The Director of Selective Service shall designate the categories of registrants who are liable to perform work under paragraph 1 and who are not deferred under subsection (k).

Senator HILL. What page is that?

Senator O'MAHONEY. Page 3.

Senator CHANDLER. You are wrong about that. There is a shortage of newspapermen in the little country offices; they are begging for people to operate the presses.

I am a country newspaperman, and I know there is a shortage. Senator O'MAHONEY. Page 3, line 17:

Upon receiving such a certification for a particular area, the Director of Selective Service

(A) shall designate the categories (by age and other status) of registrants who are liable to perform work under paragraph (1) and who are not deferred under subsection (k) or by reason of being engaged in an activity in war production or in support of the nationa! health, safety, or interest.

Now it seems to me the language is so broad that it gives power which the War Department desires for the stimulation of war production over activities which are only vaguely connected with the objective that you seek to attain. Do you feel it is necessary to give this power in support of the national health, safety, or interest; or would you be willing to confine it solely to war production?

Secretary PATTERSON. That is an exclusion. You cannot take people like that.

Senator O'MAHONEY. It appears specifically; it appears in the freeze on page 2.

Secretary PATTERSON. It is taken from the act?

Senator O'MAHONEY. I know where it came from.

Senator AUSTIN. May I make a suggestion, Senator?
Senator O'MAHONEY. Yes.

Senator AUSTIN. In this connection it came to my notice there are categories of priorities already established with reference to the publication of newspapers. They are already in operation under the executive order, and I assume that it was under that word "interest" that they have created priorities with respect to the different jobs in the publication of newspapers, and I pointed out the other day a case that had come to my notice where one person had a choice of a vacancy she wanted to fill, and the U. S. E. S. said, "You cannot fill that office because we have a call for another office in the newspaper publishing business which has a higher priority and you must go to that one instead of this one." That, I understand to be the existing set of facts.

Senator O'MAHONEY. The question is whether we shall freeze it by statute in support of the war effort and whether the War Department wants us to freeze that condition.

Secretary STIMSON. No bill has been offered to us as being before the committee yet in which greater flexibility could be given. This is the only bill before us. I have read it carefully twice, as I have told you. I am confident that with honest outright and intelligent appointees and management it can be worked. I have to assume that. I am not here to draw a bill for you. You know perfectly well, Senator, what trouble I would get into were I to try to do that, and I am not going to. I came here, because the chairman invited me to come in without specifying what I was to talk about, and I have tried to give

the points which I feel I know something about, and I repeat that I think the passage of this bill-and I am not altogether unintelligent in reading bills will help. It has been the experience in countries where somewhat similar and general provisions of organization have been enacted that they have worked.

I believe that this bill will work and that it will do great good. That is as far as I want to go in going into the bill. You have got plenty of advisers attached to your force to help you on the details of the bill or betterment of it. But I know it would be unwise for me to join that force.

I would not want to say anything further on this subject.
Senator O'MAHONEY. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

Senator REVERCOMB. I was interested in the statement of Secretary Stimson about relieving battle fatigue as a consequence of the men on duty, the relief of the men at the fighting front. Would you care to tell us what proportion or percentage of combat troops in the French-German area, the western front, are engaged in battle at one time, what proportion of them?

Secretary STIMSON. Well, I could not give it to you offhand, the percentage of men there.

Senator REVERCOMB. The number actually in combat from day to day I am getting at the relief question. Would you say 10 percent of the men?

STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT P. PATTERSON, UNDER SECRETARY

OF WAR

Secretary PATTERSON. I am very glad to be here, Mr. Chairman. I had time to make copies of my remarks last evening, and I have copies of them, and you may follow the statement if you wish. Shall I run over this statement?

The CHAIRMAN. Whatever you wish, Judge. If you just wish to leave the statement

Secretary PATTERSON. I can read it with some speed.
The CHAIRMAN. Just as you wish.

1752.

Secretary PATTERSON. I am in support of the May bill, H. R. We owe it to our fighting men overseas to help them all we can. Passage of this bill will help them. The bill does no more than write into law and make enforceable the acknowledged duty of those at home to do their part toward winning the war.

The bill that is before Congress applies to all men in civilian life between the ages of 18 and 45. It provides that men in that age group who are working in essential industry or on farms shall not leave their jobs, except on government approval. As to those not working in essential industry or on farms, the bill gives power to governmental agencies to direct those men to go to work in industry supporting prosecution of the war or on farms where there are shortages of necessary workers.

The bitterness of this war, fought against foes that are without scruples of any kind, is familiar to you. You are also thoroughly aware of the scale of it-the greatest war in history-greatest in its stakes, greatest in what it takes to win.

Our casualties-Army and Navy-tell the story: 154,686 killed, 419,651 wounded, 101,361 missing, 62,009 prisoners; 737,707 total. In the last 2 weeks the Army has reported 30,000 casualties a week. You will bear with me, I hope, while I devote a few words to what we have achieved in 3 years of war-on the fighting fronts and on the production front at home. Our armed forces, 2,000,000 in December 1941, are now 12,000,000 strong. By their skill and courage they have gained great victories, in Italy, in France, and in the Pacific. They, with their brave allies, are now over the German borders, fighting it out, give and take. In the Pacific they have won their way back to the Philippines, step by step. It would be an error, however, to put a low estimate on the remaining strength of Germany and Japan. In both theaters hard and bitter fighting lies ahead.

Here at home we have supported them. Our industrial resources have been converted from peace to war. Our workers have turned out great stores of arms, ammunition and equipment, for our allies. as well as for our own forces. They have done and are doing a grand job, and I would be the last to minimize their merits and achievements. The trouble is that there are not enough of them.

In

Congress, early in the war, passed laws to make sure that our material resources were mobilized for the prosecution of the war. effect it "conscripted capital." The priority power was created, to see to it that the supply of materials was devoted to war purposes. The power to commandeer property for war use was given. The power to compel industrial plants to produce war goods for the Army or Navy at fair compensation was given. Congress also gave the President power to take over industrial plants and operate them for production of munitions. Finally, it gave the Army and Navy the right to bring about reduction of prices in war contracts and subcontracts, in the past as well as in the future, to prevent excessive profits by those engaged in war production. There is no lack of law in the books to enable the Nation to mobilize totally our industrial system for war.

But on the manpower side we have had nothing like total mobilization. The selective-service law has been effective in mobiliz.ng men for the Army and Navy. By means of that law the duty to serve their country has been placed on the men selected for hard and dangerous service in the armed forces, irrespective of whether they wish to serve or not. But on the rest of our manpower no duty has been placed to serve their country, by working at home to equip and support the men selected to fight. Many have responded to the call as a moral obligation. Many have not. It has been left to each one to choose for himself whether or not he will contribute. We have had no law whereby shortages of manpower in war industry could be filled. It is a case of everyone for himself.

The result is that war production has faced one crisis after another. This has been because of inability to get enough workers, now at this place, now at that. At this moment we have soldiers-16,500 of them-recalled from military duty and furloughed or placed in the

68966 453

enlisted reserve to work in war plants of the most critical importanceammunition plants, tire plants, cotton duck plants, foundries, copper mines-because enough civilian workers could not be persuaded to work at those plants. And we have demands for many more furloughed soldiers, demands that we are doing our best to withstand.

We have also had the spectacle of large numbers of men leaving war plants because they saw fit to work somewhere else. The labor turn-over has been at the average rate of 7 percent a monthmore than double the pre-war rate. Device after device, of a makeshift character, has been adopted to reduce this alarming turn-over, without substantial effect.

The 1945 program for war production is based on carrying on a two-front war. Anything short of that would involve a gamble on the adequacy of supply for the fighting forces and would be indefensible.

The 1945 requirements, as estimated by the War Production Board, call for more munitions than were produced in 1944, and 1944 was our biggest year in war production. How much higher the over-all 1945 requirements will be has not yet been determined.

Scheduled 1945 requirements for Army munitions are 15 percent above the 1944 production figure. For a number of critical items the required increase is much higher. The schedule for heavy field artillery ammunition is 200 percent above last year's production. The schedule for bombs and mines is up 49 percent, tanks up 64 percent, air-borne radar 59 percent, clothing 29 percent.

That program for Army munitions for 1945 is a staggering task. Yet even these sharply increased schedules do not fully reflect military needs, for our needs have been scaled down in the light of known limitations on productive capacity.

It is also a matter of concern to us that last year we were unable to make more modest production schedules for a number of critical items. In the second half of 1944, output of mortar ammunition was 12 percent below the schedule of June 30, 1944. Production of cotton duck was 14 percent under schedule, heavy-duty truck tires 10 percent under, and 105 howitzer ammunition 8 percent under. Deliveries of 2-ton trucks dropped 13 percent under the June 30 schedule, and deliveries of heavier trucks dropped 20 percent below schedule.

Senator MAYBANK. May I ask a question, Mr. Chairman?
The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Senator MAYBANK. I have had quite a lot of calls and telegrams regarding cotton duck. I was told some of the duck yarn is being exported. Is there any truth to that statement, that they are exporting the yarn before they make it into cotton duck?

Secretary PATTERSON. I do not know. One of the bottlenecks in cotton duck is cotton yarn.

Senator MAYBANK. I understood some of it is being exported. Secretary PATTERSON. I cannot say. That is under the control of the War Production Board and not the War Department.

Senator MAYBANK. They told me the War Production Board ordered 30 percent of it exported.

Senator GURNEY. There was a story in the paper Sunday to the effect cotton yarn was being exported to Spain where the Spanish textile mills are making it into duck for the Army.

Secretary PATTERSON. I know it is being sent to France for the making of tents for our account. I had not heard of cotton yarn being exported.

Senator MAYBANK. My information is that 30 percent of the cotton yarn is being exported. I do not know whether there are any facts to it, but we have a situation in Carolina where there is a curtailment of the yarn and they cannot make the duck and do not have full work because they are shipping the yarn to Spain or somewhere else. Secretary PATTERSON. I will look it up.

Senator MAYBANK. Because of these curtailments in two big mills, the workers are leaving because they do not have the yarn to keep them running three shifts, and at the same time the yarn is being shipped to some other countries. It is just a local thing but I would like to have the facts on it.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Secretary PATTERSON (continuing). So the problem on Army munitions is this: Though we failed because of labor shortages to meet some of our most vital production schedules in the last half of 1944, we are faced now with even larger production schedules in the year

1945.

In the first 6 months of 1945, 900,000 men will be needed for the Army and Navy. Most of the Army's calls are for the infantry, and the men furnished must be young, vigorous men. A very great part of these 900,000 men will come from essential industry. This is bound to cut deeply into industry's force of skilled men from 26 to 29 who up to now have been deferred because of their part in war production. Their places in industry must be filled promptly, if we are to avoid a serious reverse in war production.

Senator BURTON. You say a great number of the 900,000 will come from essential industry-let us say 500,000 will come from essential industry.

Secretary PATTERSON. Yes.

'Senator BURTON. Does that mean 700,000 in addition to the 500,000 must be found so that 1,200,000 are needed for additional industry?

Secretary PATTERSON. Yes.

Senator O'MAHONEY. The testimony of Colonel Keesling of the Selective Service before the House indicated that 330,000 men would come mostly from occupationally deferred groups.

Secretary PATTERSON. But he already has a lot of men classified I-A who are working in essential industry with no occupational deferment pending actual induction.

Senator O'MAHONEY. What I was trying to determine was whether this 500,000 was a reasonable estimate or not.

Secretary PATTERSON. I think it is. It is not necessarily inconsistent with the figure you had because those are men classified by Selective Service with occupational deferment. We also have a lot of men in I-A working in war industry pending their induction.

Senator O'MAHONEY. Of course, we are all interested in getting the break-down of these categories; 900,000 are to go into the Army and Navy, some of whom come from essential industry, and 700,000 men are to go into industry. That 700,000, I take it, will include replacement of those drafted into the armed forces?