The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-11-23
Aluminium cutback
Is No Solution,
Anderson Charges

| Washington NPA) - The Ma
tional Production Authority order
ed 35 percent slash in civilian
use Of aluminium, "but this is no
final solution" according to Dewey
Anderson, executive director Of the
Public Affairs Institute.
In fact, Anderson says in a
searching summary of the alum
mum situation, such a cutback in
civilian consumption is no solution
at all. Federal officials responsible
for aluminium should take immedi-
ate steps to expand production by
as much as 70 percent or more if
the US is not to be caught short
in an emergency, Anderson says.
The PAL director sent his study
along with covering letters to the
appropriate government officials
just before the NPA order was
issued.
In his aluminium survey, Ander-
son says the US is consuming the
white metal at an annual rate Of
1.3 billion pounds year. To meet
present defense needs we would
have to make another billion
pounds, for which we lack the cap
acity, he says. Yet aluminium is abb
solutely vital in the manufacture
of modern airplanes.
Anderson says the answer must
be found by considering 10 major
points. First off, attention should
be given to the need for expansion.
(He says little new capacity has
been built since the war and even
the civilian economy has been run
ming half a billion pounds short
each year Moreover within five
years civilian demand should in
crease by another quarter Of a
billion pounds.)
The near-monopoly character Of
the industry should be changed by
government policies that support
adequate Independent and COM
petitive sources" (Anderson points
out that there are now only three
American producers.) Any cut
backs ordered by the NPA should
be considered temporary. Mean
while, a rational plan" for ex-
pansion should be devised.
Such a plan should provide funds
for eight metaP' operators other
than the Big Three. (The Big Three
are Alcoa, Reynolds, and Kaiser.
Smaller competitors should be as
sured supplies of bauxite, the ore
from which aluminium is extracted
by processes which require huge
amounts of electric power All pro-
ducers should be obligated to sup
ply "a substantial percentage" of
their aluminium to the 1900 inde-
pendent fabricators of aluminium
products who now are dependent
on the Big Three and are threat
ened with extinction by cutbacks.
Proposed new "high-cost steam
generated electricity" plants for
making aluminium should be resort
ed to only in desperation. But the
government should own and man
age stockpile of aluminium
throughout the preparedness per-
iod and thereafter. At the same
time the government should develop
low-cost power projects wherever
possible but Consistent with geo.
graphical dispersion of plants" To
keep the 1900 Independent fab
ricators in business, a system
should be worked out whereby they
obtain plenty of raw materials and
orders under the defense program.
More aluminium should be pur-
chased in Canada, where it is pro-
duced by Alcoa's Canadian subsi-
diary in plants largely financed
during World War ii by the US.
(But these extra imports should
come from increased Canadian pro-
not at the expense of
orders placed in Canada by other
friendly nations.) The Big Three
should be made to sub-contract
many of their orders to the inde
pendents who may finally be able
to bring down aluminum's "man-
aged price"
After the NPA ordered the 35
percent civilian cutback, Anderson
issued a statement calling the ac-
ton wholly inadequate" in the
face of the need for expansion. He
also urged that the cutback be ap-
piled "across the board" Other
wise, he said, the Big Three will
be cut only 10 percent while the
$4,000 Independents will suffer a
DO percent slash.
The 35 percent cutback hits con-
sumers harder than anything yet
lone under the defense program,
but will not be in effect until Jan.
|. After that date, non-military
will be held to 65 per-
cent of their quarterly average
during the first half of 1850. In
December, such consumers will be-
limited to the amount they used in
an average month the first half of
1880