Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-23
KENT SEES SIGNS
+. OF EARLY UPSW|NC
IN IT, S. INDUSTRIES
Radio Manufacturer Believes
Turning Point Has Now
Been Reached.
SAYS LIVING STANDARDS
MUST BE Maintained
United States Business Should Set
Pace for Stock Market,
He Declares.
BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, November ga. At
water Kent of Philadelphia, radio
manufacturer, believes that business
recovery is close at hand and he Is
getting ready for it. That Mr.. Kent
understands business Is shown by the
1act that his plant has grown from
TWO small Second-foor rooms and two
employees into q model plant covering
80 acres OF land, with 5000 employees.
Last year the country was In the
throeS OF overproduction, but this year
we are af1icted with overpredictions,
salo Mr.; Kent to me In reviewing the
present business outlook. and having
been fortunate enough to have been
one OF those who did not overproduce
and having, therefore, escaped the
problem OF moving distress stocks I
am equally DESTROYS that shall not
overpredict"
Mr.. Kent Is essentially q manufac-
turer-an INVENTOR research man.
his abilities are primarily in the field
OF organization, not salesmanship. He
Is forever seeking the source of the
trouble, and then a way to meet the
0ifnculty. He is not fiuent-in fact
quite dimdent and modest. But he
knows all about the radio indusry, for
ne was among those present when 1t
burst upon the world.
Wages and Prices.
This radio manufacturer spends manv
hours day in his laboratory. He
passes over TO others the details Of
ms ONCE. He doesn't like such things
He goes on the theory that he does
nothing that some one else in his or
ganlzatlon can do as well. He rarely
writes letter-perhaps one a week.
Some questions dealing with industry
nave always interested him. touched
a responsive cord when I asked him
whether he believed wages could be
maintained at the present levels, II the
price level continued to decline-such
as II has during the last 10 months.
Underlying the two factors of prices
ana wages" Mr.. Kent replied, there
- one fundamentally important Ques-
Ton mat stands out above everything
else and that Is the American standards
OF living. These must not be corr1pro-
missed. They are essentially part and
parcel OF any era Of prosperity. Only
as we maintain and advance those
standards can we really prosper.
furthermore, active markets cannot be
maintained without buying power. To
expect prosperity to follow decreased
buying power, brought about by q re-
auction OF wages, would be to expect
an economic paradox. It simply
wouldn't-couldn't-
Such words are heartening to those
who feel that the purchasing power of
the American people, above everything
else, must be maintained, If the mex.
decade in American business Is to ap-
proach the last one in expansion.
Business and Stocks.
into. this picture? Does it contribute
to our present difnculties?" was my mex.
question.
without passing on the propriety
OF short selling, as raised by your ques-
ton, venture the opinion that con-
siderable part OF our present distress
might have been avoided If the stock
market had followed business during
the last few years, instead of business
following the stock market" was his re-
Spouse.
Atwater Kent was born in BurlinR-
ton, Vt. His father was q physician,
who, after serving in the Civil War,
settled In Worcester, Mass, and be-
came manufacturer Of machinery for
the wool industry.
Young Atwater received a public
school education and studied electrical
engineering at the Worcester Polytech-
mic Institute. He showed his aptitude
in school by q. series of experiments
with batteries and motors. But book
learning never appealed to him. Prac-
tical experiments did. So he left the
institute without completing the course
and entered the factory of Kendrick g.
Davis, at Lebanon, NJ H., manufactur-
ers Of electrical motors and watch tools.
In 1902 he moved to Philadelphia, and
started his own plant for making inter-
communicating home telephones and
small volt motors.
AS the automobile industry expanded.
his factory entered the production Of
motor equipment, including switches,
timers and open circuit ignition systems
Some of his methods Of ignition are
still In use.
Enters Radio Field.
BY 1911 he had 125 employees. Dur
ing the war his plant was taken over
by the Government for Government
work, and after the war he re-organized
as the Atwater Kent Manufacturing Co.
for the building of radios.
In 1928 he made his first radio set of
Ave tubes. It was a modest affair,
looking at 1t from the electric type used
today. And while four years later he
more radios every dav
Than he did during his entire first wear
d 1923, his major interest seems to lie
IN the broadcasting field, in which.
SINCE 1928, he has spent better than
SoOO,OO0 year In bringing high-grade
music into the homes of the Nation
through his well known Sunday night
performances.
paper Alliance.)