Show 00 synthetic rubber industry M achieved within one year speedy adoption of rubber manufacturing program shaves 24 years from time required to launch new industry Y by news analyst and commentator Comment service 1343 11 II street NW washington D C by the time this is written or shortly thereafter announcement will bs be made of the creation of what may become one of the worlds greatest industries synthetic rubber manufacturing by that time probably ten plants will be assured of operation the three biggest will make synthetic rubber lubber out of alcohol which means a mark market et for the farmers grain if the program marches according to schedule the united states will have achieved within one year what usually takes a quarter of a century to accomplish the building of a new industry i this is the message that william jeffers president of the union pacific railway now rubber administrator in washington gave me mr jeffers presides at a desk in one of the offices of the war production board and appears to be one man taken out of the american bustness business world who believes that you can get things done even within the government ile he looks like what he is A railroad man who came up from the bot bottom torn still carries a union card and usually mentions it he is stocky bull necked slow spoken a prophet of the practical skeptical of the theoretical who talks about his two fisted organization of successful business men who know their stuff I 1 asked him first if he found much difference between working for the government and running a railroad yes he answered then he smiled and took his time before he went on this is a democracy I 1 suppose the delays are necessary but I 1 had much trouble he looked up 1 I make my own decisions I 1 got that ford plant overnight he engineered the negotiations for theford alie ford tire manufacturing plant in detroit for shipment to russia using what we have iii 1 I have h a topnotch top notch organization of two fisted businessmen who know their stuff we are going to do what we are supposed to do on schedule on our own schedule we have the information we want and in a few weeks well know just how many plants we are going to have what their capacity will be and the order in which they will start icart producing my first Job jeffers went on as he lifted his pounds and walked around the desk deik is keeping the country on rubber with what weve got that means reclamation and conservation then its to produce the synthetic rubber we need to keep going for the duration meanwhile I 1 watch that stock pile of pure rubber we have hilkea like a hawk here aie are the ABCs he said motioning me to a chair beside a table on which was standing what looked like an open sample case it contained a number of bottles and a few other objects properly labeled he pointed to the first bottle this is full of shreds he said it is part of a whole tire casing and all cut up ile he pointed to the next bottle this he said is the same stud stuff after it has been soaked in oil arld arid acid and the pieces of casing floated out you can see the pieces of metal in it still ile he showed me a screen with pieces of metal on ion it here is the filter which strains out the metal a lot of metal gets into a tire there were a lot of pieces sticking to the bottom of the filter these next bottles he went on show the way the stuff looks look after each successive process of if refining and here Is the reclaimed rubber he said as he picked tip lip a black r strip rip then he pointed to a new tire leaning against the wall this tire is made mada of reclaimed rubber I 1 felt it it seemed normal I 1 said so it as good as the tires you get today he said but jt it is as good as the ones you got ten years ago rubber production then we came to part two pa part rt two of his job which is tse the production of synthetic rubber ile he showed me a yellowish object which felt like rubber this is neo phrene synthetic rubber made of carbide it is better than rubber but it is very expensive there were two boit bottles les theaon the contents of which looked just alike to me a milky substance one was the ture pure latex from the rubber tree the other was a synthetic product made from alcohol alco liol of petroleum 1 I am not a chemist jeffers jeffera said and I 1 dont intend to be one those are just the ABCs lie he went back to the immediate problem before him which is to keep america rolling until the synthetic factories start to work are you going to be able to do that I 1 asked it is not impossible if everybody plays the game he said 1 I know ou cant regiment the american people and I 1 am not in favor of trying to do it but when the people understand what we are trying try inato to do for them I 1 think they will cooperate I 1 have gotten splendid cooperation already from big business little business and individuals it is reassuring to learn how people react when they know what we are doing I 1 get all kinds of letters and I 1 answer all of them nhep aher the people realize tiow how important it is to help us help them save rubber lubber they will operate cooperate co in the last war we had a lot af flags and parades went down to the train to see the fellows off with a band there biern seem to be any of that in this war it might be a good thing but when the people realize that the most vital thing in our war effort is saving rubber we are going to see something tangible at that point mr jeffers dropped an aside one of the little human remarks that are typical of him tinged though it is with a touch of irony maybe if the people run around so much they could visit their neighbors and they might make friends and get better friends that way rubber and economics rubber affects the social life of the people no doubt the whole Arne american rican economy rightly or wrongly lyron Vron gly is built on rubber and we wa cant change it look at the farmer we have to have food the farmer cant go back to the horse and wagon if he could get the horses we build the wagons now he has to get the crops to market lit it all comes back to transportation por tation well keep them on rubber gas rationing is rough justice it works tard hardships ships on some some take advantage of it its theman tho man who has three gallons gallon s more than he needs and nd uses them to ride around the country that is the waster but I 1 think well get operation cooperation co I 1 went back t to 0 problem aroble m two the building odthe of the synthetic industry I 1 the government will own the plants I 1 said wont that make postwar post war problems to me own plants and the product will be manufactured on what alno amounts dats to a ina management afi ig ern fee basis A lot of other t things hingst he said will be made mad e under the same conditions but im not interested in postwar problems 7 jeffers went on my job isto is to help win the war unless bugs develop that we cant take aare care of well do it and if we do well accomplish in a year and a half what it usually takes 25 years to do co operation cooperation will do that and keep the country on rubber mean meanwhile and operation cooperation co means big business little business and the folks who eat in the kitchen as mr jeffers puts it they have the balance of power he says about wafted coal according to the united states offlie of the bituminous coal consumers sur ners counsel bituminous or soft coal is the backbone of america it supplies industry with more than one half of the power and energy required to produce the weapons of war creates nearly 55 per cents cent of the electricity used in our nation heats more than 50 per cent of the homes of america four out of five of all the railroad locomotives of the country get ther their power from bituminous coal twenty five million tons of soft coal will be wasted by the domestic consumer this year unless more than usual care is exercised in the operation of home heiting furnaces |