Imperial Valley press., 1942-09-10
CAPITAL TALKS
by
Peter
Edison

a
average newspaper reader knows
about the Board of Economic War
fare is that a mousy little member
of the organization once got the
heave because he had written 6
couple of books on nudiSm. Apart
from its udiSt-eXpulSion policy
BEW might otherwise have passed
its time in a spirited crap game
for all the common folks knew.
But Vice President Henry Wal
lace, writing for Army and Navy
Journal. has done an admirable job
of presenting the why's and where
fores of BEW. Mr. Wallace calls
his piece Economic Warfare-The
War Behind the War and by the
time he gets done even a congress-
man should have pretty good idea
of the boards functions.
BEW's prime tenets, Mr.. Wallace
says, are to help intensity the et-
forts of the United Nations, TO
damage the enemy's economy and
to strengthen relations with friend
" nations. 1t is quite a large as
Signment
The board is peopled by the sec
retaries of War. State. Navy, Com
merce, Treasury and Agriculture,
the Co-ordinator of Inter- American
Affairs, the Attorney General, the
Lend-LeaSe administrator and the
head of the War Production Board.
Mr.. Wallace is chairman.
BEW is cut up into three divls-
ions: the office of Exports, Office
of Imports, and Office of Economic
Warfare Analysis.
Exports looks after the funnel
ing of domestic materials into
other countries, handling an av-
erage 1000 export licenses daily.
One of the top problems is to al
locate scarce war material in such
a fashion that maximum strength
may be given all allied nations
without weakening the source ma
ton. Exports also acquisitions
supplies in the u. 5. to which
foreign nations hold title.
TOUGH PROBLEMS
Import. as you MAJ have guessed,
keeps its eyes cooked on the bring
ing in of essential war supplies
which are available only in iureiSn
fields. And today that constitutes
problem to drive any economist
balmy.
For instance: When the Japs col
Jared most of the Far East, the
allies kissed off most OF their
sources for rubber, hemp, tin, slsal,
tungsten, palm oil, chrome and a
flock of other wartime necessities.
So BEW's import division has to
figure out new sources of supply.
BEW is now opening up new mines,
supplying laborers for foreign areas,
where there is a labor shortage.
buying up supplies which might
conceivably fall into enemy hands,
and aiding foreign manufacture as
much as possible, to cut down ship
ping necessity.
Now suppose that Army and Navy
have their eye on certain Wlld
hunk of the world, with view TO
immediate occupation. They must
know what supplies are apt to be
available, say, in the SolomonS, and
to what extent they must depend
on materials that must be shipped
from America. The Board OF Econ
omic Warfare Analysis is supposed
to provide accurate information TO
the military, in order to conserve
vital shipping space.
Analysis also is looking forward
to the time when the allies VIII
be taking over territory now held
by the axis, and is massing data
on operation of industries, iced
ing the delivered peoples, sup
porting the country's currency
and generally rehabilitating its
economic organization.
HAMMER AT AXIS
A very important function OF An
alysis is to keep up with the en-
eny's economic stresses and strains
and to heave monkey wrench into
the machinery whenever possible
Protecting South Americas econ
omies is one of its top assignments
Information assembled by Analy-
sis also is vital to actual Army ano
Navy expeditions, especially in the
mapping of bomb-raid objectives
and the planning of overseas oper-
ations. BEW ought to be able to
paint such a graphic picture OF Vi
tai enemy manufacturing and crit
ical material areas that bomb
ing flight should smack the objec-
tive on the nose.
Mr.. Wallace says he hopes,
when the war is done, that BEW's
name can be changed to Board
of Economic Welfare"
WASHINGTON MILDEW
oysters may be scarcer or higher
or both, as oyster fisherman are
taking higher paying war produc-
ton Jobs. Emergency alternates
have been prepared by Bureau OF
Standards for 400 of the l450 gov
ernment specifications on non-mil-