The significance of United States motorized equipment as a major factor in turning the tide against the Axis is underscored by Field Marshall Albert Kesselring, German Army Commander in Italy. In a statement explaining his failure to his superiors, a copy of which was captured by American forces, Kesselring said : "The performance of enemy tanks and motor vehicles was astoundingly good."
Recent Lend-Lease figures place further emphasis on the war role of American vehicles, the Council pointed out. Since the beginning of Lend-Lease in March, 194I, such equipment has constituted roughly one-third of the total of all goods supplied by the United States to the rest of the United Nations.
As a result, not only the Axis, but the other United Nations have been impressed by the tremendous volume of high quality war vehicles of all types, and have begun to investigate the "peacetime production methods and prin-Ciples which made this record American automotive output possible, statements from abroad indicate.
In studies of the problem by the British some startling contrasts were uncovered. For example, they discovered that although American labor costs per hour ran twice their own during the immediate pre-war years, the price of vehicles in the United States steadily declined while quality increased.
Comparing the costs of materials used in a representative English vehicle and those used in a similar American product, the British found that without exception their prices ran considerably higher.
Along this line they discovered that a steering wheel cost the British manufacturer 8I per cent. more than it did the American producer. A starter cost 79 per cent. more, a distributor 59 per cent. more, a crankshaft 127 per cent. more, while malleable iron castings and steel body sheets cost just twice what the American car builder paid for the same product.
R. H. O.