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Show Small Business to Feel Benefit of Reconversion VPB Release of Aluminum for Civilian Purposes Turns Tide in Favor Of Little Plants. By BAt News Analyst ai WNU Service, Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C. The press gave notice a few weeks ago of the installation of a swarm of bees in the office of a government agency. It was in the Smaller War Plants corporation, and it was placed there by that ball-of-fire, up-and-doer, wounded and decorated in the last war, defeated for reelection reelec-tion to congress, and ex-mayor of Ban Antonio, Texas, Maury Maverick. Maver-ick. He said he got the bees to provide pro-vide a living example of how to keep busy. I thought the gesture amusing, typical of the dramatically inclined Maury. So I went down to look the scene over, noted certain subsequent events and I decided that the gesture, ges-ture, although amusing enough, was by no means an empty one. For within one week, something happened, hap-pened, the significance of which has been all too little appreciated. Reconversion Re-conversion began and the long stagnant stag-nant tide turned in favor of little business. It is only a trickle so far, but the Bow has started, which, it is hoped, will eventually get the wheels of mall business,, which had been slowed down past the danger point, moving again in the manufacture of civilian goods. Less than a month before, Maury Maverick, armed with a series of charts, had appeared before a congressional con-gressional committee and said: "Concentration of production in the hands of big 'business has grown by leaps and bounds since 1939." Using the metal trades as an example, ex-ample, he said: FKHAGE id Commentator. are being taken to provide field ! engineers with information necessary nec-essary for plants which have j never worked with aluminum to learn how. Not many planis are familiar with this work and that is why we can't expect many pots and pans right away. And, i of course, any and every plant i which does start civilian production produc-tion of any kind must first run a "gauntlet" as the saying goes at headquarters. The "gauntlet "gaunt-let is a series of tests to establish es-tablish unequivocally that suoh , a use of a plant's facilities and manpower will in no way hater-fere hater-fere with the war production. Let us look at the question of these "idle and excess inventories" inven-tories" of steel surpluses and see what the argument for their availability for civilian manufacture manu-facture is. I am told that there are some 2 million tons of such inventories. That means that there is that much iron and steel being held over and above the possessors needs for 60 days ahead. The holders, generally speak-., ing, are the large manufacturers. manufactur-ers. Willing to Release Surpluses And they are willing to let the surpluses go. First, because they know they can get all the prime steel they need from the mills. Second, Sec-ond, because most of these inventories inven-tories are made up of odd lots. Big industries use large lots. They cannot can-not very well start an operation on one small lot and then when it runs out adjust their machinery to an- Since the war started, the proportionate propor-tionate share of little business in metal products industries has roughly rough-ly been cut in half." Still later, just before the bees (or whatever it was) stung the government govern-ment to action, Mr. Maverick became be-came more pessimistic. He told congress: "The mobilization of small business busi-ness has reached the critical stage . . . the civilian economy is &At of civilian goods and getting snop-er snop-er . . . dangerous inflationary pres-lures pres-lures . . . cutbacks in war contracts . . . are causing unemployment." It was a gloomy picture Mr. Maverick Mav-erick painted. His office had worked lard, the congressional committees jn small business had worked hard, out the War Production board turned I deaf ear to all demands on the basis that any resumption of civil-Ian civil-Ian production might interfere with lie war effort. Maverick's Work Rewarded Then at last the leaven began to frork the whole argument of the de-renders de-renders of little business, based on the assertion that certain industries could be resumed without interfering interfer-ing with the war effort, touched the Iron heart of Donald Nelson, head of the WPB (of which Maury is a vice chairman). Nelson arose and announced ''the first of a series of moves" and suddenly the whole tide turned and an entirely different attitude at-titude was evident on the part of the other members of the War Production Pro-duction board. This "first of a series of moves" takes away some of the restrictions on the use of aluminum and magnesium. mag-nesium. But do not visualize a fountain of pots and pans, skillets and coffee pots springing into being overnight. Something is cooking but it is on a slow fire. More important is the not-yet-proclaimed raising of restrictions which have been keeping "idle and excess inventories of surpluses of steel" lying ly-ing dormant, impotent and useless, while small plants have the yearning yearn-ing facilities and willing manpower equally idle and capable of converting convert-ing these "surpluses" into thousands of gadgets the consumer badly needs. Perhaps by the time this appears in print, the WPB will have issued an order raising some of the restrictions on this vita product. But all this takes time. Meetings have been taking place for the past weeks and the WPB is gradually coming around to the Smaller War Plants corporation's views and the insistent hammer on their doors by conscientious congressmen. As to the aluminum situation, as this is written, the present order is yet to be clarified. Steps other lot of different specifications. The smaller plants are perfectly adapted to do just this. They nor-maUy nor-maUy buy in small lots. They are more elastic. The difficulty in utilizing this material ma-terial is not only in the acquisition of the steel but In the restrictions against making what you want out of it. This requires a relaxation of rules, too, for the manufacture of many articles is still forbidden, and that is another thing that the Smaller Small-er Plants corporation is working on. Process Will Take Time It is not a short and easy process but the big thing is that It has started, start-ed, for small business has reached the stage where its very existence as an institution is threatened. This is due, first, to a nationwide tendency on the part of the big plants to cancel their subcontracts which covered most of the work of the smaller plants. This was done for two natural reasons and one unnatural un-natural and evil one. The first two were: because of termination of some of their own contracts by the government and because of greatly increased efficiency which made it possible to tak care of additional work without having to sublet it to smaller concerns. But the third and evil practice which had grown up was the use of government-paid-for facilities to duplicate du-plicate work of a type which in peacetime only small plants do. With these new facilities and without with-out the small plant's know-how, the larger factories, wasted precious labor and took the little man's bread out of his mouth. Another reason why the small business man's position has been growing critical is the delay in collecting col-lecting pay at the termination of the contract. He was left without income in-come and without the funds to carry on. And restrictions made it impossible im-possible to earn money, meanwhile, by making civilian goods. Reasons for Reconversion On the other hand, as Mr. Maverick's Mav-erick's associates and the senators and congressmen who have worked so hard (and, until now, with comparatively com-paratively little success) point out, there is a whole list of reasons for reconversion to begin here (in the little plant) and nw. They list them in various orders but this seems to be as good as any: (1) To preserve small business as an institution; (2) To form a pattern by trial and error for reconversion on a grand scale; (3) To prevent inflation; in-flation; (4) To provide replacement of vital wornout products; (5) To prevent unemployment which is springing up in many localities. |