Evening star. [volume], April 03, 1955, Page A-27, Image 27

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Vital Economic Force:
Automation Is Here to Stay; Will It Prove a Blessing or a Curse?
BY WILLIAM HINES^
At last count some 63 million Americans were busy at occupations
ranging from abalone fishing to zymurgy. Are they—or any substantial
percentage of them—in danger of being turned out on the street by
a specter now looming large on the industrial horizon?
That is one of the big questions of the day—a question that may
cause pickets to march outside the gates of automobile factories before
spring is over.
The name of the specter Is “automation”—a word which is not yet
even in the dictionary, but shortly
will be.
Depending on the point of view;
automation is the promise of a
brighter tomorrow, when every man
will have more things to enjoy and
more time to enjoy them in; or it is
a clear and present danger to the
livelihood of millions of working
men.
Who is right?
The impression of this reporter
just back from the automated Mid
west—is. that automation is more
likely to bring prosperity than de
pression. but that in the industrial
evolution now going on, some in
dividuals inevitably are going to get
hurt.
Evolution, Not Revolution
Note that the phr&se in the last
paragraph was “industrial evolu
tion," not “industrial revolution.”
Automation is not something that
has happened overnight. You can
trace it back to Henry Ford’s first
assembly line early in this century.
You can trace it even further to
Oliver Evans’ continuous-process
flour mill in Philadelphia 171 years
ago. By stretching the imagination,
you can probably go back to even
more remote times. But the point
is made; automation not only is here
—and here to ’stay—it’s been here,
to some degree, for many years.
From the standpoint of practical
economics, as Peter F. Drucker
points out in the March issue of
Harper's, automation is not only
desirable, but absolutely essential
if we are to maintain our living
standards in the future. For the
next decade or so, the labor force
will be small compared to total
population. The needs of an in
creasing number of persons will have
to be served by a relatively stable
number of producers. Without
pushing automation beyond its
present stage, some economists be
lieve, that cannot be done.
What's Automation?
There are almost as many defini
tions of automation as there are
people thinking about the subject.
A box elsewhere on this page, headed
with a photo-engraved reproduc
tion of the word as it will appear
in forthcoming dictionaries, gives
some of the leading definitions.
But since “automation” pro
nounced to rhyme with “corpora
tion”—is enough of a word that
the lexicographers are ready to
admit it to the English language,
let s use what will be the standard
definition as a starting point.
A. M. Driscoll of the G. & C.
Merriam Co. of Springfield. Mass.,
which publishes the standard Web
ster’s says, “The following defini
tions, based on evidence so far
gathered, is tentative, not neces
sarily as it will appear in our
dictionaries.” Anyway, here it is:
Automation, noun. 1. The act or tech
nique of having a manufacturing process
fully automatic. By this technique, ports
are moved into and out of machines
without being handled by human operators.
2. The state of being automatic. 3.
Automatic operation, as of a machine.
This is the kind of automation
most people on both sides of the
labor-management bargaining table
are thinking about. There are more
elaborate types in being. Visionaries
—and even practical men in some
industries—are considering “self
programming, self-correcting, self
inspecting” gadgets that will make
humans not only unnecessary, but
unwanted.
(In this connection, one in
dustry has had this extreme forced
on it by the frailty of man. Much
atomic energy work is handled
automatically, simply because the
product is too hot for humans. 1
The immediate battleground,
where automation is a fighting word,
is the automobile industry. United
Auto Workers (and CIO) President
Walter P. Reuther has made it clear
he is out this year for a guaranteed
annual wage. He cites the rise of
automation as one of the chief rea
sons for his union’s demand. For
public consumption at least, the auto
workers are scared of automation.
Automation in Action
For a close look at automation in
action, this reporter went to Rock
ford, 111., where an Army ordnance
plant has long been rated—or per
haps overrated—as one of the best
examples of an automated factory.
It cost between $7 and $8 million in
World War 11. To duplicate it would
cost about S2O million today.
The reporter found the plant to
be, for all practical purposes, obso
lete. J. H. Pratt, production expert
for the Chicago Ordnance District,
said flatly that similar automatic
production lines for artillery ammu
nition would never be built in the
future. Charles Hohn, plant man
ager for the operating contractors,
U. S. Industries, agreed.
The reason is simple. Since the
automatic 155-mm. howitzer shell
line w’as first opened for production
in January, 1952, a new and better
way of producing shells has been de
vised. Ironically, the new process is
largely nonautomatic; at any rate,
it is considered nonautomated.
The automatic line is, essentially,
two machines: One covering the
whole process of forging, the other
the whole process of machining.
Ignoring one handling operation
between them, this can be said of
the line; Six-and-a-half-inch round
cornered steel, in bars 16 feet long,
goes in one end; completed 155-mm.
shells come out the *ther end. Men
control and supervise—rather than
perform—the score or more of
operations in between.
How does the automated shell
line compare with standard lines
using the same process and operating
at the same rate?
• The quality of the automated
product is excellent; perhaps better
when machines, and not men, are
the Judges of work done.
• The operating cost la “average,”
4
but if the contractor had to figure
• in depreciation of Govemment
* owned equipment on each, the auto
j mated line's production cost'would
| be higher than the standard line's.
J • First cost is greater for the
' automated line.
• Maintenance costs are far
higher, and the problem of spare
parts for this unique machinery is
a constant headache.
i From a cost point of view, this
automation is a flop.
[ What about personnel?
This is perhaps the most amaz
ing thing about the Rockford plant
—and to some extent about auto
mated factories in general. At
Rockford, it takes about 160 people
to operate the automated line. In
the opinion of Mr. Hohn and Mr.
Pratt, it would take 160 people—the
same force—to get the same output
off a standard line.
But there is a difference. The
skills required by operators and
maintenance men on the automated
line are much higher than would be
needed by men working on non
automated equipment.
More Maintenance
This is a story one hears wherever
one goes: More and more mainte
nance—especially preventive main
tenance—is needed; better and bet
ter men are required for the main
tenance crew. Where once a man
with an oil can and another with
a wrench did the fixing, now the
machines are cared for by elec
tricians of practically engineering
competence, by hydraulic mechan
ics who almost need a college
degree. »
The Rockford plant is not typical
of automated operations, however.
If it were, Mr. Reuther would have
little to fear. Much of the blame
for the Rockford experience falls
at the door of the Army, which
started and stopped the operation
for nearly 10 years before the first
shell rolled off the Rockford line.
The starts were feverish—allowing
no time for development of a process
admittedly experimental. The stops
were abrupt and complete—allowing
not even an adequate amount of
money for standby maintenance.
Industry's Experience
This has not been the case in
private industry, where a dollar has
a meaning sometimes forgotten by
the phasers-in and phasers-out in
Washington. Automation—success
ful. economical automation —today
is the watchword of many Indus-,
tries, some of which could not exist
without fully automatic equipment.
The postwar chemical and plas
tics industries have, for all prac
tical purposes, been built around
automation. The petroleum indus
try also is highly automated.
But these are “continuous proc
ess” industries, where raw materials
are poured in at one end and a
refined product flows out the other.
Automation became a significant
economic force when it invaded the
“discrete products" field, where sep
arate parts are fed into a machine,
processed, assembled and delivered
as finished widgets. That is auto
mation today, whether the widget
is an 8-ounce gear case for a re
frigerator, a 10-cent toy pistol or
a heavy, complex and costly auto
mobile engine.
Automation-produced items, how
ever, have one thing in common:
They are produced in great quan
tity and at fairly constant rates.
A Week From Tuesday Will Tell the Story on Salk Polio Vaccine
BY ALTON L. BLAKESLEE
Associated Press Science Reporter
V day in the fight against polio
should come in 10 days.
That’s the hopeful guess, at least,
of some persons close to the Salk
polio vaccine. There's a general air
of confidence that the vaccine works.
There has been no hint of anything
amiss with it.
Did it protect children from para
lytic polio, and how well? Or was
it ineffective? Do we start a huge
vaccination program to end polio?
Or must vaccine research work go
back to the laboratory?
Those answers will come out April
12, when results are announced of
last summer’s wide tests of the vac
cine developed by Dr. Jonas E. Salk
of Pittsburgh.
If it is good, how much vaccine
will there be this year? What are
your chances of getting it for your
children? What will it cost?
Some of these questions can be
answered pretty well right now'.
There has been no official tip or
leak about the verdict on the vac
cine. Officials of the National Foun
dation for Infantile Paralysis say
they don’t know it themselves.
But you can interpret some things
as signs of confidence:
The announcement will be made
on the 10th anniversary of the death
of President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
who inspired the National Founda
tion. This would be a fitting date
for an optimistic report.
Secondly, topflight scientists are
being invited to the conference at
the University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, where results will be dis
closed.
Here are some questions answer
able now:
Q. What results will be an
nounced?
A. The Salk vaccine was given to
440,000 children. Records have been
kept on them. Did they get less—
or more—paralytic polio compared
with 210,000 children who received
harmless dummy shots, and com
pared with 1,180,000 youngsters who
had no shots at all? Blood test
studies of some 40,000 children will
be Involved, to learn how much pro
tective antibodies were produced by
use of the vaccine.
Q. Will It be a clear-cut answer?
A. Yes, it should be, if enough
*
" - ” j. , ' ’ « / - - '
rj.mm
• , .\. „Ha HBHjj- Hal i ' UwIM-. * jM '<"• Hj
1 Bn!!
sJsSSSbNKwih 4 -fll
j|Mv. SjKKSBMIy v f 1 V J
gt am HEjkvXv
HERES AUTOMATION: A line of heavy presses works in close harmony to produce floor pons in a Buffalo factory. The men mostly watch.
au-to-ma'tion
The word above is not yet in
the dictionary. But, say the pub
lishers of the big Webster, it will
be just as soon as the new edi
tions come out.
It should be in the language.
It is an increasingly important
word. What probably will be
come the standard definition ap
pears in bold-face type in the
first column of the accompanying
story. Here are other definitions,
offered by people who spend
much of their time thinking
about automation.
“Materials handling in a timed
relationship with some other ma
jor movement.”—K. L. Finken
staedt, machine tool designer,
Rockford, 111.
• • •
“The supervision and regula
tion of the production process by
self-operating mechanical, hy
draulic, pneumatic, chemical,
electrical or electronic devices.”—
United Auto Workers’ Economic
and Collective Bargaining Confer
ence, Detroit, Mich. 1
If they were not, automation would
be too expensive.
One Tool or Many?
In a loft building on the property
of W. F. & John Barnes Co., ma
chine-tool designers of Rockford,
stands a scale model of one of the
most advanced automotive tools in
the world. When completed it will
automatically turn out cylinder
heads for a large automobile manu
facturer.
The machine will be 300 feet long
and will produce heads at the rate
of two every minute. The heads
will be rough castings when they en
ter the machine, and perfectly fin
ished engine parts when they emerge.
The machine will cost $1 million—
and Barnes’ contract calls for the
delivery of four, which will stand
side by side in a huge building in
Detroit later this year.
So fast moving is automation that
this machine is obsolete already—
even before it is finished.
Now comes a philosophical ques
tion which bothers people who think
about automation: Is this one ma
chine—cne tool—or many?
Dozens of individual machines
would be needed to do what the
Barnes automated apparatus will do.
children—vaccinated and nonvac
cmated—were actually exposed to
polio last year. The test is whether
vaccination prevents development of
paralytic polio from natural ex
posure, and how well it does this.
If there was little polio in the test
communities, the answer might be
equivocal, difficult to measure sta
tistically.
Q. Would the vaccine have to be
100 per cent effective?
A. No. Probably no vaccine is
100 per cent effective. But the
higher the precentage of protection,
the better, of course.
Q. If it works for children, would
it work for adults, too?
A. Yes.
Q. If the vaccine is found to work,
what’s the next step?
A. It must be licensed for use by
the National Institutes of Health,
meeting standards of potency and
safety.
Q. Will that take long?
A. Quick approval is expected.
Q. How much vaccine will be
available?
A. Probably enough to vaccinate
18 million children or more, but there
are no definite esimates yet. The
Polio Foundation has contracted for
enough vaccine for 19 million chil
dren. Six pharmaceutical firms are
making it. These same films are ex
pected to supply, commercially, as
much or more for use by private
physicians
Q. How will the vaccine be dis
tributed?
A. The Polio Foundation will sup-
= POLIO BY hospital / 45
■II ■ tee ADMISSIONS
11111 l POPULATION ' 35
imlllllhl 1
H i.
INPEft | ; j 4 ) t t n |Q n i; n |< |j | t ii |, ~
► \
“Improved machinery and more
productive tools , to do the work
that man formerly had to sweat
to do.”—R. H. Sullivan, vice
president. Ford Motor Co., Dear
born, Mich.
• • •
“A system for the automatic
handling of parts between pro
gressive production processes.”—
D. S. Harder, vice president of
Ford Motor Co., credited by some
as originator of the word.
• * •
“Among the engineers who
coined it, the word automation
is merely a term which conven
iently describes certain mechan
ical controls and processes.”—
Benjamin F. Fairless, chairman.
United States Steel Corp., Pitts
burgh, Pa.
• • •
The word also has its verbal
form, to automate. It can also
be used as an adjective, as auto
mated machinery. There is no
adverbial form in general use—
but eventually there probably
will be.
In this case, it is many machines.
But the “work”—that is, the part
being handled—is not moved by hu
man power from the time it enters
until the time it leaves. *ln that
sense, it is a single tool.
Less 'Direct Labor'
Far fewer persons will be needed
to work at this machine. Where
perhaps 40 would have been needed
on “direct labor” (operating the
various stations) on an old line,
not more than six or eight direct
laborers will be required on this one.
K. L. Finkenstaedt, executive vice
president of the Barnes company,
demonstrated the extent of automa
tion on this machine. He pointed
to baffles under the various lathe
components, and said that when in
stalled, the machine will stand over
a trough in which a conveyor belt
will run. This belt will take metal
chips to a central point without the
intervention of men. N
“There will be no wheelbarrows in
this operation,” Mr.. Finkenstaedt
said.
This is precisely what bothers
labor spokesmen. Fewer wheelbar
rows, obviously, means fewer men to
push them. Fewer men means fewer
jobs, and—quite beyond the fact
that fewer men also means less
ply-free of charge this year only—
enough to vaccinate every child in
the first and second grades of all
public, parochial and private schools
in the United States, Hawaii and
Alaska, if parents request it. These
children were chosen because there
is a high incidence of polio at those
ages, and vaccination clinics can
easily be set up in schools. Free
vaccine also will be offered children
in other grades who took part in
last year’s test and received either
no shots at all or just the dummy
shots.
This supply—paid for by March
of Dimes money—will be adminis
tered by State and local health •
medical societies. After these 9
million vaccinations this year the
officers in co-operation with local
Polio Foundation will “get out of
the vaccine business.”
On their own, pharmaceutical
firms will sell vaccine to druggists
and to doctors for use on private
patients.
Q. What will this vaccine cost if
your doctor gives it?
A. The cost will vary. One phar
maceutical firm has set a list price
of $4.20 for the three shots con
stituting one course of vaccination
for one person. There could be
markups on top of that. Two others
say their price will be $5 to $6 per
person. Others have not disclosed
their prices. The three injections in
the arm are given within five weeks,
with the second shot coming a week
after the first one, the last a month
after the second.
union dues—fewer jobs means a de
pression. As the late Calvin Coolidge
once told a flabbergasted Nation,
“When a great many people are un
able to find work, unemployment
results.”
New Skills Needed
Industry’s answer is that while a
wheelbarrow-pusher will not be
needed, a maintenance man will be.
If the former sweeper can be re
tained for a higher skill, they say,
he will be. If he lacks the mental
capacity, it is conceded, he may well
join the ranks of the technologically
unemployed.
But industry holds that there
have been »technological displace
ments before, and that the common
weal has always been served in the
long run. There are few wagon man
ufacturers nowadays. Montgomery •
Ward’s catalog, a noted barometer
of the times, has dropped horse har
nesses from, its 1955 edition. But
technologically di spla ce d wain
wrights and harnessmakers have
long since found other careers.
Some industry contends have
gone over to the opposition and now
find themselves worrying lest auto
mated machinery dislodge them
from the auto assembly line.
The Auto Industry
The automobile industry, as was
mentioned earlier, is the focal point
of interest in automation today,
chiefly because of Mr. Reuther’s
guaranteed annual wage demands.
The industry already has gone far
in automation, and will go farther.
v - .■$
—-Chase, Ltd.. Photo.
Walter P. Reuther
Automation worries him.
w
This cost does not include the
physician's fee for services in giving
the vaccine during the three visits.
His fee would be in addition to the
$4 to $6 cost of the actual vaccine
for one person, plus perhaps mark
ups in the distribution.
Q. When will vaccine be given?
A. Presumably as soon as it is
licensed, starting in some places in
April if possible. For effectiveness,
vaccine should be given before ex
posure to polio.
Q. Will'there be enough vaccine
for ail children or adults this year?
A. No, not enough could possibly
be produced this year. Vaccinations
' for everyone wanting them, or need
ing them, would take at least two
years, probably longer.
Q. How long will the vaccine pro
tect a person? A lifetime?
A. Time will answer that. One
vaccination might protect for years,
or even a lifetime. Or booster shots
might be needed at intervals.
Q. Is the vaccine safe?
A. Yes, for it is made of killed
polio virus, and repeatedly tested
for safety. There have been no
reports of hazards, but some per
sons might get reactions, as people
do with any drug or vaccine. The
April 12 report probably will tels
whether some children had reac
tions, such as soreness of arm or
slight upset.
Q. Will the vaccine protect against
all types of polio?
A. Yes, it is designed to. It con
tains all three types of virus which
are known to cause paralysis in
humans.
Q. Who will get the vaccine which
is sold to doctors?
A. That apparently will oe up to
the Individual doctors. Preschool
t children might be favored by many
doctors, because polio incidence is
often highest at age 5. Pregnant
women might also get some pref
erence, for there is some evidence
pregnacy increases susceptibility to
polio. Or doctors might follow a
first-come, first-served order. Some
are preparing waiting lists, as pa
tients request vaccine for their
children.
Q. —If the Salk vaccine Is found
Ineffective, what then?
A.—Research is already under way
with other vaccines. Including some
containing living virus, but altered
so it cannot cause sickness. Some
f
9 THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, D. C. R
SUNDAY, aran. s. less
At the forefront of automation in
Detroit is the Ford Motor Co., which
now virtually has a policy of never
using a man when a machine will
do.
But Ford’s automation has been a
creeping process. Its start came
more than 45 years ago, when Ford
adopted the banjo-type rear axle
housing because that form could be
made faster than an older type. (A
frequent symptom of automation,
incidentally, is radical redesign of
parts to make them more readily
adaptable to automatic production.)
The Big Year
The first big period of something
like automation at Ford came in
1913-14, when these things hap
pened: »
A radiator assembling machine
was installed; a device was made to
drill 45 holes in the engine block
from four angles in 90 seconds; an
endless carrier chain was devised to
transport engine block molds
through the whole foundry process;
a flywheel magneto line was opened,
cutting assembly time from 20 min
utes to 13; a chassis line was put
into operation, reducing work from
728 man-minutes to 93; engine as
sembly practices were changed, cut
ting time from 10 man-hours to 3
hours 46 minutes.
In this same period—on January
1, 1914—Henry Ford proclaimed the
then unheard-ol $5 day for workers
in his plants.
Since then, of course, there have
been many improvements—these
early ones were not automation as
we know it now, but only the rude
beginnings. Real, modern auto
mation did not get its start until
after World War 11.
1923 vs. 1953
And what has happened?
R. H. Sullivan, production vice
president of Ford, has the answer.
In 1923 the Ford Motor Co. pro
duced more cars than it did in 1953.
(This startling fact was read back
to him and verified.) But where
105,000 men did their sketchily
automated jobs for Ford in 1923, a
generation later 177,000 men were
doing a highly automated job to
turn out fewer cars.
Os course, they are different, and
more complex, cars today than they
were in 1923. And that is industry's
main argument: Automation im
proves quality; quality produces de
mand; demand produces more jobs;
more jobs produce more demand,
and so ad infinitum.
Mr. Sullivan says:
“The motivating forces behind
automation are, first of all, the pos-
experts think the live virus vaccine
would give longer immunity.
Even if the Salk vaccine works,
better ones might be found. Re
search will continue, whatever the
answer April 12, to perfect this or
other vaccines, to solve other prob
lems about polio. The Salk vaccine
represents one culmination of years
of research and vital discoveries
by many scientists which paved the
way toward a practical vaccine.
Q. —Will parents of children re
ceiving shots in last year’s test
learn if they got the Salk vaccine
or the dummy shots?
A.—Yes, records will be opened
to answer that. Children who re
ceived the real vaccine will not be
given the vaccine again. But those
who received the dummy shots will
be offered the real vaccine.
Q.—Will polio be eliminated this
year?
A.—No. Even If the vaccine is
100 per cent effective, there won’t
be enough to go around. But 18
to 20 million vaccinations could save
thousands of children this year.
Q. Is a “black market” likely in
polio vaccine?
A. Unscrupulous persons might
attempt this, even to offering a
phony vaccine and saying you could
give it to yourself. That danger
ous advice would be a tip-off. Only
a doctor or qualified nurse should
give this or any other vaccine.
All the licensed, commercial
vaccine vials will bear a label at
testing to approval by the Na
tional Institutes of Health. Vaccind
supplied through the Polio Founda
tion will be marked “not for sale.”
Pharmaceutical firms report they
are planning to try to distribute
commercial vaccine evenly or where
most needed, only to reputable doc
tors and druggists.
Q. Why was vaccine prepared If
no one knows whether it’s effective?
A. Because vaccinations must
start Immediately if the verdict is
favorable. The Polio Foundation
gambled $9 million to have vaccine
available. The pharmaceutical
firms also gambled, risking about a
million or more each in laboratories
and facilities -and personnel. If
the vaccine is a failure, some of
this loss would be offset by being
able to use buildings and facilities
for other purposes even for a dif
ferent polio vaccine later on.
/ \
sibility of removing defects from a
quality standpoint: second, bring
ing production into the reach of a
great many people, and third,
safety.”
Stress on Safety
Partially, perhaps, as counterprop*
aganda to the union line, manu
facturers stress safety in talking to
their workers about automation.
“This new machine will make you
do your job with less risk to your
self," is the core of management's
argument.
It is a valid argument to some
extent—though to Mr. Sullivan the
watchword seems to be "Safety
Third.” Men sometimes get so in
credibly careless around heavy hy
draulic presses that they sometimes
forget to remove their hands. With
automated equipment, men are in
effect paid not to handle the work;
in fact, large automatic presses are
equipped with hand switches, two
to an ope(ator, every one of which
must be depressed with the full
wqight of a man’s hand before the
machine will work.
The key to automation as now
practiced in the auto Industry is
not so much the way holes are
drilled and surfaces planed; it is
more how—and when—materials
being worked on are passed from one
station to another, and set in place
for the next operation.
James A. (“Big Jim”) Smith, a
broaching machine operator at
Ford’s Dearborn engine plant out
side Detroit, used to manhandle
270-pound engine blocks In and out
of his machine. Now, hooked into
an automation line, the machine
Itself does all the turning and Big
Jim stands beside it watching the
dials and flashing lights on a control
panel. When a light is green, all
is well; yellow, a tool is getting
dull; red, time to stop the machine.
The dials give him other informa
tion vital to his job.
Secret Is Control
Big Jim's broach is only one
small part of a continuously con
trolled process that starts with
rough-cast engine blocks and ends
with completely assembled, tested
and warranted engines. The secret,
of course, is largely in the precise
control of flow of parts and pre
vention of overloading here and
“dead” spots in the line there. But
above all, the secret is in preventive
maintenance: Curing the trouble be
fore it starts.
Control boards at strategic spots
in the Dearborn engine plant show
machinists at a glance how much
life is left in every cutting tool on
the line and how machines are
functioning. Shutdowns are thus
cut to a minimum, “down time”
through mechanical or electrical
failure approaches the vanishing
point.
An Indication of how important
careful maintenance is can be
gained from this fact: A single
“robot” at the Rockford ordnance
plant contains 57 miles of wire and
3.000 electrical connections. Some
recently developed machinery—
notably the cylinder head line now
a-borning at the Barnes factory in
Rockford—is even more complex.
And, of course, the computer
governed. feed-back-type machines
now appearing in other industries
are so intricate as to be an en
tirely different type of device.
Here to Stay
There may be room for argument
about whether automation will be
good for the country. There is no
room for argument as to whether
it is here to stay,' or whether things
will get more and more automated
as time goes on.
One of the designers for the Hau
tau Engineering Co. of Detroit, goes
so far as to say that a completely
automatic operation for the assem
bly of automobiles could be devised
—but won’t. "It would be too ex
pensive,” he adds.
This seems to put a limit to it.
There are certain points beyond
which it will not pay to automate.
But up to those points, industry is
committed to advance.
In the light of the Army’s experi
ence at Rockford, there might bs
some question about advantages vs.
disadvantages to automation. In a
larger sense, there might be some
question of its social assets and
liabilities.
In summary, the production as
pects are these:
High initial cost of machinery and
constant high maintenance charges
are distinct disadvantages. But
speed of production and higher
quality of product are advantages.
In its social context, automation
will work to the short-term disad
vantage of persons whom it dis
places. chiefly in the lower skills
of labor. But its social advantages
will be felt in the development of
new types of work and the disap
pearance, generally, of the more ar
duous forms of "strong back, weak
mind” Job.
Two Views
Here are two views about the fu
ture and desirability of automation.
On the management side of the
fence, F. T. Letchfleld. San Fran
cisco engineer prominent in automa
tion circles, says:
"Inexorably, automation will elim
inate tens of thousands of Jobs —•
good Jobs now held by skilled men
and womeo. What will be the effect?
Well—despite the forebodings of the
unthinking, the labor-union spokes
men and a certain stripe of dema
gogues, there will be more Jobs—
better jobs—but they will require a
higher level of training and skills.”'
And another authority, on labor’s
side, has this to say:
"Notfcmf could he mere wicked er
foolidi [then to restrict repleceeieet es
men by machines]. Yes can’t stag tech
nological progress end it would he silly
to try rt it yea could.
"Thors will be no dobets between ear
selve| end management in that field.
The only question is going to corns over
the division of the resultant wealth. We
will never question whether we want e
big or little pie of national wealth te
divide, or deviate from our conviction
that the big pie it always the easiest te
split."
The occasion for the this state
ment was an Inspection tour of a
new Angine plant at Cleveland. Ohio,
on June 30. 1953. The man who gave
it voice was Walter P. Reuther.
1 *
A-27