The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-07-31
Unbiased Survey Would Prove Rubber Shortage Is Critical, Writer Believes
BY s. BURTON HEATH NRA Service Stan Correspondent

| pantcky agreement that the UnlLed Nations face potential disaster be- cause the Japanese have cut of 07 per cent of the rubber upon which we have depended.
 Today 1t is possible to create a heated controversy even by suggest ing that there is rubber problem. There are those who say, with straight faces, that no rubber short age exists.
 COMMISSION COULD
 USE SECRET DATA
 Under such circumstances, there is a growing demand for an im- partial survey, by commission of unbiased persons who command general public confidence, to de- tremine the basic facts.
 Such a body presumably would have access to certain data which can not properly be made public in time of war. Its membership would need to command enough respect so that whatever factual conclusions might be drawn from unpublishable information would be accepted as accurate.
 Most of the pertinent facts, however, lie in the public domain, and would merely require verifi- cation, assembling, and presenta- ton in language understandable by the man in the street.
 On the basis of much research, inspired by no motive except to ascertain the truth, here is sub- stantially what this writer be- lieves that such a commission would be forced to report to the President, the Congress and the public:
 There is a rubber shortage so serious that it threatens the pro- duction program upon which rests our hope of winning this war.
 That shortage is prospective, rather than immediate.
 As of today, it would be pos sible for the War Production Board to permit retiring of all civilian automobiles.
 CAN'T HAVE RUBBER
 AND DRIVING AS USUAL"
 If that were done, however, be- fore the middle of 1943 there would not be rubber available for use of the Army, and Navy and indispensable transportation fa- cilities.
 There are many ways in which rubber for civilian tires could be procured.
 One is the scheme devised by the rubber industry and pub licized by some writers as proof that there actually is no rubber shortage.
 Upon close examination, how ever, 1t develops that this scheme does not provide for driving as usual. Essentially, 1t would &C., complish only what we have all along resolved to do: that is, it would assure rubber for military and essential civilian driving, and no more.
 Science knows how to make as much good synthetic rubber as we could use. There is no scar- city of the raw materials = petro- leum or grain. But there is dan- gerouS scarcity of the steel and cooper which would be necessary to build the plant with which to transform petroleum and alcohol into latex.
 Moreover, the construction of such a plant takes time. Even to the extent to which steel and cop per can be diverted to this use, it will be some time before latex can actually become available, even in quantities required for military and indispensable civil ian needs.
 Therefore, for months or years to come, there is no hope of get ting civilian tires, for other than essential use, from synthetics.
 It is possible to make get-by- able tires from reclaimed scrap rubber. These might relieve the civilian situation except that the scrap, like the limited supply of virgin rubber available, is needed worse for war use than for civil ian convenience.
 The same is true of those sym thetics, such as thiokol and butyl, which could be used for tires al- though they are much inferior in the qualities possessed by planta- tion rubber and Buna s synthetic.
 Summing up these individual findings, the rubber survey com- mittee undoubtedly would con- clude that we must husband with the zeal of miser every ounce of rubber we possess.
 GRAIN VS ALCOHOL
 IS DANGEROUS ROW
 The commission will not have done its full duty unless 1t in- quires into the dangerous dispute between advocates of grain and proponents of petroleum.
 On this point available evil dence indicates that the commis- sion would have to report, sub- stantially, as follows:
 The end product, Buna s, will be the same whichever process is used.
 Everything else being equal, it would be desirable to use grain, both to give farmers an outlet for this crop and to conserve our ex- pendable resources of petroleum.
 If our farmers raised alcohol rather than wheat and corn, il would be cheaper, quicker and better to make rubber from al- cohol.
 But since the farmers grow grain, which must be transformed first into alcohol, it is wisest tc rely largely upon petroleum. This because, once we have utilized t''e existing distillery facilities, we 
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