Why the U.S. Can't Fight

U.S. factories turned out more war goods last week than U.S. ships could carry to the battlefronts. The shipping shortage hobbled the whole war effort.

Too Much Room. The Treasury spent $1,270,000,000 for war materials in the first 17 days of February. The daily payment rate was 10% more than January's, which was 56% more than November's.

This was mildly encouraging. But when the munitions workers looked in the papers to see how their planes, tanks and guns were doing, they found scant news of them.

Reason: of all the world battlefronts where U.S. supplies are now needed, the four hottest --Russia, Burma, the East Indies, Libya -are 6,000-10,000 miles* from U.S. shores. These are the longest communications lines in military history.

The U.S. shipbuilding program, which must equip these lines, is the greatest in history. The total scheduled for 1942 (8,000,000 tons) is more than twice as much as the U.S. built in its best World War I year (1919). By May U.S. ship yards will average two launchings a day. That will not be enough: ships will still be the No. 1 bottleneck of the war.

P: Another aspect of the same problem was felt in many a U.S. port, many a factory town. Transport Boss Joseph East man said: "Our No. 2 problem is storage." Warehousemen expected a real warehouse shortage when munitions output really puts out. A Bureau of Census survey found 74.8% of available space occupied last July --eight months ago.

Too Little Room. Many a port was deep last week in boxed planes, tanks and Lend-Lease food supplies awaiting cargo space. To avoid the pile-up of 1918, which led to the Government's taking over the railroads, WPB is building a chain of emergency depots near the coasts, where goods can be stored more safely than at dockside. In some defense areas, warehousemen have pooled facilities.

Traffic in Pacific Coast ports is still 40% above November's. New Orleans' traffic is up 30%; it is getting many a Caribbean ship that used to unload on the East Coast before the U-boats came. The switch saves many days at sea, but means many days more work for the loaded railroads.

Room with a View. U.S. shortage of sugar* is largely a shipping shortage in disguise. Two Brazilian ships torpedoed last week reminded U.S. citizens that even coffee may get scarce (and oil-see p. 61). But chiefly the shipping shortage meant a shortage of good war news for a long time to come. Even in the last war, it took some 3.5 tons of shipping to supply one U.S. soldier in France. Now the supplies are heavier, the fronts farther away. U.S. and United Nations shipbuilding capacity far exceeds that of the Axis, can ultimately spin out supply lines to every corner of the globe. But the ships must first be launched.

Room Service. The new War Shipping Administration, which must perform the miracle needed, was whipped into shape last week by its chief, Rear Admiral Emory S. ("Jerry") Land. He appointed four aides:

P:As economic adviser, wispy-haired, squinty Lewis Williams Douglas, 47, onetime Arizona Congressman, onetime Budget Director. Lewis Douglas quit in protest against New Deal spending policies, became president of Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York, was a leading Democrat-for-Willkie in 1940. Last month he and President Roosevelt buried the hatchet, and Douglas went back as assistant Lend-Lease expediter. His new job will be all-important: to work closely with the Board of Economic Warfare, decide what ships should carry what materials where.

P:As director of shipping, hardbitten, hard-driving Hector Harris Robson, 52, Australian-born vice president of United Fruit Co., lately a $1-a-year man in the Maritime Commission. Robson's job will be to use every inch of ship space to best effect, see that never again does a ship sail-as one carrying a fleet of Army trucks did recently-with ballast where cargo could have been piled.

P:As director of finance, big, blustery, toothy David F. Houlihan, 39, a Price, Waterhouse & Co. partner who reorganized the Maritime Commission's finance division in 1937, returned to Washington last year as OPM shipping consultant.

P:As general counsel, studious, bespectacled William Radner, 34, former RFC attorney who amazed his colleagues by working 18 hours a day, became secretary of the Matson Line, is now on leave of absence.

Jerry Land also remains head of the Maritime Commission, thus holds the terrible dual responsibility of getting the ships built and breaking all rules of capacity in using them. But with building going smoothly, leathery Jerry Land can concentrate the brains of his miracle-workers chiefly on WSA, leave the Maritime Commission to its production powerhouse, Rear Admiral Howard L. Vickery.

*Japan's longest line of communications last week, Kobe to BangkoL: 4,000 miles.

*California and Hawaiian Sugar Refining Corp.'s Crockett refinery, largest in the world, closed down last week for lack of Hawaiian sugar.

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