The Wilmington morning star., 1945-09-11
INDUSTRIAL Town
HAS ITS ANSWERS
TO REC0NvERSl0vN
BY VERNON EDw,pn.

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. ps;D
has the tnswers to the nervous D ,'
certain quest; ons America is .s,' uN'
about reconversion. Ns
For this is no one-industrr h.
town which mushrOomed durin DV tba
war and now is reconciled 10 wy
coming a ghost town. Bridgoros.
turns out everything from N.,
corsalrs to toothpaste. 1t was
key manufacturing center hoto.
the war and means to stav 49,.
way. N'at
, Though thousands OF women :,
STACKS :, and men in dungerees toda Az
walk through the streets with t't +bs
almless gait of tie unenon1a, .te
such firms as General EIec+ri w.
Singer and American Chain bsN,
exciting postwar plans which aoa;e
will spell jobs. e'''
That's why the rest of the cor.
try can shed a few of those reoon
version filters after watcbina
Bridgeport take the first S+ans
away from full-blast war prodnc
ton. '0"e'
The employment story in Bridge.
port is a prevue of the na4ioHo,
picture in the next six months. Thi.
is what's going on.
On the day before the Jananes.
surrender, 10000 men and women
were on rush-order war Jobs, and
the War Manpower Comm ssioo
was unable to fill $50 vital open.
ings, then, with peace, contracts
were cancelled by the hundreds
The Aluminium Corporation Of
America told 1000 workers it didn't
know if or when there would be
jobs again. Chance Vought Aircraft
began letting 10000 of its $4,000
employees go. Other big plants did
the same thing.
That mass firing still goes on
BY Sept. 7, $4,000 workers are
expected to lose their jobs. Bridge.
port merchants and saloon owners,
Who rode the crest of the war boom,
have seen their business 90 dead.
Even the movies play to empty
houses. The war workers, scared,
are sticking clor, to home and
waiting for things to break.
Those unemployment figures in
just one city look bad. But, like
all of America, Bridgeport has been
planning to cushion peace with
huge postwar expansions. Now
watch what happens to the figures:
The big plants are confident that
once the decks are cleared they
will do far more business than in
1889. Because of this, most plan
eventually to call back about half
Of the workers they had at the
peak of the boom. To the average
plant, this will be big boost over
pre-war employment rolls.
That's the rosy side of the story.
Here are the trouble spots about
come:
which We'll hear more in days to
First, retooling. The big lag in
reconversion is going to be caused
by the simple mechanical problem
of getting rid of machinery used
for filling war orders and replacing
it with the type of equipment need
ed for peacetime production. Most
of the big outfits have blueprints
on this, but it's not clear how soon
the job can be done.
Second, the veterans. Bridge
ports Socialist Mayor McLevy will
have some $1,000 men coming back
soon. To give them jobs, others
must be thrown out of work. with
these thousands in mind, McLeVy
talks about such projects as sew
age disposal plants and bus terml'
mails. But no one has figured or'
lust how the huge costs will be
split between Bridgeport, the Sta'e
and Washington.
Union leaders don't think Me'
Levy goes far enough ana aL'
stumping for the proposed 1uil eIl'
ployment bill and Increased uNeN'
, p,oyment insurance.
: While industr, alist are dehlaiu'
ing that Washington give pfoolr,
ton a shot in the arm by ralSlNs
: ceiling prices, the mayor aho ui. nd
, groups are calling for more dNa
, more Washington leadership
That's a problem which me ILu,
man Administration must So',s ",
. soon for Bridgeport and the resi- W