SUB-CONTRACTING FOR DEFENSE

here is steel giant builder of the seniors of the fence symbol of democracy strange here is white hot metal for guns tanks ships planes trucks arms implements of protection for a free people here is a great arsenal of democracy here is democracies answer to aggressors might power and strength from the mills factories and people of America warfare is no longer one military force against another it is people against people strength against strength resources against resources and of these resources none today is more important more decisive than the industrial plant of a warring nation Hitler's military machine is today receiving more arms in production from conquered nations than we are sending to Great Britain despite our tremendous lend-lease program our only answer to the dictators must be more production faster production mobilization of manpower and machine power in this the greatest democracy in the world America speeds production through increased output in all plants through new and expanded plants from coast to coast America builds for events powder plants in Virginia Indiana and Tennessee tanks autos tractors and mechanized units in Michigan and Ohio airplane factories in California Washington New York New England and Maryland shipyards in Virginia the Gulf Coast the West Coast in Pennsylvania and New England this picture represents the proportion of our strength we are using from thirty to fifty percent for national defense even with all the increased effort America is not up to capacity this is the airplane modern weapon of Defense backed by a thousand skills and energies of a great industry today we're putting these skills and energies to work stepping up the volume of plane production scouts pursuit ships interceptors bombers flying boats we must push these planes off the assembly line onto the flying field and into the air giving America the greatest force of fighting Eagles in the world an airplane engine is the powerhouse of the air it is the sum of many parts as many as 12,000 parts in a single motor men of skill fit these parts together in a precision mechanism which would challenge the efforts of a fine watchmaker workmen way and test and measure and check every part of every motor before it's fitted into place these motors are not single machines but the sum total of thousands of parts made in many plants and they've replied whether large or small is essential to make these engines work to make them power the planes which they fly in the small towns and cities of today's America lie idle or little used sources of production in small factories repair shops garages and other plants machine tools are going to waste and in many large and well-equipped plants these tools are working less than half the time we must put them all to use now in these shops and factories are the forges in the hammers the lathes and drill presses the milling machines and boring bars and other machine tools of a nation army in these machine shops are the tools to make the thousand thousand things we need and Britain needs the little bits and pieces that can be farmed out or subcontracted from the huge plants that hold the prime contracts whose orders taken all together add up to the millions and the billions we are spending here are the men with skill and others quick to learn ready to carry the extra burdens of democracy preparing they shops and men and all the things they build contribute to the total weapons of Defense these weapons how can we get enough of them and get them fast we can put the load on the big boys push them to the limit we're doing that but it's not enough not half enough we can build more plants and factories expand to the north and south and east and west we're doing that but it's not enough time is too precious we know there's a terrible urgency we have to take the old plants with the new the little with the big many with Warren or out-of-date machinery but good yet for the jobs to do and small shops with as good machines as any but not knowing where to go to get the word meet this Bible need the vast banking power of the Federal Reserve System and the special resources of the office of production management have been joined to give strength to this newest arm of the defense services officers have been established in each of the federal reserve branch banks ready to give their financial and engineering assistance all state and local defense councils two cities towns and counties the communities large and small to all who can and will help to make the all-out effort simple and clear is their primary purpose to bring together now the plants would have worked elect and the auxiliary plants equipped to do it these are bits and pieces integral parts of the weapons of Defense there's and thousands of others are links in our chain of national security between small manufacturing plant and the large contractor every form of transportation speeds the bits and pieces of production the subcontractor may be located down the street or around the corner or he may be hundreds of miles away he made himself assemble parts into a finished piece which will in turn be shipped away to fit into a larger product in hundreds of areas industrial surveys have already been made of plant capacity of available machine tools and skills regions States communities and cities have sent these inventories at the office of production management in Washington they have said here is what we have when do we go to work here is a Federal Reserve map of United States in each district are banks and branches through these facilities the defense contract service is operating with technical and engineering experts if you want to know how you or your community can help speed production consult your nearest federal reserve branch bank here then are the weapons of Defense the sum and total of all the parts large and small the subcontractor making a little fitting for an airplane motor is just as important as the giant plan a plane can't fly without the little fellows work and the plane that can't fly can't fight we are a nation boastful of our power to produce machines but as yet untested in our present need it's true our industrial capacity is the greatest in the world but what counts is not what we can make but what we are making we have a job to do a job to step up our production line because America's production line is democracies front line America has skills capacity brains and energy it is our job to harness them for defense