The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-09-07

WnoIe thing N done in a goldfish bowl, and 1t be- comes Q matter of public interest. Then the papers ar full of t.
 To understand the Nelson Wilson case, you havee to 90 back to Sep- temher Ie42, when wilson first was brought into the War Production Board as vice chairman in charge of production. wilson was Nelson's choice for the job, but to Nelson's early pleas to Wilson to come to Washington, the reply of the Gen. eral Electric president had been that he wanted to stay with his company and would only come to Washington if the President drafted him. So Nelson went to the Pres- ident and got Wilson ordered to Washington. The fact that the President appointed Wilson to his job as vice chairman of WIPE was later to embarraSs Nelson because 1t left him in q position Of not being able to fire c subordinate.
 ARMY CIVILIAN TROUBLES
 Nelson's big battle, up to the time of Wilson's appearance in Washing ton, had been with the ArTny-prin- cipally Lieutenant General Brehon somerveli of the Army Service Forces. Int was compromised par- italy by the appointment of Ferdi- nand EberStadt as vice chairman in charge of materials and allocationg, but It was fully settled when Wil- son was put in charge of production and named head of the Production Executive Committee Of Generals afid Admirals in charge of war pro- curement and production Of riuni. tlonS.
 Then in the winter of i042-43 con. fiictS arose between Wilson and EberStadt. Nelson settled them by firing Eberstadt early in February 1043, putting al six of Eberstadts divisions Of WIPE under Wilson and giving Wilson complete control of all WIPE operations.
 After c year the vice chairman and division heads who had been appointed by Nelson began to drop out. They were replaced by men ap- pointed by Wilson and it wasn't long before everybody in WIPE was reporting to Wilson. Nelson event. ually found himself in the position of having to use his personal asgist- ants when fe wanted to follow through on any program or see what was going on in the organization he was supposed to be head Of. These assistants naturally clashed with the vice chaiFmen under Wilson. Wil- sons men began running to him that the Nelson staff was prying into what they were doing, and Mel. son began to get reports that the Wilson men were not cooperating on Nelson policies. NeSon'S trip to Russia didn't help this situation. POLYTECHNIC BEHIND SCENES
 It was logical that Wilson should rely on the organization that he was building Up, and to discard the remnants of the former Nelson or- ganizatior. One of the victims of this was, strangely enough, J. A.. Krug, who had been Neison's man in charge Of program planning. IL Is c curious twist that Krug should now De brought back into WIPE aS vice chairman, to straighten out the conditions of which he had been . victim.
 This constant needing of the two top men by their subordinates was bound to have it's effect. Before either Of the executives may have realized 1t. there were two factions in WIPE and plenty of politicking behind the scenes. It was to break into the open when Nelson started to put his recorVerSion policies into effect. That Is ( story irl itself which will be told in this space in the next Issue.