The Nome nugget., 1950-04-17
THE SPIRIT OF RESEARCH

used toll in some lonely attic hoping invent the wonder of the age His day is just about There not many of these lone-wof inventors there in grandpas time. Don't give patents any more? It isn't that America is still the land of liberty and OppOr tunity man still build his gadget and risk his shr-in hope of making his first million Some do That spirit remains.
 But better ways have been found. Many attic genius did invent and patent valuable discoveries Out of the one-room shop has thousands of devices and gadgets enjoy and depend upon But today, the realm of scientific knowledge and skill has spread out wide range of territory. Much of what an inven- tor needs in skill and money today may lie beyond the grasp of any one man.
 The newer term research is gradually replacing the older term invention" Our complex age has made specialization necessary and this has been true Of n venton product development To solve the problems of today the way is to bring together many differ minds, each highly trained in it's way Industry is doing just this, and call it reaserch The term it. self to look again. to around about once mOre.
 That is exactly what our research teams are doing The spirit the attic inventor there but the tools and the methods are different While the haf-starved n- ventor struggled along with almost no financial back ng the modern research team requires and vast amounts of money This explains why industry has built fine laboratories and filled them with expensive equip ment. Many wonderful things come out of these re- search buildings.
 Now wonder if John Doe member of Local 382, derstands why his company put down in their annual report for Research and Development $2,OOO 900. In round figures, that the spent last year by company that employs about 5000 persons Some com panies spend more. One of the firms that manufacture rayon reports that it has spent than $3OOOOOOO since it became interested in that product.
 True, it may seem like lot of money your company is spending for research Joe But remember this: search money comes right back to you in thousand ways Actually the company that does not spend for search for better of producing better products
 company that will lose out and close down in the long A more enterprsing competitor will wind up with the consumers dolar
 The company that spends for research is the company that would want to work for It is also the company whose stock I'd be willing to buy. am convinced that when many industries putting large of money into research to find the to problems that face them and the consumer that money is well spent Years of time and millions of dollars may be behind pro- duct. But it may be worth far more. Many a job and much better product may be the result
 I mentioned rayon. Nowadays, nylon is newer. The DuPont Company spent Il years of research before tkey could announce nylon and used up $11 000 900 before penny earned from the product That kind of thing can happen only in America and under free enterprise The freedom to venture and to look for the better way of doing things for the and better product belongs to the spirit of America, and it is sponsbe for high wages and high standard of living.