INSTRUMENTATION by Ralph H. Müller
Economic Developments in Europe and Far East Will Result in Sharper Competition for the U. S. Instrument Industry H O M E THINGS GOING ON I N EUROPE a s
^J a consequence of the Common Market and the free and unrestricted movement of nationals in the labor market make fascinating reading. Some of the achievements are almost incredible. We can expect long and exhaustive arguments as we decide what is best for America in the face of this challenge. One can be sure that every county in the nation will be heard from. Pressure groups of the most diverse nature may well be aligned for or against cooperation. One thing seems certain; the problem cannot be ignored. A lot of myths that had little basis in fact, but were comforting to the complacent have been shattered. On the other side of the world, in Japan, it was always assumed that they could only copy the products of others and turn out cheap imitations and junk. Speaking of originality, the Japanese gave us the Yagi antenna, the tunnel-diode, and more recently some optical innovations which are jolting, to say the least. The fine craftsmanship of Europe has endured over the centuries. There has never been any lack of superb craftsmanship in America. A Vermont gunsmith, a Tennessee or North Carolina cabinet maker, or a Detroit tool-maker can hold his own with the best of them, but somehow or other it is no longer a national urge or matter of pride. Moderately priced furniture cannot be Used in a free standing decor; it must be pushed against a wall because the back is fashioned from old orange crates and the drawer bottoms are made of resinimpregnated cardboard, stapled to the sides. What goes for a lot of interior painting strongly suggests that the room was filled to the ceiling with paint and then drained out at the bottom, yielding a uniform coating over fixtures, switch plates and at least portions of the doorknobs. Statistically, the billion dollar "doit-yourself" industry doesn't make sense. There can't be that many people so enamored of carpentry, painting, plumbing, and other crafts. One suspects that many of them are driven to these things simply because they want the job done properly.
Recently we tore out some floor to ceiling library shelving to make room for something a little more elegant. At once we discovered the cause of flickering lights which had bedeviled us for several years. Every item in the electrical wiring was Underwriter Laboratories approved, but the electrician (licensed, of course) had hooked one of the two wires together much as one could interlock two crooked forefingers. We were lucky. The venerable statesman, General Patrick Hurley, some ten miles away lost a library for precisely the same cause. I t burned to the ground destroying several hundred priceless and irreparable first editions and several equally irreplaceable paintings. Experiences of this sort can lead one to become disdainful and scornful of the workman and thus perpetuate the battle between the snobs and the slobs. Obviously these aberrations are not characteristic of American technology, ingenuity, and craftsmanship, but to the extent that they persist, the competition for world markets will become sharper. The American technologist has no fear of honest competition as long as the game is played on strictly professional principles. What can cause him grave concern are the ground rules which may be laid out, as a matter of national policy, by our legislators. Xear the top of the list of important agenda items is the matter of taxes and on this current we may all ride down the drain. There are some curious anomalies in our present society and some of them are of staggering proportions. The astonishing efficiency of American farming techniques has been reflected once more by the Russian leaders' sad tale of agricultural production in the U.S.S.R. Despite this, several of our eminently competent authorities have stated flatly that the American farm problem, with respect to surpluses, is essentially unsolvable. In our opinion the American instrument industry can continue to thrive and prosper regardless of the ultimate policy which will be adopted toward the Common Market. Instruments are used by scientists and technologists and the customarv blandishments of Madi-
son Avenue fall on deaf ears. Such things are appraised on the basis of performance rather than ballyhoo. It is significant that so many of our manufactureres have established European offices and plants—just as the Europeans have established offices and representatives here. If continued expansion of the Common Market occurs and we cooperate with it, the competition will be still sharper. I t can be met by renewed effort and in a professionally competitive manner. If we decline cooperation with this movement it will in no way diminish the competition, it will merely require renewed effort to remain as a solvent outsider. There are many benevolent American traits capable of wrecking our chances at the outset. If we put up indefinitely with poor management, or the segment of labor devoted to "more and more for less and less," we are in for trouble. In these enlightened times we are sentimentally inclined to bestow an equally affectionate pat on the head for the dope as well as the genius and what cannot be done in this manner can always be accomplished by inequitable tax policies. Both tactics carry the seeds for our economic destruction. No analyst has to be reminded of how many of our most important techniques are of European origin— polarography, flame photometry, chromatography, activation analysis, etc. In the more or less United Europe such discoveries and innovations will continue but there is the added possibility that their full instrumentation will receive greater attention. Heretofore, the elegance and extreme instrumental sophistication have taken place here. In the larger sense, common effort and harmonious cooperation among the Western nations can have nothing but mutually beneficial results. Aside from political and military effects, the products of Western civilization can well usher in a new renaissance. Dr. Ralph H. Müller, until recently associated with the University of California, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, has resigned to establish Müller-Monroe Designs, Inc., Suite 154 La Fonda, Santa Fe, Ν. Μ.
VOL. 34, NO. 6, MAY 1962
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