The machine-tool makers, first U.S. industry to be called a bottleneck, have worked like Sisyphus* to get out of that category. In two years they boosted their payrolls from 43,000 to 110,000 men, their deliveries from $200,000,000 to $840,000,000 (1939-41). By Pearl Harbor they had reached a delivery rate of $100,000,000 of machine tools every month.
Last week the rock rolled back to the bottom of the hill. As their share in the Victory Program, the War Production Board asked the toolmakers for $166,000,000 worth per month in 1942.
Yet Production Director William H. Harrison thought they could do it. To help...
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