Evening star., 1935-12-31
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

until the educator can get at the funda-
mental desires which provide the motive
forces of human conduct. Mucf4 of the
good" and bad" of the present. he
stressed, has no logical basis, since it
is the product of tradition and has no
effect on the satisfaction of actual de-
sires of men and women, whether or
not the satisfaction Of such desires is for
the good Of mankind or not.
The first step in launching a scien-
tific system of morals, as outlined by
Prof. Thorndike, must be a determina-
ton of what men and women actually
want.
A rough index of their desires is af-
forded by their spending. 1t may be
that some of the things they buy are
not good for society as a whole-but
that is determination to be made
later.
He himself. DR.. Thorndike revealed.
has made q start on the foundations OF
such system by breaking down the 1929
budget Of the American people into its
basic items with the aid of a consensus
Of psychologists. In the last year of
prosperity the country spent approx
mately S17,000,000,000 for food. S8,O0O,-
100000 for clothing. S6,500,000,000 for au-'
tomobileS. 81 100000, 900 for laundry. ST.
500, 900 900 for tobacco, and so on through
list of 80 items.
The basic wants which the people
sought to satisfy through their expendi-
ture for food, the psychologists cooper
ating with DR.. Thorndike agreed, were
about as follows:
Fifty-six per cent to satisfy hunger,
IS per cent to crafty the pleasures
of taste and smell, 10 per cent for the
pleasures of companionship, including
courtship; 3l2 per cent to win the ap-
proval of others and smaller percentages
for protection against disease. protection
against cold. enjoyment of the comfort
of others and the pleasures of vision.
The psychologists distributed the eight
billions spent for clothing as follows:
Forty-one per cent for protection against
cold. to per cent for protection
against animals and disease, II per cent
to win the approval of others, per cent
for self-approval, 10 per cent to win favor
of the opposite sex, per cent for pleas
ureS of vision, about 3 per cent to win
domination over others and 2 per cent
to win their affection.
Of the 100000 900 spent for cosmetics
and beauty parlorS, they determined
that about one-seventh was spent for
the personal pleasures of sight and
smell. one-fourth to facilitate courtSnlp,
one-third to gain general approval from
others, one-eighth for inner selt-ap-
proval and about one-tenth TO secure
mastery or domination.
Said Prof. Thorndike: when the en-
tire annual budget is thus transformed,
item by item, into budget for the salts
faction of human wants, payments for
sensory pleasures, security, approval OF
others. including romance and courtship,
are in each case close in magnitude to
the amount paid for freedom from hun
ger. In fact, we pay more to maintain
self-respect and the good opinion OF
others, and to avoid scorn, derision and
shame, than to keep our bodies fed and
free from the distress of hunger.
I'VE pay more for entertainment, in
cluding the intellectual pleasures and
the Sensory pleasures Of sight, sound,
taste and smell, than for protection
against cold, heat, wet, animals, disease,
criminals and pain. Less than one-thlrd
Of what we spent went for wants which
must be satisfied to keep the human
species alive and -perpetuating. The
rest went chiefly to keep us amused and
comfortable. physically, Intellectually,
morally and socially.
Relatively little Is paid for the salts