Evening star., 1933-01-29
ENlEW[ QE IHE NEW BCQOK(

INTRODUCTION TO TEcHNoCRACY By
Howard Scott and others. New York: The
John Day Co.
THE C OF TECHNoCRACY By Frank
Albright. New York Harper & Bros.
LIFE IN A TECHNoCRACY. BY Harold Loeb
New York: The Viking Press.
TECHNOCRACY An Interpretation (pam-
phlet). By Stuart Chase New York: The
John Day Co.
- INCE many of the engineers individual
ly and in groups have of late turned
a Scornful eye and a cold shoulder
upon democracy, the average man
has begun to talk sbout the accelera-
tion of the toboggan and editors have
begun to prepare obituary notices. Mean
while the spate of books technocracy is
unabated. Reading them or some of them
We seem to be faced with choice among three
possible conclusions about technocracy. Is it
one of the great American fads, here today
gone tomorrow like Coueism or turtle serum?
Is it wisdom of the species of the Einstein
theory, to be relegated to experts while the
rest of us 60 on living as usual? Or is it a
theory which, digested and assimilated might
produce some real and beneficial effect upon
our modern life?
We naturally turn first to Howard Scott's
Introduction to Technocracy" which bears
on the cover the words "the only authorized
presentation" Since its publication Scott has
been disavowed as leader of the Technocrats
The foreword is signed by the Con mental Com
mittee on Technocracy. The basic definitions
at the beginning, of mass motion, force and
energy, look very EinSteinian, as does the dis
cusslon Of Newton'S three laws of motion. Part
I gives the technologists analysis of the de-
preston as the result of the throwing out of
balance OF production and distribution with
the conclusion that restoration of balance
under the price system is impossibty Part
shows npceSSitv nj in ho
cal sciences in attacking social problems" but
does not go beyond theory. "Technocracy pro-
poses no solution, it merely poses the problem
raised by the chronological introduction Of
energy factors in a modern industrial social
mechanism" It is announced that the pro-
ceeds Of this book will be devoted to the
penses of Technocracys Energy Survey of North
America which is being conducted at Columbia
University
The B C of Technocracy" asks What is
Technocracy?" and tells about the organiza-
tion but gives no neat, compact definition of
the theory, such a definition as We all like
to have of anything new. In the last chap
ter, What of the Future?" Mr.. Albright tells
us that "the facts involved in the functional
operation of our society are metrical" that is,
susceptible to measurement" and that I'VE
face future that may, if We wish, give us
every material thing that life demands and
give it freely The third book, Life in
Technocracy,' takes the theories of the techno-
Utopia, or perhaps might call it a Techno-
crstopia. 1t is more concrete than the state
mentS Of theory, but Of course, more imagina-
tive, and we wonder whether the original
prophets agree with all the interpretations and
applications. Mr. Loeb tells what we should
use for money, what would happen to the home,
how the artist would fare. who would do the
work and who would direct it, what would be
the fate OF churches theaters, prisons, and asks
whether human nature would in the end spoil
1t all Stuart Chases pamphlet interprets and
citicizes the new industrial phlosohy of Tech
nocracy. He thinks it does not cover the whole
problem; that, in fact, human life cannot be
entirely reduced to energy and mass produc-
tion Individual tastes should have a chance.
Il cannot, therefore, take my energy eco
nomics straight. require a chaser Of psychol-
ogy and anthropology.'
YOUR NEW INCOME TAX. BY John G.
Herndon, jr., M A., Phi D. New York:
The John c. Winston Co.
| IERE is book about which there is nothing
theoretical nothing esoteric. 1t is in
dubitably and painfully practical. OF literary
style it has none, Of much needed information
it has an abundance. The author is a men,
Der Of the faculty of the department of govern
ment of Haverford College and was formerly a
tax consultant of the National City Co. and of
the Guaranty Trust Co. of New York The
number Of chapters runs up to So and it does
not seem possible that any detail of the re-
quirements of the revenue act of 1882 and
their Interpretation can have been omitted.
Yet the book is not large one for the treat
ment is concise and well ordered. Some of
the biSs of knowledge Dr. Herndon imparts
are that a married persons tax on a $4,000
income is nearly 500 per cent more than it
was last year; that some taxes paid are de-
ductible; that IL classes of income tax
exempt; that under certain conditions it is
adv varfo for chopd md uyifo 10 10
separate returns under other conditions it is
not; that to a specified extent stock and bond
losses may be deducted; that there is right
Of appeal from a proposed assessment which