DONALD M. NELSON, chairman of the War Production Board, in a recent report stated: “The used equipment and machinery dealer is to be highly commended for his efforts. Numerous instances have come to our attention in which a dealer has re-engineered a piece of equipment to fill a vital need, even though the machine originally was manufactured to do something else. Thus, projects which would have been delayed pending the building of new equipment have been able to go ahead immediately.”
This praiseworthy recognition of an industry which has pitched hard in the war effort should be gratifying to everyone connected with it. It reiterates what has been a contention of this publication for years: the necessity of utilizing the existing potential manufacturing facilities available in the stocks of used equipment dealers.
Industrial machinery should never be cast aside until every means has been exhausted to find a use for it.
It must be remembered that the part played by the used equipment dealer in the war began a number of years before our entry into the conflict. Millions of dollars worth of good American-made machines were shipped to the Allied Nations all over the world. Dealers combed the country for tools for England, France, Russia, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Canada, and Australia.
Here is an industry, then, which conserves the tools to produce war implements years in advance of any actual war. And it is a fortunate circumstance for all of us.