Can Do!

Will U.S. resources stand the strain of rebuilding Europe under the Marshall Plan? This week, Interior Secretary Julius ("Cap") Krug, who had been designated by the President to find out, answered with a qualified but resounding Yes.

It would not be an easy job. Secretary Krug took "national resources" to mean manpower, technology and factories, as well as land, forests and minerals. Rich and bountiful as it is, the U.S. cornucopia is not limitless. Though annual exports on the projected scale of the Marshall Plan would amount to only 2% of the national capacity, they would be piled onto a taut, high-employment economy that was already near busting at the seams.

Because of this, some choices would have to be made. For instance, the U.S. would have to choose between shipping fertilizer abroad and using it at home to increase U.S. crops. It would have to decide between exporting coal cars for foreign mines or exporting more coal from the U.S.

Point by point, Cap Krug discussed the supply & demand of key commodities.

Steel: the U.S. will not be able to produce enough to answer clamorous demands at home and abroad. Expansion of plant capacity will not help immediately; building new furnaces would just use up more scarce steel. Steel will be in short supply at least through 1952.

Wheat: meeting export goals will depend on favorable weather, a conservation program. High production is no undue drain on fertility, but plowing up grazing lands for more acreage seriously increases the dangers of soil erosion.

Coal: the U.S. has plenty. The big problem is transportation.

Farm machinery: increased production will permit a 50% boost in exports next year without cutting into the domestic demand.

Cap Krug concluded: "From the standpoint of preserving both the national security and our standard of living, our economy in general is physically capable of providing the resource requirements of a considerable program of foreign aid. . . . [But] with or without a foreign-aid program, this country faces a pressing urgency for expanding its conservation practices . . . for preserving the fertility of its soil and the future of its forests.. . . and for extending its efforts to discover and develop new sources of supply for many of its basic raw materials."

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