The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-04-20
A Thought for Today
A Good Postwar Recipe

When the last trumpets blow and victorious peace has been won the Thoughts of tens of millions will turn to two principal needs-jobS and the pro- duction of goods for peacetime living. Actually people are thinking of these things now, and 1t is clear that the man tn the street not only feels that war in- dustry can begin planning for the re- sumption of its normal peacetime activity without diminishing it's war effort, but approves of such company planning.
 Indeed, such planning is reasSuring, even though there are long, hard battles to be fought and many weapons to be built before the war will end. Because it is one of the country's largest en- ployerS and producers, and because as peacetime automobile builder it has undergone more complete transforma- tion than most industries in war, the plans of General Motors for the recon version and postwar periods are of par ficular significance.
 In his recent annual report to stock holders, Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., chairman of General Motors, stresses the grave inn portance of avoiding delays in reconvert- Ing plants to civilian production. For example, he says, if the war in Europe ends before the war in the Pacific, 'it undoubtedly would be necessary to pro- ceed with reconverSion on basis of dual operations" The cut in war production would permit and require the return of available facilities to peace basis as quickly as possible. "The first and vital job IS the winning of the war;" he points out. "The utmost efforts of industry must continue to be directed to that end"
 MT. Sloan reported that his company was prepared to make an aggregate ex- penditure of approximately $5OO,OOO,OOO in the postwar period for expansion, re- conversion, moderni2ation of existing equipment and retooling for postwar products. GM is operating in the United States 99 of it's own plants and 16 that are government-owned These plants contain approximately 130,000 machine tools in use on war work and other au- thorized products. Of these, 69,O0O be- long to GM. The company also has in storage 17,OO0 machine tools for which no wartime use has been found, while some 3,100 peacetime machines have been sold to other war producers. Many of these were key machines and must be replaced or recovered. These figures give some idea of the complexity of the re- conversion problems of just one company and show the value of industrial and gov- ernmental planning now
 In testifying before the special House Committee on Postwar Planning, c. E. Wilson, president of General Motors, gave some more specifics about the problem of reconverSion. He said that if the con- pany'S plan for reconversion, expansion and modernization of plant could be car ried out, GM could employe about 100000 after the war, as compared with slightly more than 300, ,0O0 in 1941. But to be able to get into peace production rapidly and hold up employment levels, he added, requires making an early start, even if it is only 10 per cent of the ultimate pro- duction, to have basis for rapid expan- sion when peace comes.
 Further reflecting General Motors confidence and faith in the future, MT. Wilson expressed the belief that there would be, in addition, 100000 non-GM employees engaged in the distribution of GM products after the war. Before the war the number was 135,OOO to 15O,O0O. If such gains are made elsewhere on the industrial front, the goals of jobs and goods will be met. This mixture of con- fidence, faith and solid foundation of planning now for prompt reconverSion as soon as possible sounds like the best recipe for jobs and more and better peace time goods.