• U.S.

WAR ECONOMY: Facts, Figures

2 minute read
TIME

> Restrictions on railroad passenger service for ordinary citizens are imminent, said ODT’s Joseph Eastman. U.S. railroads, which last year handled 25,000,000,000 passenger miles, will have to handle more & more of the 15,000,000,000 highway-bus passenger miles, not to mention part of the private automobile load (last year some 250,000,000,000 passenger miles). In Britain, every railroad station now hangs out a sign saying “Is your journey really necessary?”

> With demand for fuel oil for U.S. ships growing and gasoline demand drying up, Southern California oilmen tried pumping gasoline back into depleted oil wells. It costs about 6¢ a barrel, but may save the gasoline—storage tanks are full.

> Because frozen automobiles were not being thawed out fast enough by rationing boards, OPA decided to relax restrictions enough to let the available stock of 400,000 new cars be sold within the year. Any civilian in special need of a new car can get one.

> The drive to conserve older cars and tires increased. San Francisco’s Yellow Cab Co. ran big ads in the newspapers urging “that you do not use a Yellow cab.” ODT warned that taxi cruising must stop. Franklin Roosevelt ordered all U.S. Government departments to reduce their use of automobiles “substantially.”

> Bendix Aviation made downward adjustments in Government contract prices to the tune of $73,354,000, with more to come. Savings resulted from huge orders for aircraft parts and accessories, permitting mass-production methods. Bendix President Ernest Robert Breech told his department heads last fall: “Get this profits thing right. We don’t want to be criticized for making too much profit on Government business.”

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