Show synthetic rubber industry achieved within one year S speedy adoption tf of rubber manufacturing program shaves 24 years from time required to launch new industry ey by BAUKHAGE vein news analyst and commentator WV service 1343 1313 11 street NW washington D C by the time this Is written or shortly thereafter announcement will be made of the creation of 0 what may become one of the worlds world s greatest industries synthetic rubber manufacturing by that time probably ten plants will b be e assured of operation the three biggest will make synthetic rubber out of alcohol which means a market for or the farmers it if the program marches according to schedule the united states will have achieved within one year what usually takes a quarter ot of a century to accomplish the building ot of a new industry this is the message that william J jeffers effers president ot of the union pacific railway now rubber administrator in washington gave me mr jeffers presides at a desk in one ot of the offices ot of the war production board and appears appear sto to be one man taken out of the american bustness world who believes that you can get things done even within the government he looks like what he is A railroad man who came up from the bottom 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 tor for the governa government ent 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 eions tor for the ford tire manufacturing plant in detroit for shipment to russia using what we have I 1 have 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 0 our ur own schedule we have the wor information mation 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 producing my first job jeffers went on as he lifted his pounds and walked around the desk 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 tor for the duration meanwhile I 1 watch that stock pile ol of pure rubber we have like a hawk here are the ABCs he be said m motioning otio ning 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 bottie bottle this is full of shreds he said it is part of a whole tire casing and all cut up he pointed to the next bottle this he be said is the same stuff after it has been soaked in oil and acid and the pieces of casing floated out you can see the pieces of metal in it still he showed me a screen with pieces of metal on it hire 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 filler these next bottles he went on show the way the stuff looks after each successive process of refining and here is the reclaimed rubber he said as he picked up a black strip then he pointed ta 9 a new tire leaning against the wall this tire is made 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 it is as good as the ones you got ten years ago rubber production then we came to part two part two of his job which Is the production of synthetic rubber he showed me a yellowish object which felt me like rubber this Is neo phrene synthetic rubber made of carbide it Is better than rubber but it is very expensive what do they do with the ends of 0 the pants tailors have cut off for or short legged people now that cuffs are forbidden or bidden dont worry the cloth Is turned over to the red cross and the death penalty can be pronounced on belgians who slaughter animals without german permission there are two bottles the contents ot of which looked lust alike to me a milky substance one was the pur pure latex from the rubber tree th the other was a synthetic product made from alcohol ot of petroleum 1 I am not a chemist jeffers said and I 1 dont intend to be one those are just the ABCs he went back to the immediate problem before him which Is to keep america rolling roiling until the synthetic factories ac torlea start to work are you going to be able to do that I 1 asked it Is not impossible if 11 everybody plays the game he said 1 I know you 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 to do for them I 1 think they will cooperate I 1 have gotten splendid cooperation 0 pe ration already from big bust 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 ot of letters and I 1 answer all of them when the people realize how important it is to help us help ithem ahem save rubber they will operate cooperate co in the last war we had a lot of 0 flags and parades went down to the train to see the fellows oft off with a band there saem 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 oi of him tinged though it is with a touch of irony maybe if 11 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 american economy rightly or wrongly Is built on rubber and we cant change it look at the farmer we have to have food the farmer cant go back to the horse and wagon it if he could get the horses we build the wagons now he has to get the crops to I 1 market it all comes back to transportation por tation well keep them on rubber gas rationing Is rough justice it works hardships on some some take advantage of it its the man who has three gallons more than he needs and uses them to ride around the country that is the waster but I 1 think well we 11 get co operation cooperation I 1 went back to pro problem bgern two the building of the cynthe synthe synthetic tic industry the government will own the plants I 1 said wont that make postwar post war problems lie he said to me yes the government will own the plants and the product will be manufactured on what amounts to a management feel fee basis A lot of other things he said will be made under the same conditions but im I 1 m not interested in postwar problems jeffers went on my job is to help win the war unless bugs bugs develop that we cant take care of well we U 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 while leand 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 wasted coal according to the united states office of the bituminous coal consumers rs counsel bituminous or sume 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 cent ot 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 their theia power from rom 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 heating furnaces BRIEFS B R I 1 E F S by baukhage women in some branches of 0 the military service are taking special courses in jiu jitsu we may get some of those wooden nickels we used to hear so much about after all senator wagner has introduced a bill allowing the treasury to make coins under ten cents out of 0 any kind of mater material maternal tal buy war bonds |