The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1938-01-13

"A ulOSC IOTClplS dllu lillOl uldI1VG du-
dress was delivered by Lammot DUPONT,
president of the E. I. du Pont de Mem
ours IL Company, for which Wilson
Carlson is the local representative, be-
| fore the Congress of American Industry
i in New York in December.
The address of Mr.. DUPONT was
recognized as a masterpiece in which
he dwelt on all phases of industry and
economic conditions of today as COM
pared with conditions SO years ago.
He also touched on the relations of
agriculture with industry.
In his address Mr.. Dupont said:
amid the confusion and controversy
| that mark the economic thinking of
today, we stand in remarkable agree
ment on one point. American opinion
seems unanimous that the chief hope
for lasting solution of our major social
difficulties lies in the vigorous expan-
sion of industry into new fields
| All sides are looking to industry and
to industrial science to create millions
of new jobs and end unemployment for
| all WHO cali anu Will WOTk.
Granting that the purchasing power
of a part of our population is too low
it is industry alone that can produce
the additional national income neces-
sary to a measurable improvement OF
this condition.
Some parts of our agriculture are
disorganized. In the past, chronological
progress originating in and made avail
able by industry has been the recourse
of the American farmer in similar
emergencies; so that here, too, industry
and science are being hailed as agri-
cultures greatest hope.
We have gone far in fifty years
either directly through industry, or in
directly through the funds that industry
and those who have profited by it have
provided in taxes, in grants to educa-
tional enterprise, scientific research anc
other agencies working for the common
good. This tremendous advance, from
which the vast majority of us have
gained, has tended to make us more
acutely aware of the problems still fac
ing us and of those among us who
have gained little. Poverty, unemploy-
ment and disease are no longer accepted
by us an unavoidable world-old hazards
of mans existence on earth. As g
people, We recognize responsibility fol
their progressive reduction and, if pos
sible, their eventual removal an enc
once thought to be unattainable.
a4 ~,
spired this viewpoint by virtue of solic
accomplishment that has raised us
nationally, to a plane from which, fol
the first-time in history, We can SCI
over the walls of precedent.
In this, the worlds most intensely in.
dustrialized nation, poverty and want
real though they are, have become
lesser problems than in any comparable
community, regardless of its form o.
government, its political leadership o.
its economic pattern. We have in tht
United States less than per cent O.
the worlds population and less thar
per cent of the worlds land, and ye
the annual domestic business done by
between and among Americans repre-.
sents almost 40 per cent of the world!
trade
So far as America is concerned, pow.
erty has become relative term in the
past fifty years. In many lands wha
we call poverty would be well-being
what we define as well-being would be
called riches. The most formidable
social problems of the present dwindlt
into a mere fraction of the whole wher
we regard the enormity of what wa!
undertaken by industry on this con.
tinent and the distance We have come
toward our goal. The wonder today i!
) not that we have problems still to solve
but that we have so few of them.
It is surprising, therefore, in this in
duStrial age, in this industrially bull
nation, that the bulk of responsibility
for future social betterment should bt
placed on industry's shoulders. 1t be.
longs there. And industry accepts tha
responsibility. Even more, we welcome
our Nations capacity to discharge i
successfully. All that we ask is the
same fair opportunity to work that WI
: believe should be given to the humbles
citizen.
The difficulties confronting us arr
not of recent origin. Their roots sinl
through all the levels of civilization tt
the very beginning. 1t follows tha
they cannot suddenly be removed. New
jobs, new wealth, farm prosperity can.
not be picked like dreams and theorie!
out of the air. They can be produced
only through planned research, planned
development, and by planned expan.
sion of plant, sales, administrative anc
other facilities, which means at every
step the planned expenditure of capita
months and years in advance of ont
ipenny of return. And this must be in.
ltelligent planning.
In my own Company certain project!
only now coming to fruition had theil
lgeneSiS as far back as eight or ten year!
ago. A new type of motor truck tirt
recently placed on the market wa:
under test for three years before the
tire manufacturers were satisfied it!
production was warranted, and prior tt
that research chemists worked ever
longer on the basic development tha
made the tire possible. So-called new
industries such as air conditioning
rayon, plaStics and radio were twenty
or more years developing their present
momentum. These instances are typical
All forward-looking industrial &C.
tivity is planned. 1t is based on what
the planners believe will be the needs
and conditions of one, five, ten OF
even twenty years hence. Before a
new factory is built or an old one is