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general attitude today is perhaps best expressed by a statement that appeared in the 1936 version of the Industrial Mobilization Plan: 

"The United States is almost self-contained industrially. There exist within its borders in ample quantities the labor, power, facilities, and with certain important exceptions, all the raw materials necessary in war. Particularly is this statement true as applied to the total strength in manpower. It is almost impossible to assume a situation where the population would be in danger of suffering actual hardships in war due to lack of personnel to produce the necessities of life." [[footnote]] 1

The inaccuracies of this estimate are obvious to anyone who possesses only a casual knowledge of manpower problems during World War II. Fortunately, the present estimate is much more realistic, but there still exists a definite need for a wide understanding of the problem and, more important, active implementation of a plan for its solution. The security of the nation is being jeopardized because no such plan exists at this time.  

It is profitable to emphasize the fact that man, in spite of technological advances, though he may not always wear a uniform, is within the foreseeable future still the fundamental instrument of war. Manpower must expand munitions industries, maintain agricultural production, mining, manufacturing, transportation. Manpower must provide minimum essential support to the civilian economy and expand the armed

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[[footnote]] 1 [[underlined]] Industrial Mobilization Plan [[/underlined]], Revised 1936, Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1936, Introduction, p. ix. 

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