I CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING I
NEWS
The Seven Lean
Years?
E'may yet talk ourselves into a recession or a de pression—call it what you will. Perhaps certain re adjustments are inevitable andmecessary and a logical sequence of the hectic frenzy of World War II. We are not enough of an economist to be thought of as an au thority on the whys and wherefores of business cycles. Our opinion is practically worthless, as is attested by the difficulties encountered in achieving a balanced personal budget in the face of rapidly rising costs, an experience we believe wfe share with most of our friends and associates. We do know we are driving an 11-year-old car whose dying rattles and groans remind us ominously of the story of the one-horse shay, and no replacement is in sight immediately unless we patronize the equivalent of the black market—which we won't as a matter of prin ciple. We prefer to let the various parts of the family buggy fall as they will by the wayside rather than to pay tribute to a racketeer. There is always, of course, the outside chance that we will win a Chevrolet by com posing a prize limerick, but we are no great shakes in that art, and the shock of winning one in a raffle prob ably would be fatal. In that event we would have no need for transportation in whichever direction we are destined to proceed, for we understand that Annie Oakleys are provided for Destination Heaven and Destination Hell. Free transportation seems to be the one thing the two places have in common. We know our house needs renovating inside and out, but we refuse t o surrender the deed in payment for a sloppy unworkmanlike job that we as a rank amateur would be heartily ashamed to acknowledge. When we do paint we expect that it will last a reasonable length of time instead of coloring the paths and grass each time Mother Nature in her wisdom blesses us with rain (East, South, and Midwest) or dew (on the Pacific Coast). Perhaps we don't buy the right paint.* We need a wide variety of replacements, clothing, furniture, electrical appliances, tools, etc. We would like to add a few conveniences, improvements (such as book shelves), and even a few innovations and gadgets of one kind or another. Our neighbors and friends need such things too, and, of course, most of the rest of the world needs food, shelter, clothing, and new industries, if civilization is to continue to exist at even a bare sub sistence level. Again reaffirming our utter incompetence as an econo mist, we hazard a guess that if we experience recession or depression, we shall do so because we have priced ourselves into one or the other, or both. WTiat connection do these alleged philosophical meandeiings have with the chemical industry and the pro fession? We may be naive, but we suspect much. In the first place we believe that history proves that those companies in the chemical and chemical process
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WALTER J. MURPHY, Editor
industries which continued research in bad times prof ited handsomely in boom periods and today are out standing leaders in their respective fields. Research is not something that can be turned on and off at the spigot of a barrel and still prove profitable. If poor or bad times descend upon us, if again we are to suffer the seven lean years, some managements will be tempted to reduce expenses by curtailing research. In seven years new processes and products can be brought from the test-tube stage to full-scale profitable, commercial production. Companies which retain on the payroll chemists and engineers now employed and indeed expand research in uncertain times will reap the benefit of a wise, prudent, foresighted, intelligent, and progressive policy. The others will trail and many will wither and die. Competition in the chemical field, despite all the Department of Justice may say to the contrary, is terrific—we are thinking mostly in terms of product competition when we make this statement. Companies that are smart enough to assure their research person nel that jobs are not dependent upon the daily antics of the stock market, that make it plain that research is thought of in terms of long-term insurance, will be re warded by a contented, loyal, and productive staff. In the second place and again contrary to many be liefs expressed by the Department of Justice, the chemi cal industry is notable for its policy of reducing prices to stimulate greater use. We are not advocating dis astrous ''price wars," for they accomplish nothing of a constructive nature. But we do suggest, despite ad mittedly higher labor and raw material costs, that man agement give serious thought immediately to price reductions where possible. Such action will stimulate business and increase research, will tend t o retard and even ceverse the present vicious price spiral, and will re assure workers at all levels that their jobs are not in jeopardy. The late and beloved Tom Midgley is famous for many scientific accomplishments and for many words of wisdom. "Science is power," but much of that po tential power is tied to the existence of a sound economy. Each of us in our own way can assist in maintaining our national economic sanity. What is needed primarily is courage; next, imagination. We have the brainpower in adequate amounts. A nation which by voluntary collective action can build Oak Ridge and Hanford and can solve the riddle of atomic fission on a gigantic in dustrial scale in less than three years, should be able to stop the present nonsense in the face of the greatest pent-up demand the world has ever experienced.
