2010 On Line Technocracy Study Course project
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If one attempts to follow the industrial development that has taken place in the Western World since the year 1700 by attempting to...
Lesson 12 (abridged)
...take into account all of the separate inventions and technical developments that have occurred in the various fields of industry, he soon finds himself hopelessly involved. Order, however, readily emerges from this chaos when one considers that all of this industrial activity has been based in the main upon the use of a few relatively simple substances, chiefly, the few industrial metals-iron, copper, tin, lead, zinc, etc.-as the essential materials for machinery, and the use of a few basic sources of energy, chiefly, the mineral fuels, coal, oil and natural gas, and, of lesser importance, water power.
The
most accurate quantitative picture of the rate and magnitude of our industrial
growth, however, could be obtained by plotting growth curves of the production
of these primary metals and of energy on a graph. In this lesson we are
presenting, therefore, the growth curves of a number of our basic
industries-the production of coal, energy, railroads, and automobiles.
The data for these curves were obtained from the Mineral Resources of the U.S.A., U.S. Statistical Abstracts and Mineral Industry, Vol. 41. For 1933 figures the Survey of Current Business was used. These volumes contain the most authoritative figures that can be obtained.
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Pig
Iron.
The production
fluctuated from one year to the next. This is particularly noticeable in the
case of pig iron. There was a drop in the production of pig iron during the
depression of 1893 and 1894 and, after that depression, notice that the pig
iron industry expanded for a number of years, and enjoyed uninterrupted
prosperity. Then came the depression of 1908, which
shows up as a severe shut-down in the pig iron industry. This
shut-down lasted one year, followed by a still further expansion and growth
culminating in the large peak of production from 1916 to 1918, showing the
effect of large war orders for steel. Note next the depression of 1921.
After this the pig iron industry recovered somewhat, but did not expand as
rapidly. The highest peak of production in pig iron was reached in 1929. This
was followed immediately by the enormous drop due to the present depression.
What were the actual magnitudes of these depressions? We find that the drop in
production from peak to trough in 1893 and 1894 was 27 percent; in 1908 the
corresponding drop was 38 percent; in the depression of 1921, the shutdown in
pig iron was 57 percent from the previous peak of production; the drop since
1929 has been 79 percent.
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What
does this mean? Simply this: that, stated in terms of physical measurements,
each depression since 1894 has been progressively bigger than the previous.
These up and down movements of the production curve
are spoken of as swings or oscillations. The biggest oscillations since 1893-94
coincide with the, financial depressions. Each one of these depression
oscillations has had an amplitude or depth of swing approximately 30 percent
greater than the one preceding. If one examines the other curves, that of coal,
for instance, or of automobiles, he finds a similar situation. The larger the
production becomes the larger become the oscillations; the largest being in
each case that since 1929, both in absolute magnitude and also in percentage of
the total production.
�Growth of railroads
The oscillations of exactly the same kind as those
exhibited
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by pig-iron, however,
are found that of ton-miles of revenue freight hauled. (One ton-mile is equal
to one ton hauled one mile.) Another feature to be observed in the beginning it
starts up very gradually, but each year the increase in production is greater
than that for the year preceding it. Finally, in each case there comes a time
when the growth begins to slacken, and begins rapidly to level off. On a graph the point at which this smooth mean curve changes
from concave upward to convex upward is called the point of inflection.
This point of inflection occurred in Pig iron about the year 1905; in railroad trackage about 1885; in railroad freight haulage about 1910; in automobile production about 1921, and in 'all energy' about 1912.
Calculation shows that the state of growth before the point of inflection is reached has been a compound interest rate of growth;
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that is to say, that the production each year during that period was on the average a certain fixed percentage greater than that of the year before. In the case of coal and energy production this rate of increase was approximately 7 percent per annum during that same period. The same is true for pig iron. In other words, with the rate of growth that prevailed during that period the annual production was increased tenfold in 32 1/2 years.
Since not infrequently our economic soothsayers assure us that as older industries reach their saturation, or decline, newer and bigger industries always rise to take their places, it becomes a matter of some particular importance to examine the rise in growth of one of these newer industries. Of such industries, automobiles are by far the most striking example. The automobile industry practically began in the year 1900. Since that time it has risen into one of the greatest of our present industries, and has practically revolutionized our social life in the process.
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Production
of Automobiles.
The
production of automobiles grew in a manner essentially similar to those older
industries we have just discussed. Just as in those previous, there are zig-zag oscillations, by far the greatest being that since
1929. The production of automobiles reached an all-time peak in the year 1929,
with an annual production of 5,600,000 automobiles. From that time until 1932
the production dropped to 1,400,000 cars per annum, a shut-down of 75 percent a
distinct leveling off since the year 1923.
The point of inflection of the mean growth curve occurs about the year 1921-22. The number of registered motor vehicles in the United States in 1929 was something over 26,000,000. Also notice that this has been levelling off since 1926.
Radio.
Or, to select another new industry, radio
is an excellent example we do know, that radio broadcasting began on a
commercial scale about the year 1921. From that time it grew with amazing
rapidity until by 1929 by far the greater number of people in this country had
radio sets. Since that time the number of radio sets in operation appear, from
such data as are available, to be increasing but slightly.
If one studies graphs of the growths of various
of our basic industries there is a persistent S-shape of each of the
growth curves examined this is a striking and singular phenomenon, and merits
further investigation. Dr. Raymond Pearl, in his book, Biology of Population
Growth, has made an extensive study of types of growth, and has found that
almost every growth phenomenon exhibits this same S-shape
characteristic. One of his experiments consisted in placing a pair of fruit
flies in a bottle, and letting them multiply while he kept a record of the
increase of the fly population on successive days. When plotted as a growth
curve after the manner of the charts above, the curve of the growth of the fly
population would be indistinguishable from a mean curve of coal or pig iron
production. Bacteriologists have found that yeast cells or bacteria when placed
in a test tube under conditions favorable for their multiplication increase in
numbers in a manner identical to that discussed above. Dr. Pearl has found
ample evidence that human populations obey the same laws of growth.
It is a simple matter to see why in the initial stages organisms and new industries should, under favorable conditions, expand at approximately a compound interest rate of growth. Since, until recently, most of the industrial development of this country has still remained in the compound interest stage, it has come to be naively expected by our business men and their spokesmen, the
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economists, that such a rate of growth was somehow inherent in the industrial processes. This naive assumption was embodied in the graphs and charts made by these gentlemen, in which 'normal' conditions were taken to be a steady industrial growth at the rate of 5 percent or more per annum. Such conditions being 'normal,' it was further assumed, without question, that such normal growth would continue indefinitely. We have already seen that the actual facts warrant no such assumption.
The question remains, however, as to why these growth processes have abandoned the original upward trend and tend to level off or reach a stage of saturation. The simplest case, perhaps, with which to answer this question would be that of the growth of fruit flies inside their bottle universe. Should the fruit flies continue to multiply at their initial compound interest rate, it can be shown by computation that in a relatively few weeks the number would be considerably greater than the capacity of the bottle. This being so, it is a very simple matter to see why there is a definite limit to the number of fruit flies that can live in the bottle. Once this number is reached, the death rate is equal to the birth rate, and population growth ceases.
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Very little thought and examination of the facts should suffice to convince one that in the case of the production of coal, pig iron or automobiles, the circumstances are not essentially different.
Coal.
As we have pointed out already, during the
period from 1860 to 1910 coal production increased at the rate of 7 percent per
annum. According to the report of the International Geological Congress in
1912, the coal reserves of the United States are about 3.8 million million tons (3.8 times 10 to the 12th. power tons). Had
our rate of coal consumption continued to grow at 7 percent per annum, all the known
coal reserves of the United States would be exhausted by the year 2033, almost
exactly 100 years hence.
Theoretical
Growth Curves.
The exhaustion of coal or of any other mineral
resource is, however, not something that happens suddenly, but occurs very
gradually instead, by a process which is somewhat analogous to the dipping of
water from a pail, when one is allowed to take only one-tenth of what remains
each time.
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Ultimately,
no physical quantity can increase indefinitely, all
cases of physical growth must depart from the initial compound interest curve
rate.
One type of growth reaches a maximum, and thereafter
remains constant. A familiar illustration of this type of growth is represented
by water power. Power produced from waterfalls in a given area can increase
until all the falls are harnessed. Thereafter, provided the installations are
maintained, the production of such power remains constant.
Another type of growth reaches a maximum, then declines somewhat, and finally tends to level off at some intermediate level.
In the United States the production of lumber in the initial conditions virgin timber was slashed off, and the lumber industry grew until it reached a production peak. Then, as the forests diminished, the production of lumber tended to decline. The final levelling-off process will be reached when the production of lumber shall be maintained equal to the rate of growth of forests and reforestation.
The exploitation of any non-recurrent material, such as all mineral resources. Coal, oil and the metals all exist in minable deposits in definitely limited quantities. In the life history of a single oil pool. In an oil pool the production rises as more and more wells are drilled, until it reaches a peak. From that time on the production declines year by year, until finally it becomes so small that the pool is abandoned. In most American oil pools the greater part of this history takes place within five to eight years after the discovery, though the pool may continue to be operated for the small remaining amount of oil for ten or fifteen years longer.
In the case of mineral fuel, such as coal and oil, it is the energy content that is of importance in use. This energy is degraded in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics. Thus, coal and oil can only be used once. The case of the metals is somewhat different. Iron, copper, tin, lead, zinc, etc., can be used over and over again, and are never in a physical sense destroyed. In the process of using metals, however, there is a continuous wastage through oxidation and other chemical reactions, through the discarding of iron and tin in the form of tin cans, razor blades, etc. While this does not destroy the metal it disseminates it in such a manner as to render it unavailable for future use. Primary metals are derived
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from naturally
occurring ore deposits containing the metallic salts and other compounds at
relatively high concentrations. Thus, there is a flow of metals from the
limited deposits at high concentrations into industrial uses, and finally, by
wastage and dissemination, back to earth again in widely scattered and hence
unavailable forms. This process, like that of the degradation of energy, is uni-directional and irreversible. It follows, therefore,
that the production of the rarer metals, such as are now most commonly used in
industrial processes, must ultimately reach its peak and decline.
It is not intended to convey by the above calculations the impression that the leveling off of our present growth curves is due as yet in any large measure to exhaustion or scarcity of resources. The resource limitations are cited only as an illustration of one of the many things that must eventually aid in producing this result.
The levelling-off of the production curves thus far has been due largely to a saturation in the ability to consume under our existing Price System limitations of the ability of the individual to purchase. There is a definite limit as to how much food an individual can consume in a given time; how many clothes he can wear out, and, in general, how much energy degradation he can account for. There is no question but that in many respects the people of the United States prior to 1929 were approaching some of these limits, and that accounts in some degree for the slowing down of the growth of production in many fields. There was an average at that time of one automobile per family. This fact, together with the consequent congestion of traffic, was sufficient to depress the rate of growth of automobile production.
Another important factor that is rarely taken into account in this connection is that, due to the change of rate in the operation of physical equipment, at the present time almost every new piece of machinery runs faster than the obsolete one which it displaces. There is a physical relationship in all physical equipment to the effect that for a given rate of output the faster machinery is made to operate, the smaller it needs to be. Compare, for example, the size of a I h.p. high-speed electric motor with a slow-acting gasoline engine of the same power. This relationship is true, whether the equipment be individual machines, whether it be a whole factory, or whether it be a whole industry. Since the production of consumable goods is levelling off, and the machinery is being continuously speeded up, it follows that our industrial plants and equipment, instead of getting larger, may actually diminish in size.
The implication of this fact with regard to the demand for such raw materials as iron, copper, etc., is far-reaching. In our pioneer days, and during the period of most rapid growth, railroads, telegraph and telephone systems, power systems and factories, had to be built, each requiring its quota of primary metals.
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Now that these things have already been built, the materials for the construction of new equipment are largely obtained by junking the equipment now obsolete. To appreciate the importance of this rise in the use of secondary metals, consider the fact that in the year 1933 the production of secondary copper was over 90 percent of that of the primary copper in the United States for that year.
Summary.
In this lesson we have tried to show in
quantitative terms what the leading facts of our industrial expansion have
been. Man's learning to convert to his own uses the vast supply of energy
contained in fossil fuels---coal and oil---has opened up a totally new and
unparalleled phase of human history. It has been estimated that the effect of
this upon the biological equilibrium of the human species has been such that
the human population on the globe has approximately tripled since the year
1800. Areas like the British Isles, which, under a pre-technological state of
the industrial arts, were able to support only from 5,000,000 to 8,000,000
people, now have populations of approximately 46,000,000, or a population
density of 490 persons per square mile.
It has been shown that this industrial growth has been characterized.in the initial stages by a compound interest rate of expansion of about 7 percent per annum in the United States. It has also been shown that not only is it impossible to maintain for more than a few decades such a rate of expansion, but that in the United States that period of most rapid growth has passed, and that already more or less unconsciously we have entered well into the second period of growth, that of levelling off and maturation.
Due to the physical limitations it seems at present that the days of great industrial expansion in America are over unless new and as yet untapped sources of energy become available. We have been told repeatedly that new industries have been and will continue to be sufficient to maintain the industrial growth as older industries slacken. Consideration of the graph of total energy which represents the motive power of all industries, new and old, indicates that, until the present, such has not been the case, and there are no prospects that it will be so in the future.
Foreign trade has been frequently invoked as a means of maintaining our industrial growth. Invariably in such cases, however, foreign trade has been discussed implicitly as a `favorable balance of trade,' which implied that the amount exported will be in excess of the amount imported. Physically a `favorable balance of trade' consists in shipping out more goods than we receive. Following this logic a `perfect trade balance' should consist in a state of commerce wherein everything was shipped out and nothing received in return.
Under our present Price System, or monetary economy, an unbalanced foreign trade can only be maintained, as we are learning
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to our sorrow, for a comparatively short length of time. With a balance of trade there is no reason to expect any essential increase in the domestic production of this country by means of foreign markets for such a condition necessitates that approximately equal quantities of goods be obtained from abroad, and the net effect is zero.
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