Evening star., 1922-01-15
BY WILL P. KENNEDY.

- industry waste of raw material
labor. money. time and equipment
thereby puncturing the inflated prices
that have resulted not so much from proiteer-
ing as from increased costs between the pro-
ducer and consumer. as an effective way to
restore general and lasting business activity
and prosperity, is the task to which the en-
gineering profession OF the United States has
set itself.
During the world war the engineering pro-
fesson stood out behind the movement Of
armies. in forwarding supplies, in building
cantonments and bridges and implements Of
war; dwaring tho most magnifed figments of
pre-war imagination. In works Of construc-
tion and of destruction the engineers came
into world recognition. standardizing and
multiplying production. Transforming manu-
featuring plants. making Hog Island and Muscle
Shoals plants spring up as IL by magic. The
best brawn and brain of the country, which
never before had taken any special interest
in engineering. came to recognize in this pro-
fession a great future. and Uncle Sam gave
them the best Of practical training
X X X
In these vexing days of restored peace. with
the business life OF the country at odds and
ends and all topsyturvy. with prosperity
financial debacle just around the corner, this
engineering talent. trained in war. has turned
from destruction to a great constructive pro-
gram. not concerned primarily with mining,
and building erection. and reclamation prof.
ects and spreading the network Of transporta-
ton but giving practical help toward solving
the problems of financing and marketing OF
products.
AS an organized unit the engineers Of the
country are behind Herbert Hoover and are
helping Hoover" to work out the Department
of Commences big plan of restoring prosperity
permanent basis.
The philosophy of the situation is something
like this:
Take the prices the producer got away back
in 1911 and call them 100. Take the prices
they getting now and you will find they
about the same 100. with relatively little
change Then take the prices the consumer
paid for various commodities in 1911 and call
them 100. and compare them with the prices
today for commodities Of the same character
and you will find the 100 fuctuating upward
to $50 or 1870.
This difference between the 100 Of 1911 and
the $50 100 Of today is not solid profiteer-
ing. the Department Of Commerce and busi-
ness economists find. but represents certain
accumulation Of costs all along the line from
the producer to the consumer. For example.
Secretary Hoover estimates that the created
wealth Of this country annually Is about fifty
billion dollars and the federal and municipal
taxes represent about eight billion dollars
Then there such items as fixed charges on
investment. resulting from increased capacity
and enlargement OF plants during the war.
We have a tremendous increase in the num-
ber of steps between the producer and the
consumer-extra service men--all of whom
have to be paid. Extra service is all right II
you want to pay for 1t; some Of this service
is valuable and some of it is wasteful.
+
In the meantime the standard of living has
increased The only way to meet increasing
values resulting from this extra service is by
eliminating waste-getting more out Of the
plant. getting more work odt of money. getting
more production out of your labor, machinery
and equipment-using what we have to bet
ter advantage. There is where the engineer
ing profession is fitting in to carry out the
big Industrial restoration program of the De-
partment of Commerce, cooperating with
business.
The Department Of Commerce surveyed this
area of waste~The unemployment confer
ence brought out several phases which are
being made the subject of special intensive
study by committees Of men in the industries
themselves. One Of these phases is that of
business cycles, when business and prosperity
soar as to the peak Of a mountain and then
descend sharply into a valley Of industrial
depression and financial stress. such cycles re-
curing periodically. The causes for these
business cycles are being studed-why the
peaks and the valleys-with suggestions to
long time remedies such looking upon the
construction program of the country to level
out the valleys and peaks. using the public
works as means Of tiding over these re-
curing periods of depression. 1-
A second intensive study growing out of the
unemployment conference is fntermittency in
the coal industry. which has been undertaken
nv Of conjunction