Evening star., 1942-11-15

dIC 1lISIlly dUlc dIlu I'LL are 11TUl,
tenacious and intrepid. They have
no axes to grind, and for each the
job in hand is a sole, consuming
interest.
Having been censured for intrud-
ing in the New York campaign, the
President, it would seem, snapped
his fingers at politics by tossing into
the arena, before election, the con-
troversial issue of reducing the draft
age to 18. The bill was adopted by
the House and Senate, but amend
ments delayed it's passage until after
the November election.
There recently has been vigor-
Gus clearing away of deadwood in
Government agencies, particularly
the War Production Board and the
Board of Economic Warfare.
A hopeful creation Of the year
was the Office of War Information
Under the direction of realistic Ell
mer Davis it put an end to the Mac
Leish era of roses and raptures, and
is fighting an uphill campaign to
reform the handling of military
news. Popular confidence in the
Army and Navy information bu-
reaus has perceptibly declined.
The full truth about Pearl Har-
Dor and the disaster to our air forces
in the Philippines is still undis-
closed. The Navy has withheld or
toned down so much bad news that
it has been accused of trying to
protect itself from criticism. The
country was shocked recently to
learn from Toxic that several fly
ers of the Doolittle raid were pris-
oners in Japan. Months before it
had been announced officially by
the Army. and never corrected, that
all the planes were able to proceed
to their destination except one that
made a forced landing in Russia.
Davis Gains Power.
After long fight, Davis recently
obtained full access to naval intelli-
gence. He will not be able to over
rule Admiral King, but at least will
be in a position to argue with him,
from the vantage of complete infor-
nation. on the wisdom of supressing
or delaying news of particular events.
Another achievement was the War
Labor Board, a new experiment in
industrial relations, which has
helped bring about higher percent
age of cooperation than is generally
realized between management and
organized workers. 1t has exer-
cised a stabilizing influence with
regard to both wages and union Sc
curity. In the Little Steel" formula
it set up an innovation which was
totally absent in the last war-a
standard of pay adjustments.
Against such conspicuous credits,
formidable entries on the debit side
must be acknowledged. There is
prospect of a staggering crisis in
manpower and probably food. The
country is struggling to wage total
war with only 40 percent of its
power as yet mobilized. More than
half the national production is alb
sorbed even today by civilian con-
sumption. Deficiencies of strategic
metals exist, particularly steel,
copper, nickel and steel alloys.
Small business continues almost
wholly beyond the pale, though some
improvements have been undertaken
during the last three months. Out
of SIS 3illion dollars in war orders
100 large firms hold nearly 40 billion
dollars and the first 10 companies
have 18 billion dollars. The stu
alton is due largely to the armed
services. which hold that subcon.
tracing is process for getting in
ferior wares at Is per cent increase
of cost.
Lack Unified Command.
When reminded that Britain owes
10 per cent of its war goods to small
shops and factories, they reply that
the English system of output "in
small lots" is not comparable to
American quantity production. Best
results have been obtained by prime
contractors who keep hard jobs for
themselves and farm out easier ones,
or else send their own engineers to
instruct suppliers in close precision
methods.
Notwithstanding a desperate
shortage of merchant vessels, the
administration has neglected thus
far to impose a unified command
upon tonnage. Jurisdiction is di-
vided among the Army, Navy and
War Shipping administration, the
last of which now carries little un-
essential weight. But maritime
space over which the Army and
Navy exercise full control is used
without regard to vital cargoes. For
example, freighters have been sent
back to this country in ballast from
such remote points as New Gale
donia and Australia. England has
avoided similar waste by putting
vessels employed by the armed serv-
ices under the direction of the ship
ping authority.
The new tax bill is by far the most