High Octane v. Rubber

Dogged Robert P. Patterson, Under Secretary of War, blew the bugle for battle with this charge: the superduper, overriding priority won by "Bull Bill" Jeffers four months ago to bull through his rubber program had raised unholy hob with the 100-octane gasoline pro gram. Training planes have been grounded in this country, said Mr. Patterson, thus delaying the day when swarms of bombers will finally smash the Axis.

Quickly Petroleum Administrator Harold L. Ickes, who had been honing up his snickersnee, slashed away, too : the rubber program was "a sock in the jaw for the 100-octane program, has already cost us 7,000,000 barrels that are gone forever."

Preliminary Bout. The answering roar of "Bull Bill" could be heard by 130,000,000 rubber-conscious Americans, as he in tended it should. In a warm-up for Patter son, Jeffers ripped a horn into OWI's Elmer Davis for gloomily predicting that the nation was too optimistic about rub ber. Jeffers harshly said that Davis didn't know what he was talking about, stuck to his previous announcement: civilians would be purchasing synthetic tires early next year. Then he rumbled about Washingtonians "sitting around desks and is suing orders and grousing about someone else taking something away. The difference is that we are getting out on the job and getting it done. The rubber program has not interfered with a single other pro gram. In fact it has lifted along other programs and has provided additional capacities by uncovering new sources of sup ply. The final answer is that the rubber program is going ahead." Finally he demanded an investigation of Patterson's statement.

"Bull Bill" had already received assurances from his good friend, Senator Guy Gillette of Iowa, that his Agriculture subcommittee would do the investigating. Senator Gillette posed some pregnant questions: "Is there any truth to charges that the War Department has built muni tions plants which are not in use? Was WPB presented with, or has it passed on the high-octane production program which is alleged to be so vital?"

To answer the last, no investigation is needed. Everyone in Washington knows that when Jeffers won his super-duper priority from WPB, last December, the high-octane program suffered. Just how much is a military secret. But privately Washington whispers that monthly pro duction falls thousands of barrels below requirements. So far, the shortage has not interfered with overseas operations; the danger is in the long-term outlook.

Again, Senator Truman. Hardly had Patterson and Ickes finished mortar-firing on Jeffers when the Navy let go a torpedo, too. The condensers, valves and other instruments which Bill Jeffers had snatched from the high-octane program the Navy must also have for its escort program. The Navy also wanted Jeffers stripped of his priority.

As WPB Chief Donald Nelson frantically sought a way out of the mess, in stepped Missouri's Senator Harry Truman, announcing that his committee would investigate the entire problem this week. The Gillette investigation faded away.

In the showdown, "Judge" Patterson is confident that he can prove the rubber program out of balance, that civilians are being "coddled" with the promise of tires at the expense of fighting men, that Jeffers has grabbed so many materials the rubber program can now be safely cut back.

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