Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-02


ment valorization plan, ignored the adj
vice to diversity their crops and did not
foresee that their own security would
invite disaster in the form of a marked
increase In coffee growing in other
countries. The Cuban cane growers did
not foreSee that the beet sugar coun-
tries would resume production. Rubber
plantation owners enjoying excessive
profits fatuously shut their eyes to the
stimulating effect they would have on
rubber growing elsewhere.
In the Industrial field science and Z.
invention are subjecting TO almost con-
tinuous repercussion the unstable ball
ance between production and consump-
ton. OF demand and supply. The eco
nomic needs of tomorrow in terms of
a given conlpA0dity can only be APP
proximated. Experience alone is not
altogether trustworthy guide. The
needs OF one generation are not an &C.
curate measure OF the requirements Of
the next.
Science Is constantly finding uses
for new commodities and new uses for
old. and their position In the economic
scale is constantly changing For this
reason 1t is hazardous TO measure the
value of goods OF any kind In terms OF
intrinsic worth. In long perspective
they are not accumulationS of wealth,
but only the tools and materials with
which business does its work of feeding,
clothing and sheltering human kind
and providing 1t with the comforts and
conveniences that make for a more
cheerful and satisfactory existence.
Surplus Causes Varied.
The demand for clothing as o pro-
lection against the elements existed
long before sleeps wool became @
staple commodity, and its value lies
not In being wool, but In the extent
to which it meets the primary need
which can also be met with cotton,
rayon, silk and other fibers In count
less combinations. There might DO q
surplus of wool because too much Is
produced. There also might be a sur
plus because, as happened in eighteenth
century England, demand swerves TO
cotton, the despised "callicoe" or an
other fiber.
Against so shifting a background
1t is hazardous to measure tho re-
quirements of the future solely by the
demands of the past or to give COM
modities a definite role in the national
or international economy. Most Of
them are being jostled for place by rival
commodities clamoring for public favor.
and science, delvtng into the dust heap
trates from the air, producing lumber
from sawdust and sugar cane refuse,
teaching potash from the sands Of the
desert, making sugar from corn and
textiles from wood, Is adding to the
turmoil. Obviously the value Of COM
mod1tieS Is fex too inc0r slant - aixa
them anything hRe q bsesS standing in
the scale OF wealth.
Nevertheless. economic effort has
centered mainly upon production In
accordance with the dominant philoso-
ply that the more We can produce the
better off we are. In agriculture, for
example, attention has been directed for
the most part to increasing the yield.
Science has busted itself with soil fer
tiltzation and the control Of destructive
insect pests, engineering is bringing
water to semi-arid lands, invention Is
developing new machines for filling the
soil and gathering the crops, manage
ment is now adapting mass production
methods to farming--all aimed at max
ing more land yield more bounteous
harvests.
Use Is Test Of Output.
Governments. the world over are ex-
erttng their influence to the same end
by attempting to support sagging COM
modify values by one device or an
other The charge is also made that
in naturalization, or mass production,
manufacturing has gone to similar ex-
tremes-and has acquired a top-heavy
economic structure.
BY way of remedy it Is suggested
that emphasis be shifted from pro-
duction economics to engineering eco
Monies, which is another way of saying
that commodities should be regarded
not IN the perspective of quantity but
in the perspective of use. Undoubtedly
the facility that has been acquired in
production has made more remote the
possibility Of a scarcity OF any of the
things upon which the world has come
to rely. Production is no longer a pool
to which the thirsty come to drink.
The manufacturer can no longer make
goods with any assurance that those
who might want them will in one way
or another press forward to buy them.
He Is becoming in much less degree the
master and in greater degree the serv-
ant Of the consuming public. and busi-
ness generally faces the problem not of
making goods which can be sold but of
selling goods that can be made.
The supremacy long enjoyed by cot
ton as the chief product of the South
and the first of American exports
probably fortified the idea that the
measure of the return was determined
by the size Of the crop. So Unsuitable
was the world appetite for cotton that
the way of success seemed to lie only
in the direction of greater yield. But
this cumulative standing is no longer
applicable.
Cotton Relief Possible.
While there is apparently a surplus
Of cotton, there Is at the same time q
scarcity. The Southern cotton fields
are producing too much short staple
cotton, which comes into competition
with cotton from other producing areas,
and too little long staple cotton. for
which there is a lively demand by
American mills.
Obviously the difficulties confronting
cotton cannot be solved by the quanti-
tative adjustment of production alone.
II would be as short-sighted merely to
reduce the production of cotton as to
increase It, The one would minimize
the problem which the other would
magnify, but neither would solve 1t.
The obvions course Is to govern produc-
ton by demand or use, to produce
more of the cotton that is wanted and
less of the cotton for which there is a
limited demand. Diversification is q
way out, but If not directed to the
same ends-the adjustment of produc-
ton to demand or economic use-it
might lead to the same pitfalls.
This idea is not particularly new.
For long time industry has been
giving increasing attention to distribu-
ton. The needs and desires of the
consumer are, in the aggregate, being
sounded in market analyses Manufac-
turing is giving more and more atten-
ton to that vague and vacillating COM
poSite we designate as the standard Of
living and to the making of things that
will fit into this changing pattern OF