Evening star., 1932-12-28
BY HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE,
Associated Press Science Editor.

ATLANTIC CITY, N. j.. December
| 28.-The message OF technocracy-
purpose uppermost-p-operty values
subordinated" was presented before the
American Association for the Advance
ment OF Science today by Prof. Walter
Rautenstrauch Of Columbia University.
Il bring you the message OF technoc-
| racy." he said briefly in introducing
himself at a discussion Of "stabiliza-
tion of unemployment" by a group OF
leading scientists.
Rautenstrauch is the quiet pro-
! fessor" directing the digging up of
! facts among the group of 40 technolo-
gists under leadership Of Howard Scott.
engineer. making the energy survey of
North America, which Is called tech
| nocracy for short He is head of the
Columbia department of industrial en-
gineering.
Four Phases Of Subject.
His message" was first the story
which he said history neglected to tell,
OF the power revolution, described as
more important than all wars and leg
islation
Second. its effects on man. ana the
ridiculous and Illogical results" he
thinks are forecast unless more pur-
pose comes into its direction
Third, a program OF the -four car
dinal points" of any successful future
civilization as the technocrat sees
things.
Finally. that this new high energy
civilization" raises problems ..of a So
cial mechanism under the price sys-
tenn What might be done about
price" problems he did not say
The scientist" he said. is ques-
toner. He knows no holy places
where he dare not tread"
The power revolution began about
200 years ago, he said. in simple ma
chimes for use in home spinning and
in mines. That event raised man out
Of a condition that had existed un-
changed for 5000 years in which the
continental area resided In man him
self"
Manp0wer Increases.
Civilization during this vast period
was dependent on the energy OF man
power for the goods and services pro-
vided. The, average man at manual
labor can perform at the rate of about
one-tenth horsepower Accordingly
the rate at which the civilizations OF
the past could provide themselves with
goods and services was about one-tenth
horsepower per capita per day. In
terms Of energy units the rate OF doing
work OF non-machine civilization Is
from / 500 to 1000 kilogram calories per
capita per day
But today with machines the civil
lied resident Of North America has a
of
900 kilogram calories per day per cap
lta, the highest that ever existed" 1t is
IS to 100 times as much per man as
in the 5000 static years" gone by
The big step In the power revolution
was described as first the strength Of
materials. principles evolved to stop
machines from breaking.
Second, kinematics, the laws govern
ing the motions OF machines" Then
thermodynamics, mostly contributed by
astronomers and mathemeticians. the
chemistry.
More Important Than War
History" said Prof. Rautenstrauch,
lis 50 repIete with military achieve
ments and the rise and fall Of nations
that many otherwise well informed per-
sons are not aware of the important
but unheralded happenings in the
progress OF the world. which have had
far more influence in establishing our
present conditions of life than the
quarrels and wars Of all the nations
and the laws OF all the parliaments that
we're ever convened
Charts were sl,n exhibited to illustrate lnaa.a.
Prof. Rautenstrauch said. that the
o;o1 irf, rLor nf CT
seriously affect the rate at which man
could provide himself with the material
things of life but that dynamic
change has come about
For example. in 1904 approximately
1900 man hours were required to build
the average automobile-today only 80
man hours are required
Technocracy, he went on, proposes
ultimately to prepare 5000 charts to
show the meaning of power, or energy.
in every field of human enterprise"
Charts already made he said, show
that 1.-The total man hours in manufac-
ture are decreasing inversely with time,
production per capita Is increasing di-
rectly with time. the ratio OF debt to
production is increasing faster than
production and directly as the time and
the debt per capita is increasing as
the square Of time"
Dealing With Future.
These tendencies OF growth" OBJ
tanned up to 1920 If they should be
projected unchanged into the year 1850.
most ridiculous and illogical results
would be obtained. Accordingly, there
fore. we must deal in the future with
wholly different growth curve
This new growth curve is one in
which business enterprises do not
mount so rapidly. curve like the
equation for population growth" !"
Curves Of plant growth have the same
tendency to f1atten out. showing that
a slowing down time inevitably ar
rives.
The striking similarity" Of the
growth curve Of business enterprise
for IL years with these biological
curves, Prof Rautenstrauch said, we
believe Is Of particular significance"
I'VE are inclined to believe that our
studies show industrial planning for the
future must be quite different than
that which existed in past times
The modern power plant offers the
model which technocracy thinks may
be adopted for future business plan
ming. Explaining this. he said:
Another factor which calls for very
serious attention is that we have de-
veloped very highly integrated social
mechanism, one In which more delicate
adjustments are called for and for
which more scientifically designed con-
troll equipments are demanded.
Control Devices Necessary.
"The whole basis Of control Of the