Evening star., 1942-01-09
War Pinches Tastes
Cultivated byU. 5.
Living Standards
Able Synthetics Exist,
But Output Completes
With Victory Program
(Second OF a Series.)
By THOMAS r. HENRY.

to feel the impact on its daily life
of a war which involves 80 per cent
of the world.
The effect promises to extend to
fields as remote from each other as
baby food and radio tubes, woolen
underwear and newspapers.
Prospects of tireless and tin-can-
less months, however distressing,
are only a bad beginning.
ABrown men in Malayan jungles
sd in the depths of Madagascar,
y low men in primitive mines,
drkers in Soviet collectives, black
len in the African veldt-all have
.tbored for the past 20 years to sup
~ rich America with materials
which she herself did not possess
and many of which have become
such commonplaces of existence
that they pass unnoticed.
Import Demands Grew.
At the start of the last war the
AUnited States was closer to self
.Sficient. There was plenty to eat
anu year. There were no vitamins,
radios, Nhrome- finished bathrooms
requiring for their production spe-
cial materials in which the United
States was deficient. They since
have become commonplace, almost
necessary. Industry has been set to
produce them.
Chemists have worked miracles.
Out of air, coal and limestone they
can make rubber which is better,
for many purposes, than the natural
rubber of Malaga. They can make
silk which is better in some respects
than Japanese silk out of wood or
weeds. They can synthetic some of
the basic constituents of life itself
out of inert material.
But this doesn't help very much
In the present situation. Electricity
and acetylene are necessary to
make rubber. Acetic acid and
nitrogen are necessary to make
various synthetic fabrics. All require
factories which call for bricks, steel.
labor and time. In four or five years,
it is quite likely. the Nation could
make itself self sufficient in some of
its most vital necessities, provided
the necessary materials could be
spared from the all-out war effort.
Synthetics Cost More.
This is the answer to complaints
of shortage of such materials as
rubber, for which there are good
synthetic substitutes. They cost
much more than the natural prod
ucts. They use up vital war ma
terials. 1t would have been reckless
for anybody to have invested much
money in them few years ago when
there was no reasonable expectation
OF anything but a heavy loss.
This Is the reason also that
eminent industrialists now run
around Washington like chickens
with their heads off and that there
is great deal of confusion In de-
fense efforts by "dollar-a-year men"
and others who do not have the
complete picture. They complain
that Germany at the outset of the
war had assured herself of enough
rubber. The United States, Of course,
could have done the same and prob
ably at much less cost. The differ
ence is that the United States was
not planning for war for a decade |
and if the Government had sub
sidized synthetic rubber or silk
plants the protest from industry
would have been heard around the |
world. 1t was easier to pay relief |
workers to rake up leaves.
P11t for tho DoSt IN yoorc mn nf
the old line Government depart
ments has been coldly objective. 1t |
stands today in the front line of |
national defense. This is the United |
States Tariff Commission. Its job
primarily has been to protect the /
American standard of living-tO
keep informed precisely at all times
on the current supplies and prices |
Of everything everywhere in the |
world which entered into the daily
living of the American people or the
wage return of the American worker.
Calculated War Effects.
Two years ago, for example. 1t
had calculated the precise effects
of a war with Japan. on scores of
materials which might affect life
in this country. 1t has known at
all times how much rubber. tin and
silk was available from the Far East,
and how much coal, limestone,
alcohol, electricity, etc, would be
necessary to replace the entire sup
plies.
Today its statistics are like so
M in,
enthusiasts called to Washington to
help in the war effort They have
been published freely and the files
are open to everybody. In the next
year the United States can make
so many tons of synthetic rubber
and it will cost so many dollars
and so many tons of explosives
Take your choice, says the Tariff
Commission, but don't think the
rubber can be had for the asking.
The picture is not all bad, COM
pared to that in 1917. Take, for
example, dyes. In 1917 this was
practically a German monopoly
Coal tar dyes were covered by Ger
man patents America had no dye
plants. Without German imports
any shirt or pair of socks could not
hold its color.
At the start of this war America
was exporting more and better dyes
than Germany.
Another case is sugar. In the
last war there were sugarless days.
For years there has been such a
surplus of sugar that the problem
has been to find something to do
with it.
But in IS years American life
has become vastly more complicated,
and the gains have been offset by
many losses.
kI.