Evening star., 1941-08-10
BY CLARKE BEACH.

chambers of the Office of Produc-
ton Management.
He has been repeatedly elboWed
aside. He hasn't much money, edu-
cation or pedigree; no friends at
court, no prestige whatever.
He has been rather pathetic-un-
til recently. But today the lords of
the defense effort are expecting him
to carry tremendous share of the
new increases in the rearmament
burden.
When they look around for a
means of producing the war ma
terials which Congress continues to
order in billion-dollar lots, they
murmur magic word: "Subcon-
tract" Only by subcontracting,
think many of the experts, can the
Army and Navy get an immediate
and drastic boom in defense produc-
ton. And subcontracts are handled
by the little man-the small jobber,
the machine shop owner, the minor
manufacturer. He's the red, white
and blue hope.
Urged Subcontracting.
Defense officials have been max
ing some effort to bring the small
producer into the program since
early in the year, when the Secre-
tarv of War and o. P. M. Director
William S. Knudsen instructed them
to arrange for more Subcontractlng.
There had been reports that much
productive capacity was going to
waste.
To date there has been no appre-
ciable increase in the number of
small producers who have been
given defense orders, say some of
the officials on the inside.
The Trecker brothers, Joseph and
Francis, say they're satisfied, never
theleSs. They are co-chiefs of sub
contracting.
Helping the little man get sub
contracts is their job, and while
they don't say he is getting his
full share yet, they're willing to
bet they're breaking down the big
fellows resistance to the little fell
lows.
Big companies don't like to fool
with subcontracting if they can
get along without it. It's nuisance,
uses up managerial brains and cuts
profits, they argue. The small COM
panies' financial backing is often
unsatisfactory; and the small COM
panies have not had the benefit OF
educational orders, by which the
Government in recent years has
enabled many large companies to
learn how to manufacture defense
materials.
But subcontracting needn't be
difficult or expensive, and many
large companies have found 1t high
" satisfactory, the Treckers argue.
The decisive point which they make
is that the Nation needs the product
of every idle machine tool.
Success in Own Business.
The Treckers are sons and chlel
assistants of a prominent MllWau-
kee machine tool manufacturer.
Youngish livewires, of less than
medium height, with bright, IN
tense countenances, they MADE sucn
q hovling success of subcontractlng
in their own plant that they came
to town last December. to- help y.
P. M. with subcontracting-at 81
year each. ~
Their unit is a part of the Defense
Contract Service headed by Robert
L. Mehornay. 1t helps small buSl-
ness get contracts and loans in con-
nection with pin money defense
orders. that is, Sl0000,o0O or less.
It has field Offices in Federal Re
serve Banks and branches in SO
cities. 1t is in these Offices that Q.
M. and Army and Navy men Wres-
tie with the little mans problems.
The Trecker brothers furnished
these statistics on the operations OF
the offices: 80, 900 phone calls, letters,
talks with real or potential contrac-
tors and subcontractors a week;
81 .OOO. 900 worth of contracts signed
a day Gn which the Treckers' agents
sit in on negotiations, egging on
both Sides.
About 20 blocks down Constltu-
ton avenue from the Trecker broth
ers, Is Col. Ray M. Hare who views
the problems of the little fellow from
the soldiers and sailors angle. AS
chief of the facilities division, Army
and Navy Munitions Board, he is
the services specialist on subcon-
tracing.
415,OOO Orders Placed.
Needed month after month by
strongly Worded directives and con-
fidential memoranda from the Sec
retary's office, Col. Hare and the
other officers concerned with pro-
curement have been making special
effort to get the defense work farmed
out to small concerns. But 1t is
problematical how far they have
progressed. At any rate, the direc-
tives still are being fired at them.
Col. Hare reports that prime con-
tractors, holding about a million
contracts. have subcontracted about
415.O00 orders. But these figures
don't indicate the extent of farm
ing out. Col. Hare's subcontracts
INCLUDE all the prime coICrdcIoI
normal orders for material and
equipment.
The colonel now is poring over
the Army's blue book of manufac-
turers, entitled Industrial Facilities,
1941." Here, between pale blue card
board covers, are listed the 10,849
elite of the industrial world, the
firms which the Army has investi-
gated for years and has adjudged
better able than any other firms in
the country to handle orders for war
materials in an emergency.
But 20 per cent of these prime
producers don't hold even one de-
fense contract On January l,
there were 10 per cent who hadn't
taken on one defense order.
Two Reasons for Delay.
To the layman this is surprising
news, after hearing the Nations
leaders talk for year about an all
out defense effort. But Col. Hare
explains it this way:
/. The Army is utilizing most of
80 ,sol, = If1rr Al