Evening star., 1942-06-05

take the public %ssA "a =
into It's conf David Lawrence.
dence on the reasons for the urgent
need of tire conservation. To do
so, however, involves the publica-
ton of military data that would be
useful to the enemy.
1t has been frequently published
that we have Stockpile of crude
rubber amounting to 100000 tons.
This was accumulated through the
efforts of Jesse Jones, who has been
publicly commended by the Tru-
man Committee of the Senate for
handling the matter "expeditiously
and ably"
Out of this 100000 tons must
come the crude rubber needed for
military purposes until more crude
rubber can be obtained from Ceylon
and South America and other crude
rubber developments outside of the
Far East, and also until synthetic
rubber is available in large guam
titles.
The exact amount which the mill
tary will require and the amount
that has to be exported for the use
of Britain and Russia are military
secrets.
Recaps Effective.
But-and here is the most i'm
portant fact about the problem from
the standpoint of the civilians of
America-if $4,000 tons of crude
rubber could be set aside to be
mixed with reclaimed rubber, the
tires now wearing out could be re-
capped and at least rs per cent of
their mileage extended for three
years, by which time synthetic rub
Der would be available from plants
now building.
Reclaimed, however, is not useful
without crude rubber. Such re-
capped treads as have been made
without some crude rubber have
not afforded very much mileage.
The total amount Of crude rubber
needed for recapping the vast num-
Der of tires needing it today is rela-
lively small. One would think that
$4,000 tons out of the stockpile now
being accumulated would be small
amount to give for the use of de-
tense workers and civilians gen.
orally who must maintain the eco
nomlc systems operation.
The military authorities. never
theless, are going to hang on to
every ounce of the stockpile that
they can. They admit they have
more than enough for military uses
and could spare 10000 tons if they
knew when the war was going to
end and how soon the synthetic
rubber program was going to ma
terialize into something concrete
instead Of lot of conflicting talk.
For the moment the scientists have
all Washington befuddled by their
promises and their formulas. No.
body in authority in the Govern
ment really has as yet ventured an
opinion as to which of the processes
will work out best and how long
1t will take to get the synthetic
plants built for the particular proc
esses that prove successful.
Play Safe.
Under the circumstances, about
the only thing the administration
can do and about the only thing
the military authorities can do is
to play safe. They would like to
tell the American people they could
go ahead and use their tires more
than is called for by the forth
coming rationing program, which
curtails the use of autos through
the reduction in gasoline. But to
do so is to take chances.
The probabilities are that there
may be enough crude rubber avail
able to use with reclaimed rubber
to keep America from losing too
many of its present vehicles of
transportation. There may also be
a surprising amount of synthetic
rubber available before another u
months have passed.
But it is the responsibility of the
Government not to guess and it is
the obligation of the public today
to concur in the conservation pro-
gram. Only by so doing can the
rubber tire economy of America be
kept rolling. And, If by chance,
the breaks come and more crude
rubber can be set aside, that will
be a welcome development which
officials will lose no time in COM
municating to an anxious electorate
as far in advance of the autumn
election as possible.
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