Evening star., 1938-01-23
INDUSTRY FACES
ADDED CHANGES
Babson Points to Growth of
New Businesses as Re.
covery Aid.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
BABSON PARK. Fla, Jan. 22-Nev
Industries are one of our greatest
hopes for solving unemployment, de.
clares Babson's weekly statement.
1.-THE industrial revolution, with its
inventions and the growth of new
businesses. has given America hel
wonderful standard of living. am
convinced that even greater progress
lies ahead if we can only solve our tax
ing problem New industries require
new money. Our present tax laws
prevent new industries from getting
this new capital. But while the cap
ttal is lacking today, the inventions
are not!
"The new patents and their indus
trial offspring have had a tremendous
effect on our lives. The infant indus
tries of today will bring further
changes in our industrial progress
They will throw millions out Of work
In old industries, but at the same time
they will open up millions of jobs in
new businesses. Here is synopsis OF
the novel Inventions.
Agriculture.
perhaps the most violent upheavals
will come in farming methods. Me-
chanical cotton plCkers promise as
revolutionary changes in the South
as McCormick's harvesters brought in
the West. Thousands of share-crop-
pers and millions of field hands will
be displaced But lower cotton prices
should boost demand for textiles, while
the making and repairing of cotton
pickers will build new industry.
Cheap tractors are soon to come
on the market at price within the
reach Of nearly every farmer In addi-
ton to opening up jobs for their build.
ers, these tractors will mean new rec
ords for farm output. thus adding te
Our agricultural "surpluses."
"Chemurgy. the converting of farm
products into industrial materials by
chemical treatment-wlll open new
markets for our farm "surpluses" A
brief list Of progress to date: Roads
made from cotton. cosmetics from
oats. glass from milk, paint and auto
mobile parts from soy beans. The
time is virtually here when automobile
bodies and hundreds of industrial
parts will be made from wheat chaff
corn husks and similar farm by
products.
Science Blazes Trail.
In the industrial progress of the
last decade, science has been the trail
blazer.
"Plastics have been a spearhead
They come from vegetable substances
Bakelite. galalith. celluloid, pyroXylin
and similar synthetic materials are
displacing wood, glass. metal and
paper in the making of such products
as fountain pens, ash trays, jewelry,
kitchenware and knicknacks.
Artificial flbers are made from
cellulose, which in turn is produced
from plant stalks Rayon is a we'll
known artificial silk fiber But now
wool fibers are to be spun in fac
tories rather than sheared on the
sheep ranches. Big changes are
ahead in woolen mills, sheep raising
and allied occupations.
synthetic rubber has long been
dream of the chenists-not Just tr
make rubber cheaper than it can be
raised but to do things natural
rubber cannot do. They have finally
succeeded. but costs are still too high.
'Television still has technical
problems which prevent it from being
successful commercially. 1t is now
out of the laboratory, however, and
is sure-flre industry within this
generation.
Housing Is Key Log.
Housing was the major laggard
IN cur 1857 business recovery. It
is the key log in our current eco
nonic jam.
"Prefabrication will some day force
building to drop its medieval hammer
and saw customs, but so far results
have been disappointing. Habits and
building people are holding back the
factory house. The poor comparison
of a handmade $4,000 house with a
factory-made $1,000 automobile means
prefabrication will win in the end.
Factory houses, along with cotton
pickers, will create the biggest and
sharpest change in our industrial life.
Air conditioning is making steady
progress: 1887 sales were so per cent
above 1886. But the market will never
be big in the residential field except
in new homes. The industry, how
ever. has great future In commercial
fields. It will help to stimulate in
dustrial migration into warmer
climes'