Milford chronicle., 1942-08-28
Milford, Friday, August g, ls4s

these days on many battle fronts
They are attacking the enemy
wherever he is to be found, afioat
ashore, and aloft. American sol
diers raced up the beach at Dieppe
last week, last week our bombers
we're over the Egyptian desert, our
planes were blasting the Japanese
in China, our marines were tanning
out from heachheads in the Solo
mons.
Overseas. on the fighting fronts,
the order is attack" overseas we
are carrying the war to our enc
mics But what of the battle at
home?
At home we are engaged in bat
tie on four vital sectors. We are
fighting against infiation-ighting.
that is. to keep down the cost of
living and the cost of the weapons
of war; we are fighting shortage
OF materials for war; we are fight
ing the action of production; and
we are fighting to make the most
effective use Of our manpower.'
In only one of these battles, the
battle of production, have we
achieved successful offensive, al
though even in this sector we must
gain more ground, and rapidly.
In the battle against imitation we
definitely are on the defensive, are
fighting, in the words of Price Ad-
ministrator Henderson, "a delay
ing action" Statistics show that
since the general maximum price
regulation went into effect last May
prices of controlled commodities
have gone down. Costs of uncon-
troIled commodities, however, have
risen greatly. This year our in
comes will reach a total of 113 bill
Hons, while our production Of goods
and services for civilian use will
total no more than IS billions. Take
out 20 billions from income for
taxes and savings and you have "a
billions left to compete for only rs
billions I'M consumer goods.
It's obvious that we shall have
to launch a new offensive, and it
is probable that this offensive will
mean price control for farm pro-
ducts as yet uncontrolled. There
can be noAannecessary increase in
wages paid workers, and profits of
corporations must be cut deeply.
The battle to overcome material
shortages is another battle which
must enlist the strength and the
determination of everyone at home.
This battle has not been going too
well-here, too, we have been fight
ing a delaying action. The sector
Of materials adjoins the sector Of
production, and communicates from
the production front show how our
advances in that area have been
hindered by reverses on the field
OF materials. We have reached the
point where we cannot use rubber
to make gun grips, and last week
the War Production Board restrict
ed military uses of aluminium to
combat end-products for field COM
bat use"
= Four factors determine the course
Of battle on the materials front.
One is our ability to develop new
sources of raw materials; a sec
ond is our ability to find substi-
tutes for scarce materials; a third
here the materials front is link
ed to the manpower front as both
are. linked to the front of produc-
tfon-is our ability to keep mines
and forests at their full output; and
the fourth-and most important
of these factors is our ability to do
a job Of salvage.
You may be tired Of hearing
about salvage, and yet we cannot
close our ears to the need for sal
wage; we cannot stop hunting scrap
without risking defeat. WPA work
ers, beating the back roads Of the
farm country and digging old rails
from city streets, have turned up
100000 tons of scrap metal. Scrap
,155 tons of it's NOV
ing to reclaiming plants at the rate
of 1000 tons a day. Washington
d. c., has set a pattern for SCRAP
rallies" to be held throughout the
country. WIPES Conservation Di-
vision announces plans for "Jun-
ior Salvage Corps" of school chill
dren to conduct a Nationwide
scrap canvass in October. And the
American Legion is discussing with
local governments a proposal that
.howitzers of 1918 be scrapped to
make the guns of 1943.
ALI these enterprises will helr
but they are not enough. Only il
each one of us does his part will we
have enough-barely enough.
In the manpower section we have