Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1924-07-11
INDUSTRIES SELF
DETERMINATION
lCanlInaed lrem p y

ing an industry is to be found within
! that industry.
For the ills Of industry, for the de-
i gelopment and expansion Of industry,
/ for the perfection of its service TO hu-
| manily, there j. no soothing balm IN
| the political Gilead. The prodigals
who go wandering into the Elysian
/ fields Of political endeavor must come
/ home to the workshops II they are
/ 10 sit at the table where the feasts Of
knowledge are spread. They must
come home 10 their industry If they
are TO sit at the council table where
wise decisions are to be made. They
must come where the work is, where
the problems are, where the Difficult
! ties lie. Industry is an organic unity.
Dissection and plastering from with
out by the metaphysicians of politics
is at best mere tinkering and expert
menting. AT lis worst il is destruc
| tive.
But, as Labor has pointed out, in
dustry cannot govern itself without
| having machinery for that purpose.
| Freight cannot be shipped unless
| there are transportation lines. Flee
| tricity cannot be sent from place 10
| place unless there is a means of con-
Quoting the current. There cannot
be government without the purpose
TO govern and the machinery by which
to carry that purpose into effect. 1t
is toward that end that industry must
move, not by accident, but by design.
| The elements and factors within in
dustry must organize thoroughly.
There nuts The declarations of organ
| izations. Gradually, out of eXpef-
fence, functions must be develoned
and rules laid down. That is how in
telligent rulership within industry
must be created. And it is either
that or the deluge of political inter
ference and bungling, of which we
have had sufficient example.
Let Us examine further. A recent
report of a special committee of the
Harvard Board of Overseers, made
after long study, contained the fol-
| lowing Illuminating bit of wisdom:.
"As competition increases the sue
cessful man will, more and more, be
the man who allows nothing to be
wasted, but adopts the most efficient
processes and devises new ones still
more efficient; who works up his by
products into more useful and further
valuable substances; who economies
y
! from coal or water power or human
labor"
In the scientific and technical
worlds great things are being done.
F., Developments are in the making
developments that mean constant
change in industry. Processes of
manufacture are being changed al
most daily. Machinery that was mod
ern and efficient yesterday is thrown
aside today. Rates of production
that were marvels yesterday are OBJ
solete today. Economics that were
marvels yesterday are obsolete today.
Economics that were the last word
yesterday are reckless waste today.
are in harness today.
So it is going, in chemistry, in cleo
| tricity, in steel, in every branch of
engineering, in management, and
even in finance.
In Pennsylvania a great super
power project is being develop ped.
The results will be manifold. Power
will be transported over wires where
coal now goes in cars. Thousands of
men will find their places of employ
ment moved. They will move with
! the employment, or they will have to
find other work. Much readiustment
/ will be necessary. But the final net
result will be economy-more produc-
ton for less human effort. That is
the trend everywhere. More pro-
duetion for less human effort.
Finance would send all of this
great accommodating excuses into
profits. But humanity is entitled to a
better distribution of this new-found
production. The race as a whole has
stake in what the race achieves.
Better methods, greater production,
must mean more things for the work
ing masses in the first place. In must
then mean more freedom from toll.
And these things must be arranged
with justice to every uesful element
in our citizenship. There can be no
such ADJUSTMENTS unless there is
within industry the machinery for
running the affairs of industry. 1t is
more than collective bargaining that
is required And Labor has vastly
more to give to industry than it can
give thorugh collective bargaining
In sending up its voice for a great
constructive characterization of in
dustry Labor is not asking for a
chance to get. Labor is asking for
a chance to give. There will be
enough for all when it comes to get
ting. The productive possibilities of
our American industry are beyond
computation. 1t is the ordering of
things that is going to count most
of all in the future. The great COM
plexity that we call industry cannot
continue ON any basis that has not
| Justice as its foundation and its guild
ing policy. Only on that basis will
there be the greatest outpouring of
human effort and intelligence. Only
thus can every element within indus
try give freely and continuously. We
cannot know what colossal gifts of
skill and knowledge and inspiration
are held back from industry today
because Of the lack of the feeling that
justice lies ahead.
The ordering of things must be de