RUBBER SHORTAGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 June 1942, Page 4

RUBBER SHORTAGE

EFFECT ON MOTOR-CARS BLOW TO AMERICA. A NEW TRANSPORT PROBLEM. LOS ANGELES, May 9. The sudden shortage of rubber in the United States which threatens to remove millions of private automobiles from the roads is the severest blow America has yet suffered on the home front, writes Lou Jones. The ban placed on all new tires and retreads for private cars not only will cause a big upset in the life of the average American, but will force millions to depend on street cars and buses to get them to and from the big industrial plants. Already public transport systems are taxed to the limit and how they will handle these extra millions is something that is worrying everybody from the worker to the Government. The automobile has become as necessary to the average American as the clothes he wears. He has depended on it for his work and for his pleasure and for years has been independent of street cars and buses. This universal ownership of cars caused many streetcar lines to cease running and many tracks were torn up because they created an eyesore. RIDING ON STREET CARS. In some cases these lines were replaced by buses, but in other public transportation just went out of existence. No one ever dreamed that some day America would regret the tearing up of steel tracks. Now that they are urgently needed there is no steel to spare for either rails or cars and there are by no means enough buses to supply the needs of the travelling public. Of course, most people still have their cars, but in a very few months thousands of them will be without tires and within a year or so millions will be down to their rims and will be useless to their owners. Already people have begun to hoard the tires they have on their cars in an attempt to save them for the proverbial rainy day when they may' need a car urgently: Many are riding the street cars and buses to work, but there are millions who live so far from their jobs that this is almost an impossibility. When their rubber gives out and they are forced to use public conveyances the results are going to be chaotic. STAGGERING WORKING HOURS. At present there are about 30,000,000 private automobiles in America, Government experts believe that by the end of next year at least 12,000,000 of these will be forced into idleness. This means that between 20,000.000 and 30,000,000 people will be looking for some other means of transportation to and from their jobs. It has been suggested that work hours be staggered so that every hour in the day would see men and women going and coming to work. This might be possible in some industries, but as far as war plants are concerned it would be very impracticable because these factories have built their production speed on team work, and staggered hours would break up teams. It also has been suggested that factories exchange workers. For instance, there are several thousand workers at Lockheed aircraft whose homes are close to Douglas aircraft, while thousands of Douglas workers live closer to Lockheed. This is a suggestion that might be carried out with some success, but would not offei’ very much relief to the transport problem. POSSIBLE GOVERNMENT ACTION. There is a possibility that the Government may be forced to demand that workers move to homes and apaitments closer to their jobs to relieve the situation. Whether workers would agree to such a wholesale movement is doubtful because many own their own homes and would rather quit their jobs than move out of a place they have bought and paid for. However, if things get much worse Washington might possibly draft labour just as it does soldiers. This would leave workers no other alternative. They would have to do as they were told. The lack of adequate transport and the ban on' tires is going to cause not a little economic hardship. Popular holiday resorts will be deserted while few people are going to brave the hardships of crowded buses to go out at nights to theatres. America might even become a nation of home-lovers again. This will mean a boom in radio. Hardest hit of all will be the service stations. Most of them probably will have to close because there will be too few cars to service.