METALS: Penciled In

The National Production Authority last week put pencils on its defense priority list. Under the new Controlled Materials Plan (TIME, April 23), pencil manufacturers will now get enough copper to make the brass they need to fasten erasers to pencil tops. Exulted Eagle Pencil Co.’s Sales Manager David E. Price: “It’s taken the years since the war to convince the Government that nothing starts without pencils.”