Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1933-01-05

N ~ -
miscalculation. For nearly two hun
dred years the machine has been OPP
Grating to enrich the existence of the
basis of three years of hard times, to
announce that the machine has sud-
denly become mans destroyer"
Some critics are ironic. "All that
the elaborate technical rumble-bum
BILE of the 'Technocratic' statistics
shows is the fact that by the use of
power machinery men can produce
much more per man hour than they
could by hand labor, especially in the
United States" according to The
Business Week, which wonders what
there is new about that. But the bust
ness man, we are told, disturbed and
puzzled by the difficulties Of pro-
longed depression, is unprepared when
the Technocrats humble some OBJ
scure mumbo-j jumbo about energy de-
terminants and decision arrivation'
over him, pronounce the doom of the
price system with the pOrtentious
finality of a papal bull itself, and SEN
tence him and business to death"
The Technocracy people, continues
The Business Week, ignore the actual
increase in our working population,
the shifts in occupation created by
new demands of new industries
''They say nothing about the con-
9 "a f dom nd for 1ohnr nrnofo1 hy h
solescence of business methods, in
dustrial processes, products and, equip
ment, under pressure of changing So
cial standards of living, or the con-
slant shift of workers from the me-
chanical industries to the service
Understanding except to con-
denim it all as wasteful of natural re-
sources.
"They say nothing about the posi-
bilities of raising standards of living
and demand for industrial products in
undeyelOped countries, except to dis
miss it as impossible because there is
not energy enough available - a
strange thing for engineers and scien-
lists to say when they know that any
day may see new sources of energy
opened to exploitation.
Finally, they say that whatever
substitute is devised for the price-and-
profit system it must be one based
upon scientific control, planned on a
national scale and operated by tech
nical experts. Human nature must
have nothing to do with it; human de-
sires, human behavior must not be
allowed to interfere. 1t is too COM
pick, too delicate, too speedy to be
bothered by mere human beings. The
laws of physics must be the sole and
supreme law of the land. The system
of government must be designed by
scientists and engineers, and admin.
istered by kind of TechnOcratic Ma
tional Committee.
What they will do about politics
fashion, fun, and other persistent hui
man dispositions and frailties remains
to be seem Probably just ignore
them"
All that Mark Sullivan of the New
York Herald Tribune can see in tech
| liOSI dCy IS OlC VI tlOSC lOSSA AoOo~
with mystic sounding name which
sweep over the country once in sc
often"
To the editor of Barron's Weekly
Mr.. Scott's argument is only "a shade
more Ineligible than would be 9
similar amount of space fully occu.
pied by series of Einsteinian equa.
ltions"
But a number of the critics of Tech.
nocracy admit that it has called at.
tention to an extremely serious stu.
alton and one which requires all oul
energies to find cure. Let us take
for instance the carefully wordel
statement given to the United Press
by such business authority as James
ID. Mooney, president of General Mo
tors Export Corporations:
"Technocrats who hold that {
breakdown would be inevitable if the
1929-1932 ratio of decline were main
tanned for another two years may b.
right.
Much remains to be done. 1t i!
obvious that we are today SUFFERING