Evening star., 1944-11-17
Byrnes Warns
Reconversion
Faces Delays
Moy Hold Up PIons
To Resume Output
OF Civilian Goods
By J. A. FOX.

A >checkrein on reconversion
plans until the collapse Of Ger
many Is assured was a definite
possibility today after a warning
from War Mobilization Director
Byrnes that the contemplated re-
sumption OF some civilian goods
production would be held up II
growing war needs require 1t.
In one Of his first oficial acts
after the Senate yesterday quickly
confirmed his nomination for the
new post of director OF war mobil-
ization and reconversion, Mr.. Byrnes
last night pointed to the growing
seriousness of the manpower Short
age and said If the bottleneck were
not broken he would mot hesitate
to take more drastic action" in these
forms.
First, suspend the spot author
ization procedure for civilian goods
manufacture in cities in what the
War Manpower Commission classi-
fies as critical and close -to-critical
labor areas, and second, Completely
suspend resumption of the produc.
ton Of civilian supplies"
wLB Members to Stay.
Under the spot procedure, a wPB
field Office can permit a manufac-
turer to resume civilian production,
with very low priority rating, II
he can prove he has labor and ma
chimes not needed for war.
Meanwhile, another problem was
eased on the home front, when three
of the. four public members of the
War Labor Board, headed by Chair
man William H. Davis, agreed to
withdraw their designations and
stay on while they are needed.
Joining Mr.. Davis were Vice
Chairman George W. Taylor and
DR.. Frank p. Graham. Their deci-
sion, announced at the White House,
relieved President Roosevelt of the
necessity Of casting about for sue
ceSsors, or reshaping the board, al
though he had announced earlier in
the week that he had the subject
of his labor agencies under study.
Director Byrnes moved into the
production situation last night as
part of an official campaign against
what ofiicialdom regards as a lack
Of. public War-consci0slsness. He
declared shortages of material and
weapons might "prolong the war"
unless remedied. Bolstering this at
tack, Gen. Dwight D.. Eisenhower
win take time Sunday to broadcast
home plea for more big guns and
artillery ammunition, speaking over
the National Broadcasting System
at $3.50 pm.
Saying that 100000 able-bodied
men could break the bottleneck, Mr..
Byrnes said that failure to meet
some munitions goals Is due to the
mistaken belief on the part of some
people that the war is about over"
/ Mr.. Byrnes' warning came through
release of letter written to five
Government agencies: WPB, Army.
Navy, Manpower Commission and
Maritime Commission. He directed
that their representatives visit and
study tagging plants-as WPB
Chairman j. A. Krug now is doing
in the Midwest-and stated he would
call a conference of the agencies
later.
The tagging programs. Mr. Byrnes
said, include heavy bombers, heavy
artillery, heavy ammunition, heavy
trucks and tires, assault transports
and cargo ships, cotton duck and
radar equipment.
| Along with Mr.. Byrnes' threat to
hold up civilian manufacturing. it
was disclosed that the detailed we
day" plan of the WPB is due to be
kept quiet for psychological reasons.
One WPB source disclosed that
the agency-which has announced it
would make the plan public in ad-
vance as an aid to swift reconver-
sion and re-employment-now is
studying whether to withhold such
announcement until Hitler's COLI
lapse is definitely and imminently
lsighted.
| Evidently influenced by the belief
that merely talking about recon-
version makes people forget the
war. WPB was declared likely to go
on mapping its plans quietly but
not telling which orders will be re-
! voked when We day comes.
In deciding to remain on the War
Labor Board, the three public mem
) bers yielded to the insistence Of
President Roosevelt, as did Mr..
Byrnes, who also had planned to
Istep out. No issues of policy were
involved, the trio simply having
personal reasons for desiring to
return to private life.
! :