The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 2, 1926, Page 13

oy The Turk is Not What He Used to Be IR FIC MYSTICISM IN ENGINEERING The Tragedy of Waste, by Stuart Chase; MacMillan, N. Y., $2.50. By MORITZ J. LOEB. NGINEERING as a_ science has been developed both from the theoretical approach and emperically. Its first laws were developed by the trial-and-error method and later the researches of the scientists were brought to bear to develop the formu- lae of practical engineering. Engin- “gers being practical, people have one most important demand to ask of every theory and practice of their trade: “Will it work?” The new book by Stuart Chase and his associates of the labor bureau is an attempt at engineering, social en- _ gineering, and in such light it must be considered. The task set is the de- termination of what consists of eco- nomic waste in the United States, the measurement of the amount of this waste and how it may be eliminated. Quite properly then, the first step is the examination of human wants, for it is in the satisfaction of these wants by the production and consumption of commodities that the waste arises. Early in the book the authors make a survey of these factors and state the following to be the human wants, the satisfaction of which involves econom- ie activity: food; shelter; clothing; language and education; recreation; government and law; health provis- ‘fons; religion; art forms; love. If the trial-and-error method is accepted these may be adopted as the basis for ‘the work and any errors involved will be exposed in the development of the problem and eliminated, The second part of the task is then taken up, the measurement of econom- ic waste of labor power and natural resources. Here the author-engineers find it necessary to make a compari- son between society as it now exists, i. e., a society which produces for profit and a society which produces for the satisfaction of human wants, which the authors term a “functional society.” Another engineer, Thorsten Veblen, in his book, Engineers and the Price Syster, treats this same subject from the standpoint of production. Chase also enters this field (from the prac- tical viewpoint, avoiding the theory), and goes beyond this to analyze the economic waste in consumption, dis- tribution and idle man power. This is done for the most part in a thorough and workmanlike manner, The find- ings are statett to be: In consumption, at least.... 5,000,000 Idle, at least... haoddsason - 6,000,000 In production, at least........ 4,000,000 In distribution, at least...... 2.500,000 MORAY sen isines scceeevseesesesrererer2 0,000,000 Out of a total of 40,000,000 able bodied adult population in the United States it is therefore shown that a con- servative computation of the lost man power is more than 50 per cent. At the same time it is shown that because of the waste in the utilization of nat- and astrology. . . The way out turns on genuine science of social psychology more than on any other single factor.” (Emphasis mine, M. J. L.) “Meanwhile we note the co-oper- ative movement making steady headway against waste in distribu- tion—particularly. in | Europe—the labor movement combining its de- mand ‘or more democracy in indus- try with the realization that only the lessening of waste can raise the standard of living. “And we note the gathering cleav- age between the stock-and-bond business men like Mr. Gary and the engineer business men like Mr. Ford, Mr. Gary sees industry prim arily in terms of profitable invest- ment, while Mr. Ford sees it prim- arily in terms of service turned out on a balanced load basis—with still an eye to the profit and loss account - « + Im short it is by no means clear that the engineering type of business man will not ultimately supersede the stock-and-bond type and so usher in a functional society of sorts while the radicals are still baying for the abolition of the profit system, This at least is Mr, EB. A. Filene’s guess.” Let us imagine an instance in which an industrial community had been es- tablished in a surrounding which made it possible for any food stuffs to be produced near by. Some distance ural resources, it would be possible, away there was a rich agricultural if waste were eliminated, to more than double the economic output without any increase in the rate of consump- tion of natural resources or in the amount of labor power available, The third and most important part of the work is left for the last four pages of the book: Here in a section heading called “constructive,” in a chapter entitled, “The Challenge of Waste,” the authors make a partial at- tempt to come to a solution of the problem, “We know no sure way out. , . But the point at issue is the be- havior of the animal. . . the be- havior of 100,000,000 people can be predicted only with the aid of magic territory occupied by farmers who, while they grew foodstuffs far in ex- cess of their needs had no market for them and moreover had no access to any manufactured products. The citi- zens of these two communities met together and decided to take action to overcome their difficulties. They called in éngineers to help them. The en- gineers took a survey and a census. They counted the population of the city and computed i's production. They did likewise for the rural com- munity. They measured the distance between the two points. Then they made their report. “What is needed,” they said, “is a railroad.” The farm- ers and the city dwellers thought this — Fred Ellis IMPERIALIST BRITAIN INTENDS TO STRANGLE TURKEY AND TAKE THE OIL WELLS OF MOSUL, BUT — ! was a good idea and they asked the engineers how to go about getting a railroad. “Oh,” said tae engineers, “just hope for it and trust to luck.” This is the kind of engineering turned@ut by Stuart Chase. ‘He failed utterly in his task because he took in- to account only the superficialicies. He regarded only the manifestation of the problem and avoided the problem it- self. What was necessary after the physical measurements had been tak- en was to redetermine the problem, something in this way: The present order of society re- sults in tremendous economic waste. Why is this so? Because there is pro- duction for profit instead of for use; because we have a capitalist society rather than a “functional’ society. How then can we build a functional (or organized) society It 1s frst necessary to find out why .we contra- dictions of present society exist,.sciet- tific research in this subject will show that it is the class nature of society | which is responsible. And now having come to the roots of the problem we are oecoming abie to solve it, The end is the estaplish- ment of an organized society.-.The means is the elimination of the class structure of society and the building of a classless society. Mr. Chase fails to approach the problem in this manner and that is why his engineering ends in futility and mysticism. That is why his book is a piece of draftsmanship and no en- . gineering at all, why in the statistics themselves many errors are allowed to remain such as the acceptance of religious activity as productive of eco- nomic wealth, the statements that of 250,000 prostitutes in America, 150,000 (only!) are ‘waste; out of 320,000 crim- inals, 200,000 count as lost man pow- er; that of 400,000 “watchers of crim- inals,” only 200,000 would be neces- sary in a functional society. There is a way out, Mr. Chase. The theory has been written and the prac- tice is being worked out in Soviet Russia where the beginnings are be- ing made in the building of an organ- ized society.