Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-11-29
Organization of u. S. Production
Badly in Need of Overhauling
Better Indignation of Effort Necessary as America
Actually Becomes Engaged in
Total War
Rv oT;~ NorJ,r
By Felix Morley.

y
! authority in fields where both the de-
STABILITY and the competence of military
control is questionable.
| This growing tendency, be it noted. is
not due primarily to military assertive-
ness. The urgency is now such that
various vital tasks must be handled i'm
mediately and resolutely. Both in speed
and determination civilian leadership is
proving deficient. Since nature abhors
| vacuum, the generals almost uncon-
| sciously and perhaps even unWillingly,
move IN to fill that created by executive
| lneptitude.
Coordination Lacking.
The absence of effective coordination
and precise direction is apparent in many
Federal agencies. But the deficiencies
are perhaps particularly pronounced IN
the War ManpoWer Commission because
here the strain of total war impinges
with rapidly acCelerating severity. On
the VINO is focused the responsibility
OF finding millions of skilled workers for
war industry at time when millions Of
skilled workers are being taken from in
| dustry by the armed services.
The Importance of technical skills in
modern warfare is still insuficiently
realized In the words of Gen. Somer-
veil, chief of the supply services, Our
Army today is an Army of specialists.
Out OF every 100 men indicted So are
assigned to duties requiring specialized
training. We must have these men
who know automotive mechanics, who
can operate radios or dismantle carbu-
retors."
Without this high percentage of tech
nicians, the general continues the Army
would be an incongruous mass, incap-
able of attaining any objective. Yet
without an equally high degree of spe-
cialization war industry would also be
incompetent. An as yet unresolved diff
ficulty of total war hes in the growing
| intensity of the competition between the
military services and war industry for
the by-no-means- unlimited supply of
technical skills.
The magnitude of the difficulty is in
dicated by statistics showing that in the
past two years the numbers in the armed
forces have increased from 100000 to
100000 while those employed in war
industry have scared from 100000 to
l7.50OoO0. Somehow those men have
been found.
further increase of 3.5O0OO0 in the
armed forces and of 100000 in war in
dustry is, however. anticipated for <he
coming year. How to accomplish this
additional augmentation without dis
location fatal to essential services is the
heart Of the manpower problem.
Problem Is Three Sided.
1t is problem partly of authority,
partly of organization and partly of
training, placement and transfer. And
in none of these three respects has there
as yet been progress commensurate with
the magnitude of the issue.
The United States Employment Serv-
ice is and must be the basic mechanism
for solution of the manpower problem.
Only through this Nationwide network
OF public employment exchanges can the
data as to needs be assembled and the
labor for filling those needs supplied
without duplication and loss of precious
time. Moreover, the Federal Employment
Service will be at least equally indispen-
sable for the placement of the huge
army of demobilized soldiers and war
workers after the war.
In organization above the level Of
training and placement the next steps
appear to be complete abolition of all
volunteering, and consolidation of selec-
tive service operations with those of the
ManpoWer Commission Cooperation
between the two agencies is growing
steadily closer, but they are still indie
pendent and to a dangerous extent COM
petitive. The draft and naval volun-
teering continue to take Indispensable
men from war industry, with the ironic
result that industry may soon be unable
to supply sufflciency of materials for
those who were making those same ma
terials before they went into uniform
The final step would seem to be that
national service legislation which Paul
V. McNutt, as chairman of the Mon
power Commission, recommends Under
such measure employers and workers
alike would be compelled to offer and
engage in work conforming to the CEN
tralized pattern Of total war.
The very phrase-"total war"-of
course, implies such an ultimate develop
ment. But it is so sharply at variance
with the fundamental American ira
dition as to cause understandable hesi-
tation and alarm. And, at the moment,
not greater authority but better organi-
cation is the need. A national service
act would be premature until the prior
development of labor placement and
executive indignation are further adj
vanced toward perfection than is the
case today.
British Nurses Take to Air