Where Are the Tires?

Somebody slipped up in planning ahead for the production of heavy-duty tires. This was made plain last week as 1) the Army, which unexpectedly hiked its tire needs from 16.4 million to 26.8 million a year, found that it will get far fewer; 2) the quota for civilian truckers was cut almost 50% under ODT’s “bare minimum” for the first quarter of 1945.

The Army explained that tires in service abroad are wearing out faster than expected. As heavy-tire production is already behind schedule (TIME, Aug. 21). WPB must dip into the civilian supply (many military and civilian tires are the same size). Ominously, WPB made it clear that the shortage is not temporary. To end it, WPB plans to rush construction of some $25,000,000 to $100,000,000 in new tire plants. But they will not be turning out tires for at least nine months.