Evening star., 1942-01-18
Wartime Production Boss
Donald Nelson Offers U. S. Hard Work and Sacrifice
A YEAR from now, what will we wish
~ we had done today?"

\ we had done today?"
There's wartime slogan to paste In
your hat.
It's good slogan, yes. But, more than
that, it happens to be the current IA
vorite of the man who has more to say
about how we'll live and work this year
than any man except the President.
A week ago it was Just passing
thought in a personal letter from friend
to friend. But the receiving friend hap
pened to be big, decisive Donald NJ.
Nelson. His sharp mind plucked the
thought from the letter.
Today. it dominates the busy ONCE
where the new generalissimo Of wartime
production works. He ordered 1t en-
blazoned on big slogan card.
The ominous undertone of the slogan
is not new, however, to the thousands
OF businessmen and industrialists who
have heard the former mail order (Sears,
RoebucD executive speak, during the
past 16 months.
Calls for About Effort.
No less than Winston Churchill, he has
been prophet of blood, sweat and tears.
A year ago, he was saying:
This is an all-out effort. There are
no fixed limits save the limits imposed
by physical and human capacity en-
ployed to their utmost"
One month to the day before the
bombs OF Toxic fell on Pearl HarLor, he
gave new. sterner note to his gospel:
so far, number of people have
found /: nice. comfortable war--a time
of expanding business, OF easy orders, Of
rising profits and Of increasing prosper
ity, But it isn't going to last much
longer; just ahead Of us are. I truly be-
Ieve the toughest, hardest years we have
been through since Valley Forge"
To any American still clinging to the
easy, old ways Of business as usual" the
appointment of Nelson as chairman of
the new war production board should
come as warning and portent.
Drama in Shake up.
For big things happened last Wednes-
day night when Stephen Early the White
House secretary. handed :ne mimeo-
graphed announcement of Nelson's ap-
pointment to reporters.
All the big and little executives who
had been pulling and hauling for posi-
ton in the defense set up suddenly be-
came just hired hands,
Nelson made that clear almost at
once. for he served notice on o. p. NJ.
Army and Navy. that ANY oreanizational
changes that have to be made n order
to do this job will be made"
Any businessmen who had been jockey
ing for favors or stalling for time knew,
too. that they would be put to work forth
with. They could recall his oft-repeated
remarks: "You can't stop pAnses sdivi-
sion with as1ow Of electric refrigerators. I"
Politically minded Consressmen could
find little comfort in the story of the
legislator who called Nelson to complain
about priorities.
Priorities vs. Shortage.
"Mr. Nelson" bawled the Congress
man, your priorities system is raising
hell with business in nv district. It's got
business all crippled"
Mr.. Congressman, replied the soft
spoken Nelson, 1T isn't priorities that is
bothering business in your district. Its
shortages. That's big difference"
Nelson explained that the shortage Of
vital materials necessary for war pro-
duction is the very thing that makes
priorities necessary.
If Nelson has his way-and 1t appears
certain that he will-we will all do the
things today that we might wish, year
from now. we had done today.
Nelson has been ahead of the parade
on industrial mobilization since the day
two summers ago when he came to
Washington on a two-month job for the
Treasury Department. He's been in
Washington and ahead OF the parade
ever since.
His first assignment was chief of the