Evening star., 1951-08-11
Distribution
Of Wrong Draft
Abets Nixup
CompIexity
Of New Rules
Is Detailed
By Robert J. Lewis
Reel Estats Editor Of The Star

Ii anybody IN the construction
industry-or in the Government
itself-thoroughly understands the
new NPA construction limitation
order issued a week ago, we have
yet to locate that person.
Indeed, the confusion about the
latest National Production Ad-
miniStration order is so great as
to represent a classic in this sort
of thing, in the opinion of persons
we have talked to.
One Government man directly
concerned Said this:
THE whole thing would be
funny. if it were not so grueSome. ;"
A representative of the Asso-
ciated General Contractors of
America, queried by The Star, said
he didn't believe anybody could
fully understand the order as it
stands today.
Almost IncOmprehensible.
"It will need an immense
amount Of Interpretation, and
even then I cannot see that it
will be anything other than so
complex as to seem almost in
comprehensive. We have never
had anything so mixed up as
this is, in all my recollection.
The comments of Government
people themselves reflected un-
mistakable skepticism about the
workability of the order.
One Government official close
1y connected with administering
the regulations said fatty he
doubted that parts of it would
be enforceable.
eff you can't get people at the
operating level Of Government to
understand it, how are you 60
ing to get builders to understand
it?" he said.
Job Was Collective Effort.
Writing the regulations was a
collective effort. Team after team
of National Production Authority
lawyers contributed to it, as well
as other officials.
Seemingly so vast was the con-
fusion that the first time the
text was distributed to newspa-
permen it was found to be of a
sharply different earlier draft"
than the agency had finally
adopted and meant to distribute. |
At press conference called by
Manly Fleischmann, NPA admin
istrator, for the morning of Au-
gust 3, it was found the text
wasn't available at all. When
newspapermen returned in the
afternoon to a postponed meeting
with Mr.. Fleischmann, the text
still wasn't ready. Shortly after
wards, copies arrived and were
distributed, and it was this text
which was found to have been an
early draft that had been sent
to the printer by mistake.
The regulation in "flnal' form
was not distributed to newspapers
until the following Monday, and
officials then discovered that it
still needed correction and clari-
f1cation. Attempts have been made
to do this all week with, appar-
emily, little success.
Explanatory" Information.
AS late as last night, NPA issued
Explanatory" information in
release which announced two
changes in the order and includ-
ed administrative interpreta-
tions."
The wry comment of one Off
cial in connection with this re-
lease was:
This is an attempt to explain
some Of the things that are in
the regulation which the regula-
tion itself doesn't make clear"
One other Government agency
and two construction trade as
sociations also issued their "inter-
pretations" of the order this week.
The Housing and Home Finance
Agency gave it's version of the
procedures set up for home
builders to follow in obtaining
controlled materials; the National
Association of Home Builders
supplied it's members all over the
country with an analysis" of the
regulations; and the Associated
General Contractors of America
a trade organization of construc-
tion f1rms-also turned out it's own
ANALYSIS.
Even Analyses Not Simple.
None of these analyses sue
ceeded in being very simple, ap-
parently, because-as one Govern
ment official said-"the order it.
self is an unbelievably complex