The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-06-28

'pinning labels and trial by the press are follies that must be large ly eliminated from our national life if we would attain maximum war production in this or any other years" declared Alfred c. Fuller, president of the Manufacturers As sociation of Connecticut, in a pre- pared statement released today.
 No individual or economic group responds favorably to constant needing by the critical method as exemplified by the recent accusa- ton of nder-Secretary of War Pat terson, that 'complacency and over confidence on the part of both management and labor had caused five and one-half per cent slump in production of war goods for the Army ground forces during the month of May" MT. Fuller contin- ued.
 No General Relapse
 Although his statement obviously sought to spur both management and labor to greater production eff fort, MT. Patterson made no con- tribution to the war effort when he failed to mention that overall production on all arms categories rose two per cent in May. In a later interview with reporters, high ranking WIPE official pointed out that it is erroneous to suppose that the entire war production ef- fort has suffered a relapse. Fur ther commenting on the reasons for the drop in Army ground force equipment, the WIPE official said that the Army ground force pro- gram, which includes tanks, artil- lery, small arms, ammunition and signal equipment, includes only about one-siXth of the total war program, and happens to be the area in which the 'cut-backs' were deliberately ordered by government officials themselves.
 Tn the light of these facts,' MT. Fuller asserted, neither labor nor management can be held respon- sible for a slump in war production for the Army ground forces"
 "1t may be pointed out, however" MT. Fuller declared, that the pro- duction of all war goods on maxi mum scale Is being seriously threat ened by the recently announced pol icy of Selective Service which alleg- edly will induct into the Armed Forces practically all single men and married men without children after July l, except in extremely rare cases. If this policy is strictly followed, 1t will mean that thou sands of skilled mechanics which probably cannot be replaced for anywhere from one to three years will be driven from industry, bring ing in it's wake certain drop in production, particularly in our many highly essential small tool and die, gauge and fixture plants.
 Skilled Men Lost
 "As a fitting illustration, one small tool and gauge shop in the Hartford area making gauges essen- tial to the production of aircraft. has experienced production drop of from 5000 per month to ap- proximately $18,000 per month in the past nine months due largely to losses of its skilled gauge makers to the Armed forces in the 18 to 25 age bracket. The management of this shop has indicated that the loss of every skilled man means drop in production of approximate ly $500 per month since 1t is im- possible to get replacements who can produce more than a small per- centage of the former journeymen gauge makers. To get even a small CT amount of production by replace mentS, 1t is necessary to have skilled Set-up men to set up all work on the machines" the president of thsi company asserted.
 "A survey, just completed by the conference board to ascertain the effect of the draft on industrial war production, reveals that over fifty per cent of the companies included in the study say they cannot re- lease any more of their technical or supervisory employees without serious production losses. Sixty eight per cent report that they cannot release any more of their executives, and the majority esti- mate that they cannot afford a loss of more than thirty per cent in their unskilled and skilled groups without curtailing production.
 "These facts" MT. Fuller conclud- ed, "are pointed reminders that those responsible for the size of our Armed forces should rationalize their demands for men with the re- quirements of war production in- dustry if we are to avoid a break down of essential supplies, and a period of name calling so destruc- tive to national morale
 Use Common Sense
 "Forbidding the letting of con- tracts to companies in2 Group l critical labr areas of which Con- necticut has four out of forty-tvo fir the nation. is also a further |