The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-07
A COURAGEOUS STEP

lie therefore decided upon placing a great power of control in the hands Of men who were not experts in this par tlcuiar industry, but he hoped to find men of intelligence, of broad vision, ca pablo of measuring up the demands of the industry to national and interna- tional condition. They were not to be slaves of precedent. They were to be able to go back to basic principles and then work out their plans to the satis- faction of MT. Baruch.
 IT. one case which may be used to illus trate MT. Baruch's method, a man of high scientific authority, although not associated with the refractories industry, called upon MT. Baruch, whom he had earlier known well, and offered to devote himself to the problems of the war indus tries board. Mir. Baruch accepted the offer on the spot. And it seems to have occurred to him instantly that this man of science might be of avail in aiding hin. to work out the serious problem of the refractories Incidentally, it may be said, that one high officer of the gov errment has called attention to the im- portance Of so treating this industry in making up the tax bill that it shall not be impaired.
 MT. Baruch said that he was satisfied that it was of the highest importance to place some highly qualified man in charge of the refractories, and he asked the man of science what he knew about refractories. In reply he was told that this man had very little knowledge o1 the industry. Instantly MT. Baruch urged him to accept an important post in this industry. He did not say so, but he made 1t clear that his idea was that it was the better part to take a man who had knowledge, experience and skill in cer- tain allied directions, and to put him in charge of things where he had no per sonal interest and with which he had no overwhelming personal connections.
 THE BARUCH PLAN
 This solution of the problem has been spoken of as the Baruch plan. It has succeeded admirably. It has made tho work notable. MT. Baruch evidently realized that an intelligent and highly qualified man who would take up the in- dustry from an absolutely unbiased standpoint, and would study it and act entirely in the interest of the whole coun- try and for the industry as whole, would instantly begin to think in terms of national and even international in- tereSts.
 II, some other departments of the gov- ernment the disposition has been strong or developments men who had strong personal interest in a particular industry ana who had been associated with the lncustry for years, therefore looking at II rom a purely local point of view. There are intimations that this was tho case with the bureau of standards, which served under the signal office in certain departments of aircraft produc- ton.
 Men who were associated with certain great industries were called upon to make expert examinations of various hlbri- cants. But it was observed that their ex- periments and tests were modified or governed by the precedents and methods yhich had been adopted by them before they entered into the government service. Had the method adopted by MT. Baruch characterized this and other departments of government service in the days of war the results would compare wei, with those achieved by MT. Baruch when he adopted the plan above referred to. We might have had the long delays and highly unpleasant experiences which. ac- cording to the report recently made by
 Senate committee, have character. ized our aircraft production. MT. Ba- ruch is spoken of here as a man of courage, both as leader of the war indus tries and in his personal business life before he abandoned that to devote him self wholly to the needs of the govern ment. And 1t required man of high courage to adopt the plan which he did adopt and which is now making the re fractories industry of the United ates one of the most satisfactory of all the industrial accessories in carrying on the war