Evening star., 1942-11-24
Agencies Battle
Army Over Civil.
.Manpower Rule
Showdown Near in :.
Conflict Over Control
Of Arms Production
BY JESSE o. IRWIN.

A battle to keep civilian man.
power and production require
ments out of the hands OF
military authorities reached full
offensive scale today on the part
Of the War Production Board,
the War Manpower Commission
and in congressional circles. Ac-
tually, the fight narrowed down.
informed sources said, to keep
ing It. Gen. Brehon Somervell,
chief Of the Army's Services OF
Supply, from obtaining full COM
mand of the civilian units.
Conflict between military services
and the WPB over control Of NUM-
tons had definitely reached a show
down stage. WPB sources said. At
the same time, Manpower Commits
sion experts were reported to have
been requested by the White House
to comment on replacement sched-
ule plan prepared by the Selective
Service System, which, in effect,
would place civilian manpower re-
quirements in the hands of the
armed forces.
The plan, reported to have been
submitted to the Whita House last
week at about the same time Presi-
dent Roosevelt was announcing that
he expected to have ready soon
centralized war agency reorgani-
zation program, requires employers
to submit replacement schedules
for approval by State selective serv-
ice directors.
Plan Assailed by Pepper.
The fact that the majority Of
these State directors are military
men caused Senator Pepper, Demo-
crat, of Florida to attack the plan as
part of the military offensive on
the home front" Senator Pepper is
co-sponsor Of the Tolan-Pepper bill,
which would place control of man.
power, procurement and production
under t'single civilian roof"
The clash which some ofiicials feel
may determine whether WPB
Chairman Donald M. Nelson or the
military authorities shall be boss
Of the war economy was touched of
by Mr.. Nelson's action last week in
naming one of his vice chairmen,
Charles E. Wilson, as tPp man over
aircraft production.
This move would Withdraw from
the Army and Navy their sole
authority to schedule and expe-
dite warplane output and would
vest 1t in Mr.. Wilson, president OF
General Electric Co.
Nelson, SomervelI Confer.
The announcement was Mr.. Nell
sons first such assumption of power
over field which has been strictly
military, and was taken despite
the fact that he had not obtained
the counters signatures of Secretary
OF the Navy Knox and Secretary
OF War Stimson on the letter estab-
fishing Mr.. Wilson's new aircraft
powers.
The counter signatures vere
sought by Mr. Nelson because the
proposed aircraft board was a Joint
operation of the Army, Navy and
WPB; and because the new scheme
would throw into the discard in
part previous joint memoranda
under which authority of the armed
services and WPB over production
and procurement were defined.
From reliable Government sources
1t was learned that Mr.. Nelson sent
copies OF the letter outlining the
new setup to the War and NAVY
Secretaries early last week to be
countersigned.
Signatures Not Received.
After waiting three or four days
for reply and receiving none, Mr.,
Nelson announced the aircraft pro-
gram at a press conference. It was
generally understood that Mr.. Nell
son would get equally sweeping DOW !,
ers shortly over other branches of
military production.
Two significant meetings followed
Mr.. Nelson's announcement. On the
following day, Gen. Somervell went
into conference with the WPB chief.
Gen. Somervell frequently has been
(see MANPoWER, Page A-l6J