Evening star., 1938-12-21
Washington Observations
Toxic Aroused by British and American
Action in Aiding Chino's Resistance

part in memorial functions and the
like.
Opinion Is crystallizing that the
New Deal kitchen cabinet and those
conspiring with 1t to boom Harry L.
Hopkins into the Secretaryship of
Commerce, as a stepping stone to
the Democratic presidential nomina~
ton, are building him up for a let
down. The w. P. A. ollar-roller is
under fire on two counts. First, he
Is held to be, as an expert social
worker, about as out Of place in the
business portfolio of the National
Government as a square peg would
be in a round hole. Secondly, there
is mounting conviction that Hop
kinS wouldn't have a Chinaman's
chance of Senate confirmation. He
would have to run the gantlet, be-
fore his name reached the floor, of
the Senate Committee on Com
merce, of which the two ranking
members are Democratic Senators
Sheppard of Texas and Bailey of
North Carolina. AS chairman of the
Senate Committee on Campaign
Funds Expenditure, Sheppard is
loaded for bear with regard to the
role w. P. A. relief funds played in
the 1888 congressional elections, es-
pecially in primaries in Kentucky
and elsewhere. Bailey, like many
other Democratic Senators, is sup
posed to see red every time he runs
across Hopkins trail.
X \ X Il
1t might be worth the while of
the Temporary National Economic
Committee, which is now X-raying
the effect of the patent laws upon
industrial progress, to consult the
views of Maurice Holland, former
director of the engineering and in
dustrial research division Of the
National Research Council Writing
in "A Century Of Industrial Prog
ress," edited by this observer, in
1928, Mr.. Holland said:
"The vanishing independent
American inventor can be cited
as one of the many indications
of the profound influence which
scientific research is exerting in
the everyday activities of the
industrial world Time was, say
before so years ago, when Ameri-
can genius, in the form of the
independent inventor, held sway,
gripped by ambition and impelled
by the questioning urge, revolu-
tionized industries and made eco
nomic history. The story Of
Goodyear and rubber, Edison and
the incandescent lamp, and
hundred others. have glorified
the American inventor in the
past. But what chance has the
independent inventor today
against the formidable research
organization of the Bell Tele-
phone System, where $500 people
lover half of them scientists,
engineers and technicians) are
spending s13,OO0,OoO a year to
maintain technical staff to re-
duce costs, improve service and
even eliminate the hello girl
with automatic machinery? What
chance has the budding West
inghouse' to cope with the pure
science laboratories of Whitney,
the applied science laboratories
of Elihu Thompson and the
works. control laboratories FORM
ing the foundation, the bulwark
and the outposts of science
underlying the processes, products
and increasing the service and
sales of vast organization such
as the General Electric Co.? How
much opportunity is there for an
independent inventor in the field
of chemistry in the present day
when organized research is an
integral part of the manufacture
ing plants of the big three'-the
Du Pont, the General Chemical
and the Union Carbide and Car
bon Corp.-in the chemical
industry?"
(Copyright 1e3S)