Industrial mobilization, emergency period

On 8 September 1939, one week after the outbreak of war in Europe, President Roosevelt issued a proclamation of "limited national emergency. This led to a greater emphasis on preparedness throughout the armed forces. While all CWS activities felt the impact of this declaration, procurement was affected more than other functions. The main current of CWS developments in the emergency period was the industrial mobilization program. 

The CWS took steps, under the guidance of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War, to implement the educational order legislation enacted by Congress in June 1938. This legislation had as its objective the training of selected industrial concerns in the manufacture of a half-dozen Army items, one of which was the gas mask. The first educational order contract was written by the Chemical Warfare Service in late 1939 and several more were awarded in 1940 and 1941. The educational order program was the first real step, as far as the CWS was concerned, in the direction of industrial mobilization in the emergency period. 

The hardships which the Chemical Warfare Service began to experience in obtaining suitable contractors in the emergency period became much more pronounced after the declaration of war. Since the Industrial Mobilization Plan of 1939 had not been put into operation, the CWS, as indicated, in some instances had lost allocated contractors to other elements of the armed forces, particularly the Ordnance Department and the Navy. This state of affairs continued into the war period. Only for the gas mask and raw chemicals did the CWS experience little difficulty in obtaining contractors with the necessary experience and equipment. Thanks to the ucational order contracts on the mask, excellent contractors with well-equipped plants were already in production and were willing and able to proceed with other gas mask contracts. In the case of raw chemicals, a sizable number of well-established houses were available for government work. On all other items, CWS usually placed contracts with establishments that had not been allocated to it under the Industrial Mobilization Plan. In almost all instances these establishments were small operators who had to convert their plants in order to manufacture the items. 

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