Evening star., 1942-07-14

cent address his David Lawrence.
conception of the military view
point as it relates to the civilian
economy.
I'm an all-out war effort" said
Mr.. Nelson, I'VE cannot make a
distinction between civilian and
military production. The military
effort rests upon civilian effort. If
we should pare down our civilian
economy too fine in our effort to
put every possible bit of strength
into war production, we should run
straight into disaster; people must
be fed and housed and clothed, they
must be able to get to and from work,
they must have the varied kinds of
equipment with which their work is
done =
II believe that we have, by now,
set up an excellent mechanism for
getting and keeping the proper bal
ance in our overall production The
armed services, of course, must de-
termine what their own productive
requirements are. They determine
the kinds and quantities of arms
and munitions they need, and they
determine when and where those
articles must be delivered. If there
Is question as to whether this
particular kind of military item is
needed ahead of that particular
item, believe that this Is a prob
lem which must be settled by the
military men.
But when those determinations
have been made, the direction of
the national economy as a whole
must, I think, rest in civilian hands.
1t must be controlled by some one
who is not too close to any one part
of the picture but that he can see
the picture as whole-military
needs, foreign needs, domestic needs.
These must be carefully adjusted
and I believe that our recently re-
aligned War Production Board gives
lis the machinery by which those
adjustments can be made for the
interests of all involved"
Nelson Called Confused.
Mr.. Nelson has confused control
over the civilian economy with the
need for realistic understanding
of the military viewpoint. For it's
the Army, Navy and Air Force
which wants materials and equip
ment. Civilian needs and pressures
must give way to military demands.
What Mr.. Nelson says about the mill
tary defining its needs and asking
the civilian production machinery to
supply them and what he says
about giving priority to the military
requirements is all right in theory,
but 1t has little to do with the prac-
tical problem. The military can
insist and can beg and petition for
consideration but unless it can order
things that it wants and be sure
Its orders will be respected, the plan
will not work.
The 'realignment" which Mr.. Nell
son has made does not cover this
point He has merely reShuff1ed his
organization from an administra-
tive standpoint. What Mr.. Nelson
has done is to retain a completely
civilian setup instead of bringing
about a merger between the War
Production Board and the Army and
Navy Munitions Board in which
the latter would at least have equal
voice with the spokesman of civilian
industry. When a proper merger
OF these two viewpoints has been
achieved, Mr.. Nelson himself would
make the final decisions.
His present plan calls for con-
tinuance of the ineffective system
that has prevailed for months-a
prolongation of the pickering be-
tween executive agencies as to au
thority and jurisdiction.
Reorganization Expected.
The country expects the men in
the War Production Board and in
the Army and Navy Munitions
Board to effect a reorganization in
which the needs of the military
not only will be given absolute pri-
ority but in which some force will
be placed behind the demands of
the military for materials and
equipment.
1t isn't A priority schedule or
timetable that's needed but high
command on the economic front
which will see to 1t that the time
table is carried out even If the
civilian economy has to suffer some
damage in the process.
The "realignment" which Mr.
Nelson has made is a paper realign-
ment. 1t does not tackle the root
of the difficulty. The head Of the
War Production Board has the con-
fidence Of the Army and the Navy
and they DO not want TO see him
suppIanted. They want him to do
the Job and they want voice for
the military side to be right along
side Of his top executives so that the
orders issued will get results right