Pinch

The final tatters of respectability were ripped last week from the old highfalutin promise that U.S. aluminum production capacity was plenty big enough for all needs. The Office of Production Management, whose high-rankers were parties to the mistaken promise, announced through OPM's Ed Stettinius aluminum's prospects for June. They were not pretty: defense was going to take nearly 100% of the month's production of 53,000,000 lb.

Prospects were likely to be uglier still for later months, as defense demands overleap aluminum production, were not likely to improve much until 1942-43, when Alcoa,...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!