SMART MEN NEEDED FOR WAR, WPB CHIEF SAYS

A new creed for the citizens of the United Nations is proposed by Donald M, Nelson, chief of the War Production Board, in an article written for the latest issue of the Alumni Bulletin.

"This is neither an old man's war nor a young man's war. It is smart man's war," Nelson says. "Our enemies have made it so. They have made it essential that we do not underestimate them, that we not only match and overmatch them in the weapons of war, but also in the smartness and resourcefulness which we apply to all phases of the conflict."

Asks Declaration of Faith

Calling for reexamination, reappraisal and a fresh declaration of faith-in-himself on the part of every individual in the democratic countries, the WPM head states: "We must, to begin with, drop the idea that change comes slowly. It does ordinarily, in part, because we think it does. Today change must come fast; and we must adjust our mental habits so that we can accept comfortably the idea of stopping one thing and beginning another overnight."

"We must discard the idea that past routines, past ways of doing things, are probably the best ways; one the contrary, we must instead assume that there is probably a better way to do almost everything. We must stop assuming that a thing which has never been done before probably cannot be done at all."

More Government Needed

"We must abandon the idea that seniority means quality. We have already found it necessary to issue many orders and directives to govern the conduct of industry and the public. We shall undoubtedly find it necessary to issue many more--to present common standards of conduct for the guidance of all concerned."

The former high official in Sears-Roebuck, writing on the role of colleges in the present conflict, maintains that "in securing, on the part of the citizens, the receptive attitude which comes from changed mental habits and routines, educational institutions like Harvard University, and the graduates of such institutions throughout the nation, have a major role to play."

University Influence Lauded

"The influence of graduates as writers, professional men, and business men, and the influence of the universities themselves through their faculties can be thrown either in the direction of changed patterns of thought or in the other direction. The cumulative effects cannot be over-estimated."

Nelson warns that, before the war is over, our standard of living will be far lower and that "we shall need to be tough physically, emotionally, mentally" in order to withstand the stain of harder work, and the crossfire of many disappointments and alarms.