U.S. WAR PLANTS WILL NOT GO UNDERGROUND

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22669, 21 June 1948, Page 8

U.S. WAR PLANTS WILL NOT GO UNDERGROUND

America lias abandoned plans to place vital war plants underground, military leaders having decided decentralisation of industry will do more to protect the potential war machine front air attack

With war jitters in the capital increasing almost daily, the joint Chiefs of Staff are reported to have been told to complete blueprints for both air and around defences by midyear at the latest.

Disclosure that construction of large scale underground plants has been abandoned came from Genera! Jacob Devers. Army Ground Forces Commander, who said it had been decided such a move was simply "not economically feasible " It would lake as long as 10 or 13 years to place America's industries underground and Arm-,- officials believe war may come before that. On'v smaller war industries could be placed underground anyway.

Huge steel mills, aircraft plants and other heavy manufacturing industries could not operate efficiently in underground caves available and the cost of digging a hole big enough wou'd be prohibitive The danger would exist too mat poison or radio-active gases might be placed in the large ventilation systems which would have to be constructed. Morale of workers would not be high since workers, experience has indicated don’t like to work in confined underground spaces. Behind the decision to disperse industries was the element of cost involved in atomic bombing. Military strategists believe that an aggressor would find atom-bombs too costly to waste on comparatively small segments of industries and could concentrate on using them against prime targets, like big cities.