The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-05-26

t40n'S uanQllug or the SCOckpl programs today. Because there will be no new rubber f Chairman Harry s. Human, 1he committees formal report on the rubber situation to the Senate. Et said that in the future, the United Etatesawiil be largely dependent on synthetic rubber. In discussing the past tt conceded that "nindsight is better than foresight" but, never theless, blamed the rubber shortage upon:
 Accusations
 1. An 'orgy of rubber consump- ton" by automobile manufacturers ln 1041 which was not checked by the now defunct office of production management.
 2. Secretary of Commerce Jesse Jones for having reduced a pro- posed l941 synthetic rubber pro- gram from 100000 to 10000 tons annually.
 3. Dutch and British rubber in- terests who wanted to keep produc- ton at profitable levels and were reluctant to expand production aeven with Dunkirk behind them"
 {. Lack of a centralized author 1ty to start synthetic rubber pro- gram.
 s. The cartel arrangement be- tween Standard oil Company (New Jersey) and I. e. Farbenindustrie, the German chemical trust.
 6. Failure to start 8 scrap rub Der collection program even though the junk heaps hide "a greater wealth of vital rubber than our enemies could assemble from all sources available to them today"
 No Relief Expected
 The report clearly indicated that no major relief can be anticipated from any source other than sym thetic rubber plants. It estimated that the Guayllle rubber bush could play little or no part in the present war and that no more than 42,000 tons of raw rubber annually can be expected from South America.
 The committee doubted that the program which is now expected to produce 350,000 tons of synthetic rubber in 1943 and 100000 tons in 1v44s would be entirely successful.
 "A preliminary study has indi- cated that the completion dates of these contracts (for synthetic rub- Der plantS) are such that 1t is diff cult to see how the proposed 350,~ O0O tons of synthetic rubber can be produced in 1943," the report said.
 The synthetic program is still in a formative stageg the report said, and pointed out that only a few plants, which are producing "spe- cialty" rubber have actually been constructed.
 Tt cannot be said that the rub Der problem is solved |" the re- port continued. ''T'here is no aSsur- nnce yet that the program now be- ing pursued is the best program, nor is there even complete assurance tht it is workable"
 Armed Forces Must Conserve
 The committee said the armed forces themselves must conserve rubber.
 The best information available in this country is that the German army was built and has been rolling on less than 100000 tons of rubber q year." the report said.
 'The military (American), how ever, have to date apparently been content to require the elimination of rubber for civilian use and have acted on the assumption that what ever they need will be available"
 The most important reason" for Che rubber stockpile deficiency was Industrial ron-defense consumption, which, in 194l, was permitted to rise Co unprecedented heights, the com- mittee said. It criticized the OPM's failure to crack down on the auto mobile industry, and said: But at very period when 1t became clear that some action was necessary to conserve rubber, the (automobile) companies indulged in an orgy of consumption, laying in stocks of finished goods at rate which reached in June of l941 a new high Of over Q million tons per year"
 Date presented to the committee the report said, showed that the stockpile the government desired by the end of 194l was 430000 tons. But at the end of the year, 1t amounted to only 277,514 tons.
 In 194l, American rubber con- sumption had reached the all-time high of 766,000 tons, largely because the OPM permitted automobile pro- duction to increase instead of re- curing the immediate conversion of automobile plants for defense production" it said. Tt was obvious in 1040 and in 1941 that there was at least @ possibility of our Far Eastern supply being cut off, al- though no one could predict accu- rately to what extent importation