The Berks County Dutch War Production Pool at Reading, Pa., an organization to make available the Reading area's industrial resources for war, wrote their members: "If you are fortunate enough not to have use for this valuable service from time to time, it's because you are one in a million, or dead, or out of business." A Pennsylvania company making dart-board games for the Army Air Forces was falling behind in deliveries. Time needed to dry the paint on the eight-color dart boards was piling his cramped factory high with unfinished work. The manufacturer sought a process to dry paint more rapidly, cut down the backlog. TAS came through with data showing he could use swift-drying printer's ink to do the same job and double production. Newly developed materials provide many a headache for the small manufacturer. Magnesium alloy, for example, which will mean much in the new world to come, is fabulously light, quick to burn. A St. Louis manufacturer with a contract to turn out incendiary bombs was worried. He wanted to fill his contract and at the same time avoid fires while handling the inflammable metal. A TAS report quickly told him what to do. The peril of magnesium fires lies in chips and dust. Safety is largely a matter of good housekeeping. With further detailed information submitted by TAS, the plant was made safe from fire, and insurance rates were kept at a minimum. A tip on a new material frequently speeds output and improves a product. Rope made by a firm for Navy use had hand-sewn ends to prevent unraveling. Hand-sewing each end cost 41⁄2 minutes' time. TAS suggested a plastic dip and production skyrocketed. The plastic bound 12 rope ends in the time it took to hand-sew one, and turned out a better job. Sometimes a manufacturer will pose a problem so tangled up on complex processes that TAS advises employment of a technical consultant and will help locate the right man. That, after all, is a service of distinct value. It may save the manufacturer a great deal of time and money. An example follows: A New Jersey electrical firm received a contract to supply the Army Signal Corps with a special coil for a secret signaling device. The company had been manufacturing transformers and believed it would have no trouble with the new job, but production crept along so lazily that loss of the contract was feared. The headache soon evaporated. The plant employed one of several production engineers TAS suggested for the job. Within a few weeks, the engineer's advice swept away the cloud of worry and multiplied production. All these examples show how a system of dissemination can work and has worked. These examples show the absolute importance of getting the results of research out to all business, big and little. It can be done, and, as a matter of fact, quickly, efficiently, and cheaply. Speaking of the spread of science, Canada has set up a technical advisory service. We have helped them to do so. Little New Zealand is doing likewise, and Australia has a similar plan now up before their Minister of Industry. Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, and India are also considering establishing their own TAS. We have helped them all. China, for instance, has been furnished with copies of 1,300 reports which they are now translating into Chinese to act as a beginning in their efforts to furnish technical assistance to their young industry. I view all this with ustmost enthusiasm. I say that if the world is offered the use of science, if industrialization brings higher standards of living, that war will be less likely. With the world as it is, I say we should promote science the world over-and also we must be prepared should war come; in any event, we must have great scientific research to hold our position in the world and to gain respect. Gentlemen, this is a great and necessary bill. Actually, and you will forgive me for speaking in what ordinarily might be considered extravagant language, the fate of the world actually depends on this type of legislation, its democratic control, and the support given it by all elements of our society. Gentlemen, get busy. Pass this bill. There is no time to waste. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Maverick. I believe we have had printed this monograph on the industry's opinion on proposed science legislation. And we are going to insert that as an exhibit at the end of your testimony. (The monograph referred to is as follows:) INDUSTRY OPINION ON PROPOSED SCIENCE LEGISLATION A SURVEY MADE BY THE SMALLER WAR PLANTS CORPORATION FOR CONTENTS Page Appendix A, letter from Senator Harley M. Kilgore to Mr. Maury Maverick, Chairman and General Manager, Smaller War Plants Corpo- Appendix B, list of questions asked manufacturers___ Appendix C, letter from Mr. Maury Maverick to Senator Harley M. 383 PREFACE This monograph presents the results of a survey, conducted at my request by the Smaller War Plants Corporation, designed to present a cross section of the opinion of American industry in regard to Federal support of scientific research and development in the postwar years. The Smaller War Plants Corporation conducted this survey through its technical advisory service, under the direction of Col. Bert H. White, which is in continuous contact with representative sections of business. Five members of the Corporation's advisory service interviewed more than 200 manufacturers, large and small, from coast to coast. The results of the survey, presented graphically and in tabular form, together with quotations from the manufacturers interviewed, appear in the following pages. This survey, I believe, will be of value in the consideration of legislative proposals for the promotion of science. HARLEY M. KILGORE, Chairman, Subcommittee on War Mobilization. |