Evening star., 1945-10-11
WPB in Review

Board had no. fewer than $50 indus
trial controls in effect. Today the
number is down to d mere forty or
SO, and in the relatively near future
even these will be done away with.
Peace. in word, has put an end to
the WPB's reason for existence, and
so, effective November 8, the agency
is to be abolished altogether, with a
new Civil Production Administration
taking over what little controlling
remains to be done.
Thus one of the most important
OF our wartime organizations is
about to pass unspectacularly into
history, but behind it is a record
rejecting lasting credit on every one
who helped carry out the great task
assigned to it when it was created by
President Roosevelt back in the dark
days of January. 1912. The WPB
came into being, under the chair
manship of Donald M. Nelson, after
a period of trial and error. NUM-
tions output needed to be co-ordi-
mated and controlled, but all Federal
mechanisms to this end had faltered
and failed until the WPB was organ
lied with sufficient power to do the
job.
A few fgures-as just set forth in
a valedictory review by Chairman j.
A. Krug, who succeeded Mr.. Nelson
last year-suffice to give some idea
of the magnitude of that job. From
July, 1910. to December. 194l, our
total munitions output was valued
at about 10 billion dollars, but such
was the stepup thereafter that for
the whole five-year period ending
July 81 OF this year, our war produc-
tion had a value of 1876 billion dol
lars. All told, we turned out 2e7 900
planes, s6,338 tanks, $4,000 field
guns and mortars, over rs, 900 ships of
all types, and numerous other items
in astronomical quantities, including
the things that went into the secret
development of the atomic bomb.
The WPB, with its priorities, its allo-
cations, its special controls, its bat
ties with bottlenecks. was the top
supervisor of this vast and enor-
mously complex effort, and no better
tribute could be paid to it than to
emphasize that American industry,
under the controls of this agency,
performed feat that dazzled our
friends and enemies alike-a miracle
of sorts, made to seem even more mi
raculous by the fact that our civil
ian economy was simultaneously
provided with greater total amount
of commodities and services than in
the good prewar years.
Not everything done by the WPB,
OF course, was done perfectly. 1t had
its internal and external troubles,
but these are dwarfed into insignifi-
canoe by the record of its accom-
plishmentS. It was a restrictive
agency, but it won such a measure
of cooperation from industry that
it had to impose only about 1000
penalties in some 25O,0oO cases in
vestigated for possible violations
which incidentally is tribute also
to the character of American busi-
nessmen. The story is an impressive
one all around.
But as the WPB now passes into
history, Mr.. Krug-Who is reason
ably optimistic about reconversion,
provided there are no prolonged
labor disputes. inventory boarding
or serious price fiuctuations-rightly
warns that we cannot any longer
count on having time to mobilize
industrially in periods of crisis. Our
capacity, our "know-how, for that
must be maintained. he declares,
for ti.e future security of the Nation.
The WPR has shown the way.