Evening star., 1952-04-02
Wilson S Final Report
Calls for Expandab|e
Military Production

Charles E. Wilson. in his fina,
report to President Truman, has
warned of a whole new range OF
problems facing the Nation, tied
up with the necessity of main
tanning our strength as long as
Soviet communism remains q
powerful threat.
Mr. Wilson's report was issued
yesterday, a day after his de-
parture from the job of defense
mobilizer as the result of a dis
agreement with the President over
how to prevent a steel strike.
Tt was his fifth and final
quarterly report, the words "and
final" apparently having been in
serted after the document had
been set in type.
Mr. Wilson warned, in effect,
that the United States must be
a Nation of minute men, keeping
guns oiled and powder dry. This
posture, he said, must be main
tanned "as long as Soviet COM
munism continues to be a power
full threat to freedom in the
WORLD"
Geared for Expansion.
Now that the current production
program is well launched, he ex-
planned, we must complete and
maintain q mobilization base" ("
He defined this base as "the facili-
ties necessary to enable us to ex-
pand military production quickly
to high levels" in case of all-out
attack.
The report covers the January
March period. In it Mr.. Wilson
made these points among others:
!. An extended steel strike could
do serious damage to our national
objectives. 1T is most urgent" :"
he said, that the dispute be
quickly settled in terms that will
take account Of both our produc-
tion and our stabilization objec-
tives."
2. It would be q mistake at this
time to remove controls indiscrim-
inately. Despite sagging price in
deXes large part of the economy
has seen no decline in prices. A
plan for "suspending" price con-
trolls in the softer areas of the
economy" will be ready shortly
Deliveries Gain.
8. Deliveries of planes. tanks
and other weapons in the period
reached $5.1 billion, a gain of 80
per cent over the previous quarter
and six times the rate of the first
quarter after the invasion of Ko-
rea. Deliveries of all types OF
military goods. plus construction
Itotaled $50 billion.
Mr.. Wilson called 1851 the year
of making ready; 1852 the year o1
acceleration, and said 1858 and
1854 are to be the years Of the
mobilization plateau" The Ca
|pacity needed for the current pro-
gram is either in place or in sight
he said, and efforts must be shift
led to complete the mobilization
base.
For this purpose, according to
his report, the armed services are
computing equipment require.
ments for full mobilization, and
initial computations on the most
critical items are we'll along. with
definite peek production rates
computed. r., ", ..
Sees Eventual Saving.
Planning and maintaining
this reserve capacity" Mr.. Wilson
said, sis a task almost as compli-
Gated as planning and executing
the production program itself. In
a sense it will be costly, because
it will add to the cost of each type
|of plane or tank produced the cost
|of creating and maintaining the
reserve capacity for production of
that same plane or tank.
But in reality the mobilization
base will cut the cost of our de-
fensive preparations-for insofar
as we can really maintain the
ability to swing instantly into all
out production, we reduce the need
to produce stocks of combat equip
ment which stand idle and become
obsolete"
He listed two necessities to the
plan: Machine tools must be on
hand and industry must be kept
in a healthy condition through a
continuous level of moderately
high production. The mobilization
base plan will satisfy both needs,
Z.