Evening star., 1942-07-12

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magazine articles which in 1921 we're
published as book The Engineers and
the Price System So obscure was the
treatise that second printing was de-
laved until 1882 1t purported to map
for engineers what the Communist
manifesto charted for proletarians. The
thesis was that mastery of the industrial
plant should be wrested from financiers
end bankers and delivered to the tech
nological virtuosos who slcne, in tie au-
tIlors Judgment, could build, operate and
understand the machine.
It remained for the war to set Veblens
revolution of technicisns on the march.
A recent inspection trip of correspond
ents. including the writer covered 63
factories. At none of them was capl-
talist, flnancier or investment banker
placed on exhibition. Serving generally
as hosts and spokesmen were designers,
chemists, metallurgists, engineers and
industrial executives,
Henry Ford, it is true, welcomed the
visitors to his Willow Run bomber plant.
and Edsel Ford entertained them at
breakfast. But father and son appeared
as operators rather than possessors, and
quickly yielded the spotlight to Charles
e, sorensen, their production ace.
Management in Saddle.
Here and everywhere ownership was
in allowance, with management exult-
antly in the saddle. Mr. Sorensen OF
Ford, K. T. Keller of Chrysler, Charles
F. Kettering of General Motors, Charles
F. Wilson of General Electric, j. H.
Kindelberger of North American Avia-
ton. Eugene E. Wilson of United Air
craft, Homer L. Ferguson OF Newport
News. Frederick v. Geier of Cincinnati
Milling Machine-these and scores OF
other top specialists became visible as
the true field staff of the Nations In
dustrial command, warning at first hand
on the production battleline.
That the picture resembled something
like a Utopia for technicians was made
clear by the newspaper tour. They had
been provided with fathomless purse
and enjoined to boundless production.
At a pace rapidly quickening, direct
command of the country's major re-
sources, Of materials, factories and
manpower, was being pressed into their
hands. From the seats OF effective
control had vanished the entrepreneur,
the captain of industry, the commercial
list. the banker chairman OF the board.
What manner of men are these who
are accomplishing the one job OF OUT
standing success in the national war
program? They are self made or uni
versity trained. Many have fought Their
way UP from the ranks Of labor, and .
few owe much to the accident OF birth.
They range from Mr.. Keller of Chrys-
ler, with his tongue Of tt0stnaae TO
Ralph r. Pe0 IL the Bun6lD Arms
Corp, who ts rlimored to- have held
prayer meetings In his factory for the
sale OF War bonds; and from the mild,
scholarly inventor, DR.. Kettering, to
Ernest r. Weir of National Steel, q man
as hard and tough as one Of his own
ingots. Ali in ALL they impressed the
writer as the country's ablest and most
dynamic group.
Several Are Annapolis Graduates.
Following are sketches of representa-
tive individuals in this class, who stand
today as immediate directors of the war
industrial effort, and therefore, to an
important extent, as keepers of the
national security. If certain notables of
aircraft manufacture and shipping are
omitted it is because the tours scope did
not include the Gulf and Pacific Coast
areas.
Not few OF the group sprang from
the armed services. Graduates of the
Naval Academy at Annapolis are Presi-
| dent Eugene Edward Wilson OF the
United Aircraft Corp. President Law
renee York Spear OF the Electric Boat
Co., and President Homer Lenoir Fer
guson Of the Newport News Shipbuilding
q Drydock Co. Edgar M. Queeny of St.
Louis, president OF the Monsanto Chem
| ical Co., enlisted as a seaman in the
| Navy when this country entered World
War l. and rose to ensign and then lieu
tenant, junior grade.
Frederick Brant Rentschler, chairman
Of United Aircraft, was a captain in the
AEF Air Force. James Howard
cDutch') Kindelberger, president Of
| North American Aviation. Inc joined
the Army Air Service in 1918 as pilot,
and served as flight instructor at Park
Field, Memphis The president Of Beech
Aircraft Walter H. Beech, spent the
| five years, l917-21 In the Army Air
Corps. Burdette S. Wright, vice presi-
dent in charge of the airplane division
of the Curtiss-Wright Corp. was a flyer
in France, winning the Distinguished
Service Cross and the Croix de Guerre
Model for Pearl Harbor Raid.
One of the more picturesque of these
executives is Mr.. Wilson, and the high
light of his career came in March, 1929
when he was serving as Chief of Staff
with the rank of commander, to Real
Admiral Joseph M. Reeves. now retired
Both were aboard the carrier Saratoga
which started far down the coast o1
South America, steamed northward al
full speed, penetrated a screen of war.
ships and land-based military aircraft
and launched a triumphant attack" or
the Panama Canal with carrier borne
planes.
In this operation, Admiral Reeves de.
veloped for the first time the modern
tactic Of employing aircraft carriers a!
the spearhead of a naval task force. The
lessen was pigeonholed by "battleshil
| hrass hats" in the NaVy Deparkment b,l