The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-09-22
Liberal Viewpoint
THE debate between the apostles Of sea city
i and the prophets Of plenty goes merrily on
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES


THE debate between the apostles Of sea -city
IL and the prophets Of plenty goes merrily on.
Mr.. r. r. Doane is writing series Of articles
for the New Outlook" designed to show that
we are still in reach Of scarcity The great defect
in Mr.. Doane's figures and reasoning lies in the
fact that he deals more with what we Go produce
or have produced than he does with what we
might produce under the most efficient known
methods.
Yet, his articles have not caused me as much
pain as they have some readers because they
really justify stepping up production and pro-
viding more consumers goods.
one Of the most distinguished and socially
minded Of American engineers, DR.. Walter N.
Polakov, returns to the battle with zest in an
article on The Scarcity Of Plenty: A Card Trick
Of the Old Deal" IN "Commonsense." He
rightly calls attention to the justhable alarm on
the part Of odd Dealers" over the conception
Of plenty or abundance.
Clearly, to those who are benefited by spe-
cial privileges, who own scarce goods and COM
modities who control the means of production,
who can jack up prices and extract profits, the
very prospect Of plenty is a nightmare, a threat
to the continuance Of their privileged position.
AS soon as scarcity is replaced by abundance
they go into the scrap heap, into the pages OF
history together with feudal barons, cholera, the
hand loom, powdered wigs and NewtOnian me-
Chanics.'
THERE is much truth in the assertion that
Il the line between the apostles of the old
order and those of better day is pretty defn-
itey related to their respective attitude toward
the scarcity versus the plenty economy. Just
so far as President Roosevelt subscribes to the
scarcity economy idea, he is really playing with
the old gang, no matter how new he calls his
deal to the American people.
The plain fact is that scarcity in the United
States today is a scarcity of purchasing power
3 yO111 Eynv1
in farm products where the scarcity agitators
can make a better showing than elsewhere, we
have surplus Of grain and several other basic
products. There is no reason to believe that I'M
proved methods Of production could not supply
all we need of those products in which now reg
lister a deficiency.
When we come to manufactured goods, it is
certain that we can produce vastly more than
is at present turned out. This is the opinion not
merely Of the technOcrats, suspected OF wanting
to prove case, but also Of the most conserVa-
tive and competent engineers. DR.. H. D. Person
of the Taylor society, has estimated that ca
pacity utilization Of our present physical plant
would double the quantity of goods Which we
produce in normal times. Mr.. R. E. Flanders,
formerly president of the American Society OF
Mechanical Engineers in himself an important
manufacturer, has contended that:
l." A LII engineers know that if an engineer die
n $500
given complete control over raw material, ma
chinery and trained labor he could flood, bury
and smother the people under an avalanche OF
goods and services such as no UtOpian dreamer
in his busiest sunbers ever imagined"
When we turn to income we have another
story Even in l928-29 the purchasing power of
the mass of Americans was far from sufficient
to buy the goods turned out in those years. Our
income had fallen greatly since that time. In
1882, the per capita income of the American peo-
rle was only 1912. Our national income shrank
from S83 300 100000 in 1929 to SAB 450 100000 in
1892.
The scarcity, then, which afflicts this country
is an income scarcity for the bulk Of Americans.
This is the result of the hogging of the social
income by the very interests who are today
maintaining that we have scarcity OF goods IN
the country. Dr. Polakov puts the whole matter
concisely:
"Fancying ourselves to be poor and living in
self-imposed scarcity, refusing to produce food,
clothing housing and other goods simply be-
cause we fail to fill our purses with symbolic
purchasing power has nothing whatever TO do
with the potential output of our coal mines, cot
ton fields. cement mills and textile factories"