The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-12-04


 Or if you enlarge that issue lit- tie, it becomes a showdown over whether the civilians or the mill itary are to boss war production and wartime civilian economy along with it.
 Now all this might be brushed aside as just another typical strug- gle for power between two rival fac- tions of the government, But is ii just a struggle between personali- ties who should be locked in Q room to fight it out, as the President sug- gcsted2
 Each side accuses the other of being selfish, of being obstruction ist, of not wanting to win the war. Thus they cancel out and you have to look elsewhere for the motives.
 Some of the WIPE braintruSters, those bright page boys who hang around on the planning committees of the palace of production, would have you believe that this a battle to determine the future of America, something lige Lexington or Bull Run. They will tell you in all Scr- iouSness that the Army represents fascism and dictatorship.
 HORRORS! !!
 It actually becomes funny. Yet some of these young economists whose counsel is at least listecd to by tnhe chiefs of war productio believe that the Army and Navy procurement officers in their grasp for power have ambitios ito take over the government" lock, stock and barrel-not only war production and war economy, but the manpow- CT as well. This is dead-pan earnest.
 After being filled full of this talk for hour or two you have ton pich yourself to make sure you're not in King Arthur's court, with all its back stairs gossip. intrigue and dragons. No, this is Washington, 1942, and there's war on.
 So you start looking elsewhere for what really lies behind this fight.
 What is this issue, in its simplest terms? Donald M. Nelson is moving to make c. E. Wilson boss of air. plane production. Army and Navy have shown reluctance to grant that authority.
 Whats at stake? Well, not just the question of the personality of MT. Wilson, who gave up his SITS ,000- -or-so per year job as pres ident of General Electric to come to washingto and be showed around by a bunch of $8000-a-year generals or $9000-a-y'ear administrators.
 What is to be controlled? Air planes.
 Who has the most to gain or lose? Why not the companies that manufacture airplanes?
 
 ISSUE IS CONTRACTS
 If you look on the list of the 100 companies holding the greatest dollar value of war contracts, you will find that these 100 companies have 83 per cent of all the war CO., tracts, and of these 100 companies more than fifth are building air. craft or aircraft engines. Of the 10 largest war contractors, seven are building aircraft, the other three being steel company and two ship yards.
 The issue here is billions of dollars worth of cotracts already let. billions of dollars worth of contracts to be let from now till the end of the war and after that the aircraft business Of the future, the business of the air age of peace.
 It would take congressional in vestigating committee staff of law yers from three to six months 10 sift out all the business relationships of all the compaies involved and the tie-ups of the big businessmen now in Washington who will award them contracts.
 All this is shooting strictly from the hip out 1t may present in brief form the idea that there is something more at stake 1. one of these bureaucratic battles of Washington than Just deciding who is to be MT. Big in any particular bureau.