Evening star., 1928-10-07

Ola Ior SfI1Sl1c ecnlSVement?
Mrs. Consumer-Jones therefore no
longer takes pride in the great square
ebcny piano OF excellent tone her mother
handed down to her. On the contrary
she unsentimentally considers 1t a hor-
ror. and If wealthy has perhaps bought
several planes of different shapes and
WOODS in recent years-also several
monographs. radios. vacuum cleaners.
washing mach ncs, sewing machines, sets
of furniture, china and rugs; trading in
her ''obsolcscent" models leach good for
years more of use) in part payment for
the new. Indeed. the -JoncSeS
have. in dozen years, built three henes.
but moved out OF and sold two of them
because they seemed obSoles2ent to this
family so appreciative of modern build
ing technique and SO rapidly moving up
on the social scale.
All Can't Follow Idea.
I must here make clear that it is, of
course, not to be expected that the en-
tire population can practice progressive
obSolescence. AS Prof. Irving Fisher
points out. there are still about 93.000,-
600 people whose incomes are not yet
above the level of simple and sufficient
standard of living. But it is precisely
the elevation Of the standards of living
and purchasing power of this 93000,000
lIlob H1OSIC CSS1NS OUSOISSEGUCS tSCOIl-
plisheS. when it Is practiced by the re-
naming 100000 people who have
surplus and can afford to ignore the
last ounce of use in their purchase.
The purchasing actions of the 90
100000 comprise the only effective lev
erage for the elevation of the $4,000 900.
During the earlier years of the automo-
bile, when the rich we're buying cars at
high prices, but buying for keeps"
! (some of them are still in use, the auto
mobile had no chance of being owned
! by the average man. Only when the
well-to-do began to like to buy new
models frequently did we see the start
of the remarkable process that dragged
down the cost of production and made
! the huge secondhand car market so
useful to millions of people and so pro-
ductive of the modern economic para
dox of an automobile, for almost every
i family.
Wall Against Mass Production.
Mass production quickly faces a stone
wall when people buy but once and then
| go almost permanently out of the mar
ket. Mass production at its highest !
success calls for the extensive use of re-
search to develop new models, new inn
provements, new designs, new colors, !
new materials. OF course necessary
accompaniment is the widespread sale
OF such new goods to the ten or twenty
million people who enjoy and can afford
what our newest ingenuity, taste and
brains produce.
! Not only does this process make a
secondhand market for some long
service goods like automobiles or phono-
graph or radio and thus create Sec
ond level of people who can enjoy first |
| rate goods which are beyond their
reach at the price when new, but it
also permits the use Of automatic ma
chinery in mass production, 50 that
| price levels ever move downward. Thus
from two angles progressive obsoles-
cence pushes up living standards for
the mass.s.
Trend In Furniture.
The .'modernistic" trend In furniture |
and furnishings Is most significant in |
dex of the progressive obsolescence |
principle at work like a yeast in Amer
lea. For years we have fostsred false
and negative attitude toward furnish |
ings. aping old styles and abnormally |
prizing old furniture as antiques" 1t |
was distinctly sour" note in both the |
artistic renaissance in America and the |
industrial age. Contrast 1t with archi- |
lecture, in which we have very boldly |
practiced obsoleScence and new princi- |
pies Ito such an extent that we tear
down and call obsolescent steel sky
scrapers but 10 years old. In architec-
ture, consequently we have achieved
our greatest industry unity and
our most certain artistic glory.
| Visiting recently at New England
| homes filled with "great-grandmothe
wedding present dining room sets"
was struck with the parallel such a
standard made with the present indus
trial depression in New England. John
s. Lawrence has frankly told New
Englanders that their greatest error.
the. cause of their troubles, lies in not
! spending their accumulated capital for
modern progressive equipment and
| methods. They are, figuratively speak
ing, using "great-grandmother's we'd
ding present dining room sets" in their
! factories as well as their homes.
Carnegie's Policy Wins.
| Here 1t should be noted that the In
dustrial world supremacy of America Is
| precisely predicated on the application
Of progressive obsolescence in factory
and ofnce. Carnegie wrested steel su-
| premacy from England by building and
shortly thereafter tearing down one
steel mill after another, as advancing
metalurgical science gave opportunity.
Competitors were aghast at his SEEM
ingly reckless" application of obso-
lescence-the ''scrapptng policy" as 1t
was then known. But he is the man
who set our modern industrial pace;
modern technical industrial progress
almost dates from him. Today busi-
ness and induStry-that is the live part
OF 1t which makes the profit--practiceS
progressive obsolescence in factory and
office equipment quite as a matter of
course. Europe does not; boards of di-
rectors there will not scrap machinery
until 1t worn out-the same old error,
the same old disbursement to in
ventors artists and other industries,
the same old unemployment and back
wardness.
Nevertheless. America has a wide field
still left for the practice of progressive
obsolescence, even in industry, 1t is
more than coincidence that just
about the same percentage Of American
industry that habitually shows deficits
each year instead of profits (about Al
per cent? also has obsolete equipment.
The Government has just begun a
major survey of ob5olescence In indus
trial equipment and it is conceded that
1t cannot be less than 40 to As per
! cent.
Modern Pace Rapid.
The modern pace is enormously
rapid; things become obsolete in few
years. due to technical advances. But
this is the very breath of progress
; Therefore, to record the estimate of
those who have looked into the matter
that rs per cent of our business and
factory buildings are obsolete; 66 per
cent of our home, rs per cent of our
home furnishings go per cent Of our
office furnishings and equipments
not to sound note of pessimism, but
! of progress. In a psrfect state of
. society the rapidity Of obsolescence, due
to the full and immediate use of our
! creative brains. would naturally have
to be stupendouS. Consequently, to
talk of wider annlicatiOn Of the nrin-