The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1943-11-11
Behind the Scenes
In American Business
By John Cruddock

LAW AoSo ~ o1Lot, oA-
though ever since Pearl Harbor
showed us how unprepared for
war we really were we have had
no production of a number of
civilian products, there are still
some of them in the stores?
That is a question that retailers
and their customers have been
asking for a long time. Soon
they'll ask it no more. For what
we were living on was what the
economists called inventory
fat" We had accumulated a lot
of refrigerators, washing mach
ines, toys, bobby pins and
countless other items, and
there was nothing to prevent
the manufacturers and distrib-
utors from selling them off.
These supplies made it pos
sible for merchants everywhere
to meet at least a part of the
demand. Also, they made it i'm
possible to judge accurately
whether the restrictions on civ
llian production were justified.
BY now, we have come about to
the end of the inventory sup
plies. Now we will have a chance
to find out whether, for exam
pie, we can actually get along
without making any more
washing machines until the war
Is over-especially since more
people are working at dirty jobs
and since laundries are too
busy to take on new work.
Chances are that the Office
of Civilian Supply will begin to
permit some production of
needed items soon. Retailers in
small cites would do well to
keep in touch with their dis
tributors to be sure OF getting
their share, when it comes.
RUBBER REALITIES-A-card
holders who have been looking
hopefully toward the day when
they can re-shoe old Betsy with
new synthetic tires must curb
their Impotence until mid
1914 at least" according to
, George w. Vaughn, vice presi-
dent of the B. F. Goodrich
company. Although there is now
plenty of synthetic rubber pour
ing from the governments
S75O,OOO 900 worth of GR-S
plants, the building of large
military tires, especially those
for airplanes, takes so many
more man-hours and machine
hours that the industry will be
hard put to exceed the goal of
0,000, 900 Essential" civilian
tires needed in 1914, Vaught re-
ported in a speech at Dallas. AS
an example, he pointed out that
the same personnel and equip
ment can turn out 40 of the 8.25
by 20 civilian tires in the same
time that only six and one-half
of the 56-inch airplane tires can
be made. Even the mid-year
date is lust an estimate, and
by no means a promise" he
added, so you'd better keep on
"babying" the tires you have.
THINGS TO COME - News
print made from de-lnked news
PRINT; Qulck-1rOzen cooILsu
cakes; Machinery tor evisceraI-
ing by mechanical means; Lug
sage material made from bloL-
ing paper lmpregnaIed with
SynJhetlc rubber; Apparatus for
stimulating pant growth by ar
tl1iclal ngnt.
ACID TEST-Busy as it is
Win the problems of meeting
war requirements, American
industry also tlnus time ana
metnods for testing ideas to1
postwar development. Tiny al
minimum guinea pigs" are be-
Ing used to determine whether
nitric acid can safely be carried
In giant railway tank cars OF
The same material. The guinea
pigs" are tiny cans made OF al
minimum alloys identical to
those which might be used in
tank cars. Tests show that it
would take the acid 80 years to
corrode ALUMINIUM, according to
A. H. Wollen OF the Develop
ment Division OF the Aluminium
Company of America.
Other tests have proved that
aluminium lined coal hopperS
will stand the wear and tear of
coal and the elements for a
minimum of 20 years. In the
company's research laboratories
at New Kingston, Pa, alumni
UNI coal hoppers have been fill
ed with coal and exposed to the
elements for the past II years.
Microscopic inspection reveals
the plates in ends and sides
have not changed appreciably
from the original thickness, &C
cording to Wooden.
VIRUS IN MATERIALS-For a
generation or more, medical re-
searchers were handicapped be-
cause the finest microscopes
they could buy could not en-
large germs and the viruses