Chemical Digest SCIENCE IN BUSINESS The real foundation of the business world is neither labor nor capital nor that elusive individual, the ultimate consumer. It is science.'
We find this concise but thought-producing statement a t the beginning of an understandable and interesting article by Dr. Free in a recent issue of Chemical Markets. In continuing, we read: Science earns for us in the United States more than thirty billion dollars a year, nearly half of our national income. It-has doubled the productivity of agriculture and more than quadrupled that of mining. I t has created the entire automobile industry in less than forty years out of a gas engine, a n old buggy and a dream.
Surely, then, science's industrial resources must be worth developing. Yet we are all aware of the fact that today only a very small percentage of the known scientific facts are being applied. A better understanding. between the business man and industrialists on the one hand and'tbe scientists on the other would constitute a long step forward toward a greater utilization of these facts for the benefit of all. Outstanding contributions of several scientists to business are cited. The scientific improvements devised by Dr. Dudley and by his successors in the ;, chemical services of other railways have saved more money than the sum of all the railroad wages ever paid in thfe United States. The wide knowledge of science and (Dr. Willis R. Whitney's) life-long enthusiasm for persuading facts to go t o work in industry have been responsible, more than any other single thing, for the achievements of the institution (Electrical Research Laboratories a t Schenectady) that he directs, achievements which include, as everyone knows, the modern electric lamp, the controllable x-ray apparatus, the high-vacoum tubqfor radio and hundreds of others.
The potash industry of Germany today is one of the greatest in the world due to Justus van Liebig's ability to bring together two known facts: (1) that the bitter stuff preventing the salt miners of Germany a generation ago from obtaining a pure product contained potash, and (2) that potash was beneficial to the crops. The prevention of loss of valuable materials and damage to surroundings through smokestacks has been achieved by the electrical apparatus of Professor F. G. Cottrell. These and additional instances of applications of scientific principles and facts to the solution of problems in business brought to our attention convince us that Dr. Free is correct when he says: "What We Might Expect of Science in Business if I t Were Given a Chance," Ckem. Markets, Ed. E. Free, 22,628-32 (June, 1928).
The saying that knowledge is power is not quite true. Used knowledge is power: and more than power. It is money and service and better living for our fellowmen and a hundred other good things. But mere knowledge, left unused, has no power in it.
We m i g h t well ask in w h a t field of usefulness t h e m o s t immediate returns can be expected by the i&lustrial concerns willing t o u n e a r t h the basic science underlying their business, and in answer to this question we read:
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It is in advertising. . . . It is generally agreed that the greatest waste in presentday advertising is not the advertising which is unconvincing hen read, but the one which does not get read at all. Here is where science can help. Several large industrial corporations have discovered this. Scientific facts, the basic facts of their processes and products, are becoming the foundation of their advertising copy. A t least two national advertising agencies now have scientists an their staffs. Others are employirig scientific consultants.
This certainly is a move i n t h e right direction. However, in following the a u t h o r farther, we find t h a t a n appreciation by t h e general trade of the importance of science is n o t 100% for: The one business which needs science most desperately and neglects it; hlas, most completely is that part of the banking business which has to do with investment and with the financing of new enterprises. Every business expansion, every prospective investment must rest, if it is to be solid, upon threelegs: finance,law, and facts. Finance includes, of course, knowing how to use your money as well as having enough of it. Law includes all the intricate and vital relation of the business to the public and to public officers as well as to the statutes. And the third leg, the facts, is merel+?nather name for science. These threrlegs of business ought to he equally strong. No one thinks of starting a new enterprise nowadays without good legal advice. No bank makes an important loan without bath of these. One sees to it that these two legs are strong enough. But the strength of the third leg is commonly neglected Scientific advice is seldom procured, seldom thought of as being useful. Yet your lawyer can defend you only against man-made laws which are not, after all, so very permanent or-inelastic. A scientist, on the other hand, is your defence against laws infinitely more implacable and more dangerous to break, against those rigid conditions of life and of everything that we call the Laws of Nature. If your business breaks these laws the penalty, usually, is its death. The chief cause of business failures is set down in most of the lists of bankruptcies as " i d c i e n t capital." I wonder. Many times, I think, this cloaks an insufficiency of science. Some vital technical fact was overlooked or unforeseen.
Since t h e scientists are the f a c t finders: The beginning of any new enterprise or the making of any far-reaching business decision should be meceded hv scientific consultation just as such events are preceded now by legal and financial consultation. If t h e f u t u r e success of t h e business man is so dependent upon science, c a n we make any recommendations to him for obtainingTreliable scientific advice? How is t h e business man to know what kind of a scientific
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expert to h i e , where to get him, how to judge whether he is well-informed and honest, how to understand and apply what he says? Are the small business men, unable to hire expensive consultants or establish laboratories, to be denied the benefits which science can produce? There is a simple answer t o all these questions. Business men must learn something about science. Any intelligent man can soon learn this m u d about science. The main facts of science are much simpler, really, than the principles of law and much more certain than what are called the principles of finance. , Dr. Free, in concluding, shows the business man clearly and simply how to acquire a working knowledge of science.
It matters little where you start. You can begin with chemistry or psychology or geography or with t h e thermodynamics of the steam engine if t h a t happens t o be the thing t h a t interests you. Whatever you begin with, the horizon of your scientific interests will widen as you advance until, before you know it, i t includes the whole of science. Any door opens onto the whole wide world. "The smallest fact," said Huxley, "is a window through which the infinite may be seen." You can absorb much business science, too, from daily contacts as well as from readins, in the same way, probably, as you h a m learned what you know about law. You will see occasiun311y a scipntilic item in the newspaper or a n article in a magnrinr. You will drop into the hahit of talking over scientific problrmd uith other buciness men as you now discuss new laws or the future of the market. And you will be considering all the time how the facts you are learning can be applied t o your business. M. w. G.
