Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-04-01
Audience Asks
Both for Facts
About Machinery


down and transcribed ur1-the- scene
by a battery of court Stenogra-
piers.
George V. Denny. moderator OF
the radio program, Town Meeting
OF the Air" acted aS umpire.
In addition 10 the formal debate
Wilson and Reuther answered
questions of newspapermen fired
from the floor and the Times here
with prints the glSt Of the discus
sion
Typical OF the questions was the
following by Joseph j Geschlein
representative of an industry trade
paper:
JOSEPH J. GESCHLEIN-Mr
Reuther, ! am speaking for the
technical press. / have been
through all the airplane engine
plants and l have been in automo-
tive plants all my life. and / pre-
sumo that you have. so that we
have similar experience.
BEGS TO DIFFER
Now, in going through the air.
plane engine plants. am con-
WINGED that, at least in my opinion,
your statement about the fact
that there is duplication of ma
chinery is not in accordance with
the facts,
The point is that in machinery
you have generic terms, generic
chine. you have grinder. but
there are different sizes of those
things. The crankshaft lathe that
turns the Cadillac crankshaft or a
Chevrolet crankshaft is not the
same machine that you wouid-nse
for machining the crankshaft for
the Allison engine or for a Pratt
& Whitney engine. and l just
wanted 10 get myself clear,
If YOU disagree. / would like 10
be Strengthened out on it, because
II will help me in my own work.
PUT UP TO REUTHER
DENNY-We are going to take
that in the form of a question and
ask Mr.. Reuther to reply TO il.
REUTHER-As stated we
made a check as recently as last
Saturday in the Ford Pratt &
Whitney plant at River Rouge,
and have the complete list of the
machines. and our contention is
that IS per cent of the machines
are still the same machines. and
can be converted by retooling. II
is TRUE that the special iathes for
crankshafts number among the Is
per cent where you will need new
machines. That happened to be
one of the jobs that we can't
swing on a regular automobile
crankshaft lathe. ecause the
swing on an airplane motor is
greater, and you have TO have
special lathe.
WILSON'S VIEW ASKED
DENYING. Wilson. do you
care 10 comment on the same
question?
WILSON, don't know what TO
do about il. when a man won't look
at the facts. There is one job. The
assumption that corporations were
not willing 10 get al the defense
job ! personally don't understand,
because that is all | have been
doing for the last year and a half
! do not see how Mr.. Reuther can
say that his plan was not baSically
one 10 SuperlmpoSe defense on
regular business.
Oh A
mobiles As matter of fact. when
we made our preliminary forecast
for our l94l model production in
June. 1910. we did not plan on
that big a production. We did not
expect that business or the coun-
try would be stimulated as il was.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
The idea that the corporations
were holding back on the job | am
sure is not true. The difficulty is
really that you have 10 put first
things first. and no company could
engage in the production of some
thing until they found out what il
was. until Congress appropriated
some money and somebody got
hold OF a piece of paper that en-
titled them TO go ahead with the
business.
REUTER- - Mr.. Wilson. YOU
state that you did not anticipate
the developments in the industry.
WILSON-No. / didn't say that,
Walter. ] said that we did not an
ticipate as big an automobile bust
ness As developed: that our plans
were for less production than our
share of 100000.
I94I STATEMENT
REUTER- How do YOU explain
that as late as Sept %, 1871. you
stated before the Tolan committee
hearings in the City Of Detroit and
i quote:
II did not foresee the present
drastic cut in automobile prOduc-
ton and don't think II II nee
essary. IL IL much easier TO
disorganize things than 10 reor-
ganize them. People are getting
materials on priorities which are
not 10 he used for months. This
Ia causing n shortage"
On Jan. Z. 1912. Al a press con
ference YOU held in Washington
you said:
I'VE are sort OF doing the
automobile business with our left