Get Out and Dig

Convening in Chicago last week, thousands of radio men--many of them Radio Manufacturers Association members--discussed news from which they could draw only one conclusion: their output would soon be cut more than half, and some of them might soon be out of business.

Their $600,000.000 industry had been picked by OPM as one of the first real victims of priorities among consumer industries (see p. 18). They were picked because they use a lot of aluminum (6 sq. ft. of sheet per set), as well as zinc, copper, lead, other critical materials. When OPM made up its priorities list, radios were sandwiched "between hair tonic and toothpaste," with a B-7 rating. OPM figured that since U.S. citizens already bend an ear to 53,000,000 receiving sets, more would be a luxury.

Months ago the radio makers were told to cut their aluminum demands to 30% of 1940 use. This was later reduced to 10%. Now they hear that in 1942 they will be allowed no aluminum at all. It was clear in Chicago last week that many a small radio man was already in trouble because he had nothing to make radios with.

Even for those companies who had the cash and foresight to build up inventories, things will not be the same. OPM wants fewer model types, and fewer sets of those. It thinks a company making 25 models could cut down to eight or ten; portables may be dropped altogether. This changeover would save much labor, machines and floor space which might be used for defense. The big companies have already begun to take on defense orders, keeping their men at work. Most of the smaller ones lack the technical equipment.

Handsome, hard-hitting, outspoken James S. Knowlson, president of R.M.A., president of Stewart-Warner Corp., is one of the more foresighted radio makers. No sit-down capitalist, Knowlson was one of the first big manufacturers to go after defense business. A year ago he was telling skeptical Chicago cronies that business-as-usual was on the skids. At the convention last week, he was in fighting trim. First he warned his fellow manufacturers: "Whether it is one month or six months ... we are all going to find ourselves in the place where we are unable to get the last component part ... we will have materials we cannot use . . . our bankers will take a personal interest in our detailed affairs." Then he told them that the only way to save their skins was to get defense business. Roared he, coachlike: "Get out and dig."

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