The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-04-30

pass on the applications of car own- CTS who feel they are entitled to more than the minimum allowance. Every car owner will be given an "A" card entitling him to minimum allowance of seven units. The trou- ble will come in classifying or ham, ding the appeals of motorists such as war workers, who feel they will be entitled to B-1, B-2, or B-3 cards of II, 15 and 19 units respectively.
 School teachers are supposed to know everything, but how they'll be able to tell B-1 from a Z-3 with out the help of algebra is the un- solved problem on the blackboard. Main benefit of this interim ration ing is that it will serve as an ex- perimental registration to determine what bugs must be eradicated from the permanent rationing plan which will SO in effect July l.
 NO SCANIPS, PLEASE
 We must avoid "scamping," the Maritime Commissions Admiral Emory s. Land told the Truman committee investigating national defense, and thereby he brought back into current use 8 word that hasn't been heard much in the war production effort. It's a good one to revive. What 1t means, of course, is to perform work in hasty or neglectful manner. Don't be a scamp" has double meaning during war.
 Admiral Land mentioned two other iIdeterminate factors in the war production effort. One is lcEfing and the other is the slow down. No one can tell accurately how much they are affecting war 1 production today, but they are evident. Where the damage comes Is in the period of agitation before and the period of let-down after a strike.
 In the slow-downs, what hap pens is that someone on an as- sembly line starts a Hey! Where's the flrel" or a "What you tryin' to do-kill yourself?" movement among the workers nearest to him. When that spreads, the damage is done. Labor leaders and man. agement alike are trying to figure out ways to combat 1t.
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 A good many observers were Skeptical when the army public re- lations staff started its program of having soldiers make pep talks to workmen in war production plants during the noon hour. Tn & few in- stances last winter, plant managers baked at taking the time out of the working shift to assemble big plant forces in cold yards. merely to have speeches made at them But the army now maintains that these pep talks do good and show definite results--that wherever one of these talks Is delivered, produc- ton curves shoot right up.
 SENATE MUFFED IT
 Congresslnen like to make speeches about somebody else'i shortsightedness fin preparing for war. criticizng administrative of- ficials and others who a couple oi years ago didn't take the steps necessary to build up stockpileS and let contracts for munitions and wal supplies. But one case which bounces right hack on Congress on the Senate. no less--is the mat ter of patent law revision now be. ing investigated by Senator Bones committee, where hearings reveal how war production has been ham, pered by patent pools and cartelS !! Way back in September, 1940 Senator Wheeler. as chairman oi the Senate committee on inter. state commerce. introduced a res. olution calling for an investigation of the German control of American patents.
 The resolution was passed ir October, and an application was made to the Senate committee on audit and control, of which Sen. ator, now Supreme Court Justice James P. Byrnes was chairman for funds with which to conduct the Investigation. The committed took no action, and the ir1vestiea- ton never got started. Why would be hard to determine. May be Wheeler didn't push it hard enough. Maybe the administra- ton didn't want Wheeler to gel credit for 1t. Take your pick.
 Anyway, if the Wheeler inves. tigation had been held year and half ago, a lot of the dirty linen now being put through the sena- torial wringer might have come out out clean then and the de- ferse effort would have been just & year and a half farther ad- vanced with respect to the freeing Of fore!gn-heid patents. As 1t is ex-Isolationist Wheeler is now fin the position of being able to aIvo 'em big T told you soI", if he were so minded.
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