Evening star., 1943-09-17

magnitude of the undertaking and
of the many gigantic problems in
Jolved. For the Congress has been
actively involved in helping to work
out the solutions to these unprece-
dented problems.
| A few facts will show how vast an
enterprise this war has been-and
how we are constantly increasing
the tempo of our production.
The total amount spent on the
war from May 1910 to date is s128,-
| 123, 100000. The bill is now running
at the rate of s250,000,000 per day.
Production Outlined.
| Up to September l, 1943, among
the more important items produced
and delivered since the armament
program started in May, 1910, are
the following:
ArplaneS, 123 900.
Airplane engines, $4,000.
Tanks, $4,000.
Artillery weapons, $4,000.
Small arms (rif1es. carbines, ma
chine guns, etc., 9,500.000.
Small arms ammunition, 25,942,-
100000 rounds.
Trucks, 1888 900.
In most instances more than half
of the above total delivered to date
was produced during the first eight
months of 1943:
Airplanes, $4,000.
Tanks. $4,000.
Artillery weapons, 10000.
Small arms (rifes, carbines, ma
| chine guns, etc), 4,638 900.
Small arms ammunition, $780,
100000 rounds.
The number of fighting ships and
auxiliaries of all kinds completed
since May. 1910, is 1880 and $4,000
landing vessels.
In the two and a half years be-
tween January /, 1941, and July /,
1943, the power plants built for in
stallation in Navy vessels had
horsepower equal to all the horse
power of all hydroelectric plants in
the United States in January, 194l
The competitions of Navy ships
during the last six months were
equal to completions in the entire
year of 1912.
Building Time Cut.
We have cut down the time re-
quired to build submarines by almost
so per cent.
The antiaircraft and double -pur-
pose guns produced by the Navy
since the defense program started
in May, 1910, if fired altogether,
would throw 1900 tons of projectiles
per minute against the enemy.
The output of underwater ord
nance torpedoes, mines and depth
charges) during the first half of 1943
was equal to the total production of
1912.
During the month of August, 1943,
we produced almost as many tor
pedoes as during all of World War L.
Any one who has had to build
single factory, tool it up, get the
necessary help. set up an assembly
line, produce and ship the product
will have some idea of what that
amount of production has meant.
We have had to raise and equip
armed forces approaching ten mil
lion men. simultaneously, in spite
of this drain on our manpoWer, we
have had to find millions more men
and millions of women to operate
our war factories, arSenals, ship
yards, essential civilian industries
and the farms and mines Of
America.
Oil Output Rises.
There have been the problems of
increasing greatly the output of our
natural reSources-not only for our
own Army and Navy and for our
civilians at home, but also for our
Allies and our own forces all over
the world.
Since the outbreak of war in Eu-
rope, we have increased our output
of petroleum by 66 per cent. We
have stepped up our bituminous coal
production by 40 per cent, chemicals
by 300 per cent, iron ore by 125
per cent, hydroelectric power by 70
per cent and steel by LOG per cent.
There were the problems of rails
ing and distributing more food than
ever before in our history-for our
armed services, for our own people,
and TO help feed our Allies.
There was the formidable problem
of establishing a rationing system
of the necessities of life which would
be fair to all of our people.
There was the difficulty of keeping
prices from skyrocketing and fight
ing off the serious specter of inf1a-
ton
There was the problem of trans
porting millions of men and hun
dreds of millions of tons of weapons
and supplies all over our own
country and also to all corners OF
the world. This neCeSsitated the
largest railroad and shipping opera
tions in all history.
War Problems Cited.
There were the problems involved
in our vast purchases in foreign
countries; in our control of foreign
funds, located in this country; in our
custody of alien property; in our
occupation of liberated areas. There
were new problems of communica-
tions, of censorship of war informa-
ton.
There was the problem of main
tanning proper management-labor
relations, of fair treatment and lust
compensation to our millions of war
workers, of avoiding strikes; of
preventing the exploitation of work.
ers or natural resources by those
who would seek to become war
profiteers and war millionaires.
There were the problems OF civilian