The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-01-24
TECHNOCRACY
IS REPUDIATED
BY COLUMBIA
Howard Scott DiSavOWed
by University; Support
Is Withdrawn.
Continued from Page One)

will not even pose for photograph.
Records reveal that between 1918
and 1924 he was dismissed from
three different jobs. Later he was
for a time a manufacturer of floor
wax.
Persons who knew him best knew
him only as one of the many To-
quacious habitues of the candle-ht
gathering places of New York's b.
hemia-Greenwich Village.
WeII-KnOwn in Bohemian Life
To this day his closest associates
have no idea where he came from.
For twelve years Howard Scott
was a familiar figure in the village
and talked to everybody who Woulo
listen, of the day when engineers
would lead the nation to a new
scientific social order. Greenwich
Villagers thought Of him either as
fanatic with an obsesslon or
genius with vision.
In his Greenwich Village days
Scott built up legends about nm
self. and allowed them to carry over,
unchecked, into the present year.
Of the scores of villagers VINO
knew Howard Scott most OF them
came to believe that:
He was born in Virginia and edu-
Gated abroad. His father was CHIEF
engineer in charge of construction
of the Bagdad railroad. Howard
went to various technical schools;
had a Jesuit priest as a private
tutor; graduated from a German
university, and at an early age held
a responsible position in the Ger
man dye industry. Later was IN
charge of a chemical plant IN Rus
STA; went to Canada just before the
outbreak of the war, and there built
two munitions plants, and served as
a chemical engineer in the manu-
facture of explosives.
Trouble at Muscle Shoals
Available engineering books deal
ing with the Bagdad railroad men
ton numerous engineers, but do not
mention anyone by the name OF
Scott. AS to the German unlVerS-
ity, Scott has admitted he has no
degrees. AS to the munition plants,
Canadian authorities declare they
never heard Of him.
The first authentic record of Scott
in this country is contained in the
report of a government investiga-
ton into the building of nitrate
plant No. at Muscle Shoals. A
Republican majority report to the
house mentions Scott as one OF
many alleged incompetents. 1t
says:
This led to foremen being
placed in charge of work Of which
they had no knowledge. To. illus
trate, a man named Howard Scott
was foreman in part of the cement
work On one occasion, against the
protest of other experienced fore
men, he grouted a large crusher
with fire clay ="
Mistake of Ignorance
DR.. Walter Lands, now chief
technician for the American Cyana-
mid Company, for which Scott
worked at Muscle Shoals in 1918,
RENDERS the incident. He explains
that "grouting" is the imbedding of
anchor bolts which in turn hold
down the bed plates of large ma
chimes.
Since fire clay looks like cement,
he assumes that SCOTS error must
have been due to ignorance. But
had the mistake not been dis
covered, he decalres, the machines
certainly would have jumped off
their foundations.
Founded Group TechnOcracy
The incident attracted widespread
attention and even was called sabo-
tage by Muscle Shoals critics. But
Scott apparently retained the conf
dence Of the Cyanamid company, for
he was given the job of re-designing
a carbide plant.
He was supplied with an office
and some draughtSmen. But when
officials looked in some weeks later
and discovered, according to DR..
Lands, that nothing had been done,
Scott was discharged.
Shortly afterward Greenwich Viii
lage got its first glimpse of the tall
man with a Scared lip and a sar-
donic grin. He set himself up as
consulting engineer, and in 1920 was
employed by the 1. w. w. to make
several industrial surveys, supplying
data which the Wobblies intended to
use as propaganda. There is no
evidence that Scott belonged to the