The Road Back

Common nightmare of many a U.S. citizen is that when World War II ends, the process of reconverting U.S. industry to peacetime production will shut tight thousands of plants, force millions of workers and demobilized soldiers into months of idleness.

Last week WPB's rotund, owlish Chief Donald M. Nelson cautiously peered at reconversion, found it not so frightening. Said Nelson: in the first war stage, the job of U.S. industry was to spew out enormous quantities of every kind of weapon. But the U.S. is now in the second war stage, when emphasis has shifted to the production of special weapons and expanded manufacture of peacetime articles is needed to keep the war machine whirling. Example: farm machinery.

Thus, Nelson made clear, reconversion is not something to be sprung on the U.S. overnight. It is now going on, and the invasion of Europe will accelerate it. To support invading armies, transportation facilities must be rebuilt and expanded. (Part of Baldwin Locomotive is shifting from tank manufacture to making special locomotives for the Government, for use in Europe.) To feed, clothe and shelter civilian populations, U.S. capital goods production must still be large. All this means that a big chunk of U.S. industry will probably be hard at peacetime production when the war ends, although production for the U.S. civilian will benefit little at first.

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