Evening star., 1941-04-19
Dinner Addressed
By Halifax Closes
Editors Session
Speaks OFF the Record;
Marvin Of Troy, N. T..
Elected President

IN. " Record, president of the
American Society Of Newspaper
Editors and closing two days of
sessions at the Willard Hotel last
night.
The delegates, at their final open
session yesterday afternoon, heard
a recital of defense progress and
problems from Sidney Hillman, as
soclate director of the Office of
Production Management, and John
D. Bigaers, director of the Produc-
ton Division of the o. P. M.
Both defense officials minimized
the influence of strikes in impeding
production. Mr.. Biggers said that
'1ack of public understanding of the
magnitude and urgency" of the de-
fense program was the chief i'm
pediment, not strikes, while Mr..
Hillman declared that despite
''highly publicized" strikes, the pic
ture of industrial relations "is far
more favorable than at any other
time of equal industrial activity"
Mr.. Marvin and the other new
officers of the society were chosen
at directors meeting late yester-
day. Mr.. Marvin was second vice
president this year.
Atkinson Reelected.
NJ. v. Atkinson of the Gannett
Newspapers, Rochester. N. Y. was
reelected first vice president. He
is i'll and was unable to attend the
convention.
w S. Gilmore, editor of the
Detroit News. a director this year,
was named second vice president,
and another director of 1941, John
s. knight, editor of the Detroit
Free Press, was elected treasurer.
N. r Howard, editor of the Cleve-
land News, was reelected secretary.
New directors, elected by ballot of
the membership yesterday. are: Mr..
Marvin. E. S. Beck. assistant editor
in chief of the Chicago Tribune;
Jonathan Daniels, editor of the Ra-
leigh IN. c. News and Observer;
Roy A. Roberts. managing editor of
the Kansas City Star, and Basil l..
Walters, editor of the Minneapolis
Star-Journal
The convention referred to the di-
rectors for study and recommended
ton to the mebers suggestion by
Carl w. Ackerman, dean of the
Pulitzer graduate school of Jour-
nalism at Columbia University, that
the society name laison represent
ative to confer with Government Off
cials, from time to time, on general
matters of news policy in relation to
the war and the defense program.
DR.. Alderman declared, in an ad-
dress to the society yesterday, that
American journalism no longer is en-
ttrely free and there is a trend
toward more drastic control" de-
spite the promise of President
Roosevelt, in letter to the editors
the day before, that there would be
no censorship and the press would
remain free.
Halifax Speaks OFF the Record.
The convention closed with a
banquet last night addressed by Lord
Halifax, the British Ambassador;
Lauchlin Currie, presidential Sec
retary, and Col. williams J. Dono-
van. who returned recently from a
mission to the warning countries for
President Roosevelt. But what they
said was entirely off the record.
At the afternoon session Mr.. Big
gers gave the editors an intimate
glimpse of defense production prog
ress, illustrating his remarks with
an assortment of ordnance models
of guns, bombs and other ammuni-
tions-on a table beneath, which
later were explained informally by
Army officers,
Mr.. Biggers pointed out that the
newspapers, if they chose, could help
IN spreading public understanding
of the urgency of the defense job
more than all of Washington COM
bined."
The production chief thus sum-
married progress:
Plants under way, 1905; cost, S2,-
T65 ,000,0 900.
Shipbuilding, far ahead of sched-
ule, but still necessarily slower than
the rest of the program Cargo
ships alone to cost sl,7500O0,000.
Navy-Expenditures to exceed
50 900 ,ooo, 900.
Aircraft-Production trebled be-
tween last May and this March, but
this rate has to be trebled by the
end of the year.
Ordnance Up 14,eeo Pct.
Oronance-An expansion of IA
900 per cent, as compared with the
average of the last 20 years, is under
way.
Tsnks-l00 of l3-ton 0ighD type
month, but production will be
doubled before next January. Five
companies going into production on
medium tankS-26 tons.
Powder-21 plants under construc-
ton in II States.
Ordnance-Small arms ahead of
schedule. Machine guns running on
schedule, but production must be
increased 500 per cent for 30-caliber
and 1000 per cent for 5o-caliber
guns before end of year.
Small arms ammunition-nearly
the most pressing problem of the
moment. Production increased 1000
per cent in last nine months, but
this is only beginning.
Labor Cognizant.
Mr.. Hillman said that American
labor believes Fundamentally in the
aims and objectives of our national
defense program" adding:
ut knows it would be the first
10 fall should democracy be de-
stroyed,"
Mr.. Hillman told the editors: THE
great majority of American en-
ployers share with the great ma
Jority of American labor unions the
credit for the unusually small num-
Der of strikes in the last year"
He said editors could make a vital
contribution to defense by informing
"all our people as to what are the
stakes at issue"
The only resolutions which the
convention adopted authorized q
committee to cooperate with the
press of the other American repub-