Rubber: The Last Word

The fight over synthetic rubber was finished (TIME, Feb. 8). The issue—how many synthetic rubber plants Czar William Jeffers could build without using materials needed by the Army & Navy—was ancient history. The decision was already on the books: Economic Czar James F. Byrnes, as referee, had decided to let Jeffers build plants for 452,000 tons, 43.6% of the amount called for by the Baruch report.

But in Washington's tumult nobody had heard the gong. So last week, before a joint session of House Military and Naval Affairs subcommittees, blunt Bill Jeffers...