URING the recent war there was considerable disagreement among interested groups concerning the relative importance of the paint industry in the war effort. A representative of a government agency, trying to maintain movement schedules on tank and box cars in the face of unloading delays experienced by paint plants, was quoted as saying that a war could be fought without paint, but not without railroad rolling stock. This same attitude was evident in other quarters, and as a plant scale experiment the United States Maritime Commission sent an unpainted cargo ship to France and back. The ship was able to return to the United States, but its condition was so poor that it was promptly put on the junk pile. All through the war the importance of paints was demonstrated, for protection, particularly in the hot and humid South Pacific areas, and for camouflage.