May, 1930
INDUSTRIAL AA-D ENGINEERIXG CHEMISTRY
The Procter and Gamble plan, which guarantees 42 weeks of work per year and which is so well described in the Survey Graphic for April, might well be generally emulated. There should be no such thing as “normal unemployment.” We must urge and support our plan of mass education. By so doing we also train a few who become the spellbinders and false leaders of the unthinking. We even provide pupils for the all-too-numerous teachers who fail to appreciate fully their present good fortune. Yet only through education can be cultivated intelligent thinking, a better understanding of the fundamental principles upon which our nation is founded, and the ability to reach sound conclusions, discriminating between essentials and non-essentials. Communism flourishes where illiteracy is high, where the people have been trained for generations to believe what they arc told, and where truth is suppressed. We must also do all iri our power to cultivate and maintain peace. It is doubtful whether our civilization could withstand another war. We are not pacifists. We know that America should not be left defenseless, and we know that progress toward a lasting peace must be slow for the way is most difficult. It is but another way of saying that the price we shall have to pay for the maintenance of civilization is undoubtedly high, but is it not worth it? It seems to us that in the spirit of service we should aid those who crave the joys of communism to reach the land where it flourishes in full flower. Though opposed by some, it is now generally accepted that the limitation of immigration has been a wise policy. No doubt we should go further in developing a more highly selective immigration. If this be true, then ought we not to look more carefully to our deportation laws and uce more frequently the powers already provided? If necessary we should forcibly deport the alien who, by his own teaching and performance, seems t o have made a terrible mistake in choosing this country for his home. He was not invited. Why tolerate his efforts to overthrow that which we have gained through developing those original principles of free schools, free churches, free speech, and free press? Perhaps we have some American citizens who might also enjoy permanent transplanting to more congenial surroundings. We believe in doing whatever can he done to lift them out of their present uncongenial environment. As a people we are too largely given to believing that all is going well and that our cherished institutions are never in danger. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Those who have been technically trained should be unusually well fitted to declaim the truth. They have been taught, analysis, discrimination, keen observation, and a high regard for truth, and these are the attributes desirable in thlmrting the efforts of those who continually plot mischief.
Promptness in Publication P R O M P T publication of acceptable manuscripts is a duty of the publication accepting them, and delays are disadvantageous not only to authors, but t o science and industry. The failure to publish promptly is, however, not chargeable to any single agency. It is commonly supposed, and it has frequently been the case, that funds for publication were insufficient to buy enough paper and printer’s ink to permit early publication. It has been necessary to require condensation of manuscripts in an effort to make two or more articles appear where but one appearcd before. This requirement to boil down has led some t o observe that certain papers have been evaporated to complete dryness; but no editor seeks to have curtailment carried to the point where a discussion loses its value. Other time f:tctors are reviews, revisions, and proof reading by authors. At present undue delay in publication is not known in
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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERIKG CHEMISTRY. When this issue went to press, it contained all the accepted manuscripts which could be put through the mechanics of publication in time to appear here. The same thing was true of the AKALYTICAL EDITION when it was issued on April 15. This is not an invitation to shower us with manuscripts, nor is it an indication that me have rejected an undue proportion for lack of suitability. We are fortunate in having been able, without a change in policy, to overtake our publication program. We intend to keep in that position by endeavoring, with the assistance of those who help us with reviews, not only to maintain our present high standard, but to elevate it. How long can this condition continue? Indefinitely. if we accept only sufficient manuscripts to occupy allotted pages under our budget; indefinitely, also, if those who support research can be brought to realize the comparative uselessness of their effort if the results of the study are not made available through the scientific press. In business operations it is customary to appropriate and lay aside certain small percentages against contemplated expenditures. The budget of a manufacturer or of a business concern must provide for internal revenue and property taxes, for interest on bonds and other evidences of indebtedness, for royalties, bonuses, insurance, and what-not. Is there any good reason why those who manage budgets from which the expenses of research investigation and development are met should not lay aside some definite, but regular, small percentage to help defray the cost of publication? One can only estimate the total cost of research in progress in the United States. We know that some laboratories are in the millionaire class in appropriations and are above that in their earning capacity. Even one-half of one per cent of the expenditures for research would insure immediate publication in extenso and multiply enormously the value of this work to the general public, to industry, and to our science.
The Census N SOME occasion it has been said that the chemical industry is one of the most difficult from which to obtain real cooperation in the compilation of statistics. There is a certain reticence among chemical manufacturers about disclosing figures revealing the volume of their operations. but it is t o be hoped that in the Census of Manufactures, which this year combines the biennial and the decennial census, chemical manufacturers will fully cooperate. The first result will be the preparation of numerous preliminary reports to appear promptly after the receipt of complete returns and designed to show the increase or decrease in output of each commodity, thus enabling the manufacturer to interpret his progress as compared with his industry in general, and, in addition, such data as the ratio between cost of materials and value of products, the output per wage earner, and the ratio of wages to value of output. It will help him to determine whether he is paying too much for his materials, and whether his output per wage earner is too small. The preliminary reports will receive little or no editing for verification. The final reports, carefully checked, will present detailed statistics showing the cost of productive and of non-productive labor, the increase in the employment of women in recent years, hours of labor per week for individual wage earners, the migration of industries from state to state, the quantities and cost of principal materials and of fuel consumed and the power-plant equipment. Steps have been taken to simplify the questionnaires and, while it is recognized that some effort and perhaps expense is incident to such cooperation, it is evident that returns will more than justify prompt and whole-hearted participation.
