Steel Unorganized

The shortage in steel planning rivals the shortage of steel scrap in everything but publicity. Overshadowed by daily reports of overfilled quotas, the lack of an all-powerful, unified control of steel production and allocation threatens the whole war effort.

Allocation, especially, has suffered from the crippling haze of direction. With the WPB failing to present a concrete, authoritative program, no attempt has been made to equate demand with the limited steel supply available. Restrained by no long-range plans, the armed forces have naturally made desirable but unfeasible demands. Typical was the month of July in which the army wanted three times the steel it was eventually forced to accept. Bitter haggling and excessive red tape has been the inevitable result. Moreover, delays and shortages have forced the adoption of an elaborate priorities system. Need for an AAA rating to supplement the AA rating which supplemented the original A-1 rating strikingly illustrates the inadequacy of the present situation.

Four agencies have quibbled on the why and wherefores of still production. The WPB, the Bureau of Industrial Conservation, the OPA, and since August, War Materials, Inc., a division of the RFC, have all dabbled, with resulting confusion. Established to collect steel scrap--regardless of cost--the most recent agency, War Materials, Inc., a division of the RFC, have all dabbled, with resulting confusion. Established to collect steel scrap-regardless of cost-the most recent agency, War Materials, Inc., adds administrative problems to the already crowded field. Lacking the power to condemn needed items as well as the jurisdiction over the scrap's eventual destination, it requires a charitable public to function at all. This at a time when some steel mills operate on a bare two week supply and when, as in July, an estimated 367,000 tons of steel production is lost through lack of scrap.

The need for a unified, administrative agency with full authority is vital and immediate. At present WPB allocates only to those mills who can't get scrap--other mills buy what and where they can. With capable direction, industry-wide allocation of scrap could be substituted for the present haphazard system. Systematic requisitioning of all possible sources of steel could augment the current scrap collection. Robert Moses, ex-director of the New York City scrap drive, has developed the possibilities along this line with his recent detailed estimate that fifty thousand tons of unneeded steel construction exist in that city alone. The whole Allied superstructure rests on a foundation of steel; and an efficiently-run American steel industry is the basis of this foundation.