Inthe MACHINE WORLD
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~tIe 001262 inthe MACHINE WORLD RIDA ATLAN Ie .UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 6y Leighton A. Wilkie SOCIALIST· lABOR COLLECTION The ways and whys of today's industrial era; how machines, backed by science and invention to utilize the power and resources of nature, bring modern comforts and better living. COPYRIGHT 1946 By Leighton A. Wilkie PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERI CA in the MACHINE "WORLD- hy leighton A. Wilkie The ways and whys of to day's ind~strial era; how machines, backed by science and invention to utilize the power and resources of nature, bring modern comforts and better living. Distributed by The DoAll Compony Des Plaines, III. INTRODUCTION " We know that neither prosperity nor war will solve the problems oj . modern society ; gradually we are realizing that th e only answer lies in man himself . To progress, man must remake himself . .. For he is both th e marble and th e sculptor.In order to un cover his tru e visage, he m ust mould his own substance." Alexi s Carrel. Prog ress Depends on Wide-spread Understanding In thi s booklet is a brief story of how the Machine Age de veloped. When mankind better understands what is required to make the Machine Age bring the greatest benefits to the greatest number of people, then the common man will not willingly be " taken in" by those whose economic fallacies invade his welfare and well-being. Dreadful harm is at work today because of false economic doctrines that have been introduced by impractical men. It is the small busi ness man and average industrial worker and farmer whose coll ective wisdom and common sense create the success of " Government of the people, by the people and for the people." It is they who now need to take a look at the balance sheet of the dynamic Machine Age. The Principles Are Simple Not so long ago, men had to toil the major part of their hours every day to gain the mere necessities: FOOD,SHELTER, CLOTH IG. Leisure to enjoy life was very limited . Not until the ma chi ne tools were developed and production machinery was manufactu red and put to work were men able to produce more for themselves in fewer hours. By this method they increased their earn ings and had tim e left for recreation and the enjoyment of life as well. Machines have fr eed men from long hours of toi l. Machines have increa sed their productive pow er, their earn ings, and oppo rtunity to improve their way of working and living. Mankind ha s had onl y the last hundred years in which to ab sorb an avalanche of technological information . The fa ct is that no man's mind is capable of ma stering all that has been learn ed about the whole real m of the several sciences in this hundred ye ar period of phenomenal expansion. But man ha s the capacity to un derstand the prin ciples, and they are not hard to learn. It is when the ba sic prin ciples are left behind that leaders turn the tide of progress ba ckwards. Mass production and its phenomenal economy, coming into being in less th an 70 years, has doubled the population and affected everything we eat, wear, read and see. The consequence is that we have specialists who know a great deal about one field and little of ano ther, and we have those academically trained people who have little knowledge in scientific ways, yet it is they who largely make up the law-making body and ruling class. The solution lies in broader understanding of the fundamental principles on the part of small business men and workers and the elected political leaders. How We Live "Our many gifts have fail ed to bring econom ic security, happiness, moral sense and peace-because th ey have burst upon us while we are still too ignorant to use them wis ely . In order to endure, society, as well as individ uals, should conform to the laws of life. We cannot erect a house without a knowledge of the law of gravity." A lexis Carr el. The science of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy. It mu st trace the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups. The only route to jobs is to produce more efficiently. The more you produce efficiently, the lower its price; the lower the price, the more people who can and will buy it; the more people who buy it, the more security your job an d the more you are worth. The only honest approach for workmen, labor leaders and man agement is to unite to reduce costs by increasing production per worker through more modern machinery installed and employed efficiently. Fortunately for labor some wise Union leaders have learned that only by this route can they improve wages and conditions for the common man, and are working toward this end. There is no other way. This country became great and attained the highest standard of living in the world-because individual opportunity permitted an y one to ri se as far as hi s ability and productiveness could take him. Yet today many so-called leaders have confused millions of Americans into thinking that " security'.' can be had through some other system or ism. Labor leaders, ba cked by government laws and decrees, have lined up against the public on the other side . But the public is, ea ch and every one of us. It is the public that pays the bill. When workers increase their wages by turning out more goods through more modern ma chinery, then we, the public, do not have an y increa sed costs to pay. The re sponsibility for making jobs and wealth must come from three sources: . A. Government-through its tax laws must enable enterprise to accumulate enough profit to provide workmen with constantly im proved equipment and must provide an atmo sphere.favorable to the creation of new enterprises. B. Management must install improved equipment and share with its workmen the increased earn ings whi ch result. C. Labor mu st use the equipment effic iently to turn out more good s so that he may be paid more. All three working together can create jobs. Two Kinds of Thinkers " I ll practically every country there is a decrease in the int ellectual and moral caliber of thos e who carry the responsibility of public affairs. What is the good of increasing the com fort, the luxury, the beauty and the complications of our civilization, if our weakn ess prevents us from guiding it to our best advantage?" Alexis Carrel. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of thinkers. Th e scientists and craftsmen who are accustomed to reaching a clear-cut solution to problems and can prove that the conclusions are right ; the aca demic and political individuals, on the other hand, have a mental adaptability and willingness to compromise. You will nearly always find the most practical leaders are tho se who have had a background of early practica l work. Th ey received their training as " doers." They often began working with their hand s. Then there is the group who are highly educated but cannot ap ply this education with sound judgment, because too much of wha t they know is wr ong. Unfor tunately, it is often they who develop a sublime egotism and are so presumptuous as to usurp a perso nal leader ship that rightfully be longs not to ma n butto the proper processes of democra tic law-mad e government. Th is group has been given the nam e " Bureaucrats." Their egotism is fed by their superior ability to exp ress themselves in written words or on the ra dio. Because they are so cocksure, they make their a rgument~ plausible and gain a large following. Beware of "Planners" " The A me rican economy seems to have forgotten, for the moment, how to grow. But the probable explanation of this economic anaemia is to be found, not in any arrival at 'maturity,' but rath er in the existence of institutional obst ructions to a free flow of capital." Th e Economist. Th e bad economist often present s a very per suasive argument by offering wha t appears to be a very attractive short-term gain. It is too often that the cheap opportunist or political demagogue can be more plau sible in putting forth economic non sense than the hon est ma n who would try to show what is wrong with it. It is said that those with wisdom are cautio us and conservative but others with a sublime egotism are cocksure and impatient with anyone who doesn't follow their opinion. They lack the common sense of a man who has had the hard knocks of growing up in competitive enterprise to teach him sound, practical judgment in the ways of life. Beware of the "planner" because it is he who expects to attain power over men which he has found he could never attain in com petitive enterprise. Whenever you find a writer presenting in glib language the false doctrine of a "new order" you can be sure that back in his consciousness is an impelling desire to be a leader with power. He sees a bureaucratic position for himself under the regime he visualizes. These men have been calling themselves "fron tier thinkers." They carefully avoid the term "subversive" and sugar coat their aims with vague generalities of "automatic production and distribution in full fruition." They refer to our attachment to the Constitution and Declaration of principles as "emotional and un reasoning attachment to instruments that will require' fundamental changes of attitude." The State vs .