Industry Militant

Mr. Dwight Filley Davis*, Assistant Secretary of War, called Industry together to explain a plan for coordinating the entire production of the country in time of war. He summoned representatives of the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Institute of Electrical Engineers, the Society of Automotive Engineers--to meet in Manhattan with him and members of the Army Ordnance Department.

There was food. And Judge Elbert H. Gary, Chairman of the U. S. Steel Corporation, presided. Before the assemblage Mr. Davis set forth the plans which he has been maturing for three years.

He has divided the country into 14 districts over each of which will be placed a head to survey economic resources, the capacity of manufacturers to turn out war supplies, the quantity of necessary raw materials obtainable, etc. At the Capital specifications for 700,000 articles needed by our military forces have been prepared. Standard forms of contracts, and an efficient cost accounting system for handling war work are under preparation.

With these objectives obtained, the Government would be economically ready for immediate defence in case of war. Said Mr. Davis: "The final goal of this planning work--which, of course, can never be reached--would be that, on receipt of a telegram from my office, every manufacturer who is to do war work would get out his production schedules, plans, specifications, contracts, etc., and immediately start work."

The extent of cooperation which will be needed from manufacturers to keep pace with the technical advances of warfare was amplified by one Colonel Walsh of the Ordnance Department. He described some of the outstanding improvements in military equipment which have taken place since the War: "Our own Ordnance Department has designed a 75-millimetre gun with twice the range of the French Soixante-Quinze used in 1918. The redesigned 155-millimetre gun outranges the French C. P. F. by nearly five miles, the new 4.7 gun outranges our own pre-War design two and a half times and fires a heavy projectile at that.

"Even after the armistice, when a board of line officers got together to formulate their specifications for an ideal caterpillar tractor for divisional artillery, the highest speed pictured in their most optimistic dreams was twelve miles an hour. In the meantime, the Holt Manufacturing Co. has already produced an ordnance tractor that can attain a speed of 30 miles an hour and can negotiate a 45-degree slope without difficulty. Incidentally, it can be driven submerged in water up to the driver's chin."

The name of the Assistant Secretary of War is more frequently on the lips of the public in regard to sport than in regard to war. In 1899, while still a student at Harvard, Mr. Davis presented the Davis Cup, the annual contest for which is now an international tennis classic. At first it was contested only between the U. S. and England, but gradually more and more nations have entered the competition. Mr. Davis (with Holcombe Ward) was National Doubles Champion (1899-1901). He has held also the National Clay Court, Western Doubles, Eastern Doubles, Middle States Doubles championships. He at various times took part in polo, boating, football, was the founder of the free public golf links at St. Louis.

*Not to be confused with James J. Davis (Secretary of Labor) or John W. Davis (onetime Ambassador to the Court of St. James) or Norman H. Davis (onetime UnderSecretary of State).