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Don Nelson himself would be the last to take full credit for all this excitement—by & large, it was still another sign of the U.S.'s grim intention to win the war. Moreover, hundreds of plants (notably in the auto industry) that shied away from labor-management committees per se were using the same kind of ballyhoo and production incentives with equally good results. As all the U.S. well knows, there is nothing like good ballyhoo (see cut) to put a good basic urge to work.
But last week there was new evidence that the Nelson plan deserved much credit. The trade paper Mill & Factory released a "survey with no holds barred" of how it had worked in a random sample of 88 out of the first 300 plants to set up production-drive committees. Despite management's early fears (and the survey was built up exclusively from management reports), 91% of those with concrete opinions reported that labor had not used the drive to encroach on management; 78% said labor had used them "in a sincere effort to increase production"; 62% said they had received more worthwhile production suggestions than before; 67% that the plan justified the time and effort it took to operate.