and 1912 which, while the
most extensive ever known, has won
the applause of machine tool eX-
ecutives for its explicitness of detail
and clarity.
For several months now this cor
respondent has heard the complaint
that the trouble in doing business
with the Government on a war pro-
gram is that the Government
doesn't know what it wants The
comment has been made over and
over again by industry Tell us
what tools you want and we'll make
them"
Unfortunately it is Hitler who
sets the pace of this war. 1t is
the aggressor who really tormulates
the defense needs of his opponents.
Again and again the program for
armament has been stepped up so
that anything like forecast OF re-
ouirementS has been impractical.
But this need not have affected the
manner of classification and cata-
loguing of the items needed.
At last, however, the desired goal
has been obtained. Leaders of the
machine tool industry who have
been here the last few days have
gone home saying that they have
been given the general specifications
and that the data, for instance on
the tools required for the new
bombers and fighter planes, is in
excellent shape.
There is given, moreover, the as
surance that the machine tool in
dustry will be able to keep abreast,
even with the larger airplane pro-
gram, of the needs as they arise.
While the production and assembly
plants are being built and the new
organizations of personnel are being
developed, the machine tool industry
will be making tools fast enough
to supply the needs of the arma-
ment factories, particularly in air
craft, guns, small ammunition.
Output Stepped Up.
Some idea of the expansion in
volved in the machine tool industry
NAV be derived from the fact that
In 1892 the total output was S22 ,OOO,-
coo, but in 1899 the machine tool
output of the Nation was valued at
s250,O00,O00. 1t was stepped up TO
$3.50 900 900 in 1910 and in the year
le41 will reach 100000, 900.
What it will be in 1912 is con-
jectural, but very efficient piece
of planning has been done by the
machine tool division of the o. P. M,
headed by Mason Britton and A. B.
Einig, who handled the same task
in the first World War. A reservoir
fund of 100000 900 has been
obtained through the cooperation
of Jesse Jones and the R. F. c. to
protect the machine tool plants
against lags and gaps in the orders
that come from the military and
naval departments.
JllS ID ollC VI lllC lilOop RSA PiShAhAS
aspects of the whole defense pro-
gram for as the timing of the con-
tracts for machine tools necessarily
varies and orders do not flow evenly
throughout the year, there is danger
of losing-to less important in
dustries-valuable employees or the
services of subcontracting firms with
special knowledge. Starting, there
fore. a few months ago with fund
of S35, 600. 900 the o. P. M. now has
obtained the S2O0,000,000, much of
which 1t may not use right away
but which it will have ready as a
protective device to keep the tool
making plants at peak production
all the time. The storage will in
clude certain staple tools which can
be switched from Army or Navy
or aircraft work as Americas arma-
ment program demands higher and
higher numbers of planes and more
Employment Tripled.
Employment has gone up from
10000 normal to somewhere be-
tween 10000 and 10000 The labor
situation which is largely non-union
has been stable The management
strain has been considerable be-
cause the expansion has been about
10 times normal capacity. The
plants are not concentrated in any
one city as is the case with the auto
mobile and tire industries. Some
of the largest machine tool COM
panies which are playing a vital
part in the defense program are
Brown & Sharpe at Providence,
r. l.; Warner & Swazey at Cleve-
land, Kearney & TreCker at Mil
waukee, Wis; the Norton Co. at
Worcester, Mass; the General
Machinery Co. at Hamilton, Ohio;
the Bullard Co. at Bridgeport. Conn:
the Cincinnati Milling Machine Co.
at Cincinnati, Ohio, and Pratt e.
Whitney at Hartford, Conn.
Many agencies of the Government
have assisted in the working out of
The program, but the needs of the
Army and Navy have been co-or-
olR1ated by Gen. H. K. Rutherford
Of the Army and Navy Munitions
Board. It is an encouraging thing
10 find that in complicated in
dustry of a highly specialized ma
ture such as machine tools-referred
10 several months ago as the bot
tleneck" of Americas defense pro-
eram-the requirements have been
worked out harmoniously and in
such fashion that industry can un-
derstand the job expected of it.
Other divisions of the defense pro-
gram could learn lessons from the
developed in the ma
chine tool program. If the same
amount of care and thought had
been applied, for instance, to the
aluminium problem, the requirements
of the program would be farther
ahead today and there would be
more capacity for both fabrication
and ingot production than there
is available. Unfortunately when
politics and crusading and petty
persecution by the Department of
Justice enters the picture there is
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