Back to Normalcy--& Beyond

In good old peacetime the U.S. never used over 400 million lbs. of aluminum a year. Last week the War Production Board announced that aluminum would be available immediately, priority free, for civilian goods. On top of this announce ment the Surplus Property Board declared that it will scrap all unsalable military aircraft in the U.S. from which can be produced an estimated one billion lbs. of second-grade aluminum ingots. Best Washington sources estimate that, as a result of these two orders, over 100 million lbs. of aluminum will be available for third quarter civilian production.

This brought the supply of civilian aluminum not only back to normalcy but far beyond. But it did not mean that the civilian supply of aluminum goods would immediately reach normal. Manufacturers are so short of cutting machines that consumer production will start slowly.

In a few weeks, however, such common articles as aluminum kettles ought to be in production again. Because of the vast quantities released, aluminum will also be available as a substitute for wood and metals that are still scarce. This also is not quite such good news as it sounds.

Before aluminum can be used in place of other materials, in such articles as refrigerators, retooling, new designs, retrain ing of workers, etc., will be necessary which will take time. Also, virgin aluminum is still two to three times as costly as steel. This difficulty may not be serious if second-grade aluminum from scrap --good enough for many common articles --is available at a low price.

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