The Division's activity in this instance, while minor was helpful by enabling American publishers to coordinate their activities effectively and has been acknowledged with thanks. 3. Interstate advertising of alcoholic beverages.-Outdoor advertising interests asked the Division's assistance in obtaining Department of Commerce opposition to H. R. 1227, a bill to prohibit the transportation in interstate commerce of advertising of alcoholic beverages. Representations were made through appropriate administrative channels. While the Department has taken no formal stand, it is our understanding that the Secretary has discussed the subject with persons in a position to take effective action, and this information has been relayed to the outdoor advertising and magazine industries. 4. The Division assisted in the establishment of the fourth lithographic awards competition on display in the lobby of the Department of Commerce Building from June 14 through June 25. 5. The Division has been gathering a considerable amount of material with regard to the extent of the activities of the Government Printing Office and other governmental agencies in the field of printing, in the matter of unnecessary competition with business. While no positive steps have yet been taken, much interest has been in evidence on the part of industry in some quarters. JUNE 18, 1954. To: Mr. George W. Auxier, Executive Secretary, BDSA. In addition to routine service for business, the General Components Division has performed services in connection with the following industries: Hand tools: BDSA persuaded the military not to dump on the market millions of dollars worth of hand tools acquired during the Korean conflict. This action on the part of BDSA started during the latter part of 1953 and a favorable decision was obtained in March 1954. While the dumping of such quantities of hand tools would have been damaging to manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers, including 50,000 hardware stores which are small business, our most convincing argument was the fact that there were no yearly models of hand tools and they would not therefore become obsolete. Valves and fittings: Substantial changes have taken place in the demand for valves and pipe fittings since World War II. Higher operating pressures and temperatures and more extensive use of corrosive liquids and gasses has increased materially the need for critical materials such as nickel, monel, molyb denum, inconel, stellite, etc. With the assistance of a task group composed of members of the industry, the Division has been conducting a careful and detailed study of mobilization requirements and industry capacities. While the study is not yet complete, the industry is most enthusiastic and has expressed a willingness to expand facilities where a shortage is indicated as a result of the study. This would further be particularly helpful to the industry in that it would eliminate the possibility of the Government sponsoring new manufacturers in this field who would become competitors under normal conditions. Several such manufacturers were established during the Korean period. Tackle blocks and chain and rope fittings: Members of the industry have raised questions regarding military specifications. It was pointed out that the Bureau of Ships, Department of the Navy, invariably specifies tackle blocks or fittings which differ in various size respects from the standard commercial product. This has been a source of irritation to the industry for a number of years and caused bottlenecks during World War II. The Maritime Commission, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Army Engineers, Army Transportation Corps, see fit to accept the standard commercial product to fulfill their needs. In view of the above, this office requested the Department of Defense to institute a thorough exploration of the need for the Bureau of Ships' unusual specifications. To date, two meetings have been held but it will be some time before final conclusions are reached. Wood screw industry: The Division has compiled export and import statistics for use of the wood screw industry and the Tariff Commission in the conduct of tariff hearings in May 1954. Further, we are in the process of conducting two surveys at the request of the Treasury Department with regard to the feasibility of marking individual wood screws with the country of origin. This industry is suffering from foreign competition and feels that American consumers would not purchase the foreign wood screw in preference to the American product if they were aware of the country of origin. Antifriction bearing industry: The critical shortage of ball and roller bearings during World War II created many bottlenecks in our overall mobilization program. In the early stages of the Korean incident, the bearing industry, at the insistence of the military, expanded their facilities greatly. However, neither the military nor therefore the industry had any means of accurately measuring military requirements as a whole, and none whatever of measuring them by individual types and sizes. As a result, there was insufficient expansion in certain areas and overexpansion in other areas. The industry has therefore urged that a study be made of military requirements in peace and mobilization periods. The industry has cooperated wholeheartedly in the conduct of this study. We are now completing the study of ball bearing requirement per unit for approximately 500 military end items. The information is currently being put on IBM cards and will be maintained on a current basis. As the military end item requirements change with changing military programs, the bearing requirements for any quantity of each item and requirements for the overall military program can be calculated accurately and quickly. In addition to having an industry task force working with us in this study, we have kept the industry currently advised of progress through progress reports to the industry advisory committee members. All have expressed enthusiasm over the results to date and feel that a real service is being rendered. By keeping this study current at all times, the Business and Defense Services Administration can keep the industry advised of realistic requirements so that bottlenecks may be avoided and the industry will not overexpand unnecessarily. JUNE 14, 1954. To: Mr. George W. Auxier, Executive Secretary. Subject: Request for roundup of industry division activity in service to business, This is with reference to the memorandum of May 26 on the above subject from Mr. Auxier. Following are the principal services to industry undertaken by the Iron and Steel Division during the January 1 to June 1, 1954, period: 1. Shipments of Steel Mill Products and Steel Castings to Consumers, 1952. This material was released as a Facts for Industry series and consists of tables of steel-mill products and steel-casting shipments classified by consuming industries, by grade, and by shape, for the year 1952. This material should provide a benchmark for commercial research activity relating to the consumption of steel and should prove valuable to all persons interested in steel statistics, since it reflects patterns of consumption for consuming industries by shape and form. 2. Shipments of Steel Mill Products to Defense Programs by Quarters (1951 through 1953). This material was released as a Facts for Industry series to compare the direct defense steel shipments with total steel shipments for the period covered. 3. A tabulation on world steel production for 1953 which was issued through the medium of a press release. 4. Import and Export Statistics of Iron and Steel. The Iron and Steel Division furnishes detailed data to the American Iron and Steel Institute on imports and exports by steel-mill product, country of origin, and customs district. This material, in turn, is summarized in AISI reports to the steel industry. 5. The Foreign Section of the Iron and Steel Division is studying the possibility of publishing a monthly bulletin on iron and steel world trade. 6. The Ferro-Alloys Branch of the Iron and Steel Division has prepared a history of operation under control systems. Some of the past Directors of the Iron and Steel Division have recognized the usefulness of this material in connection with the planning of the industry to meet full mobilization conditions. They have suggested that the material might be microfilmed and copies made available to the industry, including individual companies for use under full mobilization. This project has now reached the stage where a condensed version of the history of operation under the controls is ready for microfilming and distribution. Copies of several of the Iron and Steel Divisions releases are attached. [For release: May 21, 1954. NPAF-17-03], FACTS FOR INDUSTRY United States Department of Commerce, Sinclair Weeks, Secretary; Bureau of the Census, Robert W. Burgess, Director; Business and Defense Services Administration, Charles F. Honeywell, Administrator SHIPMENTS OF STEEL MILL PRODUCTS TO DEFENSE PROGRAMS, FIRST QUARTERS 1951FOURTH QUARTER 1953 Direct mill shipments of steel mill products to the defense programs (including AEC) during the 3 years 1951-53 reached a peak in the fourth quarter of 1952, according to a release issued jointly by the Iron and Steel Division of the Business and Defense Services Administration and the Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce. This release shows quarterly direct mill shipments of steel-mill products to these programs (referred to as selected programs) by carbon, alloy, and stainless grades, related to overall shipments for the years 1951, 1952, and 1953. The figures on direct-mill shipments to selected programs were derived from data reported to the Iron and Steel Division, both under the National Production Authority and the Business and Defense Services Administration. Total shipments were derived from these sources for 1951 and 1952 and from the American Iron and Steel Institute data for the year 1953. All the 1952 figures and parts of the 1951 and 1953 figures reflect operations under the controlled materials plan, while the earlier and later periods not covered by that plan were covered by the pre-CMP priority rating system and the defense materials system, respectively. The direct-mill shipments to selected programs presented in this release do not include shipments of steel-mill products to manufacturing industries for the production of components incorporated in defense end items (defined as "B" products in the CMP and DMS regulations). On the basis of the available data, it is estimated that steel-mill-product shipments for such components represent an additional quantity equivalent to 18 to 20 percent of the tonnages of direct shipments to the selected programs. These selected program figures likewise do not include shipments of steel from warehouses. Non-nickel-bearing stainless steel was removed from allocation procedures during the first quarter of 1952, so that all shipments shown for that year and for the selected programs for 1953 do not include this grade of steel. Inasmuch as it is not possible to obtain a separate figure for non-nickel-bearing stainless steel from the AISI data the total stainless figure for 1953 is shown without indicating a ratio for the stainless figures for that year. However, the quantity of nonnickel-bearing stainless is negligible in relationship to the total production of all grades of steel and has no significant effect on the ratio for total steel. For this reason the percentages under the total for all grades for 1953 are shown. Under the Government-control systems all electrical sheet and strip was included with carbon and low alloy for purposes of allotments, while the American Iron and Steel Institute shipment data include the great bulk of these products with alloy. To make the 1953 data comparable, the grand total AISI figures were, therefore, adjusted to conform to the Government classification. Copies of this release may be obtained from the Industry Division, Bureau of the Census. However, inquiries concerning the content of this report should be referred to the Iron and Steel Division, Business and Defense Services Administration which prepared the figures in the table. |