The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1942-04-02
0ZZZZZZZ..ZZZ.Z.
Administration Worried
By Speder Of Initiation
Idle Dollars Source of Concern as Secretary
of Treasury Studies Methods to Prevent
SpiraIing of Prices.
BY BAUKHACE
Ncus 4nalyst and C0n."!rn!Htor.

ingenious institution which has been
used ~ turn cut the nee, friendly,
pcacct.re gLdGrtS has been adapt
ed to turn ost Il hug. u~nfrlenaly,
wartime machine, the ''B24.' ace OF
, b0rlbcrs. the biSE>St thing ever
, made on an assembly line. Made
that Way not because it was cheap
but because II waS fast.
Pcuple had been saying that if
We could only make p,anes On the
assembly line we would soon catch
up with and pass the AXIS which had
been making planes while we were
, still saying we didn't have to worry
about Europc'S wars. But, they
said. planes were too big, or too
complicated to turn out this way.
AS usual. however. American genius
which made typewriters and electric
ice boxes and fivvers and radios,
, found a way to make the big bomb
ers by the same method.
Come with me and visit the Con.
solidated Aircraft plant in Califor.
mia.
It's hard to get in because the
government doesn't want the enemy
to know what is being done.
You have to get a pass and you
have to get by soldiers and armed
police and secret service men and
special guards. You have to walk
by a lot of very business-like looking
gunpits and anti-aircraft.
When you get inside there is a
cheerful hustle. The workers all
look like homefolks, all U. S. citizens.
I'll skip the part Of what happens
first in the ''sub-assembly" and take
you right to the head Of the main
assembly line. There is a low plat
form on wheels. The wheels fit a
wide gauge track. Great cranes
swing three ungainly shapes into
place. until all rest on the platform.
One is the airplane's nose" An
other is the center wing section.
Another, the fuselage (the taiD.
The parts have been built separately
and they r just empty skins" Of
metal sheets over the bracing struts.
They are brought together and a
huge steel framework. the mating
jig" closes over them, unites them.
The crane lifts the jig away. There
is left the empty body Of the great
| r1onn ofnr yyhop - rolls off fLo
other end Of the assembly line it will
have a ITO foot wing spread and will
weigh % tons.
Now it rests, with stubby wings,
hollow and impotent, on its rolling
platform. 1t is on the first station"
in the line. The moment the mat
ing jig has departed with its blessing
the crew Of workers assigned to
station No. l leap upon it.
From now on I cannot reveal the
details of what happens as this
growing structure moves on from
station to station and at each one
a new crew adds the things that are
needed until the empty shell has
become a throbbing creature, able
to mount into the air and sail away.
This strange warbird with all its
intricate fittings from the delicate
wiring in its switchboxes to its huge
engines feels the expert touch of a
woman's hand at many stages of its
growth. There are some things that
women can do better than men,
some things that some women can
do as well as some men. I am think
ing of a husky former farm girl l
saw balancing a riveter that it was
all I could do to lift.
Il was the one who always had
to fix the tractor on the farm" she
told me, I've found the work I
like"
Another grandmotherly old lady
worked at the delicate wiring of the
switchbox.
She looked as contented as il she
were crocheting.
One hundred thousand parts, ex-
elusive Of the nuts. bolts and rivets,
60 into these great machines. Four
hundred thousand man-hours of
work 60 into each. I wish I could
tell you how often one of those
bombers rolls off the end of that
assembly line. I can't because it
is a military secret.
All I can say is many" a month.
I was going to say plenty but that
would not be correct. We are not
making plenty" and we won't be
until we have so many and so many
fighter planes to protect them and
so many ships to carry them on that
they outnumber the enemy every
time we choose to attack.
But we have the means of making
plenty" We have already har.
messed that means to the war
chariot, the army and the navy have
taken over the lines" and we are