Evening star., 1941-03-26

lie business can be helped by mis-
representing facts, men or issues.
The other day I published a tale
about the alleged intrigues of the
"dollar-a-year" men in the Office
of Production Management. particu-
larly John D. Biggers, who is in
charge of Mr.. Knudsen's Production
Division. The story came to me
from a source which had hitherto
proved reliable and was reported in
good faith. Now, after conferences
with Mr.. KnudSen and Mr. BiggerS,
with the support Of others in the
defense commiSSiOn-Mr Sherwood
of the Office of Emergency Manage
ment, Mr. McReynolds Of the White
House liaison staff, and Donald Nell
son of the o. P. MI am convinced
that the story was grossly unfair to
Mr.. BiggerS, Only in certain details
did the facts chck-after f1ltering
down through several layers Of per-
sonalities-and my hot "dollar-a-
year" expose comes out about 40 per
cent truth-which isn't good enough
for any Self-respecting commenta-
tor
Tories of Yesteryear.
That there have been intrigues
among the "dollar-a-year" boys is
correct-and it is probable that there
are still little plots and counter plots,
in progress in the O. P. M (as in
other Government bureaus. but
most of the talk around Washing
ton rises from disapproval of the
whole o. P. M. set-up and from
simple suspicion as to the motives
and methods of those who were the
Tories of yesteryear. I personally
am satisfied that the men running
the defense program are working.
together and working with the Pres
ident, in an honest all-out effort to
arm America and help Britain in
the war against Hitler.
Fortunately for the o. p M. the
new billion dollar appropriations
pouring out of Congress offer the
prospect of removing the major cause
of political suspicion. Last June,
when the Seven-man National De-
fense Advisory Commission was set
up, speed in defense production was
essential. This meant turning over
defense contracts to the big, estab-
nshed companies-the ones whose
executives had supplied the sinews
of opposition to both labor and the
New Deal These concerns had the
equipment and personnel to turn
out weapons, at the cost of abandon
ing some of their normal peacetime
production.
Today these companies are so
saturated with contracts that there
would be no gain in time If they
were given more billions to play
with. So the new program-par-
ticularly under the $1,000 600, 900
lease-lend appropriation will be
farmed out to small industries, par
ticularly in the South and West.
There will be a "bitS-and-pieces"
program, similar to that in Eng
land, to employ the productive IA
cilities of small concerns.
Break for Little Men.
Government nt-owned factories and
Government-operated factories will
be used in this program. No longer
will the o. P. M. appear to be an
exclusive club run by representa-
tives of the largest industries, and
much of the political dissatisfaction
with the big business monopoly of
defense contracts will evaporate as
little business gets the breaks.
1t is here that the new o. P. M.
Planning Board will be most useful.
Contrary TO my impression, this
board will play an active and i'm
portant role in selecting sites for
plants and advising on every phase
of defense production. Attempts to
diScredit its purposes and functions
seem to have been based on leal-
ousy, suspicion or ignorance. 1t is
a strong and competent board-Set
up with the prior knowledge and
approval of the President, and rep
reSents an important political
achievement by Mr. Biggers, who
succeeded in enrolling both c. I. o.
and A. F.. L. last ditchers" along
with powerful representation from
the Army, the Navy, private indus
try and the administration. It's
chairman. Samuel Richard Fuller,
is an old friend of President Roose-
welt, who is also informally repre-
sented by Harry L. Hopkins on the
new planning group.
Now defense is getting down to
cases, and I see no point in frus-
trating or confusing the issues bv
suspicion or misrepresentation or
distortion Of facts. If this setup
doesn't work, everybody knows that
we'll try another one-and still an
other-and yet one more, until we
find the production formula which
will help us out-build Hitler and
win the war.
(Released by Consolidated News