Evening star., 1924-12-10
WOULD AVOID toy
STAGE IN RADIO
Expert Warns Against Idea
New Seasonal Model Is
Needed Every Year.
BY j. {. ROTI.E.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. December 10.--Radio
today is the infant prodigy of Ameri-
can industry. 1t has usurped the
place held in the public interest sue
"eSSiyely by the automobile. the mo-
tion picture and the airplane. Bust
ness men today are more interested in
radio and its future than in any bust
ness problem outside their own per-
Sonal interests. They are wondering <
how this new industry will weave Its
way into the Nations commercial
fabric and what changes in the pat
tern will result
They are asking what this new in
duStry viii do to them, how it will
affect markets for skilled labor and
for such raw and finished materials
rs II uses, how it viii be financed
and what effect it will have on the
credit structure. They want to Know
how much of the Nations buying <
power it will absorb and if it will
create a new buying power 10 COM
pehsate.
Sets for middle Ages"
Colin p. Kennedy Of St Louis, one
"f the pioneers o. the industry, who
was manufacturing and marketing re-
Ceiving apparatus before the develop
nent Of the Deforest, Armstrong and
Hazeltine inventions led to the popu-
lar boom In radio. said today that
there were symptoms Of newness In
radio visible today just as formerly
these same symptoms appeared in
lines now stald and substantial.
Perhaps not 50 much time will be
required to season radio as was nee
essary with some older industries. .
he continued. "A new Industry born
futo our complex economic organiza-
tion has 20 crowd into three or four
years process Of growth which in
lines like the making OF steel have
covered hundreds Of years. Naturally
there is some overlapping of stages
OF development.
In radio, for example, there are
receiving sets now To be bought
which would be fine examples of the
handicraft which distinguished the
industrial middle ages. and there are
others which represent as complete a
standardized process OF modern ma
chine production as are used in any
industry. We have had TO do every
thing at once and consequently we
may have fiuuudered more than 9th
erwise would have been the case.
Army Of skilled Workers.
I'VE have had to build up our own
army OF skilled and specialized work
men. We cannot and do not pull
skilled men away from other lines to
absorb them Immediately. Repeatedly
we have seen in the growth of our
business a large increase in working
fotCe followed by temporary de
crease in production since old skilled
men We're occupied training unsknled
ones. Radio. therefore, is not going
to upset the market for skilled la
Dor in other industries. II simply
has broadened the field Of opportu-
nifty TO a young man willing to work
and make himself a skilled artisan
Something like this is happening
in markets for raw and finished ma
terials. Radio does not absorb enough
Of such materials in comparison to
total consumption TO produce any
embarrassing results. BY adding to
the number of different markets it IS
adding 10 the breadth, variety and
stability Of those markets.
'As TO buying power. wonder how
much radio has already added TO that
buying power by dissemination of
market Information, speeding up in
terchange of staple goods and reduc-
ing speculative losses and delays.
Experimental Stage Passed.
"There are two possibilities in
radio I hope Will he guarded against.
one is the proneuesS to regarding radio
AS SUN IN the tAptTllIlt nldI stage.
It is not at all likely that the man
who wants to wait until they have
it perfected before getting a radio
set will secure apparatus five years
from now that in more than minor
refinements will q in the least supe-
TiOr to the one he could get today.
And think what he will have missed
in the meantime.
THE asic principles of radio COM
munication have been thoroughly
explored. and the job now is one of
gradual steady progress made by
standardizing the best Of what we
already know.
Warns Against "Toy" Stage.
THE other warning is this: Do
not let us fall into the error of
making radio a toy. Here we have a
great force for modern civilization,
servant which combines entertain
Inent and utility. There is no need
to try and artifically stimulate the
market for it by continually stirring
up a hue and cry for something new.
We expect to build each radio set a
little better than the one before II,
but the industry will be harmed, not
helped, by efforts to bring out each
year a new seasonal model differing
from predecessors only in details and
then try and persuade the public that
this is the latest fashion and the
only proper one for smart people.
Let US not cheaper urSelVeS and our