Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1933-11-16
Production Solved
Says Henderson
Continued from Page II
Production Solved.

Today it is the machine age, saiG
the speaker. A profound change in
our production-peop working with
a pace and output never known be.
fore. We have been carried out Of
scarcity and so far as production is
concerned that has been solved fol
the human race. There is no need
of any human life to go unsatisfied
We are living now in an age of abun-
dance, there is no problem of pow
erty so far as production is con-
cerned. One hours work today is
equal to weeks years ago-even in
agriculture. Some work has been
multiplied a thousand times in pro-
duction of years ago. Even In the
last four years with constantly added
new machinery production has in
creased II per cent.
Two hundred years ago a shoe
maker made a pair of boots in a week.
Czecho-Slovakia has the greatest out
put in this line today-45 pair of
boots per man per week.
There should be plenty and leisure
for everybody with such production,
said the speaker. But there is not
plenty for everybody today in spite
of the enormous production. Instead
we find growing insecurity. What
is the barrier that keeps this i'm
mense supply of plenty from human
lives?
Being interested in electric produc-
ton and chairman of the organiza-
tion in eastern England, Mr.. Hender-
son said he visited the waterpower
plant at Niagara which serves a vast
territory with electric light and pow
er. Aside from the office help only
seven technical men are employed
here.
Conflict in Production, Distribution.
Times have changed, said the
speaker. We now have a new pro-
ducing system but retain the old dis
tributing system. In order to receive,
the consumer had to produce or rem
der some service, but the new system
of production does not require nearly
as much service from the consumer,
and consequently there is conflict
with the new producing system and
the old distributing system.
A visit at the Worlds fair in Chi
cago was interesting and educational,
said the speaker. A government ex-
hibit depicted what had been done to
further production on the farm, how
to diminish the ravishes of insects
and pests, how and when to feftilize
the land, etc. 1t is sensible to make
the most of resources but while that
is being done to pillow down the crop
seems lunacy.
The nomadic habitation- earliest
man-did not settle down, but roamed
from place to place to find food and
shelter. Later man settled down to
farming, the developing of herds and
so on. The desire for more cultural
life came on but it was not possible
in scarcity. Command, mastery and
domination developed in some men
which brought on slavery and serf-
dom. Only the few had cultural leis-
ure. The community lived on the
output of the slaves. Only bare sus-
tenance was given the slave, the bal
ance passing into the slave-owning
class.
Turning to the free American work.
man of today, Mr.. Henderson said
that what he produces above susten-
ance goes into the owner and master
class. In a nominally free country
the slave owner does not need to own
men and women. The ownership of
essentials of human life is the same.
The free slave has to go to his master
for warmth, comfort and food. He
still continues to get only sustenance;
profits and surplus go to the master.
The plain fact is that the worker
has to serve for only sustenance,
which is inherited from the age of
scarcity.
All Have Leisure Now.
Leisure and abundance should be
sensibly taken. Leisure should be
used to best advantage for personal
development, culture and play. In
this machine age with fewer hours of
work leisure is forced upon us any
way whether used to best advantage
or not. We have had a revolution in
production.
Lloyd George said to his country
men in England after the World war
that if recovery is desired all must
work hard and produce, continued Mr..
Henderson. AS an example shoe fac
tories in Norwich were going full
blast but 1t was not long before
big surplus OF boots and shoes pre-
scented itself. Men were laid off and
the following winter was a hard one