The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-08-29


 ment is: Why should there be any shortages at ail2 Was it bad man. agement, bad planning. bad general ship, bad government, bad labor, bad public on the home front7 The answers would seem to be a com. bination of them all.
 The seven serious shortages-in tanks, heavy trucks, heavy duty tires, heavy artillery, big bombs, big shells, aircraft radar-can't be ex- plained away by any simple reason.
 Take heavy-duty trucks. Army procurement officers had the day. lights laInbasted out of them in Q special report by the Senate War Investigating Committee for order ing too many trucks. Still there are shortages. The bottleneck Is in the foundries where castings are made for engine blocks, axles, transmits sions, parts. For two months or more the War Manpower Commis- sion has been trying to recruit addi- tional workers. But the work is heavy, the pay is not tops and in the hot summer months foundry work. : e.s a.e I.lclinea to take leave be- cause their jobs are dirty and dis agreeable.
 ITALY SLOWED, FRANCE
 SPEEDED TANK PRODUCTION
 Tank production is of because, in the first place. tank production was curtailed when the slowed-up Ital- ian campaign indicated that tanks were not the ideal weapons for mountain country fighting. Acceler- ated movements in Italy today and the open warfare of northern France have changed that concept.
 Similarly, big field guns-eight- inch rifles, 2s0 nm. howitzers--have been called into greater use than the generals had at first calculated. It has taken heavy. long-raIfge ar- tillery-not aircraft--to blast the Germans loose from heavily forti- fled positions. The Army moved last January to step up big gun output, but the new facilities are just com ing into production now.
 More big guns. fired faster. have stepped up need for big shells. Over . year ago the Army cut back the production of small arms ainmuni- ton in a number Of arsenals. The plants themselves were kept in a standby condition but they were not converted to making the big stuff as soon as they might have been. Doubling the rate of fire to break deadl0cks at Anzio and tn Normandy illustrates the need.
 As to bombs. they were supposed to be bombs running out of every body's ears. But nearly every plane is a bomber now, and shortening the range of missions by establish ing bases behind the lines in France with consequent increase in bomb load and number of sorties flown has stepped up demand.
 RADAEl-L0W PAY FAILS
 70 ATTRACT WORKERS
 Aircraft radar production is a new industry and many of it's difficulties and shortages are common to the needs of any new boom business Technical Improvements have slowed up assembly lines. The in- ' dustry is concentrated largely ill the Chicago area, where the man. power situation has not been of the best. Many women have been ems ployed, pay scales are comparative ly low and new workers haven't beer | attracted.
 So good Is the war news that the old patriotic appeals to do some thing about all these tight situations fall on deaf ears. Rpeed-up pr0due- ton teams of engineers, personnel and labor relations men are tre' quently stymied-as in the Sag Franelseo machine shops where la' bor refused 10 work overtime. or e the Akron tire factories, where ia' b0r has refused to move faster.
 Wage rates can't be raised for lenI of t0ppllng the whole wage stabll' izatl0n structure, Blaming geneFall or production officials for laek ol foresight on some Of the plannlnp does no good at this stage oI tlss game, .,. '.
 Tine need Is for an incentives new incentive to push the war is a quick, not a dragged-0nt ending