Business: War Orders

To date the U. S. public has seen a good many pictures of war-order planes lined up on fields, and shrouded bomber fuselages being loaded on freighters or falling into harbor mud. But aside from aircraft it has seen little concrete evidence of war orders. Last week (see cut) 478 Studebaker trucks on a Staten Island dock in New York Harbor readied for shipment to the Allied Armies, provided the first good view of nonplane war orders in the flesh.

Another Allied acquisition last week was Edgar Selden Bloom, longtime president of the $281,000,000 A. T. & T. subsidiary Western Electric (which makes 80-90% of all U. S. telephone equipment). Circumstances made it easy for the British Purchasing Commission to obtain the services of a front-rank U. S. businessman as purchasing agent. Though his hair is not white, Mr. Bloom last week turned 65 (Western Electric's retirement age), announced he would retire Dec. 31* and take the British Commission's job as Director of Purchases for the U. S.