Pretty Picture

Civilian Production Administrator John D. Small was well pleased with the way things were going. Last week his monthly report on U.S. production was heartening:

>Output of almost all consumer goods was higher in August than in July. Autos, up 10% to 241,000, and refrigerators, down 1% to 218,000, were still behind prewar rates. But output of trucks (105,500 in August), tires (7,100,000), electric irons (608,000) and radios (1,700,000) was running far ahead of prewar averages.

>Production of building materials increased (plumbing fixtures were up from 20 to 35% over July). Freight-car production, still below capacity and far below demand, was nevertheless up 40% to 5,532.

>Inventories rose another $1.3 billion, now stood at more than $30 billion. But the ratio of inventories to sales was still below prewar levels. CPA said that better balanced inventories would speed production, lower costs.

The big problem now, said Administrator Small, was labor. Employment, at 58,000,000, was “practically full,” leaving an “unbelievably low” unemployed pool of 2,000,000 (which includes unemployables). Said Jack Small: unless there is an increase in the labor force, the only way production could be increased now was by 1) a longer workweek, 2) new plants, 3) new labor-saving machinery. He might have added: and harder work by everyone.-