Last Notch?

War Production Chairman Donald M. Nelson last week had surprising news for the U.S. people. The U.S. civilian economy, which during the year has seen the manufacture of not one new civilian automobile, refrigerator, washing machine, alarm clock, trouser cuff, radio or many a smaller doodad or furbelow, has been cut about as deeply as it will be. The problem now is to simplify, standardize, produce more of the things Americans must have from the materials and manpower now available.

But there remained a dispute in WPB about actually calling a halt in the $1,000,000,000-a-month cuts in U.S. civilian production. Since the nation was living on inventories of many goods no longer produced, few U.S. citizens realized how tight the civilian belt now was. Some officials thought it was already too tight for public health and morale; others felt it could stand another notch. Donald Nelson agreed with neither faction, took a down-the-middle view. Said he: "I have no evidence as yet to show that we have trimmed too far. On the other hand I feel that not much more trimming can be done that will yield substantial quantities of war materials."

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