Evening star., 1942-08-17
Nelson Under Fire

laying down a heavy fire on the
| performance record Of Donald
| Nelson, chairman of the War Pro-
| duction Board. In the average
college town the Monday morning
| quarterback is an individual who has
| no responsibility for calling the plays
on Saturday afternoon. He simply
watches the game, spends Sunday
studying newspaper accounts of what
was done right and what was done
wrong, and then blossoms forth on
Monday morning with loud and in
sistent criticism of the quarterback
and the coach.
Mr.. Nelson is a victim of the same
sort OF second guessing. Some
critics are holding him respon-
slble for a shortage OF raw materials,
contending that our factory expan-
sion program has run ahead of the
supply Of materials needed for fin
lshed products A few months ago,
however, they were denouncing Mr..
Nelson for his hardness in expanding
our production capacity. Others say
that the production chief is too timid
in exerting his authority, yet they
rose against him in fine display of
indignation few weeks ago when he
proposed that gasoline be rationed
on national basis to save tires. Still
others assert that Mr.. Nelson is not
a production man; that the time has
come when we must have the services
of a production engineer. They for
get that Mr.. Nelson is not an expert
on plant expansion, but the fact re-
mains that, according to his critics,
he did too we'll in that field
There is no doubt, of course, that
some of the criticism rests on
factual basis. Probably the flow of
raw materials has not been ade-
quately regulated, but it is hardly fair
to condemn Mr.. Nelson because he
has fallen short of perfection. The
test should be, when all things are
balanced, whether he has done a
good job. When it is charged that
we have not attained more than a
third of our potential production
capacity. although we are running
snort of raw materials, there are
other facts which must be taken into
account. AS an example, one of our
tremendous bomber plants Is lust
beginning to come into production.
But, in order to make possible the
production OF even the first plane, it
has been necessary over a period of
months to allot vast quantities of
raw materials to this plant so that
the initial stages of production, far
back along the assembly line, could
be gotten under way. 1t is unfair
and inaccurate to complain of raw
material shortages and limited pro-
ductlon without taking into account
the extent to which this results from
the necessity of laying aside enor-
nous stocks of raw materials for the
great increase in production which
soon will be realized.
In a sense, Mr.. Nelson is the victim
OF his own virtues. He has stuck to
his job and, in dealing with those
who have been trying to undermine
his position, he has not tried to fight
fire with fire. AS Leon Henderson
expressed it last week, Mr.. Nelson has
less ambitions for himself than any
OF the top people in Washington. The
country is lucky beyond words to
have at the helm a man of such
humility and capacity"
To put it another way, Mr.. Nelson
is trying to do big job-for his
country. The people should remem-
Der that he is shooting for production
goals that were held to be impossible
OF achievement when the President
set them. At this time 1t looks as
though these goals, in the main. will
be reached, and possibly some of
them will be surpassed. II they are
reached the critics should be silenced,
But that is unlikely, for human ma
ture is human nature, and there will
always be another Monday.