Evening star., 1943-01-18
Co-oDerution
Need in War
transport
But Final Control
Of Shipments Lies
With Services
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.


portation is the key to the success
which our Army. Navy and Air
Forces may achieve in their opera
tions against the enemy.
But transportation is still the least
understood overall problem of the
many that grow out of the abnor-
malties Of war. The tendency in
Washington is either to allocate
authority to many agencies or to
attempt to concentrate such au-
thority in a single agency.
Experience proves that the solu-
ton does not lie in either formula
1t lies rather in better understand
ing between agencies that must of
necessity deal with various parts of
the same problem.
The problem of war shipping is
an illustration Of one Of the most
battling of war tasks. On its face
1t might seem that the handling of
ships, largely a commercial manage
ment job in normal times, could be
best left to the civilian companies
and their executives. But, as so
often happens in Washington,
though the civilians may have an
unexcelled experience in doing their
jobs in peacetime they are unfa-
millar with the requirements of mill
tary or naval operation.
Services Should Control.
Conversely, the handling of ships
by the military looks wasteful to the
civilians and there is no doubt that
much could be learned by the strictly
military men from civilians. But, as
has sometimes been suggested. the
answer does not seem to be to de-
prive the military and naval services
of control of the shipping they need
any more than it would be to give
the armed services the right to de-
termine the scheduling of cargoes
Tor commercial use in countries |
whose sympathy and support we are
striving to acquire or maintain.
The Army Transport Service is
huge affair. 1t is the biggest thing |
OF its kind developed anywhere in |
the world in this war or the last war. |
Already it has shipped more ma
terials and weapon abroad and more
troops than were handled in any
corresponding period in the World
War. Instead of congestion at the
docks, there has been q more even
f1ow and the Army takes care of the |
whole journey from points inside the |
United States to the battle areas. |
Maj. Gen. Gross, who heads this /
vital operation, has on his staff !
many well-knoWn executives taken
from the private shipping companies
who now wear the uniform of the
Army
There can be no doubt that a
great job has been done by the
Army Transport Service, but this
does not mean it has been free from
criticism from civilian agencies be- t
cause ship space is not utilized bet
ter or because there is too much
idle time in foreign ports.
The military folks point out, how
ever, that most of the cargoes do
not go to ports that have dock facil-
tiles or unloading corps ready. Like
wise in this war loading often has
to be done so that troops can carry
their tanks and weapons off the ship
promptly lest enemy aircraft come
and lombard a ship that takes three
days to unload,
Impatience Shown,
The problems are vexing and mill /
tary men naturally grow as i'm
patient with the inability of civil |
ians to become soldiers overnight as |
do the civilians who think that mill |
tary routine shouldn't require de-
tachment Of ships for long periods !
of time that could be turned around |
on quicker schedules.
Only those possessed of the de- !
tailed facts Of every cargo loading
and every military purpose-and |
there is desirable secrecy on these |
points-can fathom the differences
that arise in handling shipping. |
But it is a fact that what happens
In shipping happens in other aspects
of the war effort. Men who should
get together do not see eye-to-eye
and ultimately the differences get |
up to the President, who himself |
cannot always grasp the meaning
of those differences.
The word that was used overtime
IN the last war was coordination. " |
But oddly enough, executive orders
and directives may today provide
for. such coordination and vet 1t
does not materialize. This is be-
cause there must be a blending of
personalities and attitudes on the
part of the co-ordinators or else the /
conflicts grow worse instead of
better.
Waste is inevitable in war and
time Goes not always permit Of either
economy or efficiency. But on the
subject of transportation the military
and naval services must be given
full control and they must accept
the corresponding responsibility.
Civilians can advise can criticise
and discuss changes, but the ultimate
authority for these operations must
rest with the joint chief of staffs.
For transportation is a military
operation itself.