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Show U. S. Requests Citizens' Aid In Scrap Hunt Nation Searches Junk Piles For Vital War Needs. By ROBERT W. McSHANE (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) Help wyi the war by getting in the scrap! With this plea, Uncle Sam is enlisting the aid of every man, woman and child in the nation's war effort. This new battle cry isn't a call to arms. Rather, it's an urgent plea to salvage every available scrap of metal, paper, pa-per, old rags and rubber. That old stove in your basement, base-ment, the rusty, ancient binder bind-er near the machine shed, the bundle of papers in the attic all can be used to defeat the Axis. In fact, almost every unused item or piece of equipment equip-ment around the home or farm can be used with telling effect in the war against totalitarian total-itarian powers. With the launching of the salvage sal-vage program, officials of the War Production board and representatives of industry pointed out that a critical shortage of scrap metal now exists in the United States. Unless more scrap is forthcoming at once, war production produc-tion will slow down immeasurably. Because of this shortage, the war 'ikely will be prolonged by months, even years. Salvage for Victory. "Under normal conditions," a WPB representative pointed out, "the steel industry, for instance, depends de-pends upon scrap for approximately approximate-ly one-third of its supply of raw material. With the vast expansion of our armament program, including includ-ing the aid that we must continue to send to Britain, Russia and China, it is obvious that the salvaging of metals heretofore wasted of destroyed de-stroyed must be augmented to a tremendous degree. In frequent instances in-stances recently, steel mills have been threatened with shut down for fSi scfeip f ' f - til is, is pelng written, one of the nation's largest steel mills reported re-ported only eyiough scrap metal on hand for two days' production. This is less than one-tenth of the company's compa-ny's normal supply. The importance of general salvage Is emphasized by the bureau of industrial in-dustrial conservation, officials of which point out that the success of the "Salvage for Victory" program will have a profound bearing on the outcome of the war. According to bureau figures, waste materials have supplied 50 per cent of the raw materials for the steel industry, from 20 to 25 per cent for the manufacturers of aluminum and a large proportion for many other essential materials. Guns Versus Automobiles. For every automobile that isn't manufactured in 1942, we will have saved enough zinc and copper to make brass for 2,400 cartridge cases for .30 caliber ammunition; enough nickel to make 100 pounds of nickel steel for armor plate, projectiles, and armor-piercing bullets; enough tin to coat 1,000 cans in which we put food for our soldiers and sailors. This is only a small part of the critical material which has been made available to war industry through the stoppage of automobile production. Disposal of old papers, in a manner man-ner both patriotic and profitable, is maw easy through use of this housewife's paper baler. The baler, which holds 25 pounis. Is equipped with a spool for cord and a razor blade holder. |
