The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-17


Meat for Americans will be produced IN
l947 to the amount o. $50 pounds for every
person. That is the forecast from the Depart
ment of Commerce. 1t will be the largest
per capita supply in a generation. Electrical
appliances viii continue tight till the middle
of 1947. Radio production will set a new rec
ord. From other sources We learn that auto
mobiles will begin to flow easily only late N
1913. In merchandising circles debate IS lively
on just when in 1947 a moderate recession
will set in; some say spring and some say
not until late in the year. And. OF course.
there is an endless stream of unofficial rates
and dates and weights about business in gen
eral and c-@o.oynent. Finally, we have N
Washingt contest of rival official aritl-
metic-c ,udget, on tax slashes, on de-
tense az ions, all involving a mixture
of rates Gates and weights.
At the same time, we read of one forth
coming French motion picture which it cost
the very impressive figure of 60, 000. 600 francs
to produce. The effect would have been mild
er if we had been reminded that the franc
is now worth about four-fifths OF a cent. The
new film is probably a very fine piece u
work but if cost less than half a million
dollars to make instead of the many million
dollars implied in sixty million francs
This is the paradox of today's popular ap-
proach to arithmetic. On the one hand, we
use dozens Of millions of francs without TAX
ing the trouble to mention that they are not
the ole pre-World War l francs of five to the
dollar. but the new post-World War II francs
of 1875 to the dollar. Or. in speaking of the
finances of the last wa and the fiscal peace
time consequences, we find millions some
times printed bv mistake for billions and the
other Wav about without always raWing at
tention. And again we have seen the earn
ings of "a big corporation held up to public
criticism without the critic always renenl
bering 10 state that the period covered is the
total for twenty years instead OF the earnings
for a single year. In quoting annual earnings
there is the familiar ''before taxes" which
extremely weighty deduction is not wholly
omitted but supplied as an atterthought with
the aid of an asterisk in the text and a foot
note in small print. In other words. We have
a way of using figures rather carelessly.
But then, on the other hand, we plunge into
the most refined arithmetic imaginable, as in
Dictated at the beginning. Will the low for but
ter prices or the peak for radio production
come in March. 1947. or in the early weeks
of May? How near will we be in mid-July,
1947 to our ideal national income of $160 bill
lion with Sc, $500, 900 persons g~ainfully employ
ed? What will happen to the country if the
downward turn of the general price index
comes later by two months than is now ex-
pected?
These extremely detailed questions We
.solennly appriase in all their pros and cons,
without always remembering for the purpose
of comparison, that it is already a year and
since the war came to an end. 1t
is the same stretch of time since the bomb
fell on Hiroshima. and it will obviously be
longer before the world finds the answer
to an atom control agreement. But the ques-
-. III .,,-. 49, ILL ~4+,,-, T. fr11
production is something we study in fractions
Of a month.
And so We go. On the one hand, there is
the easy way we take with pre-1914 and post
1916 French francs Or a misprint of million
for billion. On the other hand, there is the
precise percentages of our public opinion polls
percentages of our public opinion polls and
the infra-microscopic speeds of the %neutrons
with a life of tWo-millionths of a second.
That is why some readers may be swept off
their feet by the precise arithmetic Of a poll
among City College seniors. It shows that thir-
teen students out of a class O.. nearly 300 have
been deferred from taking up the study Of
Or dentistry by fear of discrirnina-
in the professional schools. The seniors
who have changed their plans about a career
since they entered college are 1876 per cent.
Such figures are too precise and. as a mat
ter of fact, far from alarming. To find that
four college boys out of five knew at the be-
ginning Of their freshman year what they
wanted to do after graduation will be a sur
prise to many old grads who did not know two
months before commencement just what they
wanted to do after graduation will be a sur
arithmetic of 4 13 per cent and
1875 per cent We prefer the verbal finding Of
the City College report on discrimination. The
great majority Of seniors, while profoundly
aware 0: the obstacles they will face, are 60
ing ahead with their plans for graduate and
profe ssional education nevertheless" Let the
percentages fall where they may.-New York
Times.