Confession

The Government, long confident that synthetic rubber would be plentiful enough to compensate for cutbacks in natural rubber, last week had a confession to make: the Government's synthetic output was expanding more slowly than expected. Therefore, the National Production Authority told manufacturers that they will get 13% less synthetic in early 1951 than they had expected.

That word was barely out when NPA had more bad news. To free more rubber for the stockpile, it ordered manufacturers to cut their use of natural rubber by 11% in January and 22% in February. The new orders would probably cut into supplies of tires and other civilian rubber products. But by June, when synthetic output is expected to reach 64,000 tons a month (v. 45,000 tons now), NPA hopes that the controls can be eased.

Last week NPA also:

P: Ordered manufacturers to channel all their copper and brass scrap into "normal trade sources," i.e., not into grey market conversion deals.

P: Warned that it would soon be forced to order a cut in the nonmilitary use of tin by "something less than 30%" and that it might ban copper and cobalt for nonessential products where other metals can be substituted.

P: Ordered suppliers of cadmium (used for electroplating other metals) to fill no more than 50% of their defense orders on hand, allot the rest to essential civilian use until a long-range cadmium program is drawn up. Reason: cadmium is in such short supply that defense orders alone would easily gobble up more of the metal than is now available.

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