2 Miracles Ahead! 



There is a profound difference not only between the nature 

 of the war that we entered in 1917 and that which we entered 

 in the 1940*8, but between the situation that confronted the 

 United States in 1917 and that which we faced during the 

 1940*5. These differences mean far more drastic changes dur- 

 ing the postwar era of World War II than was the case after 

 the last conflict. 



In 1917 we entered the war fresh, with a long period of 

 peace and prosperity behind us and with an abundance of 

 natural resources and man power available. Within a remark- 

 ably short period of time our industrial technicians found 

 ways and means of producing the immense quantities of war 

 materiel required. They had the advantage of an abundance 

 of everything needed for the task. Time was more precious 

 than materials and they were free to squander prodigious 

 quantities of raw materials in various trial-and-error proce- 

 dures that saved time. Incidentally, the war fronts to be sup- 

 plied were confined to a fairly small area of one continent! 



In the 1940*5 we entered a titanic struggle on a world- wide 

 basis after an engulfing depression that had lasted nearly a 

 decade and that had weakened and dispersed our man power; 

 depleted our reserves of tools, machines, and raw supplies; 

 disrupted our economy. Our industrial technicians faced a 

 superhuman task. There was a desperate shortage of plant and 

 factory space, machines, equipment, and materials available 

 as compared with the amount needed. There was an even 

 more critical shortage of skilled workmen. 



New inventions, discoveries, and procedures that had been 

 introduced years earlier, and that would have greatly expe- 

 dited the mass-production techniques needed, had been set 

 aside during the depression years. Producers had been unable 

 to embark on new ventures in the face of an uncertain mar- 

 ket. Discouraged about this situation, our leading designers, 

 engineers, chemists, and technicians had pigeonholed new 



