Evening star., 1933-03-19

"A This Is the news one brings
4 4 back from executive offices. re-
search laboratories and Other
planning centerS, where the next steps
In industry are being explored, expert
mented with and tested.
New equipment Is emerging from the
enforced economies Of the depression
In Michigan a pilot plant was recently
set up to try q new type Of steam
engine which uses synthetic liquid a:
partner with water in generating steam
at high efficiency. New products are
on the horizon. At a recent exhibit ir
Boston rs New England manufacturers
showed products developed since 1929
New ways Of distributing and market
ing goods, to reduce waste and serve
customers convenience are In the
making.
To see in detail what industry is
doing and thinking in 1898 and ir
which direction it is heading, we Sc
lected six basic industries for considera-
ton: Foods, textiles, steel, petroleum
transportation, power. During the las,
two months we have been visiting
among these industries, looking in on
plants, asking questions OF experts
This article Is the first of series
to appear each week in the editorial
section Of The STAR reporting observa-
tions and impressions of the six IN
dustries.
Intricately Varied.
The 1888 pattern of manufactures Is
intricately varied, not only in the range
Of its products and methods, but also
in the degree Of its activity. Here ano
there one finds factory operating 1OC
per cent. The rayon industry, for ex.
ample, has been working for months al
full capacity. In the food industry
there Is a large manufacturing concern
which has made no cut in its working
force since 1929 and no reduction IN
its wage scale. From such rare ex-
tremes the rate of activity ranges down.
ward to industries that are operating
as low as 18 per cent Of capacity. An
analysis of conditions at the close OF
1882 indicated general business activity
as about 40 per cent below estimated
normal-which is a gain Of Is per cent
above the low levels of last July.
This year end gain is interpreted by
many as evidence that the upswing is
definitely under way-though no in
dustrialist was willing to predict any
thing easy or automatic about recovery.
It will be hard, trying, upward
struggle.
To circulate among the basic indus
tries Is to see men resolutely fighting
the most complex and disheartenlng
economic complication in our history
and at the same time looking forward
planning, organizing, preparing for q
greater tomorrow.
They do not ignore the hard facts
- ct1y1ryrGnvN fnR0n1a&
shrunken markets, mounting debts, in
creasing taxes. These problems must
be fought. They are being fought on
thousand fronts. Our principal re-
sources for fighting them are our or
ganized industries, particularly those
which supply the necessities.
Food Industry Near Normal.
The foremost among these IS the food
industry. It would be inaccurate to
say that the food manufacturers and
professors are finding their way out OF
the economic tangle more quickly than
other industries. They, too, are sorely
perplexed by huge surpluses, by the
instability CT commodity prices and by
shifts in public demand.
But there Is an inherently basic
quality to this many-sided industry
which supplies our food. The health
and very life Of our people depend on
its functioning, and so does large
share Of the activity Of other industries
In its processes, from the farmers SOW
ing to the merchants selling across the
retail counter, it engages the labor Of
more workers than any other industry.
In spite of the return CT hundreds o1
thousands Of people to the soil and
great increase In home vegetable garden
ing and canning, the food industry L
operating on q scale more nearly norma
than any other basic industry, and vel
above the level Of industry as q whole
The employment figures show this
Taxing the year 1926 - normal V!
|m6 thA1 vhen present enpouUme0l