The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1942-03-26
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WAsHIN 6I0!l!

I have just returned from two
weeks investigation of defense acti-
vities on the West Coast with two
subcommittee on the Truman Investi-
eating committee, one on Light Metals
and Aviation and the other on Ship
ping.
Since the war, the committee and
its subcommittee are operating on a
somewhat different basis We hold very
few public hearings as much of the in
formation we seek cannot be published.
What We try to do, through visits to
plants, and conferences with executives
in defense industries and Army and
Navy officials is to get an overall
picture of what is being done, and
then to discover, if there are any, the
bottlenecks and other things which
are keeping production from increasing
as rapidly as it might. Then we try to
eliminate or alleviate those bottle
necks or other factors, often without
ever holding any public hearings or
even appearing publicly in the picture.
$50
For many months, and especially
since Pearl Harbor, I have been i'm
pressed by the need for unity of Army
and Navy command in combat areas
and I was somewhat worried over re-
ports which had reached us regarding
diveded command in the critical West
Coast area. What we saw and heard
convinced me that this particular
problem has been licked as practical
proposition, although technically the
Army and Navy still function indie
pendently
The preparation for meeting such a
possible attack on the coast also are
impressive, despite the fact we are
concentrating on the offensive job
which must be done, and the defense
requirements are kept in proper pro-
portion.
We saw some evidence to indicate
that American industry will lick the
shipbuilding problem-in fact, is lick
ing it. The number of days in which
huge 10000 ton freigters are being
built, equipped and delivered was a
revelation. Our shipbuilding program
calls for delivery of two of these ships
per day during 1912. and if what we
saw on the West Coast is fair example
of what is being done elsewhere, there
isn't a bit of doubt but what that
goal will be achieved and passed.
A substantial part of our aircraft
industry is on the West Coast, and has
increased its production of planes, and
mostly combat planes, 800 per cent in
the past year. To anyone who has ever
seen, even at distance, one of those
huge aircraft plants and realizes what
tremendous things they are, that
achievement seems almost incredible
There are literally thousands and
thousands of parts in single plane
and that increases in production re-
fleets back into the same kind of in
creases in all those parts.
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We did find some instances here and
there where red tape and delays al
Washington has kept industries from
reaching maximum production, and the
subcommittee plan to turn all the
heat possible on those bottlenecks.
One thing certainly needed is much
greater aluminium production for air.
planes. All up and down the coast we
heard of slowdowns in plane produc-
ton, both by labor and by manage
ment. In every instance, when the
stories were checked, it turned out
that some sub-assembly line had
slowed down all right, but had slowed
down because it was short of material
Naturally, the management had to
keep that particular production crew
together while waiting a few days for
materials, but the situation provided a
fertile field for the rumor mongers
and they took full advantage of it.