The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1942-04-23
Bv STAFF CORRESPONDENT

washington, -. -. ILLS A40
toin is beginning to produce as
no other nation in the world has
produced" y,
That statement by Donald M
Nelson, chairman of the War Pro
duction board, coupled with other
similar evidence of the fact tina
war production now is soaring
toward records, has spread a feel
ing of optimism here despite the
disaster in the Philippines anc
other disturbing war news. Inc
general feeling here is that Alice
morale and ingenuity of planning
is great enough to win the wal
if given materials equal to those
of our enemies-and it now ap'
pears certain that we will, before
not too long, establish an impos'
ing leadership in the productlor
of arms.
Many cheering reports about
the caliber of our equipment have
been made recently. The British
for instance, have reported that
u. S. built bombers are superior
to anything the Germans have;
recent investigation of bomb
sights have proven that the Ger
mans don't even know the prln-
dipals of our Norden bombsight
which is far superior to any other;
and other reports come in regu-
larly from our Allies praising the
equipment which we are sending
to them.
Actual figures on production
of various types of equipment
which might be of use to the en-
envy, are not being made public,
but enough figures are released
to make it apparent that our pro
duction is now going at a terrific
pace.
The government permitted
General Motors corporation to re-
lease general figures on its pro-
duction of war supplies, which
show that that corporation alone
shipped over a quarter of a bill
lion dollars worth of war pro-
ducts during the first three
months of 1912. This was almost
five times as much war equip
ment as General Motors shipped
during the first quarter of 194l.
The General Motors report states
that it has contracts for more
than 10 per cent of all war mat
erials fabricated from metal in
Guiding one-third of the machine
guns, more than one-thlrd of the
army trucks, more than half of
the nations diesel engines, two
fifths of the aviation engines and
more than one-fourth of the tanks.
Thus the progress Of General Mo-
tors gives a good cross-section pic
ture of the progress of our total
war production.
If General Motors is producing
10 per cent Of all metal equip
ment, and if other producers are
keeping pace with General Mo-
tors, it can be assumed that our
war production approaches the
three-billion-dolla mark for the
first three months of this year.
The figures also show that the
production rate is being increas-
ed greatly each month.
Although the first concern OF
the government and of the people
is with production. there is a wide
spread effort being made to see
to it that no company gets ex-
orbitant profits on it's production
of war material. Consequently,
the President recently issued an
order giving six government "a
gencies the right to audit the
books of firms which have gov
eminent orders to prevent the ac-
emulation of unreasonable pro-
fits. The agencies which were
given this authority are: the War
Production board, the maritime
commission, the Reconstruction
Finance corporation and the de-
partments of war, navy and treas
ury.
The White House has shown
particular concern recently over
the domestic problem of initiation,
1t being agreed by all authorities
here that the war program can
cost us many billions more than
1t should unless stringent steps
are taken to keep prices from
soaring higher.
The proposals to freeze wages,
salaries, rents and prices are on
ly part of the plan now being
considered to stem initiation,
major part of the planning being
aimed at the capture of many
more billions of dollars from the
people. With purchasing power
getting far ahead of supplies a.
valuable for purchase, it is agreed
that this surplus money will cause
rapid initiation unless channeled