The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1942-09-03
. Clapper
Wars Speed Has Caught
u, Almost Flsi-Foosed
We Have Men. Material.
But Distribution Fsuty
Manpower Difficulty Is
Matter OF Placement
By RAYMOND CLAPPER

NAShlNo tON-A MS WI nos
raced with such speed that we
are still having trouble adjust
ing ourselves to its pace.
A few hours after Hitler
struck at Poland on Sept. l,
1889. President Roosevelt held
A press conference. He was
asked IL America could keep out
of il. Mr.. Roosevelt replied that
he not only sincerely hoped so
but believed we could. He said
every effort would be made by
his administration to keep US
out.
Then came the stage when
Britain was going to finish the
lob if we would furnish the
tools. We were going to pro-
duce out of our fantastic abun-
dance and other people would
win the war.
Finally came the attack on
Pearl Harbor which took us in
for full-fledged war.
Even then we still thought
that our abundant materials
would be our chief contribution
although not our entire one.
Since then il has become ap-
parent that the Allies will have
to lean heavily on American
combat forces at sea, in the air
and on land. Since then 1t has
become apparent that our vast
quantities of raw materials are
not without limit. Indeed we
have run into those limits. We
have run into limits of man.
power. Long before We are full
" modified, we find war pro-
duction factories being severely
crippled by the drafting Of
trained workers. Some lags now
are caused by shortage of ma
terials.
Actually il is not a shortage
of manpower or shortage Of
materials. We have plenty of
both. But we are not distribut-
ing them efficiently.
When England went to war,
she did the same thing. She
drafted men into the army
without much regard to indus
trial needs. Then two years
later England had to release
men from the army to mine
coal, or to 60 back into war
factories. We have some ques-
tons of that kind that may have
to be decided shortly. We may
have to delay some types of in
dustrial worker, hold them in the
factories until the time comes
when they are needed for me-
chanical work in the Army,
and then shift them without
putting them through the rou-
tine military training.
The thousands of truck and
tank repair men, for instance.
need little or no military train
ing. They will be doing the same
work in the Army that they do
in civil life. There may be in
stances in which such men would
contribute more to the war eff
fort by being held at their jobs
until the Army in the field has
direct need of them at their
regular trades. Possibly we
could conserve considerable in
dustrial manpower in that way.
Possibly it would enable aircraft
factories and shipyards to turn
out more work in the next few
months - while giving them
more time for training women
and other help ineligible for
military service.
We are going TO run short
Of manpower unless it is used
skillfully, and war production
actually is suffering now from
too rapid drafting. One very
important producer has been
delayed in getting into produc-
ton largely for that reason.
Similarly with materials. Ger
tain current programs for mill
tsry equipment are apparently
far in excess of needs during
the next year. Suppose these
men scaled down so that the
scarce material could be re-
leased for immediate needs. I
have heard some illustrations
from reliable sources that make
one think, as some high officials
think. that there is room for
considerable revision Of produc-
ton schedules TO that end.
We laid out our production
programs on the assumption
that there was no fimit TO ma
terisls or TO msnpower. Night
there not be room now for some
new agency or office that could
reconcile the real needs Of the
armed forces with the supply
Of materials For instance. ia u
wise 10 shut down shipyards
while building more trucks this
year than there can possibly be
any need for7 Possibly the IL
lustration is clumsy but it sug-
gests the point.
We have q limited amount Of
cloth and must cut our pattern
10 that. At present we are