Evening star., 1941-04-20

1n6 primary IOe VI ueLlOCId dCy 10 IlOC
totalitarianism. 1t is the maChlne-or
perhaps selfish exploitation of the ma
chine. Such is the moral to be drawn
from the latest study of the subject,
and one of the most incisive, which has
been published by the Temporary Ma
tional Economic Committee under the
title of Technology in Our Economy"
There can be little doubt" it is de-
clared, that large and growing body
of unemployed in pre-Hitler Germany
supplied fertile field for social change,
and that much of the unemployment was
due to chronological displacement of
labor"
rs capitalism unable to absorb fur
ther technical Developments" asks DR..
Lewis LorWin. one of the report S
authors. in a section called Some Major
Issues Today" DR.. Lorwin is a former
Brookings Institution economist, recently
with the International Labor Office at
Geneva. He inquiries whether the bal
ance of world economic power has not
been shifted through technical changes
in basic industries, such as cotton and
coal.
Marx Paraphrased.
Foundation for a renaissance of social
and political democracy, he suggests,
might be discovered in broad diffusion
of gains from technical advance, decen-
tralization of industry and public control
of strategic economic forces, including
electric power, transportation and
banking.
In what Karl Marx termed "the strife
between workman and machine" DR..
Lorwin paraphrases the radical Socialist
philosopher, the worker is destined to
have the worst of it until and unless he
can free the machine from its SUBJ
servience to capital and make it the
instrument of free producers working
comparatively in a socially motlVated
economic system"
Referring to armament programs like
that which routed unemployment in the
Third Reich and now is abatlng 1t IN
the United States, the study closes on
an ominous note: IF preparation Tor
war and its conduct are the only ade-
uuate compensatory force to the labor
displacing effects of technology. then
the proposition would be established
that only through war can the present
economic system be operated in such
way as to approximate full employment y
Human Labor Eliminated.
AS in all T. N. E. C. publications,
formula on the reports f1yleaf, over the
signature of the chairman, Senator
OMahoney, Democrat, Of Wyoming,
disclaims responsibility on the part of
the committee for all facts, opinions or
recommendations contained therein.
The theme was touched on in Senator
OMahoney's final report to Congress.
A quotation follows:
THE temporary National Economic
Committee rejoices in the endless march
of discovery, invention and innovation
which has made possible the relatively
high standard of living enjoyed in the
United States. We insist that nothing
be done which would prevent the fullest
application of human ingenuity and use
of material equipment for the benefit
of our citizens"
The picture drawn by the commit
tees economists is not so blithe and
rosy. 1t is a scene dominated by head
long acceleration in the adoption of job
killing machines and techniqueS, the
ultimate trend of which-already ac-
complished in a startling number of
proCesseS-iS toward the elimination Of
human labor from robotized industrial
system. Against this is set a wide
spread failure in practice of compensa-
tions with which theorists have sought
to justify the machine.
Distress Likely to Accumulate.
The reports conclusions may thus be
summarized:
l. Technology will continue to in
crease labor productivity, diSplace
skilled occupations and reduce unit la
Dor costs. In the absence of effective
off-setting forces, economic and social
distress may be expected to accumulate.
2. The existence of a large amount of
long term unemployment indicates a
lack of balance between labor -diSplaCing
effects and the compensatory forces pre-
81 -r.-.s - - -,